I'm going to start this introduction by being completely honest. When Commander 2016 was fully spoiled, I was a bit disappointed with the set. You may ask yourself, “Why would anybody be disappointed with this set? A lot of people were wanting four-color commanders to be playable.” My reasoning was simple: I was looking for new cards to put into my current decks, and wasn't going to be bothered by trying to build a new one. That is, until I stumbled onto one card: Breya, Etherium Shaper.
I'm a sucker for artifact decks. I played Affinity in Modern, and enjoyed it so much, I foiled out the whole deck. I got hardcore into Commander, so I built and foiled out Daretti. Now, I have built Breya and she may be more busted than my Daretti deck.
The first think everyone needs to realize is Breya is a machine gun and the deck is the ammo. What exactly does that mean? She is a win condition in the Command Zone. Let's break her card down:
Cost:
Breya costs WUBR. This can be quite difficult to achieve as the more colors in your commander, generally they are more difficult to cast. What's great about these colors is that she has the best colors for counters, tutors, and removal of all sorts. That is a pretty powerful thing in and of itself.
Power/Toughness:
Breya is a 4/4 for 4 mana. Not bad as far as stats go but is pretty generic for that cost. This isn't something to really write about, but her abilities are where her stats get really good.
Abilities:
Breya's first ability creates two 1/1 blue Thopter creature tokens. Altogether, that's 6 power/toughness spread across three bodies for only four mana. That makes it even better!
Her activated abilities all cost 2 and two artifacts to be sacrificed, and you get one of three options:
Her first ability lets you Lightning Bolt someone in the face.
What's that? She GIVES you two artifacts to sacrifice to herself? THAT'S ABSURD! Add infinite mana and a select few cards, and you can wipe the entire board of creatures, gain infinite life, or just get straight to it and kill everyone at the table.
While we can specifically focus on Breya's abilities and build the deck around that, that's not what we are doing here. While using her as a win condition is included in the deck, we are also using her for her colors.
You might like Breya if:
1) You like playing powerful decks capable of winning in the first few turns.
2) You like infinite combos.
3) WUBR are your favorite colors of that Magic pie.
You might dislike Breya if:
1) You enjoy long, grueling games with tons of interaction.
2) You would rather turn creatures sideways and win through combat.
3) You want your deck to fully take advantage of your Commander, and not just use them for the colors.
Other Possible Commanders:
When considering other Commanders over Breya, the thing that everyone should understand is there are multiple ways to build her. I chose to build her as a Doomsday/Ad Nauseam deck that utilizes those cards to get into a combo for a quick win. Others may want to build her as an artifact-centered deck. Either way to build her is fine, so I will list a couple other Commanders that fall into those categories and are still in our colors. Those Commanders are:
Artifact-Centered Commanders: Sharuum the Hegemon: Sharuum is the original Esper artifact Commander. She is a combo piece sitting in the Command Zone waiting to be abused. She utilizes other artifacts such as Sculpting Steel/Phyrexian Metamorph to continuously swapping herself and that artifact to create infinite triggers with Disciple of the Vault or infinite Gravestorm with Bitter Ordeal to secure a win.
Daretti, Scrap Savant: A newer Artifact-matters Commander, and a personal favorite of mine. Losing out on Esper colors is a negative for running him as you lose out on tutors and counters, but he makes up for it by having a more consistent mana base and allowing you to filter through your hand and deck to find answers or a way to win. Also utilizes the graveyard as a second hand, allowing you an abundance of options for any situation.
Doomsday Commanders: Zur the Enchanter: When people think of Doomsday in Commander, the usually will associate it with Zur, as he, in my opinion, is THE DEFINITIVE Doomsday Commander. The deck utilizes a low curve and plenty of tutors to either grab Doomsday itself, or goes for Ad Nauseam to fill the hand and put out a lot of mana to combo off.
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge: This Commander is more associated with Storm decks. While it does run the same Doomsday/Ad Nauseam cards and will use the same piles, or at least similar piles, it also utilizes the Storm mechanic to pull out a win with Tendrils of Agony or the new Aetherflux Reservoir
The deck has gone through quite the changes over the time that I've played it. Breya is a vary versatile commander, not only for her abilities, but also for her colors.
The first iteration of the deck was basically an artifact "good stuff" deck with Gearhulks, big bad artifacts, and all the combos I could find, including Sharuum the Hegemon combos. The deck was clunky and unreliable.
The second iteration took out the clunky good stuff and focused on infinite combos. This still was too clunky. Having pieces to multiple combos that don't work together is not a good thing. Back to the drawing board.
The third iteration saw me cut all the "I win" combos, like Sharuum the Hegemon, Sculpting Steel, and Disciple of the Vault, to focus on making infinite mana and using Breya as the win condition. To protect the combo, I added in more removal and a counter package to fill in the voids.
After much more playtesting, I came to the realization that Nim Deathmantle/Eldrazi Displacer + Krark-Clan Ironworks is way too slow and mana-intensive to allow for fast wins. The Bomberman combo is fast enough, but for it to be faster, we needed to be able to get him into play faster, so being able to reanimate him for a much cheaper cost is the ideal way of doing so. Since we are playing reanimation spells to bring Salvagers back, why not use them to bring Worldgorger Dragon back as well? So, I decided to drop the Deathmantle/Displacer combos for the much faster George combo and other spells to facilitate it, but it still took a while to get into the combo. Enter Doomsday. This single card allows us to stack our deck with whatever combo we need to win, and can either win the same turn, or the very next one, if left uninterrupted. And if we're playing Doomsday, you may as well throw in LabMan to give you another option that isn't graveyard-reliant.
Now, we are on to the fifth iteration of the deck. I dropped the George combo, as I felt it was too fragile and easily disrupted. Once disrupted, we would have no choice but to concede, as there is no coming back from that. So, I added in Demonic Consultation and a few other cards to dive deeper into LabMan/Doomsday combos.
This is the deck I bring to you today. So, without further ado, let us get into it and check the deck out.
While there are many options for cards that could be included in a deck, there are only room for 100. In the spoiler below, I will give a card-by-card explanation as to why I specifically chose to have a certain card in in the deck.
Creatures:
Dark Confidant: Drawing extra cards in any format is a powerful thing. Drawing extra cards for free is even better. Confidant has the downside of hurting us if we draw anything above 1 CMC, but as our curve is low, it shouldn’t hurt us too much.
Grand Abolisher: Being able to protect our combo is essential. Abolisher does this like no other. Shutting out anything our opponent’s do on our turn is amazing and beneficial to us. The bonus of him being a Human makes him uncounterable with Cavern of Souls, since that is what we will always name since Breya is also Human.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: Helps us dig deeper into our deck. When he transforms, he gives us access to our graveyard in case there is a counter spell in there to protect us when we try to combo off.
Laboratory Maniac: One of the win conditions of the deck. He is part of the Doomsday “combo” and is one of the ways we win with said combo.
Auriok Salvagers: The first half of the "Bomberman Combo." This card goes infinite mana of any color with Lion's Eye Diamond. Can also be used to return a small artifact as well.
Notion Thief: This guy will prevent other players from drawing extra cards and allow us to draw them. Depending on how many cards are being drawn and the number left in the library, it is possible to win a game if you have LabMan out with this guy. Can also empty out other players’ hands when using a Wheel effect.
