MTG Salvation

I started playing Magic at the back end of New Phyrexia and got properly hooked on the cardboard crack around the time Return to Ravnica hit the shelves (I played casually until that point and Innistrad didn’t really float my boat). Never really having time to play at any Friday Night Magic I never really got into standard. Because I felt that playing decks with 4 up of seven or eight different cards plus land was a bit samey, modern was never my bag either. I was a kitchen table player who preferred to make stupidly large decks that were always a bit clunky.

Then I got my hands on the Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast commander PreCon and I was hooked on commander.
That’s it. That’s my history. I only play EDH. I only need EDH.

Karn, Silver Golem
Karn is the poster boy for colourless combo. For Karn to work you need a lot less ramp and a lot more utility.
As he's a combo piece in himself the combos are relatively easy to come by but he's not a commander for this ramp to combo playstyle. Karn builds tend to even more tinkering and puzzle building than what I'm willing to do.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Ulamog is good but look at the size of him. 11 mana for a 10/10 indestructible with annihilator 4. Good stats but you’ve got to play so much more reservedly. Let’s say we take the same play style. You’ve ramped hard and managed to drop Ulamog on turn 3 or 4, there’s one card in hand.... that’s it. You’ve got a big body with annihilator ans now you’re top decking the rest of the game. Plus, Kozi takes two hits to kill with commander damage, Ula takes 3.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Better in my opinion than Ulamog but doesn’t have the same impact on the game in the combat phase. Yes he draws but he can only draw you until you have 7 in hand. So no sacrificing and recasting for more cards over and over. The countering ability is nice but I find the annihilator trigger is better than menace. I would recommend playing this iteration of Kozilek if you’re not looking to alienate yourself from the table.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Similar to Ulamog 1.0 we'd be lacking in cards for any follow up after the initial cast. I feel like the Ulamogs want to be in a deck with a lot more draw but there's only so much draw we can get our hands on in colourless without giving our opponents the same level of draw. The best thing about this iteration of Ulamog in my opinion is the ‘exile 20 off the top of the library’. It's a death sentance for a combo deck because that's one fifth of their deck that will probably hold valuable combo pieces and tutors.

Emrakul, the Promised End
The only two card types that are realistically going to be in our graveyard to discount Emrakul are artifacts and land so we're really not seeing that discount. She's effectively a Mindslaver on a stick but after you're done with the player, they get a turn to fix up the mess you made. The flying and trample with protection is nice but again, like the Ulamogs, unless we're playing a heavy draw package we'll be out of steam by the time we can cast Emrakul.

Hope of Ghirapur
Needs a completely different deck built around it. I don't see this as a viable commander in any build because in colourless you'd be using equipment. For equipment to be viable you'd either need a lot more draw to keep up the mana cost of re-equiping, or you need access to white which you can't have.

Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
Err... I don't think he really does enough to warrant being down to colourless for a 7/7. Not for a build like this at least. Until someone can prove otherwise I don't think he's that good a commander but I imagine he'd need to a be head of a colourless goodstuff deck.

OUT>IN

Drownyard Temple>Geode Golem
Drownyard temple doesn't synergise with enough cards or have enough going for it's ability to warrant keeping a spot in the deck. Geode golem after play testing has proven a very potent addition and a way of bypassing the cost of Kozilek. As I felt there were a few too many lands for the amount of ramp in the deck it was an easy switch to make.

Blinkmoth Urn>Kozilek, the Great Distortion
The urn has been underperforming for a while. It was a really difficult one to take out because of the sheer amount of mana it can produce but at 5 with no immediate payoff it had to go. Since taking it out I've not lost in consistency or even noticed that it's missing. A good sign I made the correct cut.
Kozi2.0 is one that I've tested off and on. As we have limited access to removal the pseudo counterspell strapped to this 12/12 spaghetti monster is too appealing. The draw up to 7 is not to be ignored as well. Kozi2.0 is a beast and deserves a spot in the deck.

Azor's Gateway>Ugin, the Ineffable
Azor's gateway serves as a decent way of filtering out the unwanted or unneeded cards in hand but after testing Ugin (who does everything you could ever need in a card) the gateway proved to be the weaker card

Tectonic Edge>Emergence Zone
Tec Edge is a great land removal card but compared with emergence zone's ability to throw out a threat or combo piece at the end of an opponent’s turn is too good to pass up.

Wastes>Blast Zone
I can go down to one less basic land to utilise Blast Zone.

The bad hand:



This is a bad hand simply because there’s too much utility, not enough rocks. The one rock we do have is out of reach of the mana we can produce and we can’t risk not drawing a land or a lower cost rock to get the wheel turning. Mulligan time.

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The good hand:



This looks more like something we’re likely to stick with.
We have lands that mean we can chain out rocks together, utility we can use toward getting better draw moving forward and something that can guarantee cards a bit later if for some reason a Kozilek doesn’t happen.
Turn 1: Wastes, Divining Top.
Turn 2: Urborg, Mind Stone, activate Top (put a land to the top of the library).
Turn 3: Lay the land you drew, Thran Dynamo, Worn Powerstone.
We now go into turn 4 able to produce 8 mana. We can manipulate our next draw with Top or go full blast with Memory Jar to (almost) guarantee our next land drop.

