Boy do I love the Simic Guild! Jankiness in abundance! Go, go GU! So far I've built a Kruphix, God of Horizons super lock, Momir Vig clone army, Edric, Spymaster of Trest unblockable army, and now, my latest build: Experiment Kraj jank! Hell, a lowercase 'r' is ulmost like a lowercase 'n' so even the word 'kraj' backwards is practically 'jank'! This was meant to be!
Anyways, the goal of the deck is to abuse +1/+1 counters. Luckily, with so many new sets, this is even more viable than before. Also, the current card pool is a bit overwhelming when searching for to include. Now, I've yet to test this deck for the simple fact that I'm over by 6 cards. So, with so much synergy in GU with +1/+1 counters, I'd like to first go over what I want to accomplish with the deck:
Main Goal:
The ultimate jankiness of Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines in order to use Experiment Kraj to copy planeswalker abilities (while also being able to copy land, artifact, and enchantment activated abilities). Mycosynth Lattice allows for the colorless, G, or U I produce to be used as if it were any color. Meaning that activated abilities of artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or lands that require non-commander colors to be activated, can be by Experiment Kraj.
The pros:
All planeswalkers become planeswalker artifact creatures. So you can use Experiment Kraj for some sweet, sweet jankiness.
Basically (unintentionally, by the way), your opponents' lands become 0/0 artifact creature lands and thus, as a state-based action, die. Which leads to the cons:
Cons:
Your lands become 0/0 artifact creature lands and thus, as a state-based action, die. Which leads to the necessity of adding cards that buff your creatures before you do this combo. This of course leads to the challenge of piloting the deck and the decision of how many cards should be added to counteract this effect.
Other combos
Now, some of these I may remove (thus lowering the numbers of cards to cut from 7 to a lower number - hopefully to 0) being as some cards only work in combo and not apart.
I'm not using a lot of card drawing or advantage in the deck. That worries me a bit. However, when combined with Chasm Skulker or Lorescale Coatl, I can draw a card for a mere GU. Zameck Guildmage works well on its own but Chasm Skulker and Lorescale Coatl don't. So I may scratch them altogether (freeing up 2 slots).
I'm gonna use Cytoplast Manipulator regardless. However, Sheltering Ancient pumps opponents' creatures for free each upkeep. This can be used to copy their abilities with Experiment Kraj or for politics. However, people may not believe that your are pumping their creatures for their benefit or for another opponent's dismay. This all depends on meta and playgroups. My playgroup never ever follows common sense politics in multiplayer EDH. So Sheltering Ancient may get cut (freeing up 1 slot). However, I highly recommend it for those political players out there.
Cards I'm considering cutting
Kiora, the Crashing Wave: her +1 is ok, especially if I'm able to do it multiple times in one turn. Her -1 is good for at least drawing a card and maybe dropping another land. Her emblem is brutal (especially with Doubling Season in play). However, as much as I want this to be Superfriends, I don't see too many pros to getting her ultimate (only if I do it multiple times via her, Experiment Kraj, Illusionist's Bracers, and Rings of Brighthearth.
some of the Spikes: The spike creatures are amazing because they already enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on them and they have great abilities for removing counters (particularly giving other creatures a +1/+1 counter). However, I feel that maybe my spike count is too high. This may free up some slots.
some of the boons: I have so many cards that pump all creatures in one way or another. I do this for being redundant as there is no real way to avoid massive land loss when the main combo is in play. Since it's the main combo, I need a way to protect my lands. I can't solely depend on my mana dorks. This may free up some slots.
Garruk Wildspeaker: here for untapping two lands and giving my creatures an extra push to go stompy. However, without a lot of cards to support it, all it really does is untap 2 lands each turn.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts: just here for the emblem. For this deck that emblem is ridiculous. However, without the combo or being able to protect it long enough to get the emblem, it's basically just a dead draw.
On top of all this, I also wanna find space for Cyclonic Rift.
Now, I know I can steal creatures, possibly removes all of my opponents' lands, and whatnot. However, making all permanents into artifact creatures means that my opponents will have a lot of creatures. So for me to win, I gotta bash face - and hard. So that's my main wincon.