Lion's Eye Diamond: The second half of the "Bomberman Combo." Its effect is a mana ability, so it doesn't use the stack, so when you activate it, you will lose your hand immediately. Caution is required when playing the card. Having a way to protect your combo via Silence/Grand Abolisher or a counter will help ensure you go off without a hitch.
Sensei's Divining Top: Filters through the top three cards to smooth out our draws. It’s a Commander staple and should be in most, if not all decks just because of the value it gives. Can also help facilitate the Doomsday combo.
Isochron Scepter: The main purpose of Scepter is to be used in conjunction with Dramatic Reversal, Aetherflux Reservoir, and mana rocks that produce at least 2 to facilitate a storm win. If one of your mana rocks can produce all colors as well, can also win via Breya herself.
Faithless Looting: We tend to go through cards in our hand quite fast, so we need ways to refill. Filters our hand and gets rid of stuff we don't need.
Gamble: We need tutors to search for our combo pieces, counters, and removal, and even sometimes for that vital land drop. It can come back to bite us by discarding what we tutored for, or another card we wanted to keep, but that’s why it’s called Gamble. It’s another low-cost tutor that is needed for the deck.
Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Preordain: Our one mana draw spells. Having one of these cards in hand after casting Doomsday can help us combo off in the same turn.
Imperial Seal: Sorcery speed Vampiric Tutor. Having access to a tutor on turn one is powerful. Sets up plays for the following turn.
Vandalblast: Gets rid of a single problematic artifact, or for its overload cost, it can be a artifact board wipe for our opponents.
Winds of Change, Wheel of Fortune, Windfall: These cards help refill our hand when we empty them. Can also be used in conjunction with Notion Thief to empty everyone else’s hands and fill ours up even more.
Demonic Tutor: Black staple card. Hands down the best tutor available. 1B to bring any card from your library to your hand is insane. Will either tutor up a combo piece, or some protection for us to combo off.
Night's Whisper: Another draw spell. Can also be used in a Doomsday pile to help facilitate a win. Redundancy is never a bad thing.
Doomsday: The namesake card of the deck. This single card wins games. Use this spell to stack your deck in multiple ways to set up your combo for next turn, or the very same turn if you have the mana/cards to do so. Very powerful card to have, but also a very difficult card to use.
Yawgmoth's Will: Allows us to play our graveyard like a second hand, but just for the turn. Useful for when our combo pieces get countered/destroyed as it will allow us to replay them. Be cautious when using this, as ANY card that gets put into the graveyard will be exiled, not just the ones you play from the graveyard.
Angel's Grace: Mainly used in combination with Ad Nauseam to get our deck in our hands. Can also save us from losing when in a pinch.
Brainstorm: Draw three for a single mana is good, even if you must put two back. You can put cards you don’t need on top, and then use a fetchland to send them on their way. Can also help facilitate the Doomsday combo.
Chain of Vapor: Removes any problematic permanent so we can combo off. Be cautious when using this card, as it can also bite us back and stop us from winning on the same turn.
Demonic Consultation: One of the new pieces that we are trying out in the deck. This combined with LabMan and a cantrip is game over for everyone else.
Silence: Shuts our opponent’s out during our turn so we can combo off unhindered.
Swords to Plowshares: Low cost removal when we need it. One of the best pieces of removal in the game.
Thought Scour: Part of the Doomsday pile. This card alone puts what we need in the graveyard and grabs us the next piece to continue the combo.
Cabal Ritual: Another mana accelerant that produces BBB. With Threshold, it produces BBBBB, which is the exact amount we need to cast Ad Nauseam.
Cyclonic Rift: Can take care of a single problem that is keeping you from comboing off, or if you have the mana, return everyone else's permanents to hand and not have to worry about them for a turn or two.
Izzet Charm: An all-in-one spell. Helps protect our combo, filters our hand, and can remove a creature if need be.
Lim-Dul's Vault: A tutor card of sorts. Let's us take a look at five cards at a time and stack them how we want. If we don't like those five, we pay 1 life and try again. Used to help set up our win.
Predict: A cantrip that is mainly used in a specific Doomsday pile.
Tainted Pact: Another avenue for victory with LabMan, we can use it to go through our deck to find the last piece of our combo.
Frantic Search: Part of the Doomsday pile. Essentially it is a free spell if it resolves, and we will usually cast LabMan right after.
Thirst for Knowledge: Draw spell that lets us draw three cards but will have to discard 2 cards or one artifact.
Ad Nauseam: Our mass draw spell. Our curve is low, so we shouldn't lose too much life. Best to use at end of opponent's turn just before ours as we can draw a boat load of cards, start our turn with more than a full grip, and most likely combo off.
Gush: A "free" draw spell. Another piece used in conjunction with our Doomsday piles.
Enchantments:
Mystic Remora: Early game draw source. Can be used later in the game but loses its effectiveness when others can pay the extra four.
Necropotence: Card draw is important, and Necropotence is probably the best at doing that. We can fill our hand back to 7 or draw more to dig deeper for combo pieces. Once we get this down, we will usually want to pay 10 life at a minimum to shape our hand and hopefully combo off the following turn.
Ancient Tomb: This land taps for 2 colorless mana at the cost of two life. Being able to cast our spells a turn earlier is a powerful thing to do in any format.
Cavern of Souls: Breya is one of our win condition in the deck, so we need to make sure she hits the battlefield when we cast her. Produces our colors so we only need to produce 3 of the other colors alongside this land. Also, it's beneficial that all of the creatures we run are also Humans.
Darkslick Shores/Spirebluff Canal: Fast lands for early game color fixing. These both make the most important color, U, and Darkslick will make the second most important, B.
The strategy for this deck, much like any Doomsday/Ad Nauseam/combo deck, is straight forward: get your combo and win as fast as possible. How do we go about doing that? Our deck runs a plethora of tutors that can find us our first combo piece to get a game plan in motion, or it can find the other half to the combo in our hand. We also need to assess the other Commanders/board state to see if it’s possible to combo off as early as possible, or if some sort of protection will be needed. Each phase of the gameplay is important, so let’s take a closer look at them.
1) Mulligans: Mulligans are one of the most important things to master about this deck. You need to know what hands are good, which are bad, and which ones are manageable enough for the long game. When deciding whether to take a mulligan or not, you need to keep in mind the following things:
Minimum of 2 Lands: We need at least two lands to cast our spells. Within those two lands, we need to be able to make at least U and B, as those are our two most important colors. We would also like both of those to be Islands as well, as they will help facilitate a Gush/Doomsday pile.
Mana Acceleration: Whether this is mana rocks, or Dark Ritual/Cabal Ritual, we would like to see some kind of ramp in our opening hand, that way we can move the game state forward by caster more/bigger spells earlier in the game. Being able to cast Ad Nauseam within the first few turns will usually mean the end of the game soon.
Combo Piece/Tutor: We want to see one of these things in our opening hand. Having one of these will essentially decide our lines of play for the game. With an exact combo piece such as Lion’s Eye Diamond, or even Doomsday, we have an exact road to winning the game, so we should follow that. If we only have a tutor card, we can assess the board/players, and decide which combo would be most effective to take.
