Alright, so I know it has been 8 months since anyone last posted in here, but I have updated the decklist to my most recent setup. This is post-Sylvan Primordial ban, but pre-Journey into Nyx (which hopefully I will get a Kruphix to put in here from a prerelease).
Changes:
-1 Garruk's Horde (wasn't doing what I wanted it to do, but was fun at times)
-1 Giant Adephage (too clunky for my liking)
-1 Unsummon (Cyclonic Rift is just plain better, even if you can't Rift your own dude)
-1 Deceiver Exarch (It was good for what it did in that rendition of the deck, but the deck has changed significantly and is no longer too useful)
-1 Strionic Resonator (I like the card, but just not for this deck)
-1 Contagion Engine (It had almost zero purpose in the deck because the one thing I want to make bigger is the one thing I want to keep flickering. No infect and no major counter hoardes here, just not in need of the Engine)
-1 Primeval Bounty (It was alright as a card in this deck, but its main function was to help me win more when I was already winning, which made it basically a dead card in many situations)
-1 Amass the Components (3 more mana for basically a Brainstorm wasn't cutting it, plus I got a better draw spell in the form of Recurring Insight)
-1 Elvish Visionary (Decided it wasn't worth keeping in the deck. Cute little trick early game, but not too worth it in the late game usually)
-1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood (Much rather have the Forest and Opal Palace is simply better at what I really intended for Oran-Rief to do)
-2 Island
+1 Sakura-Tribe Scout (Alright, I made the executive decision that since I couldn't decide between the two [and this deck's lack of flying dudes], I chose to put both Birds and Scout in the deck)
+1 Prophet of Kruphix (Seedborn Muse reborn into this cute little guy that I love playing)
+1 Progenitor Mimic (This card can get really crazy, especially with some fun things in play )
+1 Mimic Vat (Things die, I like making things come back [as my friends will make mention of the game I cast Plasm Capture at least 9 times against them], therefore, Mimic Vat works!)
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine (See explanation below the decklist)
+1 Cyclonic Rift (I was playing against a Captain Sisay deck that was getting WAY too out of hand one day and I really wanted Cyclonic Rift, good early game, good late game, it's just plain good)
+1 Rite of Replication (As strange as this may sound, copy effects are really sweet! [shocker, right?] I also have things I would like to have more of and maybe even a few of my opponent's things too)
+1 Recurring Insight (So I was helping my friend build his Sygg, River Guide deck and I noticed that he was playing Recurring Insight. After we played a few games, I got to see how powerful it actually was, especially when someone got screwed and left in the mana dust and stuck at 7 cards in hand. It's really good)
+1 Enter the Infinite (See explanation below the decklist)
+1 Forest
+1 Temple of Mystery (U/G Scry Land seems good)
+1 Opal Palace (Because why not draw another card?)
I completely forgot Psychosis Crawler was a card (which is sad because I own 7), so that will most likely see the deck. In terms of some of the staples mentioned: Basically, it's just availability. I would love Spell Crumple, Hinder and Voidslime, but I am not in possession of any of those. However, they would definitely see the deck if I got my hands on them. I'm not a huge fan of Birthing Pod, so that's why it's not in here. Mulldrifter and Eternal Witness are cards I will definitely consider adding as well. Solemn and Rite were in the original build of this deck and got cut for one reason or another. I would definitely consider adding them back in.
My Pride and Joy
Amongst my ideas, this deck holds a special place in my heart. The speaker for Zonot One doubles as the general for the pride and joy of my EDH deck collection. May the tides be forever with you, Zegana.
About Me:
My name is kingofeds, known as Eds by many of my friends inside of the virtual world known as the internet. I have been playing Magic for about 3 and a half years and despite my relative success in Sealed and Standard, EDH is really where my heart lies.
Why Zegana?
So when I play Magic, I always hear "card advantage" this, "card advantage" that. What if this card advantage could help me win the game? Look at Zegana. She has card advantage written all over her! Most people see her as draw 3-5 cards and get little value from her. But at the same time, why not just draw 25? Seems good to me.
Who Is The Deck For?
Do you like ramp? Do you like big creatures? Do you like drawing lots and lots of cards? Congratulations! This deck might be for you!
Explaining the Choices
So there are quite a few choices that I had to consider when making this deck and most of them had to do with "loopholes" or rules that make this deck run. So we'll go bit by bit.