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The God hand:



This would be an example of a very good hand. Not the best but still very good.
We have low cost, high output rocks that curve into bigger ones and we have a way to untap what we want to re-use.
Turn 1: Ancient Tomb, Voltaic Key, Mana Vault, tap Vault and untap with Key, Sol Ring, Dreamstone Hedron, Doubling Cube.
Turn 2: Tap Dreamstone and untap it with Key, tap Dreamstone, Sol Ring and Ancient Tomb, activate Doubling Cube, cast Kozilek, cast any card in hand costing 2 or less.
We still have Spine of Ish Sah in hand if an opponent needs slowing down. Or, swing with Kozilek, destroy him with Spine, cast what you drew and recast him next turn for another 4 cards.

This combo has been explained a billion times in a billion different places but I’m going to explain it here too.
Rings can’t copy mana abilities but it can copy the untap ability of the Monolith.
For this combo to go infinite you have to be able to generate 2 mana outside of the use of the Basalt Monolith.

• Tap Basalt Monolith for 3.
• Spend 3 to untap the Monolith, maintain priority and use the 2 to copy the untap ability with Rings.
• Let the copy trigger and before the original untap resolves, tap it for 3.

The untap resolves and you have 3 in your pool where you originally had 2.
Do this over and over and over... or save time and tell the table you have whatever mana figure you decide you have.

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Everflowing Chalice needs 4 counters on it, meaning you need to have paid the multikicker 4 times (8 mana)

• Tap the Chalice to add 4.
• Pay 1 of that 4 and activate Voltaic Key to untap the Chalice.
• Pay 2 to copy the untap ability with Rings, targeting the Voltaic Key.
• Let everything resolve and you have one mana in your pool.
• Rinse and repeat for whatever quantity of mana you like.

Note: this combo isn't exclusive to Everflowing Chalice. Any rock that taps for 4 can do this.

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With both on the field you need to play with the stack a bit in the same way as the Rings/Monolith combo.

• Cast a spell which triggers Paradox Engine.
• Respond to the trigger by copying the ability with Strionic Resonator.
• Allow the copy to resolve untapping all of your rocks and the Resonator.
• Before the original Paradox Engine trigger resolves, tap all rocks for mana and then pay 2 again to copy the unresolved Engine trigger.
• Keep going and going until you have all the mana you need.

Note: if you have Planar Bridge or anything that taps to draw you can slip activations in and around the stack to tutor or draw infinitely.

This combo requires any 3 artifacts to be in your hand.

• Tap the Metalworker, revealing the 3 artifacts which generates you 6 mana.
• Pay 3 and tap the Staff to untap Metalworker.
• Pay 1 with the Staff to untap the Staff.

You’ll find yourself back at square one with 2 mana in your pool.
This combo is particularly effective because you need no other cards as the staff will draw your library for you with its 5 and tap ability. You just pick up your deck and play what you need.

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This combo requires you to be able to generate 11 mana from nonland sources.

• Cast Kozilek, draw 4 cards.
• Engine triggers and untaps all your nonland permanents.
• Activate Erratic Portal targeting Kozilek and let him bounce to your hand.
• Carry on casting Kozilek and picking up large quantities of your deck, then throwing him back to your hand.

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This combo doesn’t specifically require Thran Dynamo. Any rock that taps for three or more will do.
Assuming Thran Dynamo is on the field:

• Cast Clock of Omens and Staff of Domination.
• Cast Sculpting Steel and have it enter as a copy of Staff of Domination.
• Tap Thran Dynamo for 3.
• Tap both Staffs to untap the Dynamo with Clock of Omens’ ability.
• Pay 1 for each of your Staffs to untap them.
• Tap Thran Dynamo for 3 and repeat.

Now that you’ve generated infinite mana, treat yourself by drawing your deck with Staff’s 5,t ability.

• Activate the Disk with the Forge in play.

Shouldn’t need too much explaining!
Works particularly well with Voltaic Key on the field as you can activate it right away if you need to.
It also allows you to mop up any fallout from creatures that can explode into more creatures like Hangarback Walker or Elenda, the Dusk Rose

Unwinding Clock or Clock of Omens in the mix will normally cause a table-wide scoop as you can activate it in a every player’s end step, rendering their turn pointless.

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• Cast Spine, destroy something.
• Sac Spine to the Ironworks and it will return from graveyard to your hand.
• Cast and destroy.

With one of the listed infinite mana combos it’ll cause a table scoop as you’ll blow up all opponent’s lands. Anything they do from this point will be undone in your next turn when you go and destroy everything again.
It’s worth noting that with Paradox Engine you don’t even need infinite mana, just 5 mana generated by mana rocks, the rest you need will be added when you sac the Spine to Ironworks.

This combo can vary from a lock of a single player through to a hard lock of the table. If you're left with just one opponent then they lose all their upcoming turns unless they can remove one of your pieces in their turn before you go off.

• Activate Mindslaver targeting your unwilling victim.
• Activate Buried Ruin's non mana producing ability targeting the now yarded Mindslaver.
• Recast Minslaver either this turn or next.
• Use Crucible of worlds to replay Buried Ruin and start over.

The way this turns into a hard table lock is by hopping between Rings of Brighthearth and Strionic Resonator:

• Activate Mindslaver targeting opponent 1.
• Pay 2 for Rings, copying Mindslaver's activated ability and target opponent 2.
• Activate the Resonator targeting Rings' triggered ability and target opponent 3 with this copy.
• Pay 2 for Rings, copying Resonator's activated ability and target opponent 4 (if you’re playing that many).

For the bargain cost of 10 mana (12 if you count the buried ruin ability) control 4 of your opponents.
Commander games are most often played as a four player game so that's the whole table of opponents being tapped down for all mana in their upkeep, or removing each other's cards at your command and attacking each other with literally zero threat to you unless you accidently leave them with open mana by their end phase.
More often than not the table will scoop.

