Note: This primer has long since been retired, but I've officially moved over to Nexus and I hope you'll check out my thread for the current incarnation of this deck over there!
I've loved Bant colours for a long time, so when I first started to play EDH some years ago, I immediately turned to Bant. I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted it to be those colours. So I went looking at Bant legendary creatures. At the time, nearly every person playing a Bant deck was playing either Rafiq of the Many or Phelddagrif. While Rafiq did appeal to me some, I opted away from him, largely because one of the people who originally got me into EDH already had a Rafiq deck, and I didn't want to be just straight up copying him. I found Jenara, Asura of War. At the time, I really only picked her as the next best option. She seemed good enough. I figured I'd build something similar to a Rafiq deck, but with her at the helm instead. I had no idea then how much I'd grow to love her, and just how powerful she could be.
My first build with her, quite frankly, was awful. I had no idea how to build an EDH deck at that point, and I was just all over the place. What I ended up with was part Voltron, part combo deck, and part random good stuff. As time went on, I learned a lot more and started to refine the deck. I moved away from wonky combos and Voltron and decided to put more focus on just playing a good stuff deck. I stripped the deck down and started over, building something that was much better, and the first real precursor to what this list is today. I eventually realized that just good stuff wasn't good enough. I needed more synergy, a theme, a plan. I settled on value creatures, largely because of their inherent power level, and after some more changes this deck quickly rose to be one of the most powerful in my playgroup. People started to take note of it, and it even gained a reputation.
After many hours spent refining, tuning, and tweaking the deck, it has become what it is today. The list is incredibly tight, and making changes is always an ordeal that has me humming and hawing for days. The deck has become something incredibly formidable, lying somewhere between a control deck, a tempo deck, and an aggro deck, with a solid creature toolbox at its core.
I love this deck. I've put a lot of time, effort, and money into it, and it has treated me very well these past years. Now, with ISBPathfinder's primer retired, I've decided to write my own. I hope you find it both enjoyable and helpful.
Why play Bant?
Bant (GWU) is one of the few colour combinations that has no holes. Within the card pool available in these colours, there is an answer for every situation. This allows for a very large amount of deck customization and tuning, with many, many opportunities for changes based on personal play style and meta calls. Beyond that, each of these colours contributes something valuable to the deck, with none of them being coincidental or splashed.
G Green - Ramp, creature tutors, value engines W White - Removal, artifact and enchantment tutors, creature recursion U Blue - Card draw, counter spells, artifact and spell tutors
Why play creature value/toolbox?
Creatures with enter the battlefield value abilities are inherently powerful. They allow you to achieve the effects of many powerful spells while constantly adding to your board presence, giving an aggressive edge and keeping pressure on opponents, while simultaneously mitigating the inherent weakness of creatures. Having a value creature immediately destroyed is never a total loss. Every resolved value creature is almost like a 2-for-1 in your favour.
With the help of cards like Birthing Pod, Survival of the Fittest, and Reveillark, those creatures go from just being powerful to being nearly unfair, allowing you to find what you need, when you need it, and use it over and over again.
Why play Jenara? Jenara, Asura of War has a lot going for her. As a quick rundown:
Her cheap casting cost allows her to come down very early in the game and be easy to recast later
She has both evasion and a built in pumping effect, making her fantastic for taking out opponents with commander damage
She's very independent, and does not rely at all on the deck itself to be a huge threat
Her power level scales throughout the game, making her a threat every time you cast her
Let's take a quick look at the other commanders available in Bant:
Angus Mackenzie - Repeatable Fog on a creature is a lot more powerful than many people give it credit for, and having that ability readily available on your commander has a lot of potential. He's a fine choice for a deck that doesn't need him, but he himself does not offer any sort of threat potential, requiring a higher game-ending threat density in the deck itself.
Arcades Sabboth - Unfortunately, the only dragon in this cycle that's even playable is Nicol Bolas, so let's move right along.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - At a glace, Derevi seems to fit with this deck quite well. It has it's own enter the battlefield ability, which is nice, and this deck likes to run a lot of small creatures, allowing for getting a lot of triggers on damage as well. Another huge benefit is that it can be cast at instant speed, and with a static cost that doesn't go up with recasts. It doesn't offer a huge threat without some external pumping, but it's definitely got a high power level. I myself have considered playing this over Jenara at different times.
Phelddagrif - Certainly a neat card, but outside of a group hug type of shell it really doesn't do a whole lot.
Rafiq of the Many - One of the best and most popular Bant commanders. He lacks evasion, but he's got the power to take out an opponent pretty quickly. He's very definite competition for Jenara in this deck.
Ragnar - Despite having awesome art and a decent ability, his power level just isn't quite there.
Roon of the Hidden Realm - On the surface, Roon seems like an obvious choice to be the commander for a value creature deck, and the ability definitely lends itself well to the plan. However, Roon has some big drawbacks. Primarily, he's really slow. Partly because of his cost, and partly because his ability requires him to tap. By adding a few other cards to the deck to help him out (such as Thousand-Year Elixir) he can definitely get better, but that eats up precious spell slots.
Rubinia Soulsinger - People often think of her as a worse Merieke Ri Berit, and they're mostly right. She does have the added bonus of having the choice to untap and take something else, which is nice.
Treva, the Renewer - This dragon cycle has a few playables, but Treva isn't really one of them. A big flying dragon is definitely threatening, but her ability is just too underwhelming.
While there is definitely some competition there for Jenara, with some other solid commander choices, none of them really offer what Jenara can at quite the same level of potency. Her combination of cost, scalability, and independence just make her incredibly powerful. Sometimes she'll come down very early, putting immediate pressure on opponents and forcing them on the defensive early, allowing you to do your own thing relatively untouched. Other times she'll come down later, get immediately pumped into a two or three turn clock, and be an absolute must-answer threat that opponents just can't leave sitting there. Her ability to close the game out is absolutely fantastic, and it allows for more deck slots to be dedicated to utility creatures for the toolbox, without needing to set aside slots for straight up beaters.
Reasons you may enjoy this deck
You want a deck that doesn't rely on its commander, but can still win with it
You want a commander that doesn't need help from the deck to win games
You enjoy playing a good-stuff type of deck that allows for more diverse build options
You want to control the game with tempo and aggro-control elements
Reasons you may not enjoy this deck
You want a build-around-me commander that builds the deck itself
You want to win every game with your commander
You want to play a dedicated combo deck that wins on turn 4
You want to play draw-go control
Strengths
Resilience - This deck offers a huge amount of resilience, and is able to come back from just about any bad situation, and is very hard to keep down. The high value of many cards makes for really solid top decks.
Versatility - This deck benefits a lot from having a wide and versatile collection of both threats and answers, allowing for adapting to many situations and combating many different deck types.
Consistency - Thanks to the creature toolbox nature of the deck and the large selection of very powerful and efficient creature tutors, this deck enjoys a very high level of consistency, and rarely loses out to sheer variance.
Weaknesses
Stax/MLD - This deck relies a lot on doing more than opponents, and getting more value from everything it does. As such, resource denial can be a big problem. It's a good idea to use the deck's fairly heavy control elements to keep the Stax/MLD player at the table from doing things.
Dedicated Combo - Despite having fairly heavy control in the deck, this deck does like to tap out a lot in the early turns, and a combo deck that wins reliably on turn 4 or 5 can be a problem. The best bet here is to just drop Jenara early and force them to play defensively, while holding up answers for when they inevitably try to go off.
Creature Toolbox Hate - These specific hate cards do very bad things to everything this deck wants to do: Torpor Orb, Hushwing Gryff, Containment Priest, and Humility. Any time these cards on are the table they need to be dealt with immediately. The best options here are to either take out that player as quickly as possible with Jenara (except in cases of Humility), or hang onto cards like Bant Charm and Beast Within, which are diverse enough to deal with several of them.
With the huge amount of versatility and diversity that this deck offers, there will never be any single correct way to play it. Your build should be tweaked and tuned for how you will play it best, and you shouldn't be afraid to find your own best lines of play, based on your own personal play style and meta. With all that said, everybody needs a starting point, so here I will provide information on how I have found to make the deck work best for me.
Saying that this deck is versatile is an understatement. It has solid redundancy, so there are multiple options for each different effect. There are multiple ways to play the deck, with multiple ways to execute each of those plans. It threatens on several different angles, with a robust tutor suite to provide the best support for whichever line of play is optimal. On top of all that, the deck changes gears very easily. Failing in one line of play can enable another. Going aggro and being shut down with a board wipe allows the deck to flow smoothly and easily into playing a reanimator/recursion strategy, for example. It is the epitome of a toolbox deck.
All of this is done with one core purpose in mind: value. Every action this deck takes provides more value than what is apparent on the surface. Every resolved value creature is a bonus beater. Every creature on the battlefield is fodder for a Birthing Pod or a Skullclamp. Every creature in the graveyard is a target for a Reveillark or a Karmic Guide, and every resolved wrath provides plenty of those targets. The list goes on and on.
This deck is not the easiest thing in the world to play, though. It does not pilot itself. The deck needs to be played organically, taking full advantage of the synergy it offers, fully abusing every resource, and flowing freely from plan to plan as the game progresses and evolves.
As mentioned, this deck has multiple ways to play, and here are the core ones:
Aggro - This deck plays a lot of creatures, and many of them are cheap. You already want to start the game by playing out a handful of cheap value creatures, and once they're there you might as well start being the beat down, getting in for little bits of early damage, taking pokes at opponents and whittling away at them until they drop some blockers or a wrath.
Control - With a respectable control package, made up of a solid set of versatile counter spells, removal, and wraths, this deck is often capable of taking on the control role. When another deck aggros better, you sit back and slow them down, forcing them to play at your speed. This can be done early, to keep heavily aggressive or combo decks back until you're ready to overwhelm them, or later in the game with an established board presence, to keep you on top.
Reanimator-ish - White and green are almost as good at this as black is. Dumping a big creature with a Survival of the Fittest only to go find a Karmic Guide and bring it back for cheaper, with an extra body on top of that, can let you take over the board very quickly and easily. The fact that the recursion options are themselves incredibly easy to recur means that this can just be done over and over again.
Combo - Playing a few solid combo options, all made up of cards that are each worth their own slot, can allow you to win from way behind or quickly close out a long drawn out game. For more detail on this, see Combo Options.
Commander Damage - Jenara is scary. She may not look it at a glance, but she is. She can come down early and put on the pressure or come down late and one shot kill. For more detail on this, see Playing Jenara.
That's a lot of things this deck can do, and it can do each of them competently, but the best way to pilot this deck is to mash them all together and see what comes out. Each of those game plans can flow smoothly into one or several others, and it allows you to keep the opponents on their toes.
Lastly, here are a few key concepts to help get the most out of this deck:
Know what's in the deck. Memorize every card if you can. Being able to effectively use a toolbox deck relies heavily on being able to take proper advantage of the tutors at your disposal, and knowing exactly how your tools work. You need to know what tools are in your deck and how you can get them, and which ones best apply to a situation.
Don't be afraid to use your life as a resource. You start with a lot of it, and much of the time that life is much better spent on cards from Sylvan Library, mana from Ancient Tomb, or a cheaper Birthing Pod.
Draws all the cards. You can never have too many cards in hand. If you can draw more cards, do it. More cards means more options, and this deck thrives on options.
Mulligan aggressively. With some decks you can keep a do-nothing hand and get away with it, but that doesn't work here. You need to get into the game early. Don't be afraid to end up at five cards, as playing a value based deck helps very much to mitigate that disadvantage.
Don't get stuck on one game plan. Flow with the deck and the game, and take the path of least resistance.
Jenara has a lot of room for play, owing to the fact that the deck doesn't need her, she doesn't need the deck, and she's threatening at every stage of the game. There is almost no wrong time to cast her, but in general, she serves three core roles here:
Early Pressure - Against some decks this may be her most important role. Any deck that's faster, such as a dedicated combo deck, will try to ignore you and do their own thing until they win. Playing Jenara as quickly as possible in that scenario is a great way to force them onto the defensive and make them spend resources on staying alive rather than assembling their combo. This works especially well with some control cards in hand, such as counter spells and spot removal, as you can play Jenara on turn 2 or 3, then just sit back and hold up answers and keep swinging at them. Beyond all that, though, she's great to drop early and apply pressure any other time when you just don't have a better turn 3 play, and and many times that can lead into distraction mode.
Distraction - Yes, that's right, a distraction. Dropping Jenara and putting a few counters on her makes her a very potent threat. It forces players to pay attention to her, which will very frequently allow you to do whatever else you want unhindered. For example, an opponent is much less likely to spend resources trying to find a way to deal with Birthing Pod if Jenara is threatening to kill them in a turn or two. They're most likely going to focus on blocking or killing her, which means that they're not only leaving your plan alone, but neglecting their own. It doesn't even matter if she dies, since she's so cheap and easy to recast.
Late Finisher - Late in the game, when you're sitting on a ton of mana and the opponents have used up most of their removal and whatnot, it becomes very easy to play Jenara, pump her, untap and pump her some more, and just straight up swing and kill someone. It means that people need to be wary of her at all times, and either they save a way to deal with her and leave you with something else threatening, or they forget about her and leave themselves open. Either way is fine.
While she doesn't really need any support, including a couple ways of casting her on turn 2 (such as Noble Hierarch and Dryad Arbor + Green Sun's Zenith), as well as something like Lightning Greaves for both protection and haste, can make her just a little better at each of the above described roles.
Winning by infinite combo is definitely not the main plan for this deck, but including a combo or two can be useful for either bringing a long drawn out game to an end, or winning a game you were almost certainly losing. It's important to try to avoid including cards that are bad for the deck purely because they work as part of a combo. All of the cards included in these combos are solid cards that deserve slots in the deck even outside of combo.
While Bant doesn't have access to any two creature kill combos, there are still some great combo options we can employ, with these three being among the best:
1) Infinite Mana - Palinchron + creature recursion or mana doubler
This can be very easily achieved with the use of Palinchron and many other cards. As examples:
Combining infinite mana with any number of things, including Jenara herself, thanks to her pump ability, can still end a game quite easily. One easy way to achieve this would be as follows:
Flicker Palinchron many times to create infinite mana
At this point, Deadeye Navigator can be flickered to repair with Eternal Witness or Acidic Slime, and infinitely do everything. This is very mana intensive, as it requires having 13 mana available to start, and that doesn't include any mana for protecting the combo. Of course, having any of the three of Palinchron, Deadeye Navigator, or Eternal Witness in hand already eliminates the need for the second Tooth and Nail, and reduces the required mana to 9.
At this point every opponent has lost all lands, artifacts, and enchantments, and your board is set up to reactivate the combo at any time and do it all over again. Including Karmic Guide into the combo also allows for returning any other value creature, instead of only 2 power or less ones.
The easiest way to pull this combo off is with the use of Survival of the Fittest, since it can be accomplished by starting with just a Survival and any creature in hand.
First and foremost, this is by no means an extensive and exhaustive list of every card that could or should be played in this deck. Instead, this is a list of all of the cards that are currently in this deck, have been in this deck in the past, or have been at least considered for a spot in this deck at some point in time.
Any and all suggestion for other cards to be added here are both welcome and appreciated.
Bold - This card is currently in this deck Strikethrough - This card has been in this deck in the past
Regular - This card has either been considered for this deck at some point in the past, or has been suggested to be added to this list
Original Dual Lands - Tundra, Savannah, Tropical Island - While not the most budget-friendly option, having these will significantly increase mana consistency, especially in combination with fetch lands.
On Colour Fetch Lands - Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Misty Rainforest - A must-have, especially when running duals and shocks. Even with only basics to find, these lands will significantly increase mana consistency, as well as helping to thin out the deck, and offering shuffle effects, which can be wonderful in combination with cards like Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library, etc.
Off Colour Fetch Lands - Whether or not to run some of the extra fetch lands comes down to a matter of personal preference, mostly. They don't add quite as much extra consistency as the on colour fetch lands do, but they do add more thinning and shuffling. It's important to make sure there are enough targets for them all. Running the extra fetch lands is frequently much better in decks with a higher land count.
Core Duals/Check Lands - Glacial Fortress, Sunpetal Grove, Hinterland Harbor - These aren't nearly as good as original duals or shocks, but they work absolutely wonderfully in combination with them, as any of the duals or shocks will allow all of these to enter untapped.
Battle Duals - Prairie Stream, Canopy Vista - Another set of duals with basic types. Fantastic for fetching and the like. Hopefully they complete the set with enemy coloured ones at some point in the not too distant future.
Any Colour Pain Lands - City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Grand Coliseum - The life lost from these lands is well worth the benefit of having more lands that can tap for all colours. The bonus to colour consistency is worth far more than a few measly life points.
Filter Lands - Mystic Gate, Wooded Bastion, Flooded Grove - They're not dirt cheap, but these lands are still a fantastic budget option for when duals, shocks, and fetches are a little out of reach. It's important to pay extra attention to how the mana is tapped when using these.
Basic Lands - Plains, Island, Forest - It can be easy to add a ton of non-basic lands and call it a day, but it's important to add in at least a couple of each of these. They help avoid Blood Moon blowouts, and give something to find off of Path to Exile, Ghost Quarter, etc.