2) Early Game: The early game is where we deploy our lands and mana rocks. We develop our hand for a combo by tutoring the pieces we need or drawing into them naturally. We don’t want to give too much information out this early in the game, so if possible, use tutors that don’t make you reveal what you search for, such as Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, or Demonic Tutor. We also continuously monitor the board state and the other players. We want to know what decks they are playing, any possible disruption they may have, and whether they can combo before us.
If we were lucky and drew a “perfect hand,” we can attempt to combo off on Turn 1 or 2. What are some of the combos that allow for Turn 1 or 2 wins? Here are just a couple examples:
This spectacular hand will allow you to have a Turn 1 Doomsday win.
I will discuss both wins in further detail below in the Combos and Doomsday Piles sections below.
Those hands are basically “Magic Christmas Land,” but the possibilities are there, and knowing what kind of lines of play you are able to take will help you decide which is going to be the best and most efficient way of winning. You may not be able to get these on turn 1 or 2, but it is possible to do them even on 3 or 4.
3) Mid Game: If we are unable to get one of those “Magic Christmas Land” opening hands and win within the first few turns, then we move on into the mid game. In this phase of gameplay, we are still on the hunt for our combo pieces or protection (whichever we are at the time lacking), and still keeping an eye on the boardstate. We need to keep track of everyone’s life totals, cards in hand, number of untapped lands, and what is physically on the battlefield. If we think we can combo off if the opportunity arises, then we can do so. Otherwise, play the slow game and bring out Breya for some small beats or chump blocks.
4) Late Game: With the way the deck is build, we should never get to a late game, as that is when we are at our worst. How do we get to this point? Not drawing any combo pieces or tutors, or we tried going for a combo and it was stopped by multiple people. This is when we start hurting badly. We can attempt to go for another combo if we still have the resources (a hand and/or permanents on the field). Otherwise, Breya beats will be our plan until we win or lose. It’s bad to say our late game is terrible, but when you’re an all-in combo deck, it’s usually all or nothing, and at times it is going to be nothing. I would like to reiterate, however, that with the way the deck is built, we should never get to this point in the game and shouldn’t have to worry about it too much. Just keep it in the back of your mind the possibility is always there.
While I'm sure many people like to think their deck is top notch and has answers for everything, the truth is no matter what the deck is, there will be weaknesses and people will exploit them. In testing, I have discovered Breya has the following weaknesses:
1) Artifact Hate: Being an artifact deck is really tough. There is a ton of removal in the format whether it's things like Creeping Corrosion and Vandalblast or something more permanent like Return to Dust and Merciless Eviction. Which brings me to the next weakness.
2) Too Glass Cannon-y: This deck wins by combos. All-in combos to be exact. If our Bomberman combo gets disrupted, we will be left without a hand. If we get disrupted while going for our Doomsday win, we will also lose. We must know when it is safe to combo off, or have protection, otherwise we will lose and lose hard.
3) Creature-Based Strategies: We run very little creature removal. In fact, the only piece we have for dealing with mass creatures is Cyclonic Rift, and it will only help us for so long. We should hurry and find our combo pieces and win before we get overwhelmed by creatures, and sometimes things just don't work out in our favor.
4) Graveyard Hate: Some of our win conditions are graveyard based. If our graveyard becomes unusable via cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, then we only have one way to win. If they use something like Tormod's Crypt or Surgical Extraction while we are attempting to combo off, we will be left without a hand or permanents.
5) Counters: Of course every deck is weak to counter spells. Being a combo deck means we are trying to get to our combo pieces as quickly as possible to combo off. Sometimes our tutors will get countered, or a vital piece to our combo gets countered, and when that happens, our game plan can fold.
While Doomsday itself isn't a combo, it does help facilitate our LabMan wins. However, we do have a couple of actual combos that help us win, and they are as follows:
Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond: The Bomberman combo! This is an infinite mana combo. With Salvagers in play, either cast LED, or bring it back with his ability. Activate LED, generating white mana. Activate Salvagers ability for 1W to bring LED back to hand, netting you a single W. Repeat this to generate infinite W to activate Salvager's ability, then continuing to generate your other three colors infinitely. Cast and activate Breya infinitely for the win.
Isochron Scepter, Dramatic Reversal, Aetherflux Reservoir, + mana rocks that produce at least 2: Activate Scepter using mana rocks which will create a copy of Dramatic Reversal, it will trigger Reservoir's life gain ability, and then when Reversal resolves, it will untap Scepter and the rocks. Repeat this process to gain infinite life to one-shot each opponent and win the game. You can also have Mox Opal or Mox Diamond in place of Reservoir in order to help create infinite colored mana, and then use Breya to facilitate your combo win.
Doomsday is probably one of the most complicated cards to play in the game. Knowing which cards go into a pile, and the order they go in, can make your head hurt. This section will go over some of the MANY different ways to build your piles. Please note that I did not create this list of piles, and I used a list located here to compile these. These piles also follow the same format: the first card in the list will be the top card of the pile, and the last will be the bottom card. If you wish to combo off the turn you cast Doomsday, you will have to have a cantrip in hand to start the process. Otherwise, you will start on your next turn. Here are some examples of our Doomsday Piles:
You will need to have 2 extra cards in hand for this pile to work. Cast Search and draw LabMan and Scour, discard two cards, and untap three lands. Cast LabMan, followed by Scour, binning your last two cards in the deck and drawing. Since there are no cards left, LabMan's replacement effect will win you the game.
If you have Sensei's Divining Top on the field, you can also do another pile that goes like this:
Activate SDT, drawing a card and putting Top as your first card in the pile. Cast Scour, binning SDT and the random, and drawing Frantic. Cast Frantic, drawing LabMan and Probe, discarding two cards, and untapping three lands. Cast Probe and with LabMan's replacement effect, you win the game.
Cast Gush by returning 2 Islands and draw into Probe and LED. Cast LED. Cast Probe, hold priority and crack LED for BBB. Draw Will off Probe and cast from the floating mana. Cast LED and crack for UUU. Cast Probe and draw Maniac. Cast Maniac from the floating mana, and cast one more cantrip for the win.
Cast Predict and name LabMan. He will get milled, and then you draw into LED and Probe. Cast LED. Cast Probe, hold priority and crack LED for BBB. Draw Will off Probe and cast from the floating mana. Cast LED, crack for UUU and play LabMan. Cast Probe for the win.
Cast Gush by returning 2 Islands and draw into Pact of Negation and Frantic Search. Cast Frantic Search and draw Probe and Maniac, and discard any two that are not LabMan, Pact, or Probe. Untap three lands and cast LabMan followed by Probe for the win.
Cast Gush by returning 2 Islands and draw into LED and Whisper. Cast LED. Cast Whisper, hold priority and crack LED for UUU. Draw into LabMan and Probe. Cast LabMan off of the floating mana, followed by Probe for the win.
Turn 1 Doomsday Win Pile:
The following cards need to ALL be in your opening hand:
Cast LED. Cast Probe, hold priority, crack LED for BBB, and draw Whisper. Cast Whisper and draw Ritual and Will with B left in pool. Cast Ritual followed by Will. Replay LED, crack for BBB, replay Ritual and have BBBBB in your pool. Replay Whisper and draw into Petal and LabMan with BBB left in pool. Cast Petal, crack for U, cast LabMan, and follow up by replaying Probe for the win.
Nim Deathmantle/Eldrazi Displacer + Krark-Clan Ironworks: This was previously the go-to infinite mana combo of the deck. Deathmantle was the graveyard-reliant combo, while Displacer could achieve the same effect without relying on the graveyard.