Ancient Tomb: One of the better lands to get in an opening hand. Does a great job of pushing you further ahead at the low low cost of 2 life. In a format where we start with 40 life, two life for 2 is a very small price to pay but obviously if you pay it too much you end up vulnerable to the aggro and burn players as you're doing their job for them. Plays beautifully with chromatic lantern and urborg as they give Ancient Tomb “t: add B (or any colour in lantern’s case) to your mana pool”, on top of it’s existing ability.

Blinkmoth Nexus: I run very few creatures. Of those very few creatures I run only 2 of them are actually designed to trade blows. The rest are important game winning pieces so you absolutely do not want to have to use them to block a 21/21 Animar so as not to die.
That's where this nifty little man land comes in. For the bargain price on 1 this little dude will keep you alive.

Blast Zone: a partial wipe on a land. We're in colourless so short on board wipes. Crank it up and watch it blow. Would be better if it didn't enter with a counter so it could blow tokens apart for 3. You can copy it up with Thespian's Stage to deal with tokens if you can get them both out at the same time.

Buried Ruin: taps for mana and can throw an artifact back to your hand.
Combos/Synergy with: crucible of worlds

Cavern of Souls: you’re only ever going to name one of two creature types with this card. 99% of the time you’re going to stand up, hand on heart and declare ‘Eldrazi’ with a tear in your eye. That other 1% is for when you’re more worried about your combo set up and you’re going to say ‘construct’ while glancing left and right, to cover your metalworker.
Great for saying “no” to the blue guy who fears annihilator.

Command Beacon: this one is here for when the worst has happened. You’ve cast Kozilek five or six times in a game and then the red guy discarded a kiki-jiki into hammer mage out of pure desperation and nuked your field. You’ve managed to rebuild but Kozi is still 16 mana to cast. Pay the two, sac the beacon and cast him from your hand for 10.

Crystal Vein: simple land that taps for 1, or can tap for 2 at the cost of itself if you need that extra push.

Darksteel Citadel: an indestructible land is welcome in a world full of ruinations. An artifact land is welcome in a world where we run Metalworker, Blinkmoth Urn and Mox Opal. Doesn’t really do much else other than tapping for mana, and being counted toward something.

Dust Bowl: it kills Lands. It kills lands over and over and over. That 5 colour player looking threatening? Machine gun his green mana base until all that’s left is tears. Always remember- we don’t need lands as much as the players around us. Don’t compromise yourself but feel free to fire away when land becomes redundant.
Combos/Synergy with: Rings of Brighthearth

Eldrazi Temple: taps for a mana. What more do you want a land to do? Oh. Tap for 2 for Kozilek, Ulamog and All is Dust? Ok.

Emergence Zone: slip out Kozi on your opponent’s end step before your turn to give him pseudo haste.
Do the same with a metalworker or another key piece to reduce the amount of time your opponents have to deal with the problem. The less reaction time they have, the longer you can keep your toys.
Works really well with removal spells like duplicant because you basically get to cast it out of sequence giving you the most information about what to take out.

Eye of Ugin: makes Kozilek cheaper. The downside of this card is that it won’t actually get you anywhere doing anything else in the early turns when you’re building a board. It doesn’t tap for mana. It’s still a great card for us none the less as it makes our commander, Ulamog and Dust cheaper.
Then you have the activated ability. 7 mana to go an get any Metalworker or Kuldotha Forgemaster you like from the deck (or an Ulamog if something needs destroying).

Ghost Quarter: another land destroyer. It’s a commander staple. Yeah you give them a basic land in return but if it’s that or a Gaedle, you’re gonna pick that basic!

High Market: serves two purposes. Sacrificing Kozilek for another cast, and to protect Kozilek from evil. The worst place for Kozilek to be is in the hands of another player. They will blow you apart with him and all you can then do is pray for an answer.
Sac him in response and he’ll be kept safe.

Homeward Path: retrieves that which was taken. Not That Which Was Taken, literally for when they steal a Kozilek from you.

Inkmoth Nexus same reason as always. Stops that lethal attack getting through and prevents an untimely geth's verdict from forcing you to sac something you don’t want to. Just pop the one mana in response and sac the land instead. Man lands are often forgotten about or overlooked.

Inventors' Fair: when this card was spoiled I was gobsmacked. It’s absolutely amazing. 1 life per turn if you control 3 or more artifacts!!! Clearly I’m joking.
Kaladesh brought a plethora of artifacts both good and bad, but in there among the gearhulk cycle and weird little cars and bobsleighs was the Inventors' Fair. An artifact tutor on a land. I used to use Expedition Map to go and find Eye of Ugin but now 9 times out of 10, it’s the fair that I go for because whatever combo piece I top deck, I can go find the second part.

Maze of Ith: another commander staple. Acts as a barrier between you and ‘death by voltron’. It also keeps Warren Instigators and Brago and the like at bay.

Miren, the Moaning Well: another sac land used to sac our way to victory, or sac our way out of a tight spot.

Mishra's Factory: one of the better manlands. Sac fodder, block fodder yada yada yada...
This little dude usually comes as a surprise to those who've not seen him tap before.
Pay 1 to turn him into a creature, assign him to block. Before damage is dealt, use his tap ability to give himself +1/+1. Squish an incoming 2/2 that your opponent may not have banked on losing. Then... rejoice!

Mishra's Workshop: tap for 3 that can only be used to cast artifacts. Can give you an enormous boost early game but obviously can't be paid towards a Kozilek cast. Great card if you can get your hands on one.