Conundrum Sphinx: We have quite a few cards in the deck that allow us to reveal the top card of our library or look at it, so it makes hitting cards with Conundrum Sphinx a lot easier. Archaeomancer/Eternal Witness: The first of our many loopholes. So this card in combination with our general and two other cards in our deck, Ghostly Flicker and Omniscience, allows us to draw our entire deck for free by casting Ghostly Flicker on Archaeomancer/Eternal Witness and Zegana, having it resolve, drawing cards and returning Ghostly Flicker, which eventually draws us into Laboratory Maniac to help us win. Primeval Light: So whenever I cast this card, people have to read it. What the heck is this? Very situational, but most decks play some form of enchantment and if they play multiple, why waste something like a counterspell or Krosan Grip on it when you can just hit all of them at once. Roil Elemental: The second of our loopholes was one I discovered recently. Because the deck contains so many flicker effects that state "under your control" and we have so many opportunities to trigger landfall, we can gain control of our opponent's creatures, perhaps some even permanently. Enter the Infinite: So I was sitting down one day playing a game of EDH with my friend Mike and he watched me cast Omniscience and combo off like I do most games and he asked me if I played Enter the Infinite. I wasn't at the time. The decision to add Enter the Infinite came from the fact that it makes us do what we want to do a lot faster. I would much rather go: Omniscience, Enter the Infinite, Laboratory Maniac, Brainstorm than have to Ghostly Flicker 3000000 times. Vigor: I realized that I never explained having Vigor in the deck. There are times when you just get outraced, it happens (note my post below about my game against Sliver Overlord). Vigor is our backup man. It suddenly turns a Birds of Paradise or any small dude into a beast. Oh good, you're swinging with your 16/16 general that would have killed me in 2 turns, okay, block with my Bird, suddenly it's a 16/17 that is willing to swing back. Vigor also has a key word on it that says "Prevent". Suddenly makes deathtouch seem a lot less scary. Sword of Feast and Famine: Okay, I finally decided to deconstruct bits of my Kemba, Kha Regent deck to build up Zegana a bit more. Feast and Famine is great in this rendition of the deck because it does what Prophet of Kruphix does except on my turn, so I in essence get 2 turns in 1 in addition to taking my turn on your turn as well (Leyline and Prophet = I take turns all the time :P). When you have a lot of mana and a lot of things to do, you like being able to do everything at once.
Cards I'm Considering
- Spell Crumple: A very nice counter, but nobody wants to let go of theirs -.- Oh well. I hope it's added to the deck soon.
- Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: So I was playing EDH at my LGS and someone dropped a Teferi on the board against me (which of course completely neutralizes my strategy), but I thought that maybe if one was on my side of the board, things could get interesting for me. I would definitely try to fit it in (especially when it gives creatures Flash).
Utopia Connection :2mana::symg::symg: Enchantment - Aura
Enchant land
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add one mana of any color enchanted land could produce to your mana pool.
Enchanted land has ":symtap:: Reveal the top card of your library. If it is a land, put it into play. Otherwise, put it into your hand."
Abundance of Power - :5mana::symg: Enchantment
Lands you control have ":symtap:: Add three mana of any combination to your mana pool."
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Abundance of Power unless you pay :9mana:.
Blight of the Kings - :3mana::symg::symu: Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Blight of the Kings enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature gets +6/+6 and doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Joraga Healer - :1mana::symg::symg: Creature - Elf Shaman
At the beginning of your upkeep, gain 1 life for each Elf you control.
:symg::symg:: Regenerate target Elf. 0/2
Delve for Knowledge - :3mana::symu: Instant
Search your library for a blue instant or sorcery card, reveal it, then put it into your hand. Each opponent puts X 1/1 blue Frog creature tokens onto the battlefield where X is the revealed card's converted mana cost.
Fleeting Progress - :5mana::symu: Enchantment
Each player skips his or her upkeep.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card.
Alas, the Bell Tolls Ongoing Scheme
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this scheme.
Whenever you cast a spell, this scheme deals damage to target player equal to the number of age counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if this scheme has four or more age counters on it, abandon this scheme.
Next: Warring Clans Kilaharo, Mountain of Eruptions
Catastrophic Umbra :4mana::symw: Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, destroy all lands. Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each land destroyed in this way.
:symg::symw:: Regenerate enchanted creature.