Academy Ruins - This is generally a staple land for any blue deck that has artifacts. It's fantastic for getting back a blown up Birthing Pod, for oppressing the board with multiple Oblivion Stone uses, or anything in between.
Alchemist's Refuge - Being able to cast anything on opponents' turns is very powerful, and this can allow for some insane plays, especially with a lot of sweet abilities on creatures.
Ancient Tomb - The "free" ramp that this land offers is well worth the damage. Just like with the any colour pain lands, the advantage is more valuable than the extra life. Just make sure to keep an eye on that life total.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Just like with Cavern of Souls, this card is only worthwhile in a counter magic heavy meta. It shocks on every use and comes in tapped. However, in the right metas, this will be very important for ensuring that big important spells, like Tooth and Nail, Sphinx's Revelation, Wargate, etc, will resolve.
Cavern of Souls - Frequently a necessary inclusion in counter magic heavy metas. Played early it should almost always name Angel, and played later it can be used to ensure resolving whatever creature is most important at the time.
Celestial Colonnade - This is easily one of the better manlands that has ever been printed. Having a manland around is nice, especially one that can fly in to take out planeswalkers after a wrath.
Command Tower - Bread and butter staple land for absolutely every multicolour deck. All upside.
Dryad Arbor - There is only one good reason to include this here, and that reason is Green Sun's Zenith. With this, that Zenith can be a turn 1 ramp spell. There's also a bit of added value with the ability to fetch this off of fetch lands and the like, in response to sacrifice effects or as an emergency blocker.
Gaea's Cradle - Definitely a very powerful land, but also very expensive. While an auto include in just about any tokens deck, it doesn't do nearly as much work here. That being said, with the high creature count in this deck there is still a lot of potential for this card.
Gavony Township - This deck plays a lot of small creatures, and this land can help to make them more threatening. The more small creatures the better it is.
Reflecting Pool - Most of the time this will just be a second Command Tower. It's important to pay close attention to available colours when playing this in the first few turns.
Reliquary Tower - Every deck draws cards, and every deck wants to keep those cards. Therefore this land should be in every deck. Done.
Strip Mine - There are many busted lands out there to be played, and many times when they need to go. That's what this is for. It's a staple, and should be in every deck.
Noble Hierarch - Easily one of the best mana dorks every printed, perfect for a Bant deck. It comes with the inherent downsides of using mana dorks as ramp, but the upsides it offers, such as the Exalted ability, generally make it worthwhile.
Coiling Oracle - Very nearly Explore on a creature. This guy works especially well with top deck manipulation and a higher land count.
Gilded Drake - Being able to exchange with any opposing creature is definitely powerful, especially at this low of a mana cost. However, there can definitely be times when giving an opponent a 3/3 flying creature can be problematic, especially when trying to play planeswalkers or kill with Jenara. As a bonus, this drake has a ton of synergy with Venser, the Sojourner.
Knight of the White Orchid - I've considered this card, on and off, so many times. I've come so close to having it take the place of Sakura-Tribe Elder. The harder cost and conditional ramp keep turning me off of it, though. Still, a very decent ramp choice.
Mistmeadow Witch - This comes down early and it offers the ability to flicker any creature. Because of the way it's worded, it also offers extra synergy with Gilded Drake. The biggest problem with it is that the ability is fairly expensive, and the flickered creatures don't return until end of turn. All of that makes this kind of slow, but definitely still worth playing.
Phantasmal Image - One of the best Clones ever printed, whether using it to copy your own best creature or an opponent's best creature, it is always going to be very good. It also allows for some silly things with Sun Titan.
Riftsweeper - This deck likes to use its graveyard, and people like to exile cards from graveyards. That makes this guy sort of a neat inclusion, as he can make it so that nothing is ever permanently gone. His major problem is that he shuffles the card back in, instead of either putting it to graveyard, to hand, or even on top.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Frequently considered to be a green staple. It's essentially Rampant Growth in creature form. With plenty of recursion, it's easy to get a lot of value out of him. A very solid piece of early game ramp.
Scavenging Ooze - One of the better options for graveyard hate, especially in a creature deck. It does lack any sort of synergistic value with the rest of the deck, but it's solid on its own as an extra piece of hate.
Snapcaster Mage - A must-have for any blue deck. Being able to repeat any instant or sorcery in the graveyard is incredibly powerful. He's cheap, he's Skullclamp fodder, and he brings a ton of value.
Stoneforge Mystic - This is a fantastic card to have in conjunction with a respectable equipment package. She especially shines in builds that focus a bit more on Jenara herself, allowing for tutoring up whatever the best equipment for the occasion may be.
Eldrazi Displacer - This is probably much better than Mistmeadow Witch, even with the colorless requirement. If the mana base can support it, it's a solid inclusion for additional flickering.
Eternal Witness - Having access to Regrowth on a creature enter the battlefield ability is incredibly powerful. Especially one that can be returned with Sun Titan and eaten with Skullclamp for cards. An absolute green staple.
Farhaven Elf - While not as good as Wood Elves, this guy is still pretty solid, particularly in lists with a higher basic land count.
Fiend Hunter - All by himself he's little more than a speed bump. However, when used with any instant speed methods of flickering/bouncing him (Deadeye Navigator, Mistmeadow Witch, etc), his exile becomes permanent. He can also loop with Sun Titan or Karmic Guide and any sacrifice outlet.
Fierce Empath - The power level of this card is entirely dependent on the power level of large creatures in the deck, as well as the quantity of large creatures. A solid option for tutoring up game changing creatures, but more versatile creature tutoring is generally preferred.
Harmonic Sliver - Despite being the only sliver in the deck, this can still be very easily abused with Clone effects, such as Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc. Casting a Clone as a copy of one of these yields two triggers on enter. Copying it a second time will cause three triggers. This interaction can allow for clearing the board of opposing artifacts and enchantments quite handily.
Mirror Entity - This is one of the core pieces of one of the better combos available to this deck, in the form of Reveillark, Body Double, Mirror Entity, and any other 2 power value creature (Acidic Slime, Venser, Shaper Savant, etc). This creates a death loop allowing infinite ETB triggers. Outside of that combo, this card can still be incredibly threatening, turning a board full of tiny creatures into a massive threat every turn, though at a high mana expense. Also, the changeling ability causes it to trigger Harmonic Sliver, which is a bit of nice added value.
Reclamation Sage - Harmonic Sliver should get the nod over this in any build with Clones, which should generally be all of them. This is a fine choice as backup, though, if more of this effect is desired.
Recruiter of the Guard - Given that this can find most of the creatures in the deck, it makes for a very useful toolbox option. On top of that, it's Skullclampable, which is always nice.
Silumgar Sorcerer - This is a very cool card, but the problem with it is how narrow it is. If the ability was Counterspell instead of Remove Soul it would be way, way better, and probably earn itself a slot.
Skullwinder - It's not quite an Eternal Witness, but it comes pretty close. The fact that it gives an opponent back a card can be a lot unfortunate, but if you play enough graveyard hate to keep somebody's graveyard empty then it can be played with no downside, and a 1/3 with Deathtouch isn't entirely irrelevant.
Stonecloaker - This is a very neat card for this deck, as it offers value in a number of different ways. First, it is instant speed graveyard hate, which is always nice to have. Second, it can return sweet value creatures to hand, allowing them to be recast for even more value. Lastly, it can be used as protection, returning to hand a high value creature that might otherwise be about to get destroyed or exiled.
Trinket Mage - With a plethora of useful and powerful tiny artifacts to go find, this guy gains a ton of value. The more targets and the better the targets, the better this card will get. Early game Sol Ring or later Scrabbling Claws are fantastic choices. He can also go find the artifact lands, making him into a Borderland Ranger when necessary.
Vendilion Clique - While it doesn't actually provide card advantage, any kind of hand hate in these colours, especially at instant speed, is pretty rare, and it makes for a very neat ability to have access to. It's generally much better for 1v1 than for multiplayer, though.
Wood Elves - This elf is one of the best mana ramp creatures there is. Being able to go find any card with the forest type, onto the battlefield, and even untapped, is fantastic. He's cheap to go find with Green Sun's Zenith, he can be fed to Skullclamp, and he comes back with Sun Titan. His power level does depend on a solid mana base, though, with dual lands and shock lands.
Yavimaya Dryad - While a little bit harder to cast than Wood Elves, this is very nearly as good. This should always come first over Farhaven Elf in a list with dual lands and shock lands. Without them, however, this loses a lot of value.
Angel of Finality - If this card had flash it would likely be an auto include. However, without it, it often feels like it's a day late and a dollar short. Even given that, though, it is still a very solid inclusion for graveyard hate.
Archaeomancer - This card absolutely always loses out to Eternal Witness, and should only be considered as backup. It both costs more than Eternal Witness, and is restricted to only returning instants and sorceries.
Brago, King Eternal - Having to connect for an ability to trigger can be a bit problematic, but when he does connect, he essentially resets your entire board, retriggering all enter the battlefield effects and untapping everything.
Clever Impersonator - The versatility that this clone offers is insane. Being able to copy any nonland permanent on the battlefield offers a ton of potential for crazy plays, especially at instant speed, like when tutored with Chord of Calling.
Ephara, God of the Polis - She doesn't offer mass draw all at once, but she does offer steady draw over a long period, and all the benefits that come with being a god. Her draw can be inconsistent, though, without an extra high creature count or more bounce/flicker effects. She pairs excellently with something like Stonecloaker, which can be replayed every turn.
Glen Elendra Archmage - Even without offering much synergy with the deck overall, this card can be incredibly oppressive to many decks, especially with Clones and ways of recurring it, like Karmic Guide, Reveillark, etc. It's also solid to bounce or flicker after a single use, as the persist counter can be reset to get more and more value out of it.
Mystic Snake - Literally Counterspell plus Grizzly Bears. There are plenty of ways to abuse this in this deck, but it gets most obscene when paired with a Deadeye Navigator, completely locking other players out of the game.
Oracle of Mul Daya - The conditional ramp and draw smoothing offered here is powerful and desirable, but it doesn't really synergize with the rest of the deck as a whole, and it loses value without an extra high land count. It's worth noting, as well, that having this card on the table gives away a lot of information to opponents, which can be very significant in more competitive metas.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Not quite as versatile as Clever Impersonator, but being able to cast this for three mana and two life makes it very powerful, and it's still one of the best Clones in existence. This also adds a lot of value to Tezzeret the Seeker, and vice versa, as being able to tutor a Clone off of him is very powerful.
Restoration Angel - The biggest detriment to this card is the inability to flicker other angels. That means she can't be used to protect Jenara herself, and she can't get extra value from Karmic Guide, Angel of Serenity, etc. Still, having this ability at instant speed, attached to a 3/4 flying body, is powerful.
Solemn Simulacrum - This is a staple card that belongs in almost every single deck. Being colourless allows it to save the day when having colour problems, and also allows casting it for free off of Mana Drain mana. It also fits incredibly well into a Birthing Pod chain, as it gets value both on enter and on dies. Especially great if you equip a Skullclamp to it.
Thought-Knot Seer - A little more expensive to cast than a Vendillion Clique, and without the Flash, but the card it removes is exiled, and you're not giving anybody a card until it leaves. The colorless requirement might be an issue, but still worth considering.
Acidic Slime - Yet another staple effect. It's a versatile piece of removal in the form of a creature ETB effect, in the right range to be returned with Reveillark.
Body Double - Copying a creature in any graveyard is a very unique and powerful effect. Even outside of a combo, it still can do some very silly things when combined with Reveillark.
Cataclysmic Gearhulk - There aren't many good board wipe creatures to play outside of Black and Red, so this is absolutely amazing to have here. It's also very aggressively costed, allowing you to play this and still have a decent board presence.
Karmic Guide - Reanimating any creature makes this an incredibly valuable ETB effect. Echo means it will never really stick around for very long, but it's absolutely fantastic as part of a Birthing Pod chain, or to equip with Skullclamp.
Mulldrifter - Casting this early game as a Divination is a great way to keep a solid tempo going, and with so many ways to copy and recur this, it keeps coming back and makes for a lot of card draw all throughout the game. It also sits at a fantastic spot in the Birthing Pod chain, allowing for podding Solemn Simulacrum into this for three cards.
Reveillark - While frequently used as part of a combo, this card can still do some ridiculous things on its own, offering a ton of value and recursion. Great to Birthing Pod away, great to flicker/bounce, and it's even a relevant flying beater. This is probably one of the best cards in the deck.
Roon of the Hidden Realm - A viable commander candidate for this deck. His biggest issue as commander is the same as his biggest issue in the deck itself: he's just too slow. He's relatively expensive, and his ability requires tapping.
Thragtusk - He may not be the powerhouse here that he has been in other formats, but he is still a solidly aggressive creature with great abilities, on both enters and leaves the battlefield. He's a great option for more life gain, and making a bunch of 3/3 tokens isn't irrelevant.
Bane of Progress - Almost entirely a meta call. Way too many artifacts and enchantments? Having the relevant half of an Austere Command on an easy to find and recur/repeat creature is quite powerful. It can even be returned with Reveillark.
Consecrated Sphinx - Any time this card sticks around it's going to draw a ton of cards. It will also, however, attract a ton of hate. Having this card on the table generally makes you a target, and even when it doesn't, it will often eat a removal spell before ever actually drawing cards. On top of that, it doesn't really synergize with the rest of the deck too well. In this case, ETB draw options, like Prime Speaker Zegana and Sphinx of Uthuun are often better.
Deadeye Navigator - He's definitely not as invulnerable as some people believe he is, but he can certainly be hard to deal with. An opponent can respond to the soulbond trigger, which is when this guy is left vulnerable, but he completely dodges any sorcery speed, targeted removal. While he does seem like a significant up front mana investment, when this guy sticks around he just takes over the game, plain and simple. He also combos for infinite mana with Palinchron, which is worth noting.
Draining Whelk - This loses out the slot to Mystic Snake every time purely because of the mana cost. It's too expensive to be very practical as a counter spell. A giant flying creature can definitely be relevant, but a lot of the time it will only end up with a couple of counters on it.
Duplicant - While not the most cost efficient removal, it is permanent removal on a creature. And it's even colourless, on top of that. The benefits easily outweigh the somewhat high cost. His low base power also makes him great for returning with Reveillark.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Mass card draw on a value creature is highly desirable, especially for this deck. Even when it only draws a few cards it's still pretty great, but most of the time it will enter a battlefield that already has a pumped Jenara, drawing a nice handful. There's also a sweet synergy with any sort of anthem effects here, such as Mirari's Wake, as she will enter with more counters, and also she draws equal to her power, not her counters.
Progenitor Mimic - Six mana is a lot for a Clone, but the extra ability on this can potentially add a lot of value. It is slow, though, which can hinder its usefulness as a finisher.
Sun Titan - An auto-include in just about any white deck. It fits perfectly with the theme of the deck, as well as being very powerful, allowing us to recur a lot of value cards, as well as lands, most of the artifacts, etc. There are also some fun things to do with this and Phantasmal Image.
Woodland Bellower - This has the potential to be a really cool/powerful card in a deck like this, especially if his ability is kept in mind while building. A large number of small green utility creatures can give this guy a ton of play. It also seems pretty neat with Fierce Empath.
Angel of Serenity - This card does some pretty great things. It can function as either removal or recursion, and it's a big flying beater. It's a pretty great way to finish a Birthing Pod chain, returning a bunch of the creatures that were sacrificed to get there.
Avenger of Zendikar - Once upon a time he was the big bad green finisher of choice for many decks. Nowadays he is largely outclassed by many other things, but he still has a very powerful ability, and he can still do a lot of work to end a game.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - In a deck full of little creatures, large anthem effects are definitely powerful. On top of that, she can entirely blank many token decks, and keeps the field clear of all opposing little things. She has a high cost, though, and is something of a lightning rod.
Palinchron - There's no denying that this card is almost strictly here as a combo enabler. There are a ton of ways to make infinite mana with it, and Jenara is always happy to eat that mana to one-shot opponents, not to mention using it to lock players out of the game with things like Deadeye Navigator and Venser, Shaper Savant. However, even outside of combo, it is still a "free" big flying creature, that can essentially block forever. Also fantastic for to Birthing Pod into, as that play offers a huge mana advantage for that turn.
Resolute Archangel - Whether or not to play this will depend a lot on personal play style. This deck likes to hurt itself a lot in order to better outpace opponents and keep ahead on resources. Between painful lands (Ancient Tomb, City of Brass, etc), Birthing Pod, and Sylvan Library, it's not at all unreasonable to eat more of your own life than opponents do. With this card sitting in reserve, you can be significantly more aggressive with your life, knowing that you can find this in many ways when the time comes and go straight back to 40 life.
Sphinx of Uthuun - This sphinx simultaneously offers deep digging and a big threat. A 5/6 flying body is just about always relevant, and having an easily repeatable and abusable Fact or Fiction can get out of hand quickly.