Metalworker + Staff of Domination: While Staff can be good in the deck itself, Metalworker relies heavily on having enough artifacts in hand to go infinite. With our curve being so low, and the chances of having any remaining artifacts in hand our hand, this isn't an ideal combo to have in this specific build of the deck.
Thopter Assembly + Time Sieve: We really don't want to be sacrificing other artifacts to take an extra turn, so in order for this combo to happen, Assembly needs to stay alive until your next turn, but if people see that's what is coming, they will destroy one or both of them. This is too slow of a combo to include.
Grand Architect + Pili-Pala: Another infinite mana combo. This combo is also too slow since we have to have Pili-Pala under our control since the beginning of our upkeep or have a haste enabler in order to untap it.
Saheeli Rai + Liquimetal Coating: This is another combo in which you want to utilize Bitter Ordeal, Disciple of the Vault, Marionette Master, and/or Altar of the Brood in order to win. Since we don't run any of those four, there is no point in running these two.
Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek: With infinite mana, we can create infinite tokens and gain infinite life. Breya already does this, and at a much faster rate, so this combo isn't needed in here, and its slots can be used for something else.
There are many other cards that can be included but aren't, and it would take a lot of typing to explain every single one of them. If you are curious as to why a certain card isn't in here, ask and I will be happy to explain!
I took out the lands as our curve ends at 5, and with the amount of mana rocks that are ran, it shouldn't be too difficult to get the mana that is needed. Grand Architect/Pili-Pala are cut as they are too slow to produce infinite mana, and are easy to remove. Took out PtE/Utter End as the former has a drawback of ramping our opponents and the latter is too high costed for removal. Intuition only fetches out a select few artifacts, so it isn't the best option to run. Saheeli Rai doesn't necessarily fit in here as we don't run many things to copy. Clock is cut to make room for other things, and isn't necessary to effectively run Winter Orb.
Added in Pact/Denial for more low-cost counters. Imperial Seal/Intuition/Tezzeret as more tutors. Toxic Deluge as another sweeper to help control the board. Gilded Lotus as another mana rock to produce through a Winter Orb. Future Sight to help dig through our deck, and combos with SDT and Etherium Sculptor. Ad Nauseam is another effective draw spell, and with having a small curve, should be able to get enough cards in hand to be able to combo off.
Etherium Sculptor really wasn't doing very much for the deck. The discount was negligible and often unneeded. Future Sight was barely every played, and I feel like there are better ways to be able to go through your deck to get what is needed.
Dark Confidant will be a fine inclusion, as it will let us dig deeper into our decks at the cost of a little life. Our curve is low (and now a bit lower) so the loss of life won't hurt us badly. Lim-Dul's Vault is the best way to dig through your deck and find what you need. It's cheaper to play than Future Sight, and can also set up the next few draws as well.
After playing the deck, I’ve realized that going for the Displacer/Deathmantle + KCI combo is really clunky and mana intensive. We still want infinite combos to be the way to go, so I added the Worldgorger dragon combo back in, as well as Doomsday to help get the combo pieces faster. I’ve dropped the Signets in favor of Talismans so we don’t need to leave mana open to use them. Notion Thief + Winds of Change or any other Wheel effect will empty out everyone else’s hands and help us dig even deeper for our combo or some sort of protection. Angel of Glory’s Rise was brought in to make a better Intuition pile if you have a reanimation spell in hand (bin Angel, Salvagers, and Trinket Mage in order to combo off). Lowered the curve significantly so Dark Confidant and Ad Nauseam doesn’t hurt as much.
Took out some more fluff to make room for LabMan combo and friends. Izzet Charm and Thirst for Knowledge digs us deeper into our deck, and can bin Worldgorger if we end up with him in our hand. Necromancy can let us combo off at end of turn if the need/opportunity arises. Pull from Eternity is really useful if one of our combo pieces happens to get exiled, or can be used in conjunction with Tainted Pact so we can flip past a combo piece and then bin it afterwards.
Completed revamp of the deck. New primer written to show the change in focus of the deck, as well as updated the card choices to hopefully make the deck more consistent.
Eldrazi Displacer goes infinite with Breya + Ashnod's Altar or KCI and should probably make its way into the list. I'd probably play Altar of the Brood as an alternative kill with that combo OR the Sharuum combo, since you can find it with Trinket Mage. Otherwise this looks very consistent and powerful.
Eldrazi Displacer goes infinite with Breya + Ashnod's Altar or KCI and should probably make its way into the list. I'd probably play Altar of the Brood as an alternative kill with that combo OR the Sharuum combo, since you can find it with Trinket Mage. Otherwise this looks very consistent and powerful.
Not sure if Marionette Master is redundant, it's a very costly win condition but obviously a powerful one. Myr Battlesphere and Combustible Gearhulk both seem a little out of place in such a combo-focused build but also both get better with Displacer in the deck, so I'm not as sure about that.
Not sure if Marionette Master is redundant, it's a very costly win condition but obviously a powerful one. Myr Battlesphere and Combustible Gearhulk both seem a little out of place in such a combo-focused build but also both get better with Displacer in the deck, so I'm not as sure about that.
I think Marionette Master would be the better cut for Displacer. Battlesphere and Gearhulk I like in here since I can either make infinite Myr with Battlesphere, and Combustible can help dig through the deck.
Just a reminder that Rings of Brighthearth + Basaalt Monolith = Infinite colorless mana as well, and Deserted Temple allows you to then filter that colorless into infinite colored Mana through the Rings.
Private Mod Note
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"Whatever style you wish to play, be it fast and frenzied or slow and tactical, the surest way to defeat your opponent consistently is by dominating him or her in the war of card advantage." - Brian Wiseman, April 1996
Did a complete revamp of the deck. The changelog will start from here on out as I feel this list is fairly optimized and may only change a few cards here and there.
Is it worth playing Auriok Salvagers without LED? Would you suggest any budget replacements to certain expensive cards?
The list looks solid overall, looking forward for the primer!
Why is Saheeli Rai in the deck? Most of the things you can copy with her don't do anything especially powerful when copied. I think the best thing you could do is copy a Goblin Welder that can weld itself away. You have 2 ETB effects in the whole deck. She has combo applications when you can turn her into an artifact and take advantage of artifact ETB/LTB triggers, but that's at least a 3-card combo that doesn't involve your commander. You should replace her with either another tutor or a combo piece. Since you're running a combo deck, I'm surprised you're not running Intuition or Snapcaster Mage. You can Intuition for Lion's Eye Diamond, Unburial Rites, and Auriok Salvagers and threaten to win the game on the spot.
Is it worth playing Auriok Salvagers without LED? Would you suggest any budget replacements to certain expensive cards?
The list looks solid overall, looking forward for the primer!
Auriok Salvagers could be played without LED, but I don't think it's really worth it. You can get back some artifacts, but they won't end the game like LED will. And what cards are you looking at for budget replacements?
Why is Saheeli Rai in the deck? Most of the things you can copy with her don't do anything especially powerful when copied. I think the best thing you could do is copy a Goblin Welder that can weld itself away. You have 2 ETB effects in the whole deck. She has combo applications when you can turn her into an artifact and take advantage of artifact ETB/LTB triggers, but that's at least a 3-card combo that doesn't involve your commander. You should replace her with either another tutor or a combo piece. Since you're running a combo deck, I'm surprised you're not running Intuition or Snapcaster Mage. You can Intuition for Lion's Eye Diamond, Unburial Rites, and Auriok Salvagers and threaten to win the game on the spot.