Mutavault: man land that we use again, towards our sac tactic but make sure you look about the board. Mutavault becomes all creature types so check its size if you're playing against zombies, elves, goblins or slivers. There could be other ways to use this land if there was something like a Crypt Sliver on the field. you can pay 1 to make Mutavault a land, assign it to block, then use the sliver tap ability to regenerate itself.

Reliquary Tower: unlimited hand size in a deck where we're very draw happy. Yes please.

Rogue's Passage: a lot of players after you attack them for the first time will let Kozilek connect rather than use their utility creature to block. There’s a huge difference between being forced to get rid of 4 things and get rid of 5. This means when you play the Passage, that player is a sitting duck.

Sanctum of Ugin: quality creature tutor. You can tap it to add it to the cast, then sac the tapped Sanctum to put a colourless creature into your hand. Very good when looking for a combo piece as kuldotha forgemaster can go get you anything you need if you tutor for it.

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods: a land that can tap for 2 later on in the game. Brilliant.

Strip Mine: destroys any land at the cost of itself. no mana cost, t sac: destroy. Strip Mine is the ultimate in land destruction efficiency. With a few key pieces in place you can shred opponents’ land bases to death.
Combos/Synergy with: Crucible of Worlds, Rings of Brighthearth

Temple of the False God: great land to hit around turn five or six. Terrible in an opening hand unless you also have Urborg in that hand as well to swampify it.

Thespian's Stage: can copy up your double lands for extra value when you have a little mana left over to sink into it. Also keeps your opponents' Dark Depths in their hands if they're looking to go for that combo. I don't run Depths because the odds of getting these two cards together are slim and I'd rather be using my tutors for things that can be used outside of being lands.

Wastes: Battle for Zendikar brought us a little something we needed in the form of obliterated landscapes, void of any mana colour... or Wastes to everyone else. I've seen decks that run only one Wastes to allow for Path to Exile, but what if you draw that Wastes and then get pathed? And now Assassin's Trophy is a thing! I run three because there's a few other effects knocking around that allow you to go grab a basic. Three for me is the sweet spot.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: the sole purpose of this beautiful little land is to allow Eye of Ugin, Maze of Ith and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale tap for mana. It also allows us to tap Mishra's Factory, Temple of the False God and Ancient Tomb for 1. Very useful.

Zhalfirin Void: it’s a one shot land. It comes in, it scrys, it’s done. It also comes in untapped which is why it has a place in the deck. It’s a very good card.

Basalt Monolith: it's basically the opposite of a typical mana storage card. Rather than paying mana into it to spend later, you spend 3 now to pay it back later. Storage cards are like banks, Basalt Monolith is like a 0% interest credit card.
Particularly good with our untapping suite that I've mentioned over and over because they negate the lack of untapping during our upkeep.
Combos/Synergy with: Rings of Brighthearth

Chromatic Lantern: this is one of my only 3 for 1 mana rocks but this isn’t like a manalith or a darksteel ingot (neither of which I run). *goes to urborg, tomb of yawgmoth, highlight, copy, paste* The sole purpose of this beautiful little land rock is to allow Eye of Ugin, Maze of Ith and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale tap for mana. It also allows us to tap Mishra's Factory, Temple of the False God and Ancient Tomb tap for 1. Very useful.

Coalition Relic: yes it only taps for 1, BUT, it can bank one for next turn. The best way to utilise this is: cast the Relic and tap for a charge counter. Next turn spend the 1 from last turn’s charge counter and tap for the counter again. That way you have the ability for this to generate 2 mana on the turn you need it. Potent with unwinding clock as in a 4 player game this can generate 5 mana in the first main phase the turn after you played it, if you ‘tap to charge’ in everyone else’s turn.

Dreamstone Hedron: Mind Stone’s eldest brother. Follows the 2 for 1 rule and can draw you 3 cards when you run dry. Very useful late game to keep the tempo up.

Everflowing Chalice: 0 drop rock with a multi kicker of 2 for charge counters. This rock is actually one of the most functional rocks we have. You can pay 2 and basically have a Prismatic Lens. You can pay 4 and have a Sisay's Ring. 6 gets you a Dreamstone Hedron without the draw. The great thing about this rock is that it can be played at any point in the game and reflect your current board state. Also, the 0 cost is great for setting an early Paradox Engine into motion, meaning you can cast some rocks, drop the Engine as soon as you hit 5 mana, then on the same turn, cast the Chalice for 0 which triggers the Engine's untap.

Gilded Lotus: another staple commander card. The colour it produces is completely obsolete. The fact it can tap for 3and costs 5 is really good when you're able to drop it, then use the 3 (which you can do a lot with in this build) to then cast something else, or use one of the many abilities on our utility pieces.

Grim Monolith: 2 for 3. What I call a ‘greater rock’ because it produces more than its casting cost.
The untap downside is acceptable given the reach this card can give you. Play it early and tap into a Kozi cast. Very abusable with Voltaic Key, Clock of Omens and Unwinding Clock because they negate the Monolith’s downside.

Hedron Archive: If Mind Stone is the smallest and Dreamstone Hedron is the biggest, Hedron Archive is the awkward middle sibling. 4 mana for a rock that taps for 2 which lets you draw 2 when you need the cards.

Kyren Toy: a 3 for 1 bank. You can tap it straight away for 1 or you can pay 1 and tap to add counters to use later. The reason I run this is literally to abuse and store mana with Voltaic Key, Clock of Omens and Unwinding clock. Even just storing 1 mana to spend next turn can be massively beneficial.