Craterhoof Behemoth - He won't do nearly as much work here as he may in a tokens deck, but his ability is powerful and that alone makes him worth consideration. He can easily take out an opponent with just a few other creatures on the table.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - He's big and he's scary. He costs a lot, but he's a must answer threat that puts you way, way ahead of opponents as soon as he hits the table. He also creates infinite mana with Palinchron, allowing for Tooth and Nail for those two as a very powerful play.
Mana Crypt - Easily one of the best mana rocks ever printed, this card is always worth consideration, for every deck. The life loss can be a bit of a problem for some, but with something like Resolute Archangel in the deck it's not really an issue at all.
Tormod's Crypt - One of a handful of the most common graveyard hate cards. It's free to cast and to activate, and it can be found with a Trinket Mage. Even better when it can be reused to hit multiple opponents.
Relic of Progenitus - Another of the most common graveyard hate cards, this card has a huge advantage in the incremental value that it can offer. Playing this early can be very oppressive to any decks that use their graveyard even a little bit. It has one huge downside, though, as it hits every graveyard when blown up, not just an opponent's. Just like Tormod's Crypt, this one fits nicely into a Trinket Mage package.
Scrabbling Claws - While it doesn't offer the ability to take out entire graveyards like Relic Progenitus, it maintains the same incremental value advantage, while still being perfectly capable of hitting problem cards when necessary. Goes just as well with Trinket Mage as the others, too.
Sensei's Divining Top - An auto include for nearly every single deck. It's cheap, it's colourless, and it offers reliable and resilient top deck manipulation. On top of that, it can be found off of Trinket Mage, making it that much better.
Skullclamp - Any deck that runs a large number of X/1 creatures should always be happy to have this card. Trading an X/1 for two cards will very nearly always be worth it. This card offers some of the cheapest and most efficient mass card draw there is.
Sol Ring - Not the best mana rock ever printed, but it is the best mana rock legal in the format. This will always be the primary target for Trinket Mage, early game Enlightened Tutor, and early game Tezzeret the Seeker. The sooner this hits the table the better.
Blade of Selves - This card has the potential to do a lot, and the ability is very powerful in the right setting. If your games are most often 4+ players then this is a very solid option. If you primarily play 3 player games, like I do, then the card does significantly less, and can really feel underwhelming.
Lightning Greaves - There are two main uses for this card in this deck. The first is for Jenara kills. Either coming down early and forcing opponents immediately on the defensive, or coming in for quick wins in the late game. The second is for protecting key, high power creatures that always have a target on them. These are creatures that can warp the entire game, such as Prophet of Kruphix, Deadeye Navigator, etc.
Coalition Relic - Every once in a while it's nice to have coloured mana backup from a mana rock, and this is one of the best options for that. May be unnecessary in metas that aren't heavy in mass land destruction/denial (Armageddon, Contamination, etc).
Crystal Shard - This card offers a solid means of repeatedly abusing ETB effects on creatures, as well as sometimes catching opponents off guard. However, it's slow, and not very mana efficient.
Oblivion Stone - This is a reset button. It can be played and left to sit as a stall tactic, slowing down other players, or it can be used in an emergency to clear the entire board and put everybody back on more or less even footing. This card should be at least considered for nearly every deck.
Sword of Feast and Famine - One of the two best Swords printed, the effects on this card are very powerful, as well as offering very relevant colour protections. The biggest benefit of this card here is that it allows for any of the small, otherwise unthreatening creatures in the deck to become a relevant threat, which allows the small value creatures to stay on par with scarier beaters that opponents may play. Gets better with Stoneforge Mystic in the deck.
Sword of Light and Shadow - With effects not nearly as powerful as Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of Fire and Ice, it largely comes down to whether or not the protection from white is heavily desired. Any deck that puts more emphasis on attacking with Jenara herself will likely want this. The creature recursion is desirable, but it's very slow and much worse than all the other recursion options in the deck.
Birthing Pod - Easily one of the absolute best cards in the deck. Its power level, however, is entirely dependent on the power level of the creatures in the deck, the number of creatures, and whether or not a Pod chain was taken into account when deciding on those creatures.
Conjurer's Closet - This card can be a bit slow and expensive for what it does, and it does absolutely nothing by itself. That being said, once it's on the table it is a free flicker every turn, and the more powerful the creatures the more powerful this card can be.
Gilded Lotus - This card has been considered here a number of times, all because of Tezzeret the Seeker and Phyrexian Metamorph. Having those two cards always makes this card worth at least considering.
Survival of the Fittest - This card is a must-have in any creature toolbox style of deck, especially when that toolbox includes some recursion, with cards like Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Sun Titan, etc. Be aware, though, that having this on the battlefield will frequently draw graveyard hate from opponents.
Sylvan Library - While painful, this is one of the absolute best card draw and card filter options out there. It's an automatic include in every single green deck, and non-green decks wish they could play it too. Also, real men take eight.
Aura Shards - With a high creature count, and a number of flicker/recursion effects, this is easy to trigger and can be very oppressive, keeping all opponents' fields clear of artifacts and enchantments. Not quite as good here as in a tokens deck, but still powerful.
Song of the Dryads - With the change of the commander tuck rule, this has gone way up in value as removal, as it's one of the few ways to "permanently" remove an opponent's commander. It can also be returned with Sun Titan, enchanting hexproof or shroud creatures. It comes with all the downsides of enchantment removal, though, and can be a bit slow thanks to sorcery speed.
Mirari's Wake - The anthem effect is very useful for a deck like this with a large number of small, non-threatening creatures, but that's not even the best part. The huge mana advantage this card offers is insane, and is a must-answer card every time it hits the battlefield. It also easily enables making infinite mana with Palinchron. Be aware, though, that this card paints a big target on your face.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Free Brainstorm once each turn is incredibly powerful. Oh, and he has some other modes too that might come in handy once in a while. But also, free Brainstorm once each turn. It's worth nothing that, being a Planeswalker that draws cards and has a relatively low loyalty, people will target him frequently simply out of opportunity.
Tezzeret the Seeker - This guy is almost exclusively here because of Birthing Pod. Not only having the ability to tutor it into play, but also to untap it and get multiple uses out of it each turn is absolutely wonderful. On top of that, he makes every other artifact in the deck just a little better.
Venser, the Sojourner - Having a repeating flicker effect is definitely a good thing for a creature toolbox deck, especially with his ability to flicker any stolen permanents and return them to us. Every once in a while making all creatures unblockable will win on the spot, and his ultimate almost always wins the game, too.
Karn Liberated - While he doesn't do anything specifically desirable here, Karn should be at least considered for essentially every deck. He's costly, sure, but he's colourless removal of any permanent type, colourless hand hate, and can win the game all on his own. That can patch a lot of holes that a deck couldn't normally patch without extra colours.
Pact of Negation - Free counter spells are few and far between, and sometimes they're really nice to have. This card really shines in decks that frequently tap out, and in metas with a lot of dedicated combo decks. Be aware of opposing Strip Mines and the like when casting, so as not to lose the game by not being able to pay on upkeep.
Enlightened Tutor - There are a number of fantastic artifacts and enchantments in this deck, and a few of them are always desirable. In the first few turns, this should always, always go get Sol Ring. Afterward, Birthing Pod, Sylvan Library, and Mirari's Wake are prime choices.
Mystical Tutor - The power level of this card, similarly to Enlightened Tutor, depends on the cards it can find. Finding a Mana Drain on turn 1 to hold up for turn 2 is almost reason enough alone to include this card here, but on top of that it can go get game winning spells later on, such as Time Warp and Tooth and Nail.
Path to Exile - Premium removal. Only hits creatures, but it does so as efficiently as possible, and exiles them in the process. Giving an opponent a land can sometimes be awkward, but almost always worth it. Cheap, efficient answers like this are incredibly valuable for a deck that works heavily on tempo.
Swords to Plowshares - Even better than Path to Exile. One of the absolute best creature removal spells there is. It's cheap and efficient, it exiles, and the upside it gives to opponents is practically irrelevant in a 40 life format.
Counterspell - The original counter. It's still one of the best, and is still a very worthwhile inclusion. While it's overshadowed by Mana Drain, it is still one of the cheapest and most efficient hard counter spells, and is much easier to hold up than the many three mana counter spells with upside.
Cyclonic Rift - Similarly to Oblivion Stone, this will frequently function as a reset button. However, it's a reset button in this case that comes at instant speed and only hits opposing battlefields. Overloading this spell can allow you to catch up, put you ahead, or win you the game. However, seven mana can be a lot to hold up, and while casting it without Overload can sometimes feel bad, that use for it should absolutely never be overlooked.
Eladamri's Call - Quite possibly the best creature tutor, as it finds any creature at instant speed, for a cheap and efficient price. It's especially good for finding things like Mystic Snake in a pinch.
Mana Drain - By far the best counter spell that has ever been printed. It's strictly better than Counterspell, and while not at all budget-friendly, the value of this card cannot be overstated. This can be held up early game and counter just about anything to work as a one-shot ramp spell, getting a quick jump start in the game, and never loses any value as the game goes on, as it is always a hard counter, and the extra mana will almost always be useful.
Reality Shift - This isn't as good as Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile, but it comes pretty close. The upside it gives will frequently be negligible, and it cheaply and efficiently exiles creatures. In mono blue, no less.
Bant Charm - While this card may have lost a lot with the changing of the commander tuck rule, it still does a wonderful job of serving one of its main purposes. This card is versatile and can deal with many, many problems, but most importantly this card is able to deal with four of the most painful hate cards against this deck: Torpor Orb, Hushwing Gryff, Containment Priest, and Hallowed Moonlight. That alone is reason enough to include it, even without all of the extra value it offers.
Beast Within - One of the absolute best, most versatile removal spells there is. It hits any permanent, at instant speed, is cheap and easy to cast, and the upside it gives to an opponent is frequently irrelevant. This should be an auto-include in every single green deck.
Chord of Calling - This is the perfect sort of card for a creature toolbox deck. Always an auto include. Being able to find any sort of answer creature at instant speed is incredibly powerful.
Dissipate - Most of the three mana counter spells with upside are pretty solid, and this is one of the better ones, as it more permanently deals with whatever it counters. This is pretty big, since just about everybody has some way of getting things back from the graveyard or other.
Hinder - Without being able to tuck commanders anymore, this card is just not really worth playing. Dissipate is almost strictly better at this point.
Sphinx's Revelation - Mass draw spells are always nice to have around. They can let you take over a game when things are even, or bring you back up from way behind. The life gain is also very good, as this deck tends to hurt itself a lot, with painful lands, Sylvan Library, Birthing Pod, etc.
Stroke of Genius - While the added life gain on Sphinx's Revelation might not seem like a huge deal, it does put this card way behind it. It is a little bit easier to cast, colour wise, but it should only ever be a second choice.
Voidslime - Quite possibly the best of the three mana counter spells with upside. It's a bit colour intensive, but playing this allows for a Stifle effect without dedicating an entire card to it. The versatility of this card makes it very powerful.
Cryptic Command - Yes, triple blue is a lot of blue. Yes, it's worth it. Every single mode on this card is useful, and powerful. Many people talk about how this card will frequently just be a bad Dismiss, and they're not entirely wrong. But it's for all the other times, when it does something else entirely, that this card is fantastic. One of the most important things in singleton deck building is to have versatility in threats and answers. Cards that can fit many situations. This card goes above and beyond in that respect.
Fact or Fiction - While it may not always draw as many cards as some other cheap draw spells, it digs very deep for its cost, and is absolutely fantastic at any stage of the game. On top of that, this deck plays many ways to get things back from the graveyard, so the binned cards are rarely really gone.
Plasm Capture - Mana Drain this is not. However, it is still a very powerful counter. It's a bit expensive and very colour intensive, but getting it off is well worth it. Making coloured mana instead of colourless is very powerful.
Green Sun's Zenith - This card cheaply and efficiently finds many of the great creatures in this toolbox, and it's also a turn 1 ramp spell in conjunction with Dryad Arbor. It's a staple for most green decks.
Eldritch Evolution - A single use Birthing Pod that can skip a rung in the ladder? Yes please! On top of that, it it's X or less, so options abound.
Wargate - Like a more expensive Green Sun's Zenith, but for any permanent! The versatility is what makes this card so good. It can even be used as a bad ramp spell when it's absolutely necessary.
Rite of Replication - With so many sweet enter-the-battlefield value creatures, this can potentially do a lot of work. However, it does suffer from being both expensive and vulnerable. Tapping out for this, even making it uncounterable with something like Boseiju, Who Shelters All, feels a lot bad when an opponent just removes the target creature in response. It doesn't help that it's a sorcery, either.
Supreme Verdict - Even in a creature heavy deck like this, there will always be times when some other deck is just getting out of control on board, and Wrath effects are a necessary evil. This one should always get the nod over Wrath of God in a counter magic heavy meta.
Wrath of God - The original Wrath. Still good, still a solid inclusion. Whether to choose this or Supreme Verdict is entirely meta dependent.
Capture of Jingzhou - This is the most expensive Time Warp, and it is not at all for those building on a budget. It should be third in line.
Temporal Manipulation - This is the second most expensive Time Warp, and though it may be a little more budget-friendly than Capture of Jingzhou, it's still up there in price. Whenever a second Time Warp is desired, though, this one is definitely next in line.
Time Warp - An auto-include in just about any blue deck. Extra turn effects are inherently incredibly powerful, regardless of whether that extra turn is a game ender or just a poor man's Explore. It's particularly easy for this deck to take advantage of the extra turn, with Jenara herself easily taking out opponents, and with a lot of powerful once-per-turn type effects, like Birthing Pod, planeswalkers, etc. This card can also be used to take infinite turns, when combined with Eternal Witness and any sort of flicker/recursion effect, or even just abused with a Snapcaster Mage to take over the game.
Tragic Arrogance - While it won't clear the whole board, it will very frequently leave you in a favourable position. In addition, the fact that the permanents are sacrificed helps to get around things like Karmic Justice, Darksteel Forge, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, etc.
Austere Command - This is one of the most versatile board wipes there is, and that makes it inherently one of the best board wipes. At six mana, it can be a little bit costly to get off in a pinch, but the ability to selectively clear opponents' boards while leaving your own untouched is incredibly powerful.
Tooth and Nail - Many people see this as strictly being a combo card, and very frequently it will be. That being said, with the kind of toolbox available in this deck, even when not using it to combo off this card will do some incredible things. Nine mana is a lot, but resolving this card will very frequently either take over the game or win it outright.
Praetor's Counsel - Most of the time this is going to be like a giant draw spell. Pulling the entire graveyard into the hand, with no maximum hand size, can very frequently just take over a game. This cards gets worse and worse with more graveyard hate in the meta, though.
Being restricted to a limited budget when building a deck can be pretty unfortunate. Using cheaper alternatives will often have a fairly large impact on both the power level and consistency of the deck. I would personally recommend using proxies to replace the expensive cards while you try to eventually acquire them, if your play group allows. If not, or if you want to play the deck in a tournament setting, then of course proxies aren't an option.
So, with that in mind, here are some of the more expensive cards ($40+) in the deck, with some potential alternatives for them. These are ordered by importance, and should probably be acquired in that order.
Survival of the Fittest - There is no real substitute for this card. The closes we've got is something like Evolutionary Leap, which doesn't even come close. If absolutely necessary, it's an okay replacement, but this should be way up on the list of cards to get.
Snapcaster Mage - If absolutely necessary, you could probably replace this with Archaeomancer, but that is a much, much worse alternative. This guy should be top of the list for cards to acquire right away.
Mana Drain - This card has such a high power level, especially early game when it's also a ramp spell, that it's hard to replace. The closest replacement for this, by effect, would be Plasm Capture, but you might be better off replacing it with a cheap counter spell or a cheap ramp spell.
Sword of Fire and Ice - You can really replace this with any other good equipment, or drop it entirely. The swords here are not mandatory, they're just nice for the powerful effects and the allow small creatures to be more threatening. Any of the other swords is a fine choice.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - He's nice to have, but not necessary. A very straightforward replacement would be Jace Beleren, but you might even just want to fill his slot with another creature.
Cavern of Souls - Frankly, if you're not playing in a counter magic heavy meta, you can generally skip this one entirely. Just replace it with any other sweet utility land, like Alchemist's Refuge.
Wasteland - It sucks that this card is so much more expensive than Strip Mine, despite being strictly worse. You can pretty easily replace it with either Ghost Quarter or Tectonic Edge. Neither will be quite as good, but they'll get the job done just fine.
2015-07-20
I'm going to try to list out many of the changes for cards listed above as having been removed from the deck, from before I started tracking deck changes here. I might miss some, but hopefully this will fill in the gap as to why many of the above cards were cut. This will be in the order they appear in the card options list above, as there is zero chance of me remembering the chronological order in which these changes were made.
Pain Lands (Adarkar Wastes, Brushland, Yavimaya Coast) ➝ Duals Lands (Tundra, Savannah, Tropical Island) - As I slowly acquired the dual lands for this deck I phased out the pain lands, as a strict upgrade.