She was originally put in here mostly because I pulled one and wanted to play her in the deck. The original list she was in could utilize her better. I do like the idea of Intuition into those three. What other cut would you make for Rites?
Your curve can support ad Nauseam. You have sculptor and top adding future sight seems pretty good better if you run imperial seal which is a little cheaper now. Tezzeret is pretty good in a shell with winter orb and high mana rock density I like gilded lotus too. I would replace one of the many removal spells your running for a toxic deluge to have a sweeper other than rift all the way up at 7. You can trim lands for the cards like seal since they can fix mana probably some of the spot removal you have quite a bit could afford to drop cards like path to exile and utter end ones got a real downside the other is just too expensive for a deck like this. Last with things like scrap mastery and yawgwin I would play intuition the cards already an instant speed blue tutor with ways to get all 3 cards it's just insane you don't need I burial rights imo as its in general a horrible draw. In general I think you can be more greedy and shave some removal and lands for more proactive gas cards. Cool deck.
Don't know if its any good yet but I'm trying Liquimetal Coating in my list. It could be just as bad as it sounds but it looks like it offers a surprising amount of utility. From letting Saheeli's Mastery copy any permanent, giving Padeem, Comsil of Innovation hexproof, steal anything with Dack Fayden and turn all your artifact destruction into Vindicates. Plus it goes infinite with Saheeli Rai.
On the other hand, my deck is a lot less competitive and plays more 'cares about artifact' effects.
Your curve can support ad Nauseam. You have sculptor and top adding future sight seems pretty good better if you run imperial seal which is a little cheaper now. Tezzeret is pretty good in a shell with winter orb and high mana rock density I like gilded lotus too. I would replace one of the many removal spells your running for a toxic deluge to have a sweeper other than rift all the way up at 7. You can trim lands for the cards like seal since they can fix mana probably some of the spot removal you have quite a bit could afford to drop cards like path to exile and utter end ones got a real downside the other is just too expensive for a deck like this. Last with things like scrap mastery and yawgwin I would play intuition the cards already an instant speed blue tutor with ways to get all 3 cards it's just insane you don't need I burial rights imo as its in general a horrible draw. In general I think you can be more greedy and shave some removal and lands for more proactive gas cards. Cool deck.
Can it still support Ad Nauseum if I include Tezzeret the Seeker and Gilded Lotus, as it will increase the curve on the top end? I could possibly see adding Future Sight, as it would be another way to draw into a win. Imperial Seal, however, is still slightly higher than I want to pay, but I could always use it on MTGO. Are you saying to run Intuition over Scrap Mastery and Yawgmoth's Will, or in addition to? Should I still trim lands, even if I'm not going to be running Seal? And if I run Intuition without Unburial Rites, what do you think are good piles to grab? I've never played with Intuition, so I'm a little unfamiliar with it.
Don't know if its any good yet but I'm trying Liquimetal Coating in my list. It could be just as bad as it sounds but it looks like it offers a surprising amount of utility. From letting Saheeli's Mastery copy any permanent, giving Padeem, Comsil of Innovation hexproof, steal anything with Dack Fayden and turn all your artifact destruction into Vindicates. Plus it goes infinite with Saheeli Rai.
On the other hand, my deck is a lot less competitive and plays more 'cares about artifact' effects.
Is it worth playing Auriok Salvagers without LED? Would you suggest any budget replacements to certain expensive cards?
The list looks solid overall, looking forward for the primer!
Auriok Salvagers could be played without LED, but I don't think it's really worth it. You can get back some artifacts, but they won't end the game like LED will. And what cards are you looking at for budget replacements?
Like the expensive counterspells, tutors and broken rocks. Do you think the deck may be very unplayable? I am not talking about 100% metas of course.
Is it worth playing Auriok Salvagers without LED? Would you suggest any budget replacements to certain expensive cards?
The list looks solid overall, looking forward for the primer!
Auriok Salvagers could be played without LED, but I don't think it's really worth it. You can get back some artifacts, but they won't end the game like LED will. And what cards are you looking at for budget replacements?
Like the expensive counterspells, tutors and broken rocks. Do you think the deck may be very unplayable? I am not talking about 100% metas of course.
You can definitely use other cards in place of them, but then when you do, your deck will become slower as you will use higher casting spells that tie up your mana further. If your meta is slower and more casual, then I think you would be fine.
Nice list. Love the density of combos. One thing, though, is that Winter Orb seems a little out of place. I guess you can grab it with Tezzeret and then use him to untap rocks, but even that seems incongruous with what the rest of the deck is up to.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Inution combo with The yawgwin and the scrap mastery. With yawgwin in deck tutor + intution is now 3 tutor not limited 2 tutor and yawgwin + tutor is the same in that doesnt even factor cards alredy in yard scrap mastery is similar here with rings nim combo in that you get to use all 3 intuiton cards. the what piles question is one I see alot and is a bad question always depends on board state and your hand use it and you will see. The card itself is excellent as an instant speed tutor with no "piles" being use also good synergy welder effects. Unburial rites on the other hand is a bad draw in this deck most of the time so while its ok to plsy it for the combo there is a large drawback of the card being bad most times you draw it and hoestly i dont see it as needed. Ad nausem is fine with this curve even with more 5 drops you have 0 cmc 6+ card, also you dont have to use it as a 1 card instant win all the time or even often at 5 mana an instant speed draw 8 is still stupidly strong and here should win cast at instant speed most of the time. It will not have the on turn all in potential of a dedicated deck but its still hard to pass up a few 5 drops will not change this, I will say knowing when to stop early is a skill just like using necro properly is. Tezz and gilded lotus are just too good not to play in a winter orb deck tezz also grabs combo cards here. If seal is out of budget its out of budget but is very good with this kind of deck.
Nice list. Love the density of combos. One thing, though, is that Winter Orb seems a little out of place. I guess you can grab it with Tezzeret and then use him to untap rocks, but even that seems incongruous with what the rest of the deck is up to.
Winter Orb is in here to slow everyone down. With the amount of mana rocks in here, it shouldn't hinder the deck too much.
Inution combo with The yawgwin and the scrap mastery. With yawgwin in deck tutor + intution is now 3 tutor not limited 2 tutor and yawgwin + tutor is the same in that doesnt even factor cards alredy in yard scrap mastery is similar here with rings nim combo in that you get to use all 3 intuiton cards. the what piles question is one I see alot and is a bad question always depends on board state and your hand use it and you will see. The card itself is excellent as an instant speed tutor with no "piles" being use also good synergy welder effects. Unburial rites on the other hand is a bad draw in this deck most of the time so while its ok to plsy it for the combo there is a large drawback of the card being bad most times you draw it and hoestly i dont see it as needed. Ad nausem is fine with this curve even with more 5 drops you have 0 cmc 6+ card, also you dont have to use it as a 1 card instant win all the time or even often at 5 mana an instant speed draw 8 is still stupidly strong and here should win cast at instant speed most of the time. It will not have the on turn all in potential of a dedicated deck but its still hard to pass up a few 5 drops will not change this, I will say knowing when to stop early is a skill just like using necro properly is. Tezz and gilded lotus are just too good not to play in a winter orb deck tezz also grabs combo cards here. If seal is out of budget its out of budget but is very good with this kind of deck.