Please! Help is needed! Any recommendations, suggestions, and attention is most welcome and appreciated! Long like the jank!
-Contagion Clasp
-Contagion Engine
Though the main point of the deck was to use planeswalkers and other card types to score with Experiment Kraj, giving more counters of a type is good, but not always gonna function unless there's a way to put them on. Granted, Experiment Kraj would be able to use both these artifacts' activated abilities thanks to March of the Machines, but I had to find space somehow. I'd rather have more cards to add counters than cards that double the counters. I may regret this later on but that's what testing's for.
-Sheltering Ancient
Doesn't really do anything on its own and politics is really something dependent on meta. Having this guy in play without Cytoplast Manipulator is very scary. Though I can choose to not pay cumulative upkeep and let it die, it'd be taking up space in the deck.
-Power Conduit
I have so many other ways of giving +1/+1 counters. I felt this was too slow and clunky even more so than being redundant. Simic Guildmage basically does the same thing - without having to tap to do so.
-Spike Tiller
-Spike Colony
I think I have enough spikes. That and they were too expensive to cast. Spike Colony has no secondary ability and Spike Tiller's secondary ability wasn't really necessary, either.
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Okay, so what I did is added more creatures with an untap activated ability to abuse the value of Experiment Kraj. Also added some more ways to draw cards. Testing the deck I drew early Gilder Bairn. That card single-handedly made this deck ridiculous. Mid-game I got Vorel of the Hull Clade. As soon as I was able to make my planeswalkers into artifact creature planeswalker and Experiment Kraj get some loyalty counters, it got insane. Copied Vorel's ability to double its loyalty counters. Then copied Gilder Bairn's ability to untap and double the loyalty counters. I got emblems from planeswalkers I didn't even control! Talk about jank! With Cytoplast Manipulator I was even able to steal everyone's planeswalkers turned artifact creature. Good times!
Online it's very hard to keep track of things, especially the planeswalker abilities Experiment Kraj is using (since he can only use one per turn per planeswalker). Equipping Illusionist's Bracers to Experiment Kraj is just insane. I got practically infinite turns off an opponent's Ral Zarek. Removing 7 loyalty counters from Experiment Kraj was equivalent to tossing 10 coins to see how many extra turns I got. If I would've had Rings of Brighthearth in play, it would've been extra ridiculous!
This deck has been a lot fun testing! I will continue to test to get more value out of the Kraj.
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Anyways, the goal of the deck is to abuse +1/+1 counters. Luckily, with so many new sets, this is even more viable than before. Also, the current card pool is a bit overwhelming when searching for to include. Now, I've yet to test this deck for the simple fact that I'm over by 6 cards. So, with so much synergy in GU with +1/+1 counters, I'd like to first go over what I want to accomplish with the deck:
Main Goal:
The ultimate jankiness of Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines in order to use Experiment Kraj to copy planeswalker abilities (while also being able to copy land, artifact, and enchantment activated abilities). Mycosynth Lattice allows for the colorless, G, or U I produce to be used as if it were any color. Meaning that activated abilities of artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or lands that require non-commander colors to be activated, can be by Experiment Kraj.
The pros:
- All planeswalkers become planeswalker artifact creatures. So you can use Experiment Kraj for some sweet, sweet jankiness.
- Basically (unintentionally, by the way), your opponents' lands become 0/0 artifact creature lands and thus, as a state-based action, die. Which leads to the cons:
Cons:Dealing with the Myscosynth Lattice + March of the Machines combo
As long as you get Spidersilk Armor, Leyline of Vitality, Gaea's Anthem, Thunderfoot Baloth, or Master of Etherium in play means that your lands are safe. Also, I'm running a lot of elves in the deck, so I added Xenograft in order to take advantage of cards like Elvish Archdruid, Joraga Warcaller, and Imperious Perfect in order to protect my lands from being 0/0. Including Xenograft also has the added bonus of going great with cards like Priest of Titania and Ezuri, Renegade Leader, being as Priest of Titania's gonna add a lot of G and Ezuri, Renegade Leader gives me an epic army. I gotta win somehow, right?
Other combos
Now, some of these I may remove (thus lowering the numbers of cards to cut from 7 to a lower number - hopefully to 0) being as some cards only work in combo and not apart.