Totem armor
Changes:
-1 Garruk's Horde (wasn't doing what I wanted it to do, but was fun at times)
-1 Giant Adephage (too clunky for my liking)
-1 Unsummon (Cyclonic Rift is just plain better, even if you can't Rift your own dude)
-1 Deceiver Exarch (It was good for what it did in that rendition of the deck, but the deck has changed significantly and is no longer too useful)
-1 Strionic Resonator (I like the card, but just not for this deck)
-1 Contagion Engine (It had almost zero purpose in the deck because the one thing I want to make bigger is the one thing I want to keep flickering. No infect and no major counter hoardes here, just not in need of the Engine)
-1 Primeval Bounty (It was alright as a card in this deck, but its main function was to help me win more when I was already winning, which made it basically a dead card in many situations)
-1 Amass the Components (3 more mana for basically a Brainstorm wasn't cutting it, plus I got a better draw spell in the form of Recurring Insight)
-1 Elvish Visionary (Decided it wasn't worth keeping in the deck. Cute little trick early game, but not too worth it in the late game usually)
-1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood (Much rather have the Forest and Opal Palace is simply better at what I really intended for Oran-Rief to do)
-2 Island
+1 Sakura-Tribe Scout (Alright, I made the executive decision that since I couldn't decide between the two [and this deck's lack of flying dudes], I chose to put both Birds and Scout in the deck)
+1 Prophet of Kruphix (Seedborn Muse reborn into this cute little guy that I love playing)
+1 Progenitor Mimic (This card can get really crazy, especially with some fun things in play
+1 Mimic Vat (Things die, I like making things come back [as my friends will make mention of the game I cast Plasm Capture at least 9 times against them], therefore, Mimic Vat works!)
+1 Sword of Feast and Famine (See explanation below the decklist)
+1 Cyclonic Rift (I was playing against a Captain Sisay deck that was getting WAY too out of hand one day and I really wanted Cyclonic Rift, good early game, good late game, it's just plain good)
+1 Rite of Replication (As strange as this may sound, copy effects are really sweet! [shocker, right?] I also have things I would like to have more of and maybe even a few of my opponent's things too)
+1 Recurring Insight (So I was helping my friend build his Sygg, River Guide deck and I noticed that he was playing Recurring Insight. After we played a few games, I got to see how powerful it actually was, especially when someone got screwed and left in the mana dust and stuck at 7 cards in hand. It's really good)
+1 Enter the Infinite (See explanation below the decklist)
+1 Forest
+1 Temple of Mystery (U/G Scry Land seems good)
+1 Opal Palace (Because why not draw another card?)
Played a game with it yesterday against a Sliver Overlord deck. Vigor came up huge in that game, allowing me to freely block with my Conundrum Sphinx.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=528626
Amongst my ideas, this deck holds a special place in my heart. The speaker for Zonot One doubles as the general for the pride and joy of my EDH deck collection. May the tides be forever with you, Zegana.
About Me:
Why Zegana?
So when I play Magic, I always hear "card advantage" this, "card advantage" that. What if this card advantage could help me win the game? Look at Zegana. She has card advantage written all over her! Most people see her as draw 3-5 cards and get little value from her. But at the same time, why not just draw 25? Seems good to me.
Who Is The Deck For?
Do you like ramp? Do you like big creatures? Do you like drawing lots and lots of cards? Congratulations! This deck might be for you!
THE DECK:
6 Prime Speaker Zegana
Creatures (25)
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Lotus Cobra
3 Eternal Witness
3 Laboratory Maniac
3 Trinket Mage
3 Wood Elves
4 Archaeomancer
4 Conundrum Sphinx
4 Master Biomancer
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
5 Acidic Slime
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Psychosis Crawler
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Frost Titan
6 Progenitor Mimic
6 Roil Elemental
6 Vigor
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Artifacts (10)
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Simic Signet
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Mimic Vat
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
5 Conjurer's Closet
5 Gilded Lotus
4 Leyline of Anticipation
5 Asceticism
10 Omniscience
Planeswalkers (1)
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
Instants (13)
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Beast Within
3 Ghostly Flicker
3 Hinder
3 Krosan Grip
4 Plasm Capture
4 Rewind
5 Spin Into Myth
6 Summoning Trap
Sorceries (12)
1 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Explore
2 Sylvan Scrying
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
4 Primeval Light
4 Rite of Replication
5 Time Warp
5 Urban Evolution
6 Recurring Insight
8 Praetor's Counsel
12 Enter the Infinite
9 Island
9 Forest
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Halimar Depths
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Breeding Pool
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Temple of the False God
1 Command Tower
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Strip Mine
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Opal Palace
Explaining the Choices
So there are quite a few choices that I had to consider when making this deck and most of them had to do with "loopholes" or rules that make this deck run. So we'll go bit by bit.