Understandable. I really do appreciate your input on this list. What are you thoughts on running Signets vs Talismans?
These are the changes I'm thinking of implementing. Let me know what you think:
I like all the card cuts. I think the land cuts are not the correct lands i would cut colorless utilty or non blue shock lands instead. I like all your adds though im not sure there is not a better card than snapcaster mage obviously imperial seal but barring that i kind of like the idea of hurk's recall which is great with winter orb and your draw 7s and could even be used on yourself for mana and or combo peice protection lim duls vault is also an option if you want another budget tutor snapcaster mage is not horrible here but i would still probably play something else. Overall it looks very good in that you have trimmed out alot of your weakest and otehrwise uneeded cards for much better ones.
I'm going to start this introduction by being completely honest. When Commander 2016 was fully spoiled, I was a bit disappointed with the set. You may ask yourself, “Why would anybody be disappointed with this set? A lot of people were wanting four-color commanders to be playable.” My reasoning was simple: I was looking for new cards to put into my current decks, and wasn't going to be bothered by trying to build a new one. That is, until I stumbled onto one card: Breya, Etherium Shaper.
I'm a sucker for artifact decks. I played Affinity in Modern, and enjoyed it so much, I foiled out the whole deck. I got hardcore into Commander, so I built and foiled out Daretti. Now, I have built Breya and she may be more busted than my Daretti deck.
Cost:
Breya costs WUBR. This can be quite difficult to achieve as the more colors in your commander, generally they are more difficult to cast. What's great about these colors is that she has the best colors for counters, tutors, and removal of all sorts. That is a pretty powerful thing in and of itself.
Power/Toughness:
Breya is a 4/4 for 4 mana. Not bad as far as stats go but is pretty generic for that cost. This isn't something to really write about, but her abilities are where her stats get really good.
Abilities:
Breya's first ability creates two 1/1 blue Thopter creature tokens. Altogether, that's 6 power/toughness spread across three bodies for only four mana. That makes it even better!
Her activated abilities all cost 2 and two artifacts to be sacrificed, and you get one of three options:
What's that? She GIVES you two artifacts to sacrifice to herself? THAT'S ABSURD! Add infinite mana and a select few cards, and you can wipe the entire board of creatures, gain infinite life, or just get straight to it and kill everyone at the table.
While we can specifically focus on Breya's abilities and build the deck around that, that's not what we are doing here. While using her as a win condition is included in the deck, we are also using her for her colors.
You might like Breya if:
1) You like playing powerful decks capable of winning in the first few turns.
2) You like infinite combos.
3) WUBR are your favorite colors of that Magic pie.
You might dislike Breya if:
1) You enjoy long, grueling games with tons of interaction.
2) You would rather turn creatures sideways and win through combat.
3) You want your deck to fully take advantage of your Commander, and not just use them for the colors.
When considering other Commanders over Breya, the thing that everyone should understand is there are multiple ways to build her. I chose to build her as a Doomsday/Ad Nauseam deck that utilizes those cards to get into a combo for a quick win. Others may want to build her as an artifact-centered deck. Either way to build her is fine, so I will list a couple other Commanders that fall into those categories and are still in our colors. Those Commanders are:
The deck has gone through quite the changes over the time that I've played it. Breya is a vary versatile commander, not only for her abilities, but also for her colors.
The first iteration of the deck was basically an artifact "good stuff" deck with Gearhulks, big bad artifacts, and all the combos I could find, including Sharuum the Hegemon combos. The deck was clunky and unreliable.
The second iteration took out the clunky good stuff and focused on infinite combos. This still was too clunky. Having pieces to multiple combos that don't work together is not a good thing. Back to the drawing board.
The third iteration saw me cut all the "I win" combos, like Sharuum the Hegemon, Sculpting Steel, and Disciple of the Vault, to focus on making infinite mana and using Breya as the win condition. To protect the combo, I added in more removal and a counter package to fill in the voids.
After much more playtesting, I came to the realization that Nim Deathmantle/Eldrazi Displacer + Krark-Clan Ironworks is way too slow and mana-intensive to allow for fast wins. The Bomberman combo is fast enough, but for it to be faster, we needed to be able to get him into play faster, so being able to reanimate him for a much cheaper cost is the ideal way of doing so. Since we are playing reanimation spells to bring Salvagers back, why not use them to bring Worldgorger Dragon back as well? So, I decided to drop the Deathmantle/Displacer combos for the much faster George combo and other spells to facilitate it, but it still took a while to get into the combo. Enter Doomsday. This single card allows us to stack our deck with whatever combo we need to win, and can either win the same turn, or the very next one, if left uninterrupted. And if we're playing Doomsday, you may as well throw in LabMan to give you another option that isn't graveyard-reliant.
Now, we are on to the fifth iteration of the deck. I dropped the George combo, as I felt it was too fragile and easily disrupted. Once disrupted, we would have no choice but to concede, as there is no coming back from that. So, I added in Demonic Consultation and a few other cards to dive deeper into LabMan/Doomsday combos.
This is the deck I bring to you today. So, without further ado, let us get into it and check the deck out.
4 Breya, Etherium Shaper
//Creature (6):
2 Dark Confidant
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Laboratory Maniac
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Notion Thief
//Artifact (15):
0 Chrome Mox
0 Lion's Eye Diamond
0 Lotus Petal
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
0 Mox Opal
1 Mana Vault
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Dimir Signet
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Grim Monolith
2 Isochron Scepter
2 Talisman of Dominance
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
//Sorcery (15):
1 Faithless Looting
1 Gamble
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Imperial Seal
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Vandalblast
1 Winds of Change
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Night's Whisper
3 Doomsday
3 Wheel of Fortune
3 Windfall
3 Yawgmoth's Will
0 Pact of Negation
1 Angel's Grace
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Dispel
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mental Misstep
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pyroblast
1 Silence
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thought Scour
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Delay
2 Dramatic Reversal
2 Izzet Charm
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Mana Drain
2 Predict
2 Tainted Pact
3 Frantic Search
3 Thirst for Knowledge
5 Ad Nauseam
5 Force of Will
5 Gush
1 Mystic Remora
3 Necropotence
//Land (28):
0 Aether Hub
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Arid Mesa
0 Badlands
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Cavern of Souls
0 City of Brass
0 Command Tower
0 Darkslick Shores
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Flooded Strand
0 Forbidden Orchard
0 Mana Confluence
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Plateau
0 Polluted Delta
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Scrubland
0 Spirebluff Canal
0 Tundra
0 Underground Sea
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Volcanic Island
0 Windswept Heath
0 Wooded Foothills
4 Breya, Etherium Shaper
//Card Advantage/Tutors (30):
1 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Faithless Looting
1 Gamble
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Imperial Seal
1 Mystic Remora
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Thought Scour
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Winds of Change
2 Dark Confidant
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Izzet Charm
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Night's Whisper
2 Predict
2 Tainted Pact
3 Frantic Search
3 Necropotence
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Wheel of Fortune
3 Windfall
4 Notion Thief
5 Ad Nauseam
//Combo Pieces (11):
0 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Angel's Grace
1 Demonic Consultation
2 Dramatic Reversal
2 Isochron Scepter
2 Tainted Pact
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Necropotence
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Auriok Salvagers
5 Ad Nauseam
0 Pact of Negation
1 Angel's Grace
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Dispel
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mental Misstep
1 Pyroblast
1 Silence
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vandalblast
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Delay
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Izzet Charm
2 Mana Drain
5 Force of Will
//Mana Acceleration (14):
0 Chrome Mox
0 Lion's Eye Diamond
0 Lotus Petal
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Diamond
0 Mox Opal
1 Dark Ritual
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Dimir Signet
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Grim Monolith
2 Talisman of Dominance
//Utility Cards (2):
3 Doomsday
3 Yawgmoth's Will
0 Aether Hub
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Arid Mesa
0 Badlands
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Cavern of Souls
0 City of Brass
0 Command Tower
0 Darkslick Shores
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Flooded Strand
0 Forbidden Orchard
0 Mana Confluence
0 Marsh Flats
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Plateau
0 Polluted Delta
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Scrubland
0 Spirebluff Canal
0 Tundra
0 Underground Sea
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Volcanic Island
0 Windswept Heath
0 Wooded Foothills
While there are many options for cards that could be included in a deck, there are only room for 100. In the spoiler below, I will give a card-by-card explanation as to why I specifically chose to have a certain card in in the deck.