Filter Lands (Mystic Gate, Wooded Bastion, Flooded Grove) ➝ Artifact Lands (Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales) - I hadn't previously been playing Tezzeret the Seeker here, and as soon as I added him I found a spot for the artifact lands. The filters just came in as the weakest links. Alchemist's Refuge ➝ Ancient Tomb - While the Refuge is a very cool card and can allow for some silly things, I decided that I would just much rather have the extra ramp a lot of the time. Gavony Township ➝ Boseiju, Who Shelters All - This was a fairly early cut. Gavony never did as much here as I wanted it to, and my meta became more and more counter magic heavy, prompting me to want Boseiju. Tectonic Edge ➝ Wasteland - Strict upgrade, once I acquired it. Forest ➝ Dryad Arbor - When I decided to cut Noble Hierarch from the deck I also decided I still wanted a way to cast Jenara on turn 2, so the Arbor found its way in. While it did bring down my basic count some, I'm still comfortable where it is, and it's still a forest that can be found with Wood Elves and the like.
Noble Hierarch ➝ Sakura-Tribe Elder - The Elder got cut one day, ages ago, for I don't remember what. I decided at some point that I'd rather have the more resilient ramp from the Elder than have the Hierarch. She still may find her way back in at some point. Coiling Oracle ➝ Mulldrifter - A lot of the time I would cast the Oracle I'd wish he was giving me more cards, and with my somewhat low land count he would miss a lot. So I decided to go for more card draw over the conditional ramp. Gilded Drake ➝ Prophet of Kruphix - I was never super happy with this card. I always felt like any time I used it without a Venser, the Sojourner on the table I felt bad. Then Prophet was released and I needed to find a spot for it, so tada! Scavenging Ooze ➝ Angel of Finality - Made this swap as I always felt Ooze never really synergized, and I never really wanted to hold up much mana for him. Stoneforge Mystic ➝ Angel of Serenity - Stoneforge is definitely great, but I found that most of the time I just felt like she didn't do enough. Maybe if I was playing bigger gear like Batterskull or something I would have been happier with her. I had been trying to find a slot for the Angel for a while, so this just kinda happened. Farhaven Elf ➝ Yavimaya Dryad - Pretty solid upgrade, once I had all the duals in the deck. Fiend Hunter ➝ Glen Elendra Archmage - I don't know why I wasn't playing this awesome faerie to begin with, but I decided to swap out temporary removal in favour of more counter magic. Fierce Empath ➝ Birthing Pod - Another one of those cards that should have been here from the beginning. I was never super impressed with Empath, and Pod was so, so much more. Mirror Entity ➝ Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - I mostly just got bored of comboing off with Mirror Entity. I just wanted to do other things, and Vorinclex had recently been played against me a bunch and made an impression. Vendilion Clique ➝ Venser, Shaper Savant - Opted to have more versatile removal/countering than conditional hand hate. Never loved it in multiplayer. Angel of Finality ➝ Stonecloaker - Angel was never as good as I wanted it to be, mostly because of the lack of flash. Stonecloaker synergizes with the deck very well, and most of the time exiling a single targeted card from the graveyard is sufficient. Oracle of Mul Daya ➝ Thragtusk - Oracle would miss a lot and gave away a lot of information, and I had just been playing a lot of Thragtusk in standard and had a thing for the card. Restoration Angel ➝ Sphinx's Revelation - Kind of a weird swap, but I never felt like Resto did enough here, and I wanted more card draw and more life, so this happened. Thragtusk ➝ Resolute Archangel - Thragtusk was mostly here for life gain purposes, and the angel just does that way, way better. Consecrated Sphinx ➝ Prime Speaker Zegana - Sphinx drew a ton of cards, but it often ate removal and did nothing for me. Then Prime Speaker happened, and I needed her here. Yes, needed.
Relic of Progenitus ➝ Scrabbling Claws - I got sick of exiling my own graveyard and then found the Claws. Straight forward swap. Coalition Relic ➝ Skullclamp - Skullclamp had been cut at some point in the past for something I can't remember, and I really wanted it back. I also felt like I had plenty of other ramp, and another of my decks needed the Relic anyway. Crystal Shard ➝ Conjurer's Closet - Seemed like a pretty straight forward upgrade at the time. Sword of Light and Shadow ➝ Beast Within - I was always underwhelmed with that particular sword, and I wanted more removal. Conjurer's Closet ➝ Tezzeret the Seeker - I had wanted to find room for Tezzeret for a while, and I had come to find the Closet a little too slow for my liking, and didn't like that it did nothing by itself.
Pact of Negation ➝ Hinder - At one point I had been playing much more combo focused, and I wanted the Pact to protect my own combo when I was trying to go off. As I moved away from that focus, I wanted a counter that gave me some other value. Hinder ➝ Mystic Snake - I really liked the idea of having more counters in the form of creatures, so I made this swap. Plasm Capture ➝ Counterspell - Just wanted a cheaper, easier to cast counter, even without the extra upside.
Wrath of God ➝ Supreme Verdict - Made this swap as soon as Verdict was released, as I was sick of my Wrath being countered. Praetor's Counsel ➝ Fact or Fiction - I always saw Counsel as a big draw spell, and it did that job well. I really wanted to bring down my curve, though, and I wanted more early game card draw.
2015-07-21 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger ➝ Sphinx of Uthuun - I wanted the extra draw power on a creature, I wanted to lower my curve a bit, and I wanted to stop being a massive target every time I played Vorinclex.
2016-01-19 Prophet of Kruphix ➝ Temporal Manipulation - Super sad to see Prophet go, but that ban hammer got her. Hopefully having the additional extra turn effect will somewhat make up for her loss.
2016-02-27 Supreme Verdict ➝ Tragic Arrogance - Currently testing out the Arrogance to see how I feel about it. Very frequently having a better catch-all Wrath effect will be better for this deck than just removing creatures, even if it doesn't clear everything and leaves open a couple holes that Verdict would otherwise close. Palinchron ➝ Noble Hierarch - This was a very difficult decision to make, and it may very well end up being reversed. Palinchron is fantastic for enabling a lot of combo winning, but I was just never impressed with it when I wasn't comboing. Plus, with the recent mulligan rule changes, I decided I wanted to cut a 7-drop and add more ramp, and this is the result.
2016-08-19 Tooth and Nail ➝ Eldritch Evolution - I've only gotten to cast EE once so far, but that one time it was great (turning a Solemn Simulacrum into a Sun Titan). I might end up missing Tooth and Nail, but this change brings the curve down some more and increases the overall speed. We'll see.
2016-08-21 Dryad Arbor ➝ Alchemist's Refuge - I've been a little annoyed with Dryad Arbor for a while. It's amazing when you Green Sun's Zenith for it on turn one, or fetch for it in response to a sac effect, but every time I draw it it feels bad. I've wanted to fit Refuge back in for a while (since Prophet of Kruphix got banned), so this seems like a fine swap. Deadeye Navigator ➝ Eldrazi Displacer - While DEN is a great card, with the ban of Prophet of Kruphix, and then even more when I cut Palinchron, I've been less and less happy with it. Mostly just because of how mana intensive he can be. It makes it so that he's either locking up the game or a mostly dead card, with little middle ground. Hopefully I'm happier with Displacer. Bant Charm ➝ Angel of Finality - Charm is great, and I love the card, but I've found lately that I've wanted the extra grave hate a little more than the spot removal. Mirari's Wake ➝ Mana Crypt - This was the hardest decision here for me to make. Mirari's Wake is and always will be one of my favourite cards. It's a very powerful card. However, two things have made me have second thoughts about it lately: 1) every blue deck is running Clever Impersonator now, and I don't want to be giving other people Wakes, and 2) every time I've got a Wake on the table the game turns into Archenemy, which is more of an issue now than it once was with overall power level increases in my play group. But, I've wanted to fit in Crypt for a while, and this seems like the logical choice. It's faster, less of a target, etc.
2016-11-22 Ancient Den ➝ Plains - With cutting Tezzeret the Seeker, I no longer want the artifact lands here. He was the main reason they were. In addition, adding Bane of Progress means I'm more frequently going to blow them up as collateral damage, so this change makes sense. Seat of the Synod ➝ Island - See above Tree of Tales ➝ Forest - See above Angel of Finality ➝ Recruiter of the Guard - I really wanted to find a spot for Recruiter, and just like last time I found myself a little underwhelmed with this angel. Oblivion Stone ➝ Cataclysmic Gearhulk - While Oblivion Stone is great, I've been much, much happier with the Gearhulk. The ease with which this deck can tutor it up makes it extra amazing. Austere Command ➝ Bane of Progress - I found myself missing the extra 6 CMC creature for my Birthing Pod chain after I cut Deadeye Navigator. Bane is one I've been thinking about adding for a while, and Austere Command seemed like the logical choice here. Tezzeret the Seeker ➝ Forest - This might seem strange, but mostly I've just wanted a 36th land in here since the mulligan rule changes, and all the changes above came together to make me want Tezz here a little less. No more Oblivion Stone to tutor, more frequently accidentally blowing up artifact lands, etc.
Its a strong combo and it looks like you are assembling combo here. It might be worth the one card inclusion to turn it on. I have details for it back in my Jenara ex primer under combos if you are unfamiliar with it.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Another note: I think Reclamation Sage over Harmonic Sliver is the only really worthwhile contribution I've made to the deck. Harmonic Sliver is a must trigger and in fringe cases it will enable other people's slivers (lots of people play necrotic sliver!).
Reclamation Sage in addition to being a may trigger has a bigger body and a less color intensive mana cost.
Duplicant is a card I am not a fan of in competitive EDH decks. I always wind up cutting it due to its extreme mana cost--it would usually be better as another piece of targeted removal, even in this creature toolbox deck. If you're banking on reveillark shenanigans, Fiend Hunter is better since it can also combo with Sun Titan.
And one more: Given your investment in the deck and that you're playing venser, I cannot overstate how amazing Gilded Drake is. It's one of the last creatures I would cut from ISB's list.
The flip side of the Reclamation Sage vs Harmonic Sliver is that if you drop a clone of it you get 2x triggers as each have the when a sliver ETBs effect. Being that this deck primarily runs on creatures the chance of backfire isn't that bad on it and the value of the creatures tends to be the same and it would still likely make things harder on the other players.
I think the Reclamation Sage vs Harmonic Sliver tends to be a minor variance in effect sort of discussion though. I don't see either as strictly better than the other.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Your curve looks quite a bit higher than ISB's list, and yet you seem to run fewer lands. Think you might be a little aggressive on land count?
Well, I wouldn't really say my curve is "quite a bit higher" (3.6 average mana cost versus his 3.3), but it's definitely higher. However, I'm also running a fair amount of more ramp than he is.
The two fewer lands very barely effects the odds.
For example, at 35 lands I've got approximately a 47% chance of drawing 3+ lands in my opening hand, while at 37 lands that changes to about a 51% chance of 3+ lands.
Beyond that, I feel like that will often come down to a matter of play style. Things like how aggressively you mulligan, how you play certain tutors and whatnot, etc.
I actually feel, for my own play style and in my own opinion, that 37 lands is too many. I very rarely ever put more than 36 lands into an EDH deck. I've found 35-36 to be the sweet spot for 90% of decks.
That's a good point! I wasn't accounting for the clones. I prefer the Sage because it's less likely to give your opponents ways to mess about with your game (e.g. sacrificing a target, forcing you to blow up your own swords type stuff), but I get your line of thinking.
Vensering a clone with a harmonic sliver out would be pretty damned oppressive.
I have often been sort of against Cryptic Command in decks that are not heavy draw / go as well. You might consider a cheaper counter just because having 4 mana up with 1UUU every turn gets exhausting very quickly instead of something like say Arcane Denial or Pact of Negation.
I do really love Cryptic Command but its a monster to keep mana up for in a deck that generally has things to be done on its turn.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Its a strong combo and it looks like you are assembling combo here. It might be worth the one card inclusion to turn it on. I have details for it back in my Jenara ex primer under combos if you are unfamiliar with it.
I played Mirror Entity in here for years. I mostly just got bored of it. Each of the other cards that makes up that combo is still something I want to be playing regardless. It's entirely possible he'll find his way back in here at some point, but for now I just wanted to do different things.
Another note: I think Reclamation Sage over Harmonic Sliver is the only really worthwhile contribution I've made to the deck. Harmonic Sliver is a must trigger and in fringe cases it will enable other people's slivers (lots of people play necrotic sliver!).
Reclamation Sage in addition to being a may trigger has a bigger body and a less color intensive mana cost.
Duplicant is a card I am not a fan of in competitive EDH decks. I always wind up cutting it due to its extreme mana cost--it would usually be better as another piece of targeted removal, even in this creature toolbox deck. If you're banking on reveillark shenanigans, Fiend Hunter is better since it can also combo with Sun Titan.
And one more: Given your investment in the deck and that you're playing venser, I cannot overstate how amazing Gilded Drake is. It's one of the last creatures I would cut from ISB's list.
ISB already said exactly what I would have about Harmonic Sliver vs Reclamation Sage.
The huge value of playing Duplicant is not only having a creature based removal that I can abuse, but it's also a colourless, permanent exile. It's not always relevant, but having removal that gets around colour protection is a really good thing to have around, and his costs never proves to be much of an issue for me. I could never imagine cutting him.
Once upon a time, years ago, I did run Fiend Hunter in this list, but he ended up getting cut ages ago. Don't remember what exactly took his slot, though.
Same goes for Gilded Drake, actually. Every once in a while I've missed the Drake, but ever enough to re-include him. It could just be a personal experience thing, but there were so many times when that Drake sitting on an opponent's field prevented me from killing him with Jenara, or gave him a way to swing in to kill one of my planeswalkers.
I have often been sort of against Cryptic Command in decks that are not heavy draw / go as well. You might consider a cheaper counter just because having 4 mana up with 1UUU every turn gets exhausting very quickly instead of something like say Arcane Denial or Pact of Negation.
I do really love Cryptic Command but its a monster to keep mana up for in a deck that generally has things to be done on its turn.
Cryptic Command is one area where you and I very thoroughly disagree. The value of that card just cannot be overstated. The versatility is offers is insane, and it's one of the last cards I'd ever cut. It's possible that you had a harder time with the triple blue because your build does a little less land fetching, and I could see it having issues with heavy colours from time to time. Also, from what I can see, I spend a lot more time doing things on my opponents' turns than you did in your deck.
Also, I've always hated Arcane Denial. Giving my opponents cards is the last thing I want to be doing, ever.
Also also, I used to play Pact of Negation in here once upon a time, and there are definitely times when it's nice to have. However, in most situations, I'd much rather leave up mana for various things, including counter magic, than use a Pact and halfway skip my own turn. I found I was only ever really happy with it when I was comboing off, and I ended up cutting it.
Thats fair, I personally see it as more of a lategame card due to its mana cost and keeping it up from a turn to turn basis is something I don't like but its very powerful. I tend to favor cheap and efficient when it comes to instant speed answers over power because of how much I always felt I did on my own turn but if you plan around having command up its still powerful. I just felt like the amount of mana to keep it up was sort of high. It comes down to personal preference and play styles though to some extent.
Technically, the course of a turn rotation involves opponents drawing three cards for every card you draw. Giving a single opponent two cards in trade for a single card is better card value than allowing a turn to pass. You cant evaluate card advantage in the same way as you would in 60 card as when playing a 4 player FFA game. In my opinion Arcane Denial is still considered positive card advantage in this format considering the normal draw of a turn involves 3 cards being drawn for each card you draw. You are also stopping something important in a way that is cheap and easy on the landbase.
For me Pact of Negation has always just been an emergency counter. I don't tend to cast it but when I really need it I have it in my pocket and I don't have to have any mana up and ready. Its nice because people might expect you to not have any means of interacting with what they are doing and bam you stop them from winning out of nowhere. I have always felt like I had a lot to be doing on my turn and so keeping my instant speed answers cheap on the mana had always been a priority for me.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I get your point about Arcane Denial, but I still don't agree. I feel like it would be better in a dedicated permission deck. In that situation, you generally have plenty of counters to go around, and giving someone a couple of extra cards won't matter too much. However, the way I see this here is generally like this: I only have a very limited number of counters, and when I'm using them, it's generally going to be against which ever opponent represents the biggest threat to me, and that's the last person I want to have cards. Especially as you get later into the game, two extra cards becomes hugely relevant.
The only time I'm okay giving someone 2 cards is when they're playing bad cards in a bad deck. And if that's the case, I'm probably not playing with them in the first place.
Also, as far as it giving away less card advantage than a single turn rotation, that's a somewhat flawed argument. There's a huge difference between each person drawing their one card a turn and giving one specific person two extra cards. That can represent a huge advantage and allow that one person to get ahead of the rest in many situations.
It's also worth noting that 90% of my multiplayer games are 3 player and not 4, which becomes relevant when you take into account your point about how many cards people are drawing.
I agree with most of what you say about Pact, I just don't feel like the situations where I really wish I had it are all that frequent.
To chime further into giving a particular player two cards, its worth noting that its likely that your turn will happen before theirs so you will probably be able to take advantage of your one card drawn before they do theirs. You both draw at the same time but more often than not you are countering something on their turn meaning they often cannot take advantage of what they draw until their next turn. What you counter in a deck not packing heavy counterspells is often worth more than that of two cards at a later date for most people too.