Lion's Eye Diamond (AKA:LED): the gamble card. A potent mana source with a brutal downside. LED is something you use for a Kozilek cast only because more often than not you’re chucking a hand that may be 2 or 3 cards and picking up 4.
Your opponents should try to take this rock out before you can take advantage so hold it in your hand unless you’re getting extra use out of it (Clock of Omens, Inspiring Statuary etc.). If you leave it the field for too long you’re pretty much asking your opponents to take it out. If they use targeted removal when you can’t cast a spell (like in your combat phase) then LED will go unused.
Cast LED, resolve - sac LED and discard hand - cast Kozilek.

Mana Crypt: a card so powerful they had to house it in a book because a booster pack would have melted! OK not really, you got a voucher in the book and then after sending off the voucher they might have sent you this card.
This tasty little 0 drop is amazing. 0 for 2. What more could you ask for?! Yes it might slice you to death but we use our life total as a resource just to run this card. It's worth it I promise!

Mana Vault: 1 for 3 that can't untap itself. The life it cuts you for is nothing compared to the massive boost 3 mana will give the game plan. If you can find a way to untap it (with our untap suite) you can go into a seriously fast Kozilek cast. It's a very potent card.

Mind Stone: A 2 for 1 that will grab you a card later when you’re swimming in colourless mana. Good early nudge forward and a reasonable late game draw.

Metalworker: often this guy won’t actually see any real use if you drop him turn 1 or 2. He’ll get destroyed if your opponents know what’s good for them. If they don’t he leads to some very high mana counts. Because of our commander he’ll tap, add maybe 6 to 8 mana, cast Kozi, draw 4 cards. The beauty is you can still play spells without seriously damaging the mana he can produce because you restock your hand to go again. Lethal.
Combos/Synergy with: Staff of Domination

Mox Opal: 0 mana cost (if you’re following you’ll know by now that it sets off our Paradox Engine machine) with metalcraft. A simple target to hit for us given that our deck is artifacts. Keep an eye on your darksteel citadel. Being an artifact land it counts! Nice little early game piece that is basically a fragile land.

Paladium Myr: 3 for 2 that can block or be sacrificed instead of Kozilek if needed. For all intents and purposes it’s a worn powerstone with legs. Costs 3, taps for 2 but can’t be used on the first turn it sees play. However, if you’ve got cheaty feet on the board then you can!

Prismatic Lens: you’re almost never going to use the second ability. This like our other 2 for 1 rocks is just nice and affordable to progress.

Sisay's Ring: follows our mana rule for an acceptable rock. You pay 4, you get 2. Doesn't have any cool extras going on like Hedron Archive but it's a good enough rock to run.

Sol Ring: because it’s Sol Ring. Every deck should be running a Sol Ring. Ours is no different but Sol Ring is better for us weirdo colourless players than any other deck. How often do you see a player on turn one go: land, Sol Ring, pass turn? Or: land, Sol Ring, signet?
Well I go: land, Sol Ring, Pristine Talisman, Sensei's Divining Top!
Or: land, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Voltaic Key, Thran Dynamo, Hedron Archive! (that’s a turn 2 Kozilek btw.)
Because we don’t need colour, all of our sources are as good, if not better than our lands. Sol Ring is good.

Thought Vessel: 2 drop rocks are necessary to get our rock engine online. You won’t always get the low cost/high output rocks, so affordable, incremental progression is needed otherwise in the early turns all you’ll be doing is dropping lands. The unlimited hand size is very nice too.

Thran Dynamo : quality rock because it's better than our 2 for 1's at the same mana cost. For 4 mana you can tap for 3. It makes a big difference when you're running as tight a build as this.

Ur-Golem's Eye: by this point I'm sick of explaining why mana rocks that cost 2/4/6 mana and tap for half that amount respectively, are good. Instead I'll entertain you with a fun fact about my country: Did you know that every swan in England belongs to the Queen? Now you do.

Worn Powerstone: I don’t run any lands that enter tapped. They’re no good for tempo. We’ve all been there, you need to to draw a land, you get the land and it comes in tapped. No good to me and for the most part mana rocks that enter tapped can be as bad... but... Worn powerstone is really good because it’s reachable in very early turns to be the last card you play in a line so the entering tapped is accepatable. And at 3 for 2 it’s really good value.

Ashnod's Altar: One of the most efficient creature sac outlets because it doesn't tap. This performs the same job for a few purposes. It acts as a way to get Kozilek back into the command zone for a recast. Pretty obvious.
The other reason we run it is because it's unstoppable protection for Kozi. When he's targeted by something that would shut down our game plan (cards like Imprisoned in the Moon and Lignify) just sac him in response. Because the sacrifice is the payment to add 2 to your mana pool it can't be stifled.

Clock of Omens: A crazy strong card for us. Use your utility artifacts to untap your mana rocks. Torpor Orb is just as effective tapped as it is untapped, so use it to untap Hedron Archive to get the extra 2. With the sheer volume of artifacts we have on the board it can produce a serious amount of mana. Obviously, you can get double use out of your tappable utility rocks too.

Cloud Key: Step 1. Cast it. Step 2. Say "artifacts". Step 3. Profit.
Can be used to reduce the cost of creatures if you feel that way inclined but it's really not worth doing. Artifacts all the way. The longer this card is on the field the better value it is. It makes casting our low cost rocks tap for the amount it cost to cast them so you can chain together a serious pile of artifacts.

Crucible of Worlds: you're going to overdraw. It's going to happen when you're chucking Kozi a few times in a turn and drawing 4-12 cards. You can discard down the lands and play them from your graveyard.
Works brilliantly with cards like Strip Mine. You can every turn chew up your opponents land base.