Cards I'm considering cutting
- Kiora, the Crashing Wave: her +1 is ok, especially if I'm able to do it multiple times in one turn. Her -1 is good for at least drawing a card and maybe dropping another land. Her emblem is brutal (especially with Doubling Season in play). However, as much as I want this to be Superfriends, I don't see too many pros to getting her ultimate (only if I do it multiple times via her, Experiment Kraj, Illusionist's Bracers, and Rings of Brighthearth.
- some of the Spikes: The spike creatures are amazing because they already enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on them and they have great abilities for removing counters (particularly giving other creatures a +1/+1 counter). However, I feel that maybe my spike count is too high. This may free up some slots.
- some of the boons: I have so many cards that pump all creatures in one way or another. I do this for being redundant as there is no real way to avoid massive land loss when the main combo is in play. Since it's the main combo, I need a way to protect my lands. I can't solely depend on my mana dorks. This may free up some slots.
- Garruk Wildspeaker: here for untapping two lands and giving my creatures an extra push to go stompy. However, without a lot of cards to support it, all it really does is untap 2 lands each turn.
- Garruk, Caller of Beasts: just here for the emblem. For this deck that emblem is ridiculous. However, without the combo or being able to protect it long enough to get the emblem, it's basically just a dead draw.
On top of all this, I also wanna find space for Cyclonic Rift.Okay, so here's the deck:
6 Experiment Kraj
Artifacts: 8
2 Contagion Clasp
6 Contagion Engine
3 Dragon Blood
2 Illusionist's Bracers
6 Mycosynth Lattice
2 Power Conduit
3 Rings of Brighthearth
3 Thousand-Year Elixir
Creatures: 38
1 Birds of Paradise
3 Chasm Skulker
4 Cytoplast Manipulator
3 Elvish Archdruid
3 Elvish Harbinger
1 Elvish Mystic
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Forgotten Ancient
1 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Gilder Bairn
2 Gyre Sage
3 Imperious Perfect
1 Joraga Warcaller
5 Kalonian Hydra
1 Llanowar Elves
3 Lorescale Coatl
4 Master Biomancer
3 Master of Etherium
3 Plaxcaster Frogling
2 Priest of Titania
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Seedborn Muse
2 Sheltering Ancient
2 Simic Guildmage
4 Spike Breeder
5 Spike Colony
7 Spike Hatcher
3 Spike Rogue
4 Spike Soldier
5 Spike Tiller
4 Spike Weaver
2 Steel Overseer
6 Thunderfoot Baloth
6 Triskelion
3 Vigean Graftmage
6 Vigor
3 Vorel of the Hullclade
2 Zameck Guildmage
3 Bow of Nylea
5 Doubling Season
3 Gaea's Anthem
1 Hardened Scales
5 Inexorable Tide
4 Leyline of Vitality
4 March of the Machines
3 Spidersilk Armor
5 Xenograft
Planeswalkers: 10
5 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
6 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
7 Karn Liberated
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
5 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
6 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
Spells: 4
9 Decree of Savagery
2 Strength of the Tajuru
1 Thrive
4 Titania's Boon
Lands: 37
0 Alchemist's Refuge
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Breeding Pool
0 Coral Atoll
0 Flooded Grove
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Jungle Basin
0 Novijen, Heart of Progress
0 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
0 Seat of the Synod
0 Simic Growth Chamber
0 Simic Guildgate
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Temple of the False God
0 Thornwood Falls
0 Tree of Tales
0 Tropical Island
0 Yavimaya Coast
0 Snow-Covered Forest (x9)
0 Snow-Covered Island (x10)
Now, I know I can steal creatures, possibly removes all of my opponents' lands, and whatnot. However, making all permanents into artifact creatures means that my opponents will have a lot of creatures. So for me to win, I gotta bash face - and hard. So that's my main wincon.
Please! Help is needed! Any recommendations, suggestions, and attention is most welcome and appreciated! Long like the jank!