Its really not a big deal either way. I think Cryptic is a good spell but my own preferences tend to be not to run it in more decks than not. I just thought it was worth some discussion is all.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Resolute Archangel strikes me as an interesting add to your list. What sort of results have you had so far? I had been using Wall of Reverance for similar sort of tactics as a vs aggro strategies. The Archangel seems nice from a blink and rez perspective but it seems sort of expensive to pull out. I would be interested in hearing your results.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I absolutely adore Resolute Archangel. I can't overstate how happy I've been with her. I tend to be very abusive to my own life total (especially when I have a Sylvan Library on the table, 'cause real men take 8).
Her higher cost is never really an issue, 'cause I don't ever really want/need to play her until later in the game, when I've got a ton of mana already anyway. Also, the majority of the time I'm playing her, it's via Birthing Pod or Karmic Guide, so the cost becomes much less relevant.
In 3 color decks cards that require keeping 3 pips of any color open are highly suspicious in my opinion. Cryptic is not a card I would usually run as a result despite it being a great card obviously. The mana cost is really awkward.
I dunno man, I've always had issues leaving mana open for dudes like Teferi, and my mana bases are getting pretty solid.
Like I said above I have some serious questions about your mana base here - none of your colored ramp/fixing is cheaper than 3 except tribe elder and there's not really a ton of card draw. I envision the possibility that the deck will occasionally miss land drops or colors at 35 lands. Especially when one of those methods of fixing is Trinket Mage and artifact lands (who seem apt to fall prey to the occasional random artifact destruction.
Do you really hit your colors/land drops on time and always have 3 blue for Cryptic while being able to effectively prosecute your gameplan with how high your curve is? I've missed land drops with 40 land decks so I guess I don't see how it's working with 35 and so many 6-7 drops.
I've already shown you some match/odds, but let me show you a little more.
Assuming you haven't drawn any extra cards or done any thinning:
With 37 lands, the chances of not missing any land drops by turn 5 are about 48%.
Missing one drop: 24%
Missing two drops: 18%
Missing three drops: 8%
Missing four drops: 2%
With 35 lands, the chances of not missing any land drops by turn 5 are about 43%.
Missing one drop: 25%
Missing two drops: 19%
Missing three drops: 9%
Missing four drops: 4%
Like I said, those aren't taking into account any extra cards drawn or deck thinning, but I'm sure you get the idea anyway.
Generally speaking, by turn 5 it doesn't matter anymore. By this point, you should almost always have at least 5 mana on the table, and that's plenty to get going.
For reference, here are a few game progressions from games I played this morning:
I won that game, too. As you can see, in this game I actually did miss a land drop, but it didn't matter because I had so many other things going on.
I would say that those three games are each a little above average for how this deck generally performs. But, just to be fair, I'll throw in one more game that didn't go so hot for me.
After that I was able to untap and finally start doing things, but at that point I was pretty far behind. I killed one person with Jenara damage, and then the other person killed me.
Judging from my Cockatrice replays, and my own estimations on my IRL games, I would say that games like that are about 1/10 for me. The majority of the games are much closer to the first three.
I'd contend that from your examples the deck oughta be probably playing more lands You had a lot going on but no one interacted with you at all in those firs 5 turns as far as I can tell. Give me unfettered access to Birthing Pod and Survival of the Fittest and I'll have a good game when I miss a land drop too.
I did enjoy the math quite a bit; suggests to me that maybe 38-39 is better. I've run as high as 40 in some decks and not usually regretted it. Running 40 lands is functionally the same as running 24/60 which is really only a midrange land count - obviously aggressive ramp and draw spells would reduce that count some but I don't see enough. Normally I'll only start aggressively pruning my lands when I'm adding 1-2 drop mana accelerants (birds, sol ring, etc.).
The biggest worrisome scenario I see happening is this deck keeping an aggressive 2 land hand and stalling. With a higher land count you can risk that a bit more.
This whole discussion makes me think that I might enjoy some really deep math about manabases in EDH. Things like "I play 3 1-drop draw spells, how should that affect my mana base if my curve is such and such with such and such mana symbols."
A lot of people compare EDH manabases to 60 card constructed mana bases, and that's very flawed. You can't really compare the two.
One of the biggest reasons is that in EDH we have partial Paris mulligans, which allow for sculpting a way, way better average hand than you'd otherwise get. This allows for very aggressive mulligans.
I've felt for years that many, even MOST, EDH players don't take full advantage of partial Paris mulls and don't mulligan properly.
I don't see myself ever wanting more than 36 lands in an EDH deck (MAYBE 37 max if the deck warrants it, but that would be very rare).
Also, 90% of people don't do a ton of interacting in the first few turns. Most people are spending their turns 1-4 on setup and ramp, and then start doing more things.
For example, in one of those games my Birthing Pod got destroyed shortly after by a Vindicate, and in another someone played a Supreme Verdict shortly after.
Yeah, one of the reasons I am very adverse to the lower land count is our group stopped using partial paris, but I use it occasionally in pickup games and generally dislike lower land counts even there. My reasoning is generally that mulliganing to search for more land is a much scarier proposition than mulling away a couple lands.
We use the "Draw 7, exile and redraw a couple times or whatever" method mostly, and it generally is better for higher landcounts.
In my experience most real cutthroat competitive decks will have nature's claim, swords, stifle, and spell pierce type stuff to stomp on people's early game plays. Kinda surprised you don't see more of that. Even in my group an early pod or survival is begging to eat a reclamation sage or some other early hate.
Anyway, I didn't mean to come off as negative and hope you'll take this as me attempting to be constructive. It's really a very strong deck and I obviously like it or I wouldn't have netdecked a very similar deck
These discussions are helpful for everybody involved. I had never actually done the math before, it's interesting to see the numbers.
Also, those cards are definitely played, but people aren't always going to have them.
I made the decision to turn this thread into a primer, with the intention of making it official.
I think it's most of the way there at this point, but what I'd like to do now is to get suggestions from all of you, about what other sections or information you'd like to see here, as well as feedback about what's there now.
1.2. Choosing This Deck
3.2. Playing Jenara
3.3. Combo Options
4.2. Creatures
4.3. Artifacts
4.4. Enchantments
4.5. Planeswalkers
4.6. Instants
4.7. Sorceries
My first build with her, quite frankly, was awful. I had no idea how to build an EDH deck at that point, and I was just all over the place. What I ended up with was part Voltron, part combo deck, and part random good stuff. As time went on, I learned a lot more and started to refine the deck. I moved away from wonky combos and Voltron and decided to put more focus on just playing a good stuff deck. I stripped the deck down and started over, building something that was much better, and the first real precursor to what this list is today. I eventually realized that just good stuff wasn't good enough. I needed more synergy, a theme, a plan. I settled on value creatures, largely because of their inherent power level, and after some more changes this deck quickly rose to be one of the most powerful in my playgroup. People started to take note of it, and it even gained a reputation.
After many hours spent refining, tuning, and tweaking the deck, it has become what it is today. The list is incredibly tight, and making changes is always an ordeal that has me humming and hawing for days. The deck has become something incredibly formidable, lying somewhere between a control deck, a tempo deck, and an aggro deck, with a solid creature toolbox at its core.
I love this deck. I've put a lot of time, effort, and money into it, and it has treated me very well these past years. Now, with ISBPathfinder's primer retired, I've decided to write my own. I hope you find it both enjoyable and helpful.
Bant (GWU) is one of the few colour combinations that has no holes. Within the card pool available in these colours, there is an answer for every situation. This allows for a very large amount of deck customization and tuning, with many, many opportunities for changes based on personal play style and meta calls. Beyond that, each of these colours contributes something valuable to the deck, with none of them being coincidental or splashed.
G Green - Ramp, creature tutors, value engines
W White - Removal, artifact and enchantment tutors, creature recursion
U Blue - Card draw, counter spells, artifact and spell tutors
Why play creature value/toolbox?
Creatures with enter the battlefield value abilities are inherently powerful. They allow you to achieve the effects of many powerful spells while constantly adding to your board presence, giving an aggressive edge and keeping pressure on opponents, while simultaneously mitigating the inherent weakness of creatures. Having a value creature immediately destroyed is never a total loss. Every resolved value creature is almost like a 2-for-1 in your favour.
With the help of cards like Birthing Pod, Survival of the Fittest, and Reveillark, those creatures go from just being powerful to being nearly unfair, allowing you to find what you need, when you need it, and use it over and over again.
Why play Jenara?
Jenara, Asura of War has a lot going for her. As a quick rundown:
Reasons you may enjoy this deck
1 Jenara, Asura of War
Lands (36)
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Flooded Strand
1 Windswept Heath
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Tundra
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Prairie Stream
1 Canopy Vista
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Academy Ruins
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Alchemist's Refuge
3 Plains
3 Island
4 Forest
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Eternal Witness
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Stonecloaker
1 Trinket Mage
1 Wood Elves
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Mystic Snake
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Acidic Slime
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Body Double
1 Karmic Guide
1 Mulldrifter
1 Reveillark
1 Bane of Progress
1 Duplicant
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Sun Titan
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Resolute Archangel
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Mana Crypt
1 Scrabbling Claws
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Birthing Pod
Enchantments (2)
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
Instants (13)
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Mana Drain
1 Beast Within
1 Voidslime
1 Chord of Calling
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Cryptic Command
1 Fact or Fiction
Sorceries (6)
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Eldritch Evolution
1 Wargate
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Time Warp
1 Tragic Arrogance
All of this is done with one core purpose in mind: value. Every action this deck takes provides more value than what is apparent on the surface. Every resolved value creature is a bonus beater. Every creature on the battlefield is fodder for a Birthing Pod or a Skullclamp. Every creature in the graveyard is a target for a Reveillark or a Karmic Guide, and every resolved wrath provides plenty of those targets. The list goes on and on.
This deck is not the easiest thing in the world to play, though. It does not pilot itself. The deck needs to be played organically, taking full advantage of the synergy it offers, fully abusing every resource, and flowing freely from plan to plan as the game progresses and evolves.
As mentioned, this deck has multiple ways to play, and here are the core ones:
Lastly, here are a few key concepts to help get the most out of this deck:
While Bant doesn't have access to any two creature kill combos, there are still some great combo options we can employ, with these three being among the best:
1) Infinite Mana - Palinchron + creature recursion or mana doubler
Time Warp + Eternal Witness + Deadeye Navigator/Venser, the Sojourner
Time Warp can be replaced with any number of extra turn spells (Temporal Manipulation, Capture of Jingzhou, Walk the Aeons, etc)
Eternal Witness can be replaced with Archaeomancer
The recursion effect can be replaced with a large number of other things, including Sun Titan + Skullclamp/Birthing Pod
The easiest way to pull this combo off is with the use of Survival of the Fittest, since it can be accomplished by starting with just a Survival and any creature in hand.
Any and all suggestion for other cards to be added here are both welcome and appreciated.
Bold - This card is currently in this deck
Strikethrough- This card has been in this deck in the pastRegular - This card has either been considered for this deck at some point in the past, or has been suggested to be added to this list
Lands
Shock Lands - Hallowed Fountain, Temple Garden, Breeding Pool - Not quite as good as original duals, but they do an absolutely wonderful impression of them.
On Colour Fetch Lands - Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Misty Rainforest - A must-have, especially when running duals and shocks. Even with only basics to find, these lands will significantly increase mana consistency, as well as helping to thin out the deck, and offering shuffle effects, which can be wonderful in combination with cards like Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library, etc.
Off Colour Fetch Lands - Whether or not to run some of the extra fetch lands comes down to a matter of personal preference, mostly. They don't add quite as much extra consistency as the on colour fetch lands do, but they do add more thinning and shuffling. It's important to make sure there are enough targets for them all. Running the extra fetch lands is frequently much better in decks with a higher land count.
Core Duals/Check Lands - Glacial Fortress, Sunpetal Grove, Hinterland Harbor - These aren't nearly as good as original duals or shocks, but they work absolutely wonderfully in combination with them, as any of the duals or shocks will allow all of these to enter untapped.
Battle Duals - Prairie Stream, Canopy Vista - Another set of duals with basic types. Fantastic for fetching and the like. Hopefully they complete the set with enemy coloured ones at some point in the not too distant future.
Any Colour Pain Lands-City of Brass,Mana Confluence, Grand Coliseum - The life lost from these lands is well worth the benefit of having more lands that can tap for all colours. The bonus to colour consistency is worth far more than a few measly life points.Pain Lands-Adarkar Wastes,Brushland,Yavimaya Coast- A fantastic budget option, as a replacement for duals, shocks, or fetches.Filter Lands-Mystic Gate,Wooded Bastion,Flooded Grove- They're not dirt cheap, but these lands are still a fantastic budget option for when duals, shocks, and fetches are a little out of reach. It's important to pay extra attention to how the mana is tapped when using these.Artifact Lands-Ancient Den,Seat of the Synod,Tree of Tales- The absolute primary reason to run these is Tezzeret the Seeker. Using his -X ability can tutor these onto the battlefield for free. As extra added value, they can also be found off of Trinket Mage, turning him into a sort of Borderland Ranger when the land is absolutely needed.Basic Lands - Plains, Island, Forest - It can be easy to add a ton of non-basic lands and call it a day, but it's important to add in at least a couple of each of these. They help avoid Blood Moon blowouts, and give something to find off of Path to Exile, Ghost Quarter, etc.
Academy Ruins - This is generally a staple land for any blue deck that has artifacts. It's fantastic for getting back a blown up Birthing Pod, for oppressing the board with multiple Oblivion Stone uses, or anything in between.
Alchemist's Refuge - Being able to cast anything on opponents' turns is very powerful, and this can allow for some insane plays, especially with a lot of sweet abilities on creatures.
Ancient Tomb - The "free" ramp that this land offers is well worth the damage. Just like with the any colour pain lands, the advantage is more valuable than the extra life. Just make sure to keep an eye on that life total.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Just like with Cavern of Souls, this card is only worthwhile in a counter magic heavy meta. It shocks on every use and comes in tapped. However, in the right metas, this will be very important for ensuring that big important spells, like Tooth and Nail, Sphinx's Revelation, Wargate, etc, will resolve.
Cavern of Souls - Frequently a necessary inclusion in counter magic heavy metas. Played early it should almost always name Angel, and played later it can be used to ensure resolving whatever creature is most important at the time.
Celestial Colonnade - This is easily one of the better manlands that has ever been printed. Having a manland around is nice, especially one that can fly in to take out planeswalkers after a wrath.
Command Tower - Bread and butter staple land for absolutely every multicolour deck. All upside.
Dryad Arbor- There is only one good reason to include this here, and that reason is Green Sun's Zenith. With this, that Zenith can be a turn 1 ramp spell. There's also a bit of added value with the ability to fetch this off of fetch lands and the like, in response to sacrifice effects or as an emergency blocker.Gaea's Cradle - Definitely a very powerful land, but also very expensive. While an auto include in just about any tokens deck, it doesn't do nearly as much work here. That being said, with the high creature count in this deck there is still a lot of potential for this card.
Gavony Township- This deck plays a lot of small creatures, and this land can help to make them more threatening. The more small creatures the better it is.Ghost Quarter - Another budget-friendly option as a replacement for Wasteland.
Reflecting Pool - Most of the time this will just be a second Command Tower. It's important to pay close attention to available colours when playing this in the first few turns.
Reliquary Tower - Every deck draws cards, and every deck wants to keep those cards. Therefore this land should be in every deck. Done.
Seaside Citadel - Much worse than Command Tower, but still well worth playing.
Strip Mine - There are many busted lands out there to be played, and many times when they need to go. That's what this is for. It's a staple, and should be in every deck.
Tectonic Edge- A budget-friendly option as a replacement for Wasteland.Wasteland - This card is both worse than Strip Mine and more expensive. It is, however, the best option for a second copy of this effect.
Coiling Oracle- Very nearly Explore on a creature. This guy works especially well with top deck manipulation and a higher land count.Gilded Drake- Being able to exchange with any opposing creature is definitely powerful, especially at this low of a mana cost. However, there can definitely be times when giving an opponent a 3/3 flying creature can be problematic, especially when trying to play planeswalkers or kill with Jenara. As a bonus, this drake has a ton of synergy with Venser, the Sojourner.Knight of the White Orchid - I've considered this card, on and off, so many times. I've come so close to having it take the place of Sakura-Tribe Elder. The harder cost and conditional ramp keep turning me off of it, though. Still, a very decent ramp choice.
Mistmeadow Witch - This comes down early and it offers the ability to flicker any creature. Because of the way it's worded, it also offers extra synergy with Gilded Drake. The biggest problem with it is that the ability is fairly expensive, and the flickered creatures don't return until end of turn. All of that makes this kind of slow, but definitely still worth playing.
Phantasmal Image - One of the best Clones ever printed, whether using it to copy your own best creature or an opponent's best creature, it is always going to be very good. It also allows for some silly things with Sun Titan.