Doubling Cube: Not strictly a mana rock. With untappers you can push your mana count up into the low hundreds. With a sac outlet and paradox engine (did I mention how much I loved that card) you're in infinite territory.

Erratic Portal: pay 1 and tap to bounce a creature. Works very well at protecting your creature because with you being the owner, you just don't pay to counter the ability. Keep an eye on you opponents and how much they have untapped. If someone's managed to get their commander out and have nothing spare, bounce it to have them waste mana going again.
Combos/Synergy with: Paradox Engine

Expedition Map: Commander staple. Goes and gets us either Eye of Ugin or Inventor's Fair. I usually go for the latter. Obviously you can get whet ever you need. Problem land? Go get Strip Mine[/card. Getting smacked about? Maze of Ith.

Geode Golem: Can grant us a very early Kozilek drop and then leaves us all the mana to play with after our draw. Like metalworker he's a bit of a sitting duck and at a higher mana cost, more of a gamble. The fact that this little dude has trample is a major asset to him and being able to drop him as early as turn 3 means you can get him through before your opponents shields are up. Remember that he doesn't negate commander tax so although he foots most of the bill for Kozilek, you still need to pay some of it!

Inspiring Statuary: this is a funny little card for us in colourless. It makes itself and all those utility artifacts tap for 1 towards any non artifact spell. More often than not, kozilek. It can however end up a bit useless as that mana (if that’s what you want to call it) doesn’t really go anywhere if you’re trying to develop a board state as it can’t help amass our chain of mana rocks. Its not exactly a double edged sword, but can sometimes be 3 mana not very well spent.

Krark-Clan Ironworks: sort of works like a mana rock but not quite as you need to sac into it. Can be nice if you have a bit of fodder to feed into it but for the most part this is in the deck because if you're sitting on infinite mana you can end the game with spine. But even with its ability it makes for a good inclusion as you can get the boost of 2 when you need it.
Combos/Synergy with: Spine of Ish Sah

Kuldotha Forgemaster: t, sac 3 artifacts to field an artifact from your library. Not to hand. To field.
He’s very useful and if you’ve got rings already out becasue you’ve pretty much ended the game as you can pay 2 to field two artifacts. Also works well with Voltaic Key, Unwinding Clock and Clock of Omens but you’ve got to have the sac fodder there (which isn’t hard at the rate we drop artifacts). With any of the three out you can get multiple activations either in your turn, or over the course of your opponent's turns.

Memory Jar: solid card draw best activated when your opponents are tapped out. Be careful of the blue player. They have those seven cards until end of turn so will look to spend any spare mana on instants and more often than not it’ll be a counter. However, it can work the other way. If blue had held two mana open for a counterspell then you've forced that card into exile.
This one is all about timing. Make sure you have as much as possible open to play what you’ve drawn because nothing’s worse than not having the mana to cast that combo piece you just picked up.
It's also worth saying to remember that your cards in hand are temporary after a memory jar activation. I have, once (and only once) gotten into a Kozilek loop and just fallen short of winning with a Metalworker on the field. I had some 35 cards in my hand and passed the turn to win in my next turn, forgetting that I would discard everything and be left with my original hand of two lands. I didn’t win.

Mindslaver: activate when a player looks like they’re about to go off. Target them, use them to wreck the other players on the board and leave them tapped down, as much as humanly possible. If they were stupid enough to leave a sac outlet on the field then use it to sac as much you can in their end phase.

Mirage Mirror: it's a strange one. I use this as a mix of sac outlet and combo piece.
If an opponent was to target Kozilek with theft or lock down I'd use the mirror's ability to copy Kozilek. The legend rule kicks in and I sac my commander. Great little piece for that.
It acts as a combo piece because you can chain the activations. I've used this card to copy a Dark Depths and in response, copied a Necropotence. After the mirror turned into the Necropotence I paid 20 life and exiled 20 cards, then allowed the original activation to resolve and turn into dark depths. I sacrificed my copy and created a Marit Lage token which then swung for lethal.

Nevinyrral's Disk: One of our very few board wipes. Be aware it doesn’t hit planeswalkers. The reason this wipe is so good is that it can be used at instant speed in the end step before your next turn, or when attacks are declared against you that would otherwise finish you off.
Combos/Synergy with: Darksteel Forge

Paradox Engine: I’ve been waiting for this card to get banned ever since I saw it spoiled. It’s utterly broken in a lot of decks and this one is no different. Because at least 80% of our mana is generated by artifacts the act of casting a cheap utility piece like Scroll Rack or Relic of Progenitus can net us another 6/8 mana by tapping out, casting, then tapping out. It’s one of those cards that is so easy to find yourself in an infinite loop with. Most EDH players worth their salt knows this card is a ‘remove on sight’ card, especially if there’s a sac outlet on our field for Kozilek as you restock your hand on cast, then tap out, cast small cards while tapping out between casts for another Kozi cast and draw. Often ends games there and then.
Combos/Synergy with: Erratic Portal, Staff of Domination and Strionic Resonator

Planar Bridge: awesome card as it put a permenant directly into play. 14 mana for a card is a lot to most decks but 14 mana is what we’re seeing at T5 and T6 provided you’ve got a half decent draw 4 from Kozilek. Usually used to find a second combo piece or for and end of opponent’s turn Eugene for maximum impact.

Relic of Progenitus: One of the few pieces of graveyard hate I’m running. Great because it draws a card and the low cost is handy to get it onto the field and start using the tap ability to keep the graveyard abusers at bay.