Archaeomancer/Eternal Witness: The first of our many loopholes. So this card in combination with our general and two other cards in our deck, Ghostly Flicker and Omniscience, allows us to draw our entire deck for free by casting Ghostly Flicker on Archaeomancer/Eternal Witness and Zegana, having it resolve, drawing cards and returning Ghostly Flicker, which eventually draws us into Laboratory Maniac to help us win.
Primeval Light: So whenever I cast this card, people have to read it. What the heck is this? Very situational, but most decks play some form of enchantment and if they play multiple, why waste something like a counterspell or Krosan Grip on it when you can just hit all of them at once.
Roil Elemental: The second of our loopholes was one I discovered recently. Because the deck contains so many flicker effects that state "under your control" and we have so many opportunities to trigger landfall, we can gain control of our opponent's creatures, perhaps some even permanently.
Enter the Infinite: So I was sitting down one day playing a game of EDH with my friend Mike and he watched me cast Omniscience and combo off like I do most games and he asked me if I played Enter the Infinite. I wasn't at the time. The decision to add Enter the Infinite came from the fact that it makes us do what we want to do a lot faster. I would much rather go: Omniscience, Enter the Infinite, Laboratory Maniac, Brainstorm than have to Ghostly Flicker 3000000 times.
Vigor: I realized that I never explained having Vigor in the deck. There are times when you just get outraced, it happens (note my post below about my game against Sliver Overlord). Vigor is our backup man. It suddenly turns a Birds of Paradise or any small dude into a beast. Oh good, you're swinging with your 16/16 general that would have killed me in 2 turns, okay, block with my Bird, suddenly it's a 16/17 that is willing to swing back. Vigor also has a key word on it that says "Prevent". Suddenly makes deathtouch seem a lot less scary.
Sword of Feast and Famine: Okay, I finally decided to deconstruct bits of my Kemba, Kha Regent deck to build up Zegana a bit more. Feast and Famine is great in this rendition of the deck because it does what Prophet of Kruphix does except on my turn, so I in essence get 2 turns in 1 in addition to taking my turn on your turn as well (Leyline and Prophet = I take turns all the time :P). When you have a lot of mana and a lot of things to do, you like being able to do everything at once.
- Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: So I was playing EDH at my LGS and someone dropped a Teferi on the board against me (which of course completely neutralizes my strategy), but I thought that maybe if one was on my side of the board, things could get interesting for me. I would definitely try to fit it in (especially when it gives creatures Flash).
- Witchstalker
- Cold-Eyed Selkie
- Mimic Vat
- Garruk, Primal Hunter
- Syncopate
- Rapid Hybridization
- Deprive
- Dissipate
- Recollect
- Journey of Discovery
+ Kodama's Reach
+ Sylvan Scrying
+ Hinder
+ Primeval Bounty
+ Simic Signet
+ Psychosis Crawler
+ Eternal Witness
+ Lotus Cobra
+ Coiling Oracle
+ Counterspell
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant land
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add one mana of any color enchanted land could produce to your mana pool.
Enchanted land has ":symtap:: Reveal the top card of your library. If it is a land, put it into play. Otherwise, put it into your hand."
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts with converted mana cost 2 or less.
Enchantment
Lands you control have ":symtap:: Add three mana of any combination to your mana pool."
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Abundance of Power unless you pay :9mana:.
Instant
Target creature you control is unblockable this turn.
Overload :3mana::symu::symu:
Next:
Return of the Kings
Zeveron, Lord of Genesis
Blight of the Kings - :3mana::symg::symu:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Blight of the Kings enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature gets +6/+6 and doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
Creature - Elf Shaman
At the beginning of your upkeep, gain 1 life for each Elf you control.
:symg::symg:: Regenerate target Elf.
0/2
Instant
Search your library for a blue instant or sorcery card, reveal it, then put it into your hand. Each opponent puts X 1/1 blue Frog creature tokens onto the battlefield where X is the revealed card's converted mana cost.
Enchantment
Each player skips his or her upkeep.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card.
Ongoing Scheme
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this scheme.
Whenever you cast a spell, this scheme deals damage to target player equal to the number of age counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if this scheme has four or more age counters on it, abandon this scheme.
Next:
Warring Clans
Kilaharo, Mountain of Eruptions
Catastrophic Umbra :4mana::symw:
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, destroy all lands. Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each land destroyed in this way.
:symg::symw:: Regenerate enchanted creature.
Totem armor