Riftsweeper - This deck likes to use its graveyard, and people like to exile cards from graveyards. That makes this guy sort of a neat inclusion, as he can make it so that nothing is ever permanently gone. His major problem is that he shuffles the card back in, instead of either putting it to graveyard, to hand, or even on top.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Frequently considered to be a green staple. It's essentially Rampant Growth in creature form. With plenty of recursion, it's easy to get a lot of value out of him. A very solid piece of early game ramp.
Scavenging Ooze- One of the better options for graveyard hate, especially in a creature deck. It does lack any sort of synergistic value with the rest of the deck, but it's solid on its own as an extra piece of hate.Snapcaster Mage - A must-have for any blue deck. Being able to repeat any instant or sorcery in the graveyard is incredibly powerful. He's cheap, he's Skullclamp fodder, and he brings a ton of value.
Stoneforge Mystic- This is a fantastic card to have in conjunction with a respectable equipment package. She especially shines in builds that focus a bit more on Jenara herself, allowing for tutoring up whatever the best equipment for the occasion may be.Eldrazi Displacer - This is probably much better than Mistmeadow Witch, even with the colorless requirement. If the mana base can support it, it's a solid inclusion for additional flickering.
Eternal Witness - Having access to Regrowth on a creature enter the battlefield ability is incredibly powerful. Especially one that can be returned with Sun Titan and eaten with Skullclamp for cards. An absolute green staple.
Farhaven Elf- While not as good as Wood Elves, this guy is still pretty solid, particularly in lists with a higher basic land count.Fiend Hunter- All by himself he's little more than a speed bump. However, when used with any instant speed methods of flickering/bouncing him (Deadeye Navigator, Mistmeadow Witch, etc), his exile becomes permanent. He can also loop with Sun Titan or Karmic Guide and any sacrifice outlet.Fierce Empath- The power level of this card is entirely dependent on the power level of large creatures in the deck, as well as the quantity of large creatures. A solid option for tutoring up game changing creatures, but more versatile creature tutoring is generally preferred.Harmonic Sliver - Despite being the only sliver in the deck, this can still be very easily abused with Clone effects, such as Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, etc. Casting a Clone as a copy of one of these yields two triggers on enter. Copying it a second time will cause three triggers. This interaction can allow for clearing the board of opposing artifacts and enchantments quite handily.
Mirror Entity- This is one of the core pieces of one of the better combos available to this deck, in the form of Reveillark, Body Double, Mirror Entity, and any other 2 power value creature (Acidic Slime, Venser, Shaper Savant, etc). This creates a death loop allowing infinite ETB triggers. Outside of that combo, this card can still be incredibly threatening, turning a board full of tiny creatures into a massive threat every turn, though at a high mana expense. Also, the changeling ability causes it to trigger Harmonic Sliver, which is a bit of nice added value.Reclamation Sage - Harmonic Sliver should get the nod over this in any build with Clones, which should generally be all of them. This is a fine choice as backup, though, if more of this effect is desired.
Recruiter of the Guard - Given that this can find most of the creatures in the deck, it makes for a very useful toolbox option. On top of that, it's Skullclampable, which is always nice.
Silumgar Sorcerer - This is a very cool card, but the problem with it is how narrow it is. If the ability was Counterspell instead of Remove Soul it would be way, way better, and probably earn itself a slot.
Skullwinder - It's not quite an Eternal Witness, but it comes pretty close. The fact that it gives an opponent back a card can be a lot unfortunate, but if you play enough graveyard hate to keep somebody's graveyard empty then it can be played with no downside, and a 1/3 with Deathtouch isn't entirely irrelevant.
Stonecloaker - This is a very neat card for this deck, as it offers value in a number of different ways. First, it is instant speed graveyard hate, which is always nice to have. Second, it can return sweet value creatures to hand, allowing them to be recast for even more value. Lastly, it can be used as protection, returning to hand a high value creature that might otherwise be about to get destroyed or exiled.
Trinket Mage - With a plethora of useful and powerful tiny artifacts to go find, this guy gains a ton of value. The more targets and the better the targets, the better this card will get. Early game Sol Ring or later Scrabbling Claws are fantastic choices. He can also go find the artifact lands, making him into a Borderland Ranger when necessary.
Vendilion Clique- While it doesn't actually provide card advantage, any kind of hand hate in these colours, especially at instant speed, is pretty rare, and it makes for a very neat ability to have access to. It's generally much better for 1v1 than for multiplayer, though.Wood Elves - This elf is one of the best mana ramp creatures there is. Being able to go find any card with the forest type, onto the battlefield, and even untapped, is fantastic. He's cheap to go find with Green Sun's Zenith, he can be fed to Skullclamp, and he comes back with Sun Titan. His power level does depend on a solid mana base, though, with dual lands and shock lands.
Yavimaya Dryad - While a little bit harder to cast than Wood Elves, this is very nearly as good. This should always come first over Farhaven Elf in a list with dual lands and shock lands. Without them, however, this loses a lot of value.
Angel of Finality - If this card had flash it would likely be an auto include. However, without it, it often feels like it's a day late and a dollar short. Even given that, though, it is still a very solid inclusion for graveyard hate.
Archaeomancer - This card absolutely always loses out to Eternal Witness, and should only be considered as backup. It both costs more than Eternal Witness, and is restricted to only returning instants and sorceries.
Brago, King Eternal - Having to connect for an ability to trigger can be a bit problematic, but when he does connect, he essentially resets your entire board, retriggering all enter the battlefield effects and untapping everything.
Clever Impersonator - The versatility that this clone offers is insane. Being able to copy any nonland permanent on the battlefield offers a ton of potential for crazy plays, especially at instant speed, like when tutored with Chord of Calling.
Ephara, God of the Polis - She doesn't offer mass draw all at once, but she does offer steady draw over a long period, and all the benefits that come with being a god. Her draw can be inconsistent, though, without an extra high creature count or more bounce/flicker effects. She pairs excellently with something like Stonecloaker, which can be replayed every turn.
Glen Elendra Archmage - Even without offering much synergy with the deck overall, this card can be incredibly oppressive to many decks, especially with Clones and ways of recurring it, like Karmic Guide, Reveillark, etc. It's also solid to bounce or flicker after a single use, as the persist counter can be reset to get more and more value out of it.
Mystic Snake - Literally Counterspell plus Grizzly Bears. There are plenty of ways to abuse this in this deck, but it gets most obscene when paired with a Deadeye Navigator, completely locking other players out of the game.
Oracle of Mul Daya- The conditional ramp and draw smoothing offered here is powerful and desirable, but it doesn't really synergize with the rest of the deck as a whole, and it loses value without an extra high land count. It's worth noting, as well, that having this card on the table gives away a lot of information to opponents, which can be very significant in more competitive metas.Phyrexian Metamorph - Not quite as versatile as Clever Impersonator, but being able to cast this for three mana and two life makes it very powerful, and it's still one of the best Clones in existence. This also adds a lot of value to Tezzeret the Seeker, and vice versa, as being able to tutor a Clone off of him is very powerful.
Restoration Angel- The biggest detriment to this card is the inability to flicker other angels. That means she can't be used to protect Jenara herself, and she can't get extra value from Karmic Guide, Angel of Serenity, etc. Still, having this ability at instant speed, attached to a 3/4 flying body, is powerful.Solemn Simulacrum - This is a staple card that belongs in almost every single deck. Being colourless allows it to save the day when having colour problems, and also allows casting it for free off of Mana Drain mana. It also fits incredibly well into a Birthing Pod chain, as it gets value both on enter and on dies. Especially great if you equip a Skullclamp to it.
Thought-Knot Seer - A little more expensive to cast than a Vendillion Clique, and without the Flash, but the card it removes is exiled, and you're not giving anybody a card until it leaves. The colorless requirement might be an issue, but still worth considering.
Venser, Shaper Savant - This card offers both a Boomerang and a very unique sort of counter effect, that only temporarily deals with a spell, but gets around uncounterable effects, such as Boseiju, Who Shelters All or Cavern of Souls. Can get very oppressive when paired with a Deadeye Navigator.
Acidic Slime - Yet another staple effect. It's a versatile piece of removal in the form of a creature ETB effect, in the right range to be returned with Reveillark.
Body Double - Copying a creature in any graveyard is a very unique and powerful effect. Even outside of a combo, it still can do some very silly things when combined with Reveillark.
Cataclysmic Gearhulk - There aren't many good board wipe creatures to play outside of Black and Red, so this is absolutely amazing to have here. It's also very aggressively costed, allowing you to play this and still have a decent board presence.
Karmic Guide - Reanimating any creature makes this an incredibly valuable ETB effect. Echo means it will never really stick around for very long, but it's absolutely fantastic as part of a Birthing Pod chain, or to equip with Skullclamp.
Mulldrifter - Casting this early game as a Divination is a great way to keep a solid tempo going, and with so many ways to copy and recur this, it keeps coming back and makes for a lot of card draw all throughout the game. It also sits at a fantastic spot in the Birthing Pod chain, allowing for podding Solemn Simulacrum into this for three cards.
Reveillark - While frequently used as part of a combo, this card can still do some ridiculous things on its own, offering a ton of value and recursion. Great to Birthing Pod away, great to flicker/bounce, and it's even a relevant flying beater. This is probably one of the best cards in the deck.
Roon of the Hidden Realm - A viable commander candidate for this deck. His biggest issue as commander is the same as his biggest issue in the deck itself: he's just too slow. He's relatively expensive, and his ability requires tapping.
Thragtusk- He may not be the powerhouse here that he has been in other formats, but he is still a solidly aggressive creature with great abilities, on both enters and leaves the battlefield. He's a great option for more life gain, and making a bunch of 3/3 tokens isn't irrelevant.Bane of Progress - Almost entirely a meta call. Way too many artifacts and enchantments? Having the relevant half of an Austere Command on an easy to find and recur/repeat creature is quite powerful. It can even be returned with Reveillark.
Consecrated Sphinx- Any time this card sticks around it's going to draw a ton of cards. It will also, however, attract a ton of hate. Having this card on the table generally makes you a target, and even when it doesn't, it will often eat a removal spell before ever actually drawing cards. On top of that, it doesn't really synergize with the rest of the deck too well. In this case, ETB draw options, like Prime Speaker Zegana and Sphinx of Uthuun are often better.Deadeye Navigator- He's definitely not as invulnerable as some people believe he is, but he can certainly be hard to deal with. An opponent can respond to the soulbond trigger, which is when this guy is left vulnerable, but he completely dodges any sorcery speed, targeted removal. While he does seem like a significant up front mana investment, when this guy sticks around he just takes over the game, plain and simple. He also combos for infinite mana with Palinchron, which is worth noting.Draining Whelk - This loses out the slot to Mystic Snake every time purely because of the mana cost. It's too expensive to be very practical as a counter spell. A giant flying creature can definitely be relevant, but a lot of the time it will only end up with a couple of counters on it.
Duplicant - While not the most cost efficient removal, it is permanent removal on a creature. And it's even colourless, on top of that. The benefits easily outweigh the somewhat high cost. His low base power also makes him great for returning with Reveillark.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Mass card draw on a value creature is highly desirable, especially for this deck. Even when it only draws a few cards it's still pretty great, but most of the time it will enter a battlefield that already has a pumped Jenara, drawing a nice handful. There's also a sweet synergy with any sort of anthem effects here, such as Mirari's Wake, as she will enter with more counters, and also she draws equal to her power, not her counters.
Progenitor Mimic - Six mana is a lot for a Clone, but the extra ability on this can potentially add a lot of value. It is slow, though, which can hinder its usefulness as a finisher.
Sun Titan - An auto-include in just about any white deck. It fits perfectly with the theme of the deck, as well as being very powerful, allowing us to recur a lot of value cards, as well as lands, most of the artifacts, etc. There are also some fun things to do with this and Phantasmal Image.
Woodland Bellower - This has the potential to be a really cool/powerful card in a deck like this, especially if his ability is kept in mind while building. A large number of small green utility creatures can give this guy a ton of play. It also seems pretty neat with Fierce Empath.
Angel of Serenity - This card does some pretty great things. It can function as either removal or recursion, and it's a big flying beater. It's a pretty great way to finish a Birthing Pod chain, returning a bunch of the creatures that were sacrificed to get there.
Avenger of Zendikar - Once upon a time he was the big bad green finisher of choice for many decks. Nowadays he is largely outclassed by many other things, but he still has a very powerful ability, and he can still do a lot of work to end a game.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - In a deck full of little creatures, large anthem effects are definitely powerful. On top of that, she can entirely blank many token decks, and keeps the field clear of all opposing little things. She has a high cost, though, and is something of a lightning rod.
Palinchron- There's no denying that this card is almost strictly here as a combo enabler. There are a ton of ways to make infinite mana with it, and Jenara is always happy to eat that mana to one-shot opponents, not to mention using it to lock players out of the game with things like Deadeye Navigator and Venser, Shaper Savant. However, even outside of combo, it is still a "free" big flying creature, that can essentially block forever. Also fantastic for to Birthing Pod into, as that play offers a huge mana advantage for that turn.Resolute Archangel - Whether or not to play this will depend a lot on personal play style. This deck likes to hurt itself a lot in order to better outpace opponents and keep ahead on resources. Between painful lands (Ancient Tomb, City of Brass, etc), Birthing Pod, and Sylvan Library, it's not at all unreasonable to eat more of your own life than opponents do. With this card sitting in reserve, you can be significantly more aggressive with your life, knowing that you can find this in many ways when the time comes and go straight back to 40 life.
Sphinx of Uthuun - This sphinx simultaneously offers deep digging and a big threat. A 5/6 flying body is just about always relevant, and having an easily repeatable and abusable Fact or Fiction can get out of hand quickly.
Craterhoof Behemoth - He won't do nearly as much work here as he may in a tokens deck, but his ability is powerful and that alone makes him worth consideration. He can easily take out an opponent with just a few other creatures on the table.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger- He's big and he's scary. He costs a lot, but he's a must answer threat that puts you way, way ahead of opponents as soon as he hits the table. He also creates infinite mana with Palinchron, allowing for Tooth and Nail for those two as a very powerful play.Tormod's Crypt - One of a handful of the most common graveyard hate cards. It's free to cast and to activate, and it can be found with a Trinket Mage. Even better when it can be reused to hit multiple opponents.
Relic of Progenitus- Another of the most common graveyard hate cards, this card has a huge advantage in the incremental value that it can offer. Playing this early can be very oppressive to any decks that use their graveyard even a little bit. It has one huge downside, though, as it hits every graveyard when blown up, not just an opponent's. Just like Tormod's Crypt, this one fits nicely into a Trinket Mage package.Scrabbling Claws - While it doesn't offer the ability to take out entire graveyards like Relic Progenitus, it maintains the same incremental value advantage, while still being perfectly capable of hitting problem cards when necessary. Goes just as well with Trinket Mage as the others, too.
Sensei's Divining Top - An auto include for nearly every single deck. It's cheap, it's colourless, and it offers reliable and resilient top deck manipulation. On top of that, it can be found off of Trinket Mage, making it that much better.
Skullclamp - Any deck that runs a large number of X/1 creatures should always be happy to have this card. Trading an X/1 for two cards will very nearly always be worth it. This card offers some of the cheapest and most efficient mass card draw there is.
Sol Ring - Not the best mana rock ever printed, but it is the best mana rock legal in the format. This will always be the primary target for Trinket Mage, early game Enlightened Tutor, and early game Tezzeret the Seeker. The sooner this hits the table the better.
Blade of Selves - This card has the potential to do a lot, and the ability is very powerful in the right setting. If your games are most often 4+ players then this is a very solid option. If you primarily play 3 player games, like I do, then the card does significantly less, and can really feel underwhelming.
Lightning Greaves - There are two main uses for this card in this deck. The first is for Jenara kills. Either coming down early and forcing opponents immediately on the defensive, or coming in for quick wins in the late game. The second is for protecting key, high power creatures that always have a target on them. These are creatures that can warp the entire game, such as Prophet of Kruphix, Deadeye Navigator, etc.
Coalition Relic- Every once in a while it's nice to have coloured mana backup from a mana rock, and this is one of the best options for that. May be unnecessary in metas that aren't heavy in mass land destruction/denial (Armageddon, Contamination, etc).Crystal Shard- This card offers a solid means of repeatedly abusing ETB effects on creatures, as well as sometimes catching opponents off guard. However, it's slow, and not very mana efficient.Oblivion Stone- This is a reset button. It can be played and left to sit as a stall tactic, slowing down other players, or it can be used in an emergency to clear the entire board and put everybody back on more or less even footing. This card should be at least considered for nearly every deck.Sword of Feast and Famine - One of the two best Swords printed, the effects on this card are very powerful, as well as offering very relevant colour protections. The biggest benefit of this card here is that it allows for any of the small, otherwise unthreatening creatures in the deck to become a relevant threat, which allows the small value creatures to stay on par with scarier beaters that opponents may play. Gets better with Stoneforge Mystic in the deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice - The other of the best Swords printed, this card is good for all of the same reasons as Sword of Feast and Famine, except that it also draws cards!