Artifacts:
Sorceries:
Instants:
Enchantments:
Lands:
The strategy for this deck, much like any Doomsday/Ad Nauseam/combo deck, is straight forward: get your combo and win as fast as possible. How do we go about doing that? Our deck runs a plethora of tutors that can find us our first combo piece to get a game plan in motion, or it can find the other half to the combo in our hand. We also need to assess the other Commanders/board state to see if it’s possible to combo off as early as possible, or if some sort of protection will be needed. Each phase of the gameplay is important, so let’s take a closer look at them.
1) Mulligans: Mulligans are one of the most important things to master about this deck. You need to know what hands are good, which are bad, and which ones are manageable enough for the long game. When deciding whether to take a mulligan or not, you need to keep in mind the following things:
2) Early Game: The early game is where we deploy our lands and mana rocks. We develop our hand for a combo by tutoring the pieces we need or drawing into them naturally. We don’t want to give too much information out this early in the game, so if possible, use tutors that don’t make you reveal what you search for, such as Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor, or Demonic Tutor. We also continuously monitor the board state and the other players. We want to know what decks they are playing, any possible disruption they may have, and whether they can combo before us.
If we were lucky and drew a “perfect hand,” we can attempt to combo off on Turn 1 or 2. What are some of the combos that allow for Turn 1 or 2 wins? Here are just a couple examples:
Those hands are basically “Magic Christmas Land,” but the possibilities are there, and knowing what kind of lines of play you are able to take will help you decide which is going to be the best and most efficient way of winning. You may not be able to get these on turn 1 or 2, but it is possible to do them even on 3 or 4.
3) Mid Game: If we are unable to get one of those “Magic Christmas Land” opening hands and win within the first few turns, then we move on into the mid game. In this phase of gameplay, we are still on the hunt for our combo pieces or protection (whichever we are at the time lacking), and still keeping an eye on the boardstate. We need to keep track of everyone’s life totals, cards in hand, number of untapped lands, and what is physically on the battlefield. If we think we can combo off if the opportunity arises, then we can do so. Otherwise, play the slow game and bring out Breya for some small beats or chump blocks.
4) Late Game: With the way the deck is build, we should never get to a late game, as that is when we are at our worst. How do we get to this point? Not drawing any combo pieces or tutors, or we tried going for a combo and it was stopped by multiple people. This is when we start hurting badly. We can attempt to go for another combo if we still have the resources (a hand and/or permanents on the field). Otherwise, Breya beats will be our plan until we win or lose. It’s bad to say our late game is terrible, but when you’re an all-in combo deck, it’s usually all or nothing, and at times it is going to be nothing. I would like to reiterate, however, that with the way the deck is built, we should never get to this point in the game and shouldn’t have to worry about it too much. Just keep it in the back of your mind the possibility is always there.
While I'm sure many people like to think their deck is top notch and has answers for everything, the truth is no matter what the deck is, there will be weaknesses and people will exploit them. In testing, I have discovered Breya has the following weaknesses:
1) Artifact Hate: Being an artifact deck is really tough. There is a ton of removal in the format whether it's things like Creeping Corrosion and Vandalblast or something more permanent like Return to Dust and Merciless Eviction. Which brings me to the next weakness.
2) Too Glass Cannon-y: This deck wins by combos. All-in combos to be exact. If our Bomberman combo gets disrupted, we will be left without a hand. If we get disrupted while going for our Doomsday win, we will also lose. We must know when it is safe to combo off, or have protection, otherwise we will lose and lose hard.
3) Creature-Based Strategies: We run very little creature removal. In fact, the only piece we have for dealing with mass creatures is Cyclonic Rift, and it will only help us for so long. We should hurry and find our combo pieces and win before we get overwhelmed by creatures, and sometimes things just don't work out in our favor.
4) Graveyard Hate: Some of our win conditions are graveyard based. If our graveyard becomes unusable via cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, then we only have one way to win. If they use something like Tormod's Crypt or Surgical Extraction while we are attempting to combo off, we will be left without a hand or permanents.
5) Counters: Of course every deck is weak to counter spells. Being a combo deck means we are trying to get to our combo pieces as quickly as possible to combo off. Sometimes our tutors will get countered, or a vital piece to our combo gets countered, and when that happens, our game plan can fold.
While Doomsday itself isn't a combo, it does help facilitate our LabMan wins. However, we do have a couple of actual combos that help us win, and they are as follows:
Doomsday is probably one of the most complicated cards to play in the game. Knowing which cards go into a pile, and the order they go in, can make your head hurt. This section will go over some of the MANY different ways to build your piles. Please note that I did not create this list of piles, and I used a list located here to compile these. These piles also follow the same format: the first card in the list will be the top card of the pile, and the last will be the bottom card. If you wish to combo off the turn you cast Doomsday, you will have to have a cantrip in hand to start the process. Otherwise, you will start on your next turn. Here are some examples of our Doomsday Piles:
There are plenty of cards that could go into Breya, but unfortunately, there isn't enough room. These are the cards that didn't make the cut.
12/1/16:
OUT:
Exotic Orchard
Sacred Foundry
Path to Exile
Artificer's Intuition
Pili-Pala
Grand Architect
Saheeli Rai
Clock of Omens
Utter End
IN:
Pact of Negation
Imperial Seal
Arcane Denial
Intuition
Toxic Deluge
Ad Nauseam
Future Sight
Gilded Lotus
Tezzeret the Seeker
I took out the lands as our curve ends at 5, and with the amount of mana rocks that are ran, it shouldn't be too difficult to get the mana that is needed. Grand Architect/Pili-Pala are cut as they are too slow to produce infinite mana, and are easy to remove. Took out PtE/Utter End as the former has a drawback of ramping our opponents and the latter is too high costed for removal. Intuition only fetches out a select few artifacts, so it isn't the best option to run. Saheeli Rai doesn't necessarily fit in here as we don't run many things to copy. Clock is cut to make room for other things, and isn't necessary to effectively run Winter Orb.