Rings of Brighthearth: possibly the most useful artifact ever printed. It is the best 3 mana you’ll ever spend. It can do things as small as drawing an extra card from Mind Stone to getting an extra card on the field from Planar Bridge. It can create infinite mana with Basalt Monolith to then draw your entire deck with Sensei's Divining Top. I could go on for pages about the billions of interactions it has but what I want to focus on is what it does with Strionic Resonator .
Rings’ ability is a triggered ability that cares about activated abilities.
Resonator’s ability is an activated ability that cares about triggered abilities.
This means you can activate an ability, copy it with Rings, copy the copy with Resonator (as that one is triggered), and then copy Resonator’s ability with Rings (as it was activated). This gives you four copies. It's a powerful card which has a golden seat in the deck.
Combos/Synergy with: Basalt Monolith, Voltaic Key, Sensei's Divining Top, anything else that has an activated ability!

Ring of Three Wishes: gets compared against Planar Portal quite a bit. I find Planar Portal, which is 1 extra to cast and 1 extra to activate, to not be as good as this awesome piece of jewellery. I’ve played both extensively and found that I’ve never used all of my three wishes. I usually go for Rings of Brighthearth and then double up on my next wish by doubling the next activation, usually going for Basalt Monolith and either Sensei's Divining Top to draw my deck, or Ashnod's Altar to.... draw my deck.

Scroll Rack: gives you a major advantage of giving you a hand size effectively double what it is. If I draw this card plus a few good rocks in my opening hand with some questionable additions to that, the Scroll Rack will mean I can flip the less decent ones to the top of my library and let me play with what’s there. Doesn’t strictly give you card advantage but does give you more options.

Sculpting Steel: copies and artifact. With so many quality artifacts to pick for you’re spoilt for choice.

Sensei's Divining Top: brilliant top deck management. Use it to hold off those high mana cost until you’re ready to cast them. Can create and infinite draw loop with Rings of Brighthearth. Activate Top’s tap ability and copy it with rings. The copy resolves first causing you to draw a card and put Divining Top on the top of your library. Then the original resolves drawing you a card and putting nothing on top of your library (as the Divining Top’s ability doesn’t target it doesn’t matter). Cast the Top you just drew and start over. 3 mana per card isn’t too bad a deal!

Staff of Domination: staff is infamous for it’s ability to draw your deck with nothing but itself and a bucket load of mana. It just taps and untap all day long.
Combos/Synergy with: metalworker and paradox engine

Strionic Resonator: copies triggered abilities. Most noteworthy are Kozi’s draw trigger and annihiltor trigger. Nobody wants to hear during the declare attackers phase “sacrifice eight permanents please”.
Again, following on from the above about Rings of Brighthearth that would be annihilator 12. If you have one of our famous untappers, that can be a lot higher.
Combos/Synergy with: Rings of Brighthearth

Transmogrifying Wand: repeatable Pongify style effect at sorcery speed. Having a much more limited pool to pick from we don’t get a wide range of removal options. This wand is pretty good as it’s low cost unlike most others.

Unwinding Clock: removes the downside of some of our best rocks (Grim Monolith, Mana Vault and Basalt Monolith), allows our tutors (Kuldotha Forgemaster, Ring of Three Wishes and Planar Bridge) to have a complete combo ready to go by our next turn, pumps our charge counter cards (Coalition Relic and Kyren Toy) and pretty much let’s us get away with anything we want during our opponent's turns. Awesome addition.

Voltaic Key: another highly versatile card. You can use it to generate 5 mana off of a Gilded Lotus or you can double the output of a Doubling Cube. Another one when paired with Rings of Brighthearth produces an infinite loop. Activate Voltaic Key targeting whatever you want to untap, copy the ability with Rings targeting Voltaic Key. The Key untaps, then the original target untaps leaving you back at where you began to go all over again.

Welding Jar: this seemingly obvious little jar has a few purposes. It’s first job is pretty obvious- it regenerates an artifact. It’s really handy to have this on the board if you intend on trying any kind of Metalworker play. It gives him an extra life. Its secondary jobs are as a cheap rock to sac into a Kuldotha Forgemaster and to start the Paradox Engine train rolling for 0 mana to maximise the effect. Handy little jar.

All is Dust: a merciless, almost one sided wipe. Gets around protection, indestructible, hexproof and shroud. Serious all star in this deck. Remember that with Eye of Ugin it also costs 2 less to cast.

Darksteel Forge: Indestructible artifacts? Yes please. I find that tricking it out with Forgemaster or PlanarBbridge in response to a board wipe is the most effective way of getting the Forge into play. Pairs with Nevinyrral's Disk as it prevents the Disk from destroying itself allowing multiple activations. High cost but worth it for the effect. Once it hits the field it's quite difficult to remove as there's less 'exile artifact' cards that there are 'destroy artifact'.
Combos/Synergy with: Nevinyrral's Disk

Duplicant: targeted creature removal. Takes on the power and toughness of its victim rather than copying it which is a shame. If it was a direct copy it would be outstanding. I often use this as a way to get Kozilek back to the CZ rather than removing my opponent’s creatures. It depends on the situation obviously.