Sword of Light and Shadow- With effects not nearly as powerful as Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of Fire and Ice, it largely comes down to whether or not the protection from white is heavily desired. Any deck that puts more emphasis on attacking with Jenara herself will likely want this. The creature recursion is desirable, but it's very slow and much worse than all the other recursion options in the deck.Birthing Pod - Easily one of the absolute best cards in the deck. Its power level, however, is entirely dependent on the power level of the creatures in the deck, the number of creatures, and whether or not a Pod chain was taken into account when deciding on those creatures.
Conjurer's Closet- This card can be a bit slow and expensive for what it does, and it does absolutely nothing by itself. That being said, once it's on the table it is a free flicker every turn, and the more powerful the creatures the more powerful this card can be.Gilded Lotus - This card has been considered here a number of times, all because of Tezzeret the Seeker and Phyrexian Metamorph. Having those two cards always makes this card worth at least considering.
Sylvan Library - While painful, this is one of the absolute best card draw and card filter options out there. It's an automatic include in every single green deck, and non-green decks wish they could play it too. Also, real men take eight.
Aura Shards - With a high creature count, and a number of flicker/recursion effects, this is easy to trigger and can be very oppressive, keeping all opponents' fields clear of artifacts and enchantments. Not quite as good here as in a tokens deck, but still powerful.
Song of the Dryads - With the change of the commander tuck rule, this has gone way up in value as removal, as it's one of the few ways to "permanently" remove an opponent's commander. It can also be returned with Sun Titan, enchanting hexproof or shroud creatures. It comes with all the downsides of enchantment removal, though, and can be a bit slow thanks to sorcery speed.
Mirari's Wake- The anthem effect is very useful for a deck like this with a large number of small, non-threatening creatures, but that's not even the best part. The huge mana advantage this card offers is insane, and is a must-answer card every time it hits the battlefield. It also easily enables making infinite mana with Palinchron. Be aware, though, that this card paints a big target on your face.Jace, the Mind Sculptor- Free Brainstorm once each turn is incredibly powerful. Oh, and he has some other modes too that might come in handy once in a while. But also, free Brainstorm once each turn. It's worth nothing that, being a Planeswalker that draws cards and has a relatively low loyalty, people will target him frequently simply out of opportunity.Tezzeret the Seeker- This guy is almost exclusively here because of Birthing Pod. Not only having the ability to tutor it into play, but also to untap it and get multiple uses out of it each turn is absolutely wonderful. On top of that, he makes every other artifact in the deck just a little better.Venser, the Sojourner - Having a repeating flicker effect is definitely a good thing for a creature toolbox deck, especially with his ability to flicker any stolen permanents and return them to us. Every once in a while making all creatures unblockable will win on the spot, and his ultimate almost always wins the game, too.
Karn Liberated - While he doesn't do anything specifically desirable here, Karn should be at least considered for essentially every deck. He's costly, sure, but he's colourless removal of any permanent type, colourless hand hate, and can win the game all on his own. That can patch a lot of holes that a deck couldn't normally patch without extra colours.
Pact of Negation- Free counter spells are few and far between, and sometimes they're really nice to have. This card really shines in decks that frequently tap out, and in metas with a lot of dedicated combo decks. Be aware of opposing Strip Mines and the like when casting, so as not to lose the game by not being able to pay on upkeep.Enlightened Tutor - There are a number of fantastic artifacts and enchantments in this deck, and a few of them are always desirable. In the first few turns, this should always, always go get Sol Ring. Afterward, Birthing Pod, Sylvan Library, and Mirari's Wake are prime choices.
Mystical Tutor - The power level of this card, similarly to Enlightened Tutor, depends on the cards it can find. Finding a Mana Drain on turn 1 to hold up for turn 2 is almost reason enough alone to include this card here, but on top of that it can go get game winning spells later on, such as Time Warp and Tooth and Nail.
Path to Exile - Premium removal. Only hits creatures, but it does so as efficiently as possible, and exiles them in the process. Giving an opponent a land can sometimes be awkward, but almost always worth it. Cheap, efficient answers like this are incredibly valuable for a deck that works heavily on tempo.
Swords to Plowshares - Even better than Path to Exile. One of the absolute best creature removal spells there is. It's cheap and efficient, it exiles, and the upside it gives to opponents is practically irrelevant in a 40 life format.
Counterspell - The original counter. It's still one of the best, and is still a very worthwhile inclusion. While it's overshadowed by Mana Drain, it is still one of the cheapest and most efficient hard counter spells, and is much easier to hold up than the many three mana counter spells with upside.
Cyclonic Rift - Similarly to Oblivion Stone, this will frequently function as a reset button. However, it's a reset button in this case that comes at instant speed and only hits opposing battlefields. Overloading this spell can allow you to catch up, put you ahead, or win you the game. However, seven mana can be a lot to hold up, and while casting it without Overload can sometimes feel bad, that use for it should absolutely never be overlooked.
Eladamri's Call - Quite possibly the best creature tutor, as it finds any creature at instant speed, for a cheap and efficient price. It's especially good for finding things like Mystic Snake in a pinch.
Mana Drain - By far the best counter spell that has ever been printed. It's strictly better than Counterspell, and while not at all budget-friendly, the value of this card cannot be overstated. This can be held up early game and counter just about anything to work as a one-shot ramp spell, getting a quick jump start in the game, and never loses any value as the game goes on, as it is always a hard counter, and the extra mana will almost always be useful.
Reality Shift - This isn't as good as Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile, but it comes pretty close. The upside it gives will frequently be negligible, and it cheaply and efficiently exiles creatures. In mono blue, no less.
Bant Charm- While this card may have lost a lot with the changing of the commander tuck rule, it still does a wonderful job of serving one of its main purposes. This card is versatile and can deal with many, many problems, but most importantly this card is able to deal with four of the most painful hate cards against this deck: Torpor Orb, Hushwing Gryff, Containment Priest, and Hallowed Moonlight. That alone is reason enough to include it, even without all of the extra value it offers.Beast Within - One of the absolute best, most versatile removal spells there is. It hits any permanent, at instant speed, is cheap and easy to cast, and the upside it gives to an opponent is frequently irrelevant. This should be an auto-include in every single green deck.
Chord of Calling - This is the perfect sort of card for a creature toolbox deck. Always an auto include. Being able to find any sort of answer creature at instant speed is incredibly powerful.
Dissipate - Most of the three mana counter spells with upside are pretty solid, and this is one of the better ones, as it more permanently deals with whatever it counters. This is pretty big, since just about everybody has some way of getting things back from the graveyard or other.
Hinder- Without being able to tuck commanders anymore, this card is just not really worth playing. Dissipate is almost strictly better at this point.Sphinx's Revelation - Mass draw spells are always nice to have around. They can let you take over a game when things are even, or bring you back up from way behind. The life gain is also very good, as this deck tends to hurt itself a lot, with painful lands, Sylvan Library, Birthing Pod, etc.
Stroke of Genius - While the added life gain on Sphinx's Revelation might not seem like a huge deal, it does put this card way behind it. It is a little bit easier to cast, colour wise, but it should only ever be a second choice.
Voidslime - Quite possibly the best of the three mana counter spells with upside. It's a bit colour intensive, but playing this allows for a Stifle effect without dedicating an entire card to it. The versatility of this card makes it very powerful.
Cryptic Command - Yes, triple blue is a lot of blue. Yes, it's worth it. Every single mode on this card is useful, and powerful. Many people talk about how this card will frequently just be a bad Dismiss, and they're not entirely wrong. But it's for all the other times, when it does something else entirely, that this card is fantastic. One of the most important things in singleton deck building is to have versatility in threats and answers. Cards that can fit many situations. This card goes above and beyond in that respect.
Fact or Fiction - While it may not always draw as many cards as some other cheap draw spells, it digs very deep for its cost, and is absolutely fantastic at any stage of the game. On top of that, this deck plays many ways to get things back from the graveyard, so the binned cards are rarely really gone.
Plasm Capture- Mana Drain this is not. However, it is still a very powerful counter. It's a bit expensive and very colour intensive, but getting it off is well worth it. Making coloured mana instead of colourless is very powerful.Eldritch Evolution - A single use Birthing Pod that can skip a rung in the ladder? Yes please! On top of that, it it's X or less, so options abound.
Wargate - Like a more expensive Green Sun's Zenith, but for any permanent! The versatility is what makes this card so good. It can even be used as a bad ramp spell when it's absolutely necessary.
Rite of Replication - With so many sweet enter-the-battlefield value creatures, this can potentially do a lot of work. However, it does suffer from being both expensive and vulnerable. Tapping out for this, even making it uncounterable with something like Boseiju, Who Shelters All, feels a lot bad when an opponent just removes the target creature in response. It doesn't help that it's a sorcery, either.
Supreme Verdict- Even in a creature heavy deck like this, there will always be times when some other deck is just getting out of control on board, and Wrath effects are a necessary evil. This one should always get the nod over Wrath of God in a counter magic heavy meta.Wrath of God- The original Wrath. Still good, still a solid inclusion. Whether to choose this or Supreme Verdict is entirely meta dependent.Capture of Jingzhou - This is the most expensive Time Warp, and it is not at all for those building on a budget. It should be third in line.
Temporal Manipulation - This is the second most expensive Time Warp, and though it may be a little more budget-friendly than Capture of Jingzhou, it's still up there in price. Whenever a second Time Warp is desired, though, this one is definitely next in line.
Time Warp - An auto-include in just about any blue deck. Extra turn effects are inherently incredibly powerful, regardless of whether that extra turn is a game ender or just a poor man's Explore. It's particularly easy for this deck to take advantage of the extra turn, with Jenara herself easily taking out opponents, and with a lot of powerful once-per-turn type effects, like Birthing Pod, planeswalkers, etc. This card can also be used to take infinite turns, when combined with Eternal Witness and any sort of flicker/recursion effect, or even just abused with a Snapcaster Mage to take over the game.
Tragic Arrogance - While it won't clear the whole board, it will very frequently leave you in a favourable position. In addition, the fact that the permanents are sacrificed helps to get around things like Karmic Justice, Darksteel Forge, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, etc.
Austere Command- This is one of the most versatile board wipes there is, and that makes it inherently one of the best board wipes. At six mana, it can be a little bit costly to get off in a pinch, but the ability to selectively clear opponents' boards while leaving your own untouched is incredibly powerful.Tooth and Nail- Many people see this as strictly being a combo card, and very frequently it will be. That being said, with the kind of toolbox available in this deck, even when not using it to combo off this card will do some incredible things. Nine mana is a lot, but resolving this card will very frequently either take over the game or win it outright.Praetor's Counsel- Most of the time this is going to be like a giant draw spell. Pulling the entire graveyard into the hand, with no maximum hand size, can very frequently just take over a game. This cards gets worse and worse with more graveyard hate in the meta, though.So, with that in mind, here are some of the more expensive cards ($40+) in the deck, with some potential alternatives for them. These are ordered by importance, and should probably be acquired in that order.
I'm going to try to list out many of the changes for cards listed above as having been removed from the deck, from before I started tracking deck changes here. I might miss some, but hopefully this will fill in the gap as to why many of the above cards were cut. This will be in the order they appear in the card options list above, as there is zero chance of me remembering the chronological order in which these changes were made.
Filter Lands (Mystic Gate, Wooded Bastion, Flooded Grove) ➝ Artifact Lands (Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod, Tree of Tales) - I hadn't previously been playing Tezzeret the Seeker here, and as soon as I added him I found a spot for the artifact lands. The filters just came in as the weakest links.
Alchemist's Refuge ➝ Ancient Tomb - While the Refuge is a very cool card and can allow for some silly things, I decided that I would just much rather have the extra ramp a lot of the time.
Gavony Township ➝ Boseiju, Who Shelters All - This was a fairly early cut. Gavony never did as much here as I wanted it to, and my meta became more and more counter magic heavy, prompting me to want Boseiju.
Tectonic Edge ➝ Wasteland - Strict upgrade, once I acquired it.
Forest ➝ Dryad Arbor - When I decided to cut Noble Hierarch from the deck I also decided I still wanted a way to cast Jenara on turn 2, so the Arbor found its way in. While it did bring down my basic count some, I'm still comfortable where it is, and it's still a forest that can be found with Wood Elves and the like.
Noble Hierarch ➝ Sakura-Tribe Elder - The Elder got cut one day, ages ago, for I don't remember what. I decided at some point that I'd rather have the more resilient ramp from the Elder than have the Hierarch. She still may find her way back in at some point.
Coiling Oracle ➝ Mulldrifter - A lot of the time I would cast the Oracle I'd wish he was giving me more cards, and with my somewhat low land count he would miss a lot. So I decided to go for more card draw over the conditional ramp.
Gilded Drake ➝ Prophet of Kruphix - I was never super happy with this card. I always felt like any time I used it without a Venser, the Sojourner on the table I felt bad. Then Prophet was released and I needed to find a spot for it, so tada!
Scavenging Ooze ➝ Angel of Finality - Made this swap as I always felt Ooze never really synergized, and I never really wanted to hold up much mana for him.
Stoneforge Mystic ➝ Angel of Serenity - Stoneforge is definitely great, but I found that most of the time I just felt like she didn't do enough. Maybe if I was playing bigger gear like Batterskull or something I would have been happier with her. I had been trying to find a slot for the Angel for a while, so this just kinda happened.
Farhaven Elf ➝ Yavimaya Dryad - Pretty solid upgrade, once I had all the duals in the deck.
Fiend Hunter ➝ Glen Elendra Archmage - I don't know why I wasn't playing this awesome faerie to begin with, but I decided to swap out temporary removal in favour of more counter magic.
Fierce Empath ➝ Birthing Pod - Another one of those cards that should have been here from the beginning. I was never super impressed with Empath, and Pod was so, so much more.
Mirror Entity ➝ Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - I mostly just got bored of comboing off with Mirror Entity. I just wanted to do other things, and Vorinclex had recently been played against me a bunch and made an impression.
Vendilion Clique ➝ Venser, Shaper Savant - Opted to have more versatile removal/countering than conditional hand hate. Never loved it in multiplayer.
Angel of Finality ➝ Stonecloaker - Angel was never as good as I wanted it to be, mostly because of the lack of flash. Stonecloaker synergizes with the deck very well, and most of the time exiling a single targeted card from the graveyard is sufficient.
Oracle of Mul Daya ➝ Thragtusk - Oracle would miss a lot and gave away a lot of information, and I had just been playing a lot of Thragtusk in standard and had a thing for the card.
Restoration Angel ➝ Sphinx's Revelation - Kind of a weird swap, but I never felt like Resto did enough here, and I wanted more card draw and more life, so this happened.
Thragtusk ➝ Resolute Archangel - Thragtusk was mostly here for life gain purposes, and the angel just does that way, way better.
Consecrated Sphinx ➝ Prime Speaker Zegana - Sphinx drew a ton of cards, but it often ate removal and did nothing for me. Then Prime Speaker happened, and I needed her here. Yes, needed.
Relic of Progenitus ➝ Scrabbling Claws - I got sick of exiling my own graveyard and then found the Claws. Straight forward swap.
Coalition Relic ➝ Skullclamp - Skullclamp had been cut at some point in the past for something I can't remember, and I really wanted it back. I also felt like I had plenty of other ramp, and another of my decks needed the Relic anyway.
Crystal Shard ➝ Conjurer's Closet - Seemed like a pretty straight forward upgrade at the time.
Sword of Light and Shadow ➝ Beast Within - I was always underwhelmed with that particular sword, and I wanted more removal.
Conjurer's Closet ➝ Tezzeret the Seeker - I had wanted to find room for Tezzeret for a while, and I had come to find the Closet a little too slow for my liking, and didn't like that it did nothing by itself.
Pact of Negation ➝ Hinder - At one point I had been playing much more combo focused, and I wanted the Pact to protect my own combo when I was trying to go off. As I moved away from that focus, I wanted a counter that gave me some other value.
Hinder ➝ Mystic Snake - I really liked the idea of having more counters in the form of creatures, so I made this swap.
Plasm Capture ➝ Counterspell - Just wanted a cheaper, easier to cast counter, even without the extra upside.
Wrath of God ➝ Supreme Verdict - Made this swap as soon as Verdict was released, as I was sick of my Wrath being countered.
Praetor's Counsel ➝ Fact or Fiction - I always saw Counsel as a big draw spell, and it did that job well. I really wanted to bring down my curve, though, and I wanted more early game card draw.
2015-07-21
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger ➝ Sphinx of Uthuun - I wanted the extra draw power on a creature, I wanted to lower my curve a bit, and I wanted to stop being a massive target every time I played Vorinclex.
2016-01-19
Prophet of Kruphix ➝ Temporal Manipulation - Super sad to see Prophet go, but that ban hammer got her. Hopefully having the additional extra turn effect will somewhat make up for her loss.
2016-02-27
Supreme Verdict ➝ Tragic Arrogance - Currently testing out the Arrogance to see how I feel about it. Very frequently having a better catch-all Wrath effect will be better for this deck than just removing creatures, even if it doesn't clear everything and leaves open a couple holes that Verdict would otherwise close.
Palinchron ➝ Noble Hierarch - This was a very difficult decision to make, and it may very well end up being reversed. Palinchron is fantastic for enabling a lot of combo winning, but I was just never impressed with it when I wasn't comboing. Plus, with the recent mulligan rule changes, I decided I wanted to cut a 7-drop and add more ramp, and this is the result.