Added in Pact/Denial for more low-cost counters. Imperial Seal/Intuition/Tezzeret as more tutors. Toxic Deluge as another sweeper to help control the board. Gilded Lotus as another mana rock to produce through a Winter Orb. Future Sight to help dig through our deck, and combos with SDT and Etherium Sculptor. Ad Nauseam is another effective draw spell, and with having a small curve, should be able to get enough cards in hand to be able to combo off.
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12/15/16:
OUT:
Etherium Sculptor
Future Sight
IN:
Dark Confidant
Lim-Dul's Vault
Etherium Sculptor really wasn't doing very much for the deck. The discount was negligible and often unneeded. Future Sight was barely every played, and I feel like there are better ways to be able to go through your deck to get what is needed.
Dark Confidant will be a fine inclusion, as it will let us dig deeper into our decks at the cost of a little life. Our curve is low (and now a bit lower) so the loss of life won't hurt us badly. Lim-Dul's Vault is the best way to dig through your deck and find what you need. It's cheaper to play than Future Sight, and can also set up the next few draws as well.
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1/3/17:
OUT:
Academy Ruins
Arcane Denial
Azorius Signet
Basalt Monolith
Chromatic Lantern
Daretti, Scrap Savant
Dimir Signet
Eldrazi Displacer
Fabricate
Fact or Fiction
Gilded Lotus
Goblin Welder
Inventors' Fair
Izzet Signet
Krark-Clan Ironworks
Mox Opal
Muddle the Mixture
Nim Deathmantle
Reshape
Rings of Brighthearth
Scrap Mastery
Seat of the Synod
Skullclamp
Tezzeret the Seeker
Thirst for Knowledge
Trading Post
Transmute Artifact
Vindicate
Winter Orb
IN:
Ancient Tomb
Angel of Glory's Rise
Animate Dead
Buried Alive
Cabal Ritual
Chain of Vapor
Dance of the Dead
Dark Ritual
Dispel
Doomsday
Entomb
Grand Abolisher
Impulse
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Merchant Scroll
Mystic Remora
Notion Thief
Reanimate
Recruiter of the Guard
Snapcaster Mage
Tainted Pact
Talisman of Dominance
Talisman of Progress
Talisman of Indulgence
Thought Scour
Wear // Tear
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Winds of Change
Worldgorger Dragon
After playing the deck, I’ve realized that going for the Displacer/Deathmantle + KCI combo is really clunky and mana intensive. We still want infinite combos to be the way to go, so I added the Worldgorger dragon combo back in, as well as Doomsday to help get the combo pieces faster. I’ve dropped the Signets in favor of Talismans so we don’t need to leave mana open to use them. Notion Thief + Winds of Change or any other Wheel effect will empty out everyone else’s hands and help us dig even deeper for our combo or some sort of protection. Angel of Glory’s Rise was brought in to make a better Intuition pile if you have a reanimation spell in hand (bin Angel, Salvagers, and Trinket Mage in order to combo off). Lowered the curve significantly so Dark Confidant and Ad Nauseam doesn’t hurt as much.
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1/5/17:
OUT:
Angel of Glory's Rise
Anguished Unmaking
Chaos Warp
Counterspell
Grim Monolith
Impulse
Lim-Dul's Vault
Negate
Recruiter of the Guard
Vandalblast
Winds of Change
IN:
Frantic Search
Gitaxian Probe
Izzet Charm
Laboratory Maniac
Mental Misstep
Mox Opal
Necromancy
Night's Whisper
Pull from Eternity
Silence
Thirst for Knowledge
Took out some more fluff to make room for LabMan combo and friends. Izzet Charm and Thirst for Knowledge digs us deeper into our deck, and can bin Worldgorger if we end up with him in our hand. Necromancy can let us combo off at end of turn if the need/opportunity arises. Pull from Eternity is really useful if one of our combo pieces happens to get exiled, or can be used in conjunction with Tainted Pact so we can flip past a combo piece and then bin it afterwards.
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9/9/18:
OUT:
Animate Dead
Buried Alive
Dance of the Dead
Entomb
Intuition
Gemstone Caverns
Necromancy
Pull from Eternity
Reanimate
Snapcaster Mage
Talisman of Indulgence
Talisman of Progress
Toxic Deluge
Trinket Mage
Wear // Tear
Worldgorger Dragon
IN:
Aetherflux Reservoir
Angel's Grace
Counterspell
Demonic Consultation
Delay
Dimir Signet
Dramatic Reversal
Grim Monolith
Gush
Isochron Scepter
Lim-Dul's Vault
Predict
Pyroblast
Spell Pierce
Vandalblast
Winds of Change
Completed revamp of the deck. New primer written to show the change in focus of the deck, as well as updated the card choices to hopefully make the deck more consistent.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Level 1 Judge
Any suggestions for cuts?
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Level 1 Judge
I think Marionette Master would be the better cut for Displacer. Battlesphere and Gearhulk I like in here since I can either make infinite Myr with Battlesphere, and Combustible can help dig through the deck.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Etherium Sculptor can also be good
Trash for Treasure - hidden gem.
Baleful Strix - facing early aggression?
Also, Artificer's intuition for early game power.
cut combustible gear hulk; breya is the only damage you need for killing at infinite you pretty much win regardless of what they do
love artificers intuition grabs skull clamp grafdiggers cage cant spell it pithing needle
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Force of Will is spelled wrong, its missing the last L
Scrap Mastery is cmc 5 and its listed as 3 in the OP.
There isn't a Breya tag anywhere in the OP.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Breya was there, I just forgot to put a number in front so she didn't show up. Thank you for point all of those out to me; I really appreciate it.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
The list looks solid overall, looking forward for the primer!
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Auriok Salvagers could be played without LED, but I don't think it's really worth it. You can get back some artifacts, but they won't end the game like LED will. And what cards are you looking at for budget replacements?
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
She was originally put in here mostly because I pulled one and wanted to play her in the deck. The original list she was in could utilize her better. I do like the idea of Intuition into those three. What other cut would you make for Rites?
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
On the other hand, my deck is a lot less competitive and plays more 'cares about artifact' effects.
Can it still support Ad Nauseum if I include Tezzeret the Seeker and Gilded Lotus, as it will increase the curve on the top end? I could possibly see adding Future Sight, as it would be another way to draw into a win. Imperial Seal, however, is still slightly higher than I want to pay, but I could always use it on MTGO. Are you saying to run Intuition over Scrap Mastery and Yawgmoth's Will, or in addition to? Should I still trim lands, even if I'm not going to be running Seal? And if I run Intuition without Unburial Rites, what do you think are good piles to grab? I've never played with Intuition, so I'm a little unfamiliar with it.
I'm dropping Saheeli Rai so Liquimetal Coating becomes worse than it already is.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Like the expensive counterspells, tutors and broken rocks. Do you think the deck may be very unplayable? I am not talking about 100% metas of course.
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
You can definitely use other cards in place of them, but then when you do, your deck will become slower as you will use higher casting spells that tie up your mana further. If your meta is slower and more casual, then I think you would be fine.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Winter Orb is in here to slow everyone down. With the amount of mana rocks in here, it shouldn't hinder the deck too much.
Understandable. I really do appreciate your input on this list. What are you thoughts on running Signets vs Talismans?
These are the changes I'm thinking of implementing. Let me know what you think:
OUT:
IN:
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429