-Contagion Clasp
-Contagion Engine
Though the main point of the deck was to use planeswalkers and other card types to score with Experiment Kraj, giving more counters of a type is good, but not always gonna function unless there's a way to put them on. Granted, Experiment Kraj would be able to use both these artifacts' activated abilities thanks to March of the Machines, but I had to find space somehow. I'd rather have more cards to add counters than cards that double the counters. I may regret this later on but that's what testing's for.
-Sheltering Ancient
Doesn't really do anything on its own and politics is really something dependent on meta. Having this guy in play without Cytoplast Manipulator is very scary. Though I can choose to not pay cumulative upkeep and let it die, it'd be taking up space in the deck.
-Chasm Skulker
-Lorescale Coatl
Really only work with Zameck Guildmage. Other than that, they're a straight up target for burn and removal.
-Power Conduit
I have so many other ways of giving +1/+1 counters. I felt this was too slow and clunky even more so than being redundant. Simic Guildmage basically does the same thing - without having to tap to do so.
-Spike Tiller
-Spike Colony
I think I have enough spikes. That and they were too expensive to cast. Spike Colony has no secondary ability and Spike Tiller's secondary ability wasn't really necessary, either.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
6 Experiment Kraj
Artifacts: 5
1 Elixir of Immortality
2 Illusionist's Bracers
6 Mycosynth Lattice
3 Rings of Brighthearth
3 Thousand-Year Elixir
Creatures: 32
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Cytoplast Manipulator
2 Devoted Druid
3 Elvish Archdruid
3 Elvish Harbinger
1 Elvish Mystic
4 Forgotten Ancient
1 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Gilder Bairn
2 Gyre Sage
1 Joraga Warcaller
5 Kalonian Hydra
5 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Leech Bonder
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Master Biomancer
5 Morphling
3 Plaxcaster Frogling
2 Priest of Titania
5 Prophet of Kruphix
2 Simic Guildmage
4 Spike Breeder
7 Spike Hatcher
4 Spike Weaver
2 Steel Overseer
5 Thornling
6 Thunderfoot Baloth
6 Triskelion
3 Vigean Graftmage
6 Vigor
3 Vorel of the Hullclade
2 Zameck Guildmage
3 Bow of Nylea
5 Doubling Season
1 Hardened Scales
5 Inexorable Tide
6 Mind Unbound
3 Spidersilk Armor
2 Sylvan Library
3 Triumph of Ferocity
Planeswalkers: 11
5 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
6 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
7 Karn Liberated
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
5 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
6 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
8 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Spells: 4
2 Cyclonic Rift
9 Decree of Savagery
1 Thrive
4 Titania's Boon
Lands: 39
0 Alchemist's Refuge
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Breeding Pool
0 Coral Atoll
0 Flooded Grove
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Jungle Basin
0 Novijen, Heart of Progress
0 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Seat of the Synod
0 Simic Growth Chamber
0 Simic Guildgate
0 Temple of Mystery
0 Temple of the False God
0 Thornwood Falls
0 Tree of Tales
0 Tropical Island
0 Yavimaya Coast
0 Snow-Covered Forest (x10)
0 Snow-Covered Island (x10)
Okay, so what I did is added more creatures with an untap activated ability to abuse the value of Experiment Kraj. Also added some more ways to draw cards. Testing the deck I drew early Gilder Bairn. That card single-handedly made this deck ridiculous. Mid-game I got Vorel of the Hull Clade. As soon as I was able to make my planeswalkers into artifact creature planeswalker and Experiment Kraj get some loyalty counters, it got insane. Copied Vorel's ability to double its loyalty counters. Then copied Gilder Bairn's ability to untap and double the loyalty counters. I got emblems from planeswalkers I didn't even control! Talk about jank! With Cytoplast Manipulator I was even able to steal everyone's planeswalkers turned artifact creature. Good times!
Online it's very hard to keep track of things, especially the planeswalker abilities Experiment Kraj is using (since he can only use one per turn per planeswalker). Equipping Illusionist's Bracers to Experiment Kraj is just insane. I got practically infinite turns off an opponent's Ral Zarek. Removing 7 loyalty counters from Experiment Kraj was equivalent to tossing 10 coins to see how many extra turns I got. If I would've had Rings of Brighthearth in play, it would've been extra ridiculous!
This deck has been a lot fun testing! I will continue to test to get more value out of the Kraj.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!