2016-08-19
Tooth and Nail ➝ Eldritch Evolution - I've only gotten to cast EE once so far, but that one time it was great (turning a Solemn Simulacrum into a Sun Titan). I might end up missing Tooth and Nail, but this change brings the curve down some more and increases the overall speed. We'll see.
2016-08-21
Dryad Arbor ➝ Alchemist's Refuge - I've been a little annoyed with Dryad Arbor for a while. It's amazing when you Green Sun's Zenith for it on turn one, or fetch for it in response to a sac effect, but every time I draw it it feels bad. I've wanted to fit Refuge back in for a while (since Prophet of Kruphix got banned), so this seems like a fine swap.
Deadeye Navigator ➝ Eldrazi Displacer - While DEN is a great card, with the ban of Prophet of Kruphix, and then even more when I cut Palinchron, I've been less and less happy with it. Mostly just because of how mana intensive he can be. It makes it so that he's either locking up the game or a mostly dead card, with little middle ground. Hopefully I'm happier with Displacer.
Bant Charm ➝ Angel of Finality - Charm is great, and I love the card, but I've found lately that I've wanted the extra grave hate a little more than the spot removal.
Mirari's Wake ➝ Mana Crypt - This was the hardest decision here for me to make. Mirari's Wake is and always will be one of my favourite cards. It's a very powerful card. However, two things have made me have second thoughts about it lately: 1) every blue deck is running Clever Impersonator now, and I don't want to be giving other people Wakes, and 2) every time I've got a Wake on the table the game turns into Archenemy, which is more of an issue now than it once was with overall power level increases in my play group. But, I've wanted to fit in Crypt for a while, and this seems like the logical choice. It's faster, less of a target, etc.
2016-11-22
Ancient Den ➝ Plains - With cutting Tezzeret the Seeker, I no longer want the artifact lands here. He was the main reason they were. In addition, adding Bane of Progress means I'm more frequently going to blow them up as collateral damage, so this change makes sense.
Seat of the Synod ➝ Island - See above
Tree of Tales ➝ Forest - See above
Angel of Finality ➝ Recruiter of the Guard - I really wanted to find a spot for Recruiter, and just like last time I found myself a little underwhelmed with this angel.
Oblivion Stone ➝ Cataclysmic Gearhulk - While Oblivion Stone is great, I've been much, much happier with the Gearhulk. The ease with which this deck can tutor it up makes it extra amazing.
Austere Command ➝ Bane of Progress - I found myself missing the extra 6 CMC creature for my Birthing Pod chain after I cut Deadeye Navigator. Bane is one I've been thinking about adding for a while, and Austere Command seemed like the logical choice here.
Tezzeret the Seeker ➝ Forest - This might seem strange, but mostly I've just wanted a 36th land in here since the mulligan rule changes, and all the changes above came together to make me want Tezz here a little less. No more Oblivion Stone to tutor, more frequently accidentally blowing up artifact lands, etc.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Its a strong combo and it looks like you are assembling combo here. It might be worth the one card inclusion to turn it on. I have details for it back in my Jenara ex primer under combos if you are unfamiliar with it.
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[Modern] Allies
Reclamation Sage in addition to being a may trigger has a bigger body and a less color intensive mana cost.
Duplicant is a card I am not a fan of in competitive EDH decks. I always wind up cutting it due to its extreme mana cost--it would usually be better as another piece of targeted removal, even in this creature toolbox deck. If you're banking on reveillark shenanigans, Fiend Hunter is better since it can also combo with Sun Titan.
And one more: Given your investment in the deck and that you're playing venser, I cannot overstate how amazing Gilded Drake is. It's one of the last creatures I would cut from ISB's list.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I think the Reclamation Sage vs Harmonic Sliver tends to be a minor variance in effect sort of discussion though. I don't see either as strictly better than the other.
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[Modern] Allies
The two fewer lands very barely effects the odds.
For example, at 35 lands I've got approximately a 47% chance of drawing 3+ lands in my opening hand, while at 37 lands that changes to about a 51% chance of 3+ lands.
Beyond that, I feel like that will often come down to a matter of play style. Things like how aggressively you mulligan, how you play certain tutors and whatnot, etc.
I actually feel, for my own play style and in my own opinion, that 37 lands is too many. I very rarely ever put more than 36 lands into an EDH deck. I've found 35-36 to be the sweet spot for 90% of decks.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Vensering a clone with a harmonic sliver out would be pretty damned oppressive.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I do really love Cryptic Command but its a monster to keep mana up for in a deck that generally has things to be done on its turn.
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[Modern] Allies
I played Mirror Entity in here for years. I mostly just got bored of it. Each of the other cards that makes up that combo is still something I want to be playing regardless. It's entirely possible he'll find his way back in here at some point, but for now I just wanted to do different things.
ISB already said exactly what I would have about Harmonic Sliver vs Reclamation Sage.
The huge value of playing Duplicant is not only having a creature based removal that I can abuse, but it's also a colourless, permanent exile. It's not always relevant, but having removal that gets around colour protection is a really good thing to have around, and his costs never proves to be much of an issue for me. I could never imagine cutting him.
Once upon a time, years ago, I did run Fiend Hunter in this list, but he ended up getting cut ages ago. Don't remember what exactly took his slot, though.
Same goes for Gilded Drake, actually. Every once in a while I've missed the Drake, but ever enough to re-include him. It could just be a personal experience thing, but there were so many times when that Drake sitting on an opponent's field prevented me from killing him with Jenara, or gave him a way to swing in to kill one of my planeswalkers.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Also, I've always hated Arcane Denial. Giving my opponents cards is the last thing I want to be doing, ever.
Also also, I used to play Pact of Negation in here once upon a time, and there are definitely times when it's nice to have. However, in most situations, I'd much rather leave up mana for various things, including counter magic, than use a Pact and halfway skip my own turn. I found I was only ever really happy with it when I was comboing off, and I ended up cutting it.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Technically, the course of a turn rotation involves opponents drawing three cards for every card you draw. Giving a single opponent two cards in trade for a single card is better card value than allowing a turn to pass. You cant evaluate card advantage in the same way as you would in 60 card as when playing a 4 player FFA game. In my opinion Arcane Denial is still considered positive card advantage in this format considering the normal draw of a turn involves 3 cards being drawn for each card you draw. You are also stopping something important in a way that is cheap and easy on the landbase.
For me Pact of Negation has always just been an emergency counter. I don't tend to cast it but when I really need it I have it in my pocket and I don't have to have any mana up and ready. Its nice because people might expect you to not have any means of interacting with what they are doing and bam you stop them from winning out of nowhere. I have always felt like I had a lot to be doing on my turn and so keeping my instant speed answers cheap on the mana had always been a priority for me.
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[Modern] Allies
The only time I'm okay giving someone 2 cards is when they're playing bad cards in a bad deck. And if that's the case, I'm probably not playing with them in the first place.
Also, as far as it giving away less card advantage than a single turn rotation, that's a somewhat flawed argument. There's a huge difference between each person drawing their one card a turn and giving one specific person two extra cards. That can represent a huge advantage and allow that one person to get ahead of the rest in many situations.
It's also worth noting that 90% of my multiplayer games are 3 player and not 4, which becomes relevant when you take into account your point about how many cards people are drawing.
I agree with most of what you say about Pact, I just don't feel like the situations where I really wish I had it are all that frequent.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Its really not a big deal either way. I think Cryptic is a good spell but my own preferences tend to be not to run it in more decks than not. I just thought it was worth some discussion is all.
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[Modern] Allies
But hey, to each their own.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Resolute Archangel strikes me as an interesting add to your list. What sort of results have you had so far? I had been using Wall of Reverance for similar sort of tactics as a vs aggro strategies. The Archangel seems nice from a blink and rez perspective but it seems sort of expensive to pull out. I would be interested in hearing your results.
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[Modern] Allies
Her higher cost is never really an issue, 'cause I don't ever really want/need to play her until later in the game, when I've got a ton of mana already anyway. Also, the majority of the time I'm playing her, it's via Birthing Pod or Karmic Guide, so the cost becomes much less relevant.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Like I said above I have some serious questions about your mana base here - none of your colored ramp/fixing is cheaper than 3 except tribe elder and there's not really a ton of card draw. I envision the possibility that the deck will occasionally miss land drops or colors at 35 lands. Especially when one of those methods of fixing is Trinket Mage and artifact lands (who seem apt to fall prey to the occasional random artifact destruction.
Do you really hit your colors/land drops on time and always have 3 blue for Cryptic while being able to effectively prosecute your gameplan with how high your curve is? I've missed land drops with 40 land decks so I guess I don't see how it's working with 35 and so many 6-7 drops.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Assuming you haven't drawn any extra cards or done any thinning:
With 37 lands, the chances of not missing any land drops by turn 5 are about 48%.
Missing one drop: 24%
Missing two drops: 18%
Missing three drops: 8%
Missing four drops: 2%
With 35 lands, the chances of not missing any land drops by turn 5 are about 43%.
Missing one drop: 25%
Missing two drops: 19%
Missing three drops: 9%
Missing four drops: 4%
Like I said, those aren't taking into account any extra cards drawn or deck thinning, but I'm sure you get the idea anyway.
Generally speaking, by turn 5 it doesn't matter anymore. By this point, you should almost always have at least 5 mana on the table, and that's plenty to get going.
For reference, here are a few game progressions from games I played this morning:
Game 1
Hand after mulls: Forest, Island, Mana Confluence, Sol Ring, Solemn Simulacrum, Mulldrifter
Turn 1: Draw Temple Garden, play Island, Sol Ring
Turn 2: Draw Swords to Plowshares, play Forest, Solemn Simulacrum finding a Plains
Turn 3: Draw Glen Elendra Archmage, play tapped Temple Garden and hard cast Mulldrifter, drawing Venser, the Sojourer and Duplicant
Turn 4: Draw Hallowed Fountain, play tapped Hallowed Fountain and Venser, the Sojourner, flicker Mulldrifter drawing Tezzeret the Seeker and Mana Drain, cast Swords to Plowshares on opponent's turn
Turn 5: Draw Green Sun's Zenith, play Mana Confluence and Tezzeret the Seeker, -0 to go find Seat of the Synod, flicker Mulldrifter drawing Path to Exile and Reflecting Pool, cast Path to Exile on opponent's turn
Turn 6: Draw Flooded Strand, play Flooded Strand fetching Tundra, cast Green Sun's Zenith for 5 to find Prophet of Kruphix holding up Mana Drain, flicker Mulldrifter drawing Dryad Arbor and Venser, Shaper Savant
That was a pretty sweet early turn progression. I won that game.
Game 2
Hand after mulls: City of Brass, Hallowed Fountain, Academy Ruins, Skullclamp, Trinket Mage, Birthing Pod
Turn 1: Draw Tundra, play Tundra and Skullclamp
Turn 2: Draw Windswept Heath, play Windswept Heath fetching up Savannah, play Trinket Mage finding Sol Ring
Turn 3: Draw Sphinx's Revelation, play Academy Ruins and Birthing Pod, equip Skullclamp to Trinket Mage[/card and pod away, drawing Scrabbling Claws and Seat of the Synod, into Solemn Simulacrum, finding an Island
Turn 4: Draw Boseiju, Who Shelters All, play tapped Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Scrabbling Claws, equip Skullclamp to Solemn Simulacrum and pod away, drawing Yavimaya Dyad, Sphinx's Revelation, and Mirari's Wake, into Body Double as a Solemn Simulacrum, finding Plains, then cast Yavimaya Dryad finding Breeding Pool and equip Skullclamp to Body Double
Turn 5: Draw Sensei's Divining Top, play Seat of the Synod and Mirari's Wake, play Sensei's Divining Top, pod Body Double, drawing Command Tower and Wasteland, into Prophet of Kruphix, untap on first opponent's turn and cast uncounterable Sphinx's Revelation for 7, drawing a bunch of things
That was also a pretty sweet game. I won that one, too. I'd go on further but it gets a little hectic after that.
Game 3
Hand after mulls: City of Brass, Breeding Pool, Tree of Tales, Tezzeret the Seeker, Enlightened Tutor
Turn 1: Draw Ancient Tomb, play City of Brass and Enlightened Tutor finding Sol Ring
Turn 2: Draw Sol Ring, play tapped Breeding Pool and Sol Ring
Turn 3: Draw Wood Elves, play Tree of Tales and Tezzert the Seeker, untapped Sol Ring and Tree of Tales, cast Wood Elves finding tapped Temple Garden
Turn 4: Draw Sword of Fire and Ice, play Ancient Tomb and Sword of Fire and Ice, equip to Wood Elves and attack, connect and draw Time Warp, -4 Tezzeret the Seeker finding Birthing Pod, pod Wood Elves away into Solemn Simulacrum, finding Island
Turn 5: Draw Survival of the Fittest, equip Sword of Fire and Ice to Solemn Simulacrum, swing and connect, drawing Harmonic Sliver, pod Solemn Simulacrum, drawing Path to Exile, into Mulldrifter, drawing Bant Charm and Trinket Mage, +1 Tezzeret the Seeker to untap Sol Ring and Birthing Pod, pod Mulldrifter into Sun Titan, return Wood Elves and find Savannah
I won that game, too. As you can see, in this game I actually did miss a land drop, but it didn't matter because I had so many other things going on.
I would say that those three games are each a little above average for how this deck generally performs. But, just to be fair, I'll throw in one more game that didn't go so hot for me.
Game 4
Hand after mulls: Command Tower, Ancient Den, Green Sun's Zenith, Scrabbling Claws, Angel of Serenity
Turn 1: Draw Jace, the Mind Scrulptor, play Commander Tower, Green Sun's Zenith for 0 finding Dryad Arbor
Turn 2: Draw Clever Impersonator, play Ancient Den, Jenara, Asura of War
Turn 3: Draw Harmonic Sliver, play Harmonic Sliver destroying opponent's Sol Ring, attack with Jenara
Turn 4: Draw Sun Titan, play Scrabbling Claws, sac to exile a card and draw, draw Solemn Simulacrum (), attack with Jenara
Turn 5: Draw Celestial Colonnade, play Celestial Colonnade, attack with Jenara
After that I was able to untap and finally start doing things, but at that point I was pretty far behind. I killed one person with Jenara damage, and then the other person killed me.
Judging from my Cockatrice replays, and my own estimations on my IRL games, I would say that games like that are about 1/10 for me. The majority of the games are much closer to the first three.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
I did enjoy the math quite a bit; suggests to me that maybe 38-39 is better. I've run as high as 40 in some decks and not usually regretted it. Running 40 lands is functionally the same as running 24/60 which is really only a midrange land count - obviously aggressive ramp and draw spells would reduce that count some but I don't see enough. Normally I'll only start aggressively pruning my lands when I'm adding 1-2 drop mana accelerants (birds, sol ring, etc.).
The biggest worrisome scenario I see happening is this deck keeping an aggressive 2 land hand and stalling. With a higher land count you can risk that a bit more.
This whole discussion makes me think that I might enjoy some really deep math about manabases in EDH. Things like "I play 3 1-drop draw spells, how should that affect my mana base if my curve is such and such with such and such mana symbols."
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
One of the biggest reasons is that in EDH we have partial Paris mulligans, which allow for sculpting a way, way better average hand than you'd otherwise get. This allows for very aggressive mulligans.
I've felt for years that many, even MOST, EDH players don't take full advantage of partial Paris mulls and don't mulligan properly.
I don't see myself ever wanting more than 36 lands in an EDH deck (MAYBE 37 max if the deck warrants it, but that would be very rare).
Also, 90% of people don't do a ton of interacting in the first few turns. Most people are spending their turns 1-4 on setup and ramp, and then start doing more things.
For example, in one of those games my Birthing Pod got destroyed shortly after by a Vindicate, and in another someone played a Supreme Verdict shortly after.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
We use the "Draw 7, exile and redraw a couple times or whatever" method mostly, and it generally is better for higher landcounts.
In my experience most real cutthroat competitive decks will have nature's claim, swords, stifle, and spell pierce type stuff to stomp on people's early game plays. Kinda surprised you don't see more of that. Even in my group an early pod or survival is begging to eat a reclamation sage or some other early hate.
Anyway, I didn't mean to come off as negative and hope you'll take this as me attempting to be constructive. It's really a very strong deck and I obviously like it or I wouldn't have netdecked a very similar deck
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Also, those cards are definitely played, but people aren't always going to have them.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius
I made the decision to turn this thread into a primer, with the intention of making it official.
I think it's most of the way there at this point, but what I'd like to do now is to get suggestions from all of you, about what other sections or information you'd like to see here, as well as feedback about what's there now.
Hope you all like it.
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Current Commanders: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (coming soon) | [Primer] Sedris, the Traitor King | Maelstrom Wanderer | Najeela, the Blade Blossom | Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
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Retired Commanders: [Primer] Jenara, Asura of War | [Primer] Ghave, Guru of Spores | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury | Saskia the Unyielding | Sydri, Galvanic Genius