Karn Liberated: another targeted removal piece that you can use twice. I’ve only ever used Karns first ability one time. My last standing opponent had cast Dark Petition to combo out on his next turn. Last card in hand. Drop Karn, exile his tutored card. Bye. Mostly this removes Kozilek unless there’s a big threat on the field.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion: A later iteration of the Butcher. Not as powerful or oppressive when attacking but can be very useful when needing to counter out opponent's board wipes and wincons. Don't go splashing the counters out at every opportunity but think, is that spell going to cost you your board state or the game? If so, pitch a card to remove it.
The draw ability is very useful when you're low on cards and can't squeeze out a Butcher cast but you have to watch your timing. If you have a full grasp of cards from multiple Butcher casts you're going to see no additional cards from the Great Distortion.

Lightning Greaves: what’s better than a 12/12 that draws you four cards and causes your opponents to sac their stuff? The same thing but with haste. The reason the greaves are so good is because the equip cost is 0. Some people prefer Swiftfoot Boots but the equip cost means you can't flip it from creature to creature as you like. That equip cost is brilliant!

Spine of Ish Sah: another targeted removal piece that's repeatable if you can destroy, sacrifice or bounce the Spine. Bouncing is tricky but sacking it to Krark-Clan Ironworks means you can continually cast spine if you have the mana to do so. Spine sees any permanent so is amazing removal!
Combos/Synergy with: Krark-clan Ironworks

Tangle Wire: Plays havoc on your opponents board state if you can get this off early and can give you an unbelievable lead. Because we can still generate mana with the artifacts we're casting it has a less detrimental effect on us. Remember to stack your triggers in the right order too. Make sure on your upkeep the 'tap your stuff' ability resolves after 'remove a counter'. That way you're only having to tap 3 things after removing the first counter. And remember to tap Tangle Wire to itself!

Torpor Orb: this beautiful little ball shuts down many decks that put us colourless players at a direct disadvantage. Tokens and ETB artifact removal. There are many many EDH staple creatures that enter the battlefield (or look at other creatures entering) and remove permanents, generate tokens or deal direct damage. Torpor Orb is a blanket NO. Been killed by a certain red god, swarmed by plant tokens or been handed free elephant tokens? These are all plays that although cause a lot of decks to worry, cause us the most harm. This card originally went in the deck to shut down Aura Shards but has proven its worth hundreds of times over.

Warping Wail: I run this card for a few very specific reasons.
- It exiles goblin welder. The grief I get from that little goblin is unreal. Obviously it’ll make short work of any annoying utility creature but I really hate that welder.
- It counters cards like Ruination. I run 3 basic lands. Ruination huuuuurts. It also stops most artifact board wipes so I’m happy for this card to sit in my hand for the entire game.
- It can drop a chump blocker in a pinch, keeps Kozi alive against Fleshbag Marauder effects and at the very least, can EOT an extra mana for a turn when I may need the 1 off of the Scion.

Winter Orb: one of the few stax pieces in the deck. It shuts a lot of decks down pretty hard and the only ones who can carry on a decent game and progress are those who can generate mana outside of their land base. A lot of EDH decks run Sol Ring and Gilded Lotus but because such an enormous amount of our mana is generated from nonland permanents, we can have the Orb in play and it only be a minor hinderance while it cripples the rest of the table. If it’s available, you can use Clock of Omens to tap it after the player to your right finishes their upkeep so you won't even suffer the same fate as your opponents.
Combos/Synergy with: Clock of Omens

Ugin, the Ineffable: ok. Let’s break this dude down. Firstly his static ability. This dude is ramp like semblance anvil but without the downside. That ability can allow you to vomit all the utility you were holding back to prioritise your mana rocks. Awesome.
Then there’s the +1. He creates a blocker at the temporary cost of a card from the top of your library with the promise to give it back to you... except to your hand. That’s right, he draws cards in a roundabout kind of way.
Then you have that beautiful, beautiful -3.
He takes out a coloured permanent. I’ve included him for this ability alone as it’s the only one you can solidly count on.
There’s no guarantees on how long the other abilities will pay off before he’s removed but with this one, you get to destroy something.
This walker is the whole package. Ramp, draw, removal. Awesome.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: Oh Ugin. How I love you.
This dude is insane for us. More often than not, like Dust, he's a one sided wipe that again, avoids indestructible. He exiles. Meaning any graveyard plays can't happen with what he takes out. And the fact he comes in at a loyalty of 7 means you can remove some very high value pieces. If you don't need to max out the minus ability then you have a repeatable Ghostfire on a walker. Because we lack any real defense, don't pin your hopes on him making a full rotation.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Kozilek’s bro. Ulamog is a staple in our format. He’s inbuilt mill prevention, destroy on cast, a huge body and has the same annihilator stats as our commander. The only downside to Ulamog is that he can turn up in an opening hand. Exactly where you don’t want him. He’s most welcome in the draw 4 from casting Kozilek as we’re already into the groove of high casting.

Azor's Gateway: good way of filtering out those excess cards in hand that you could have done without drawing. I use this do syphon lands out of my hand. Everyone's been there. You're needing to top deck a certain type of card and you just hit a land, or something with a high CMC. I've only ever flipped it to the land side once. There was an Unwinding Clock involved so I could sufficiently swap out 4 cards to create a semi-ideal hand for my next turn by exiling excess utility that wasnt needed. Good filterer.
Removed because: it was simply the weakest card at the time and the stronger card (in this case Ugin, the Ineffable) took the slot. Still a great filterer!

Blinkmoth Urn: I don't feel I need to spell out why this card is good. It can net a massive amount of mana just by being on the board while you play the game. Even more with Strionic Resonator. Just be careful with your timing and watch the kind of deck you're playing it against. White equipment builds, blue artifact decks and red Daretti style builds can do a lot with the mana you give them as well. Remember that you'll be the last player to take advantage of this 'free' mana and I've had this go south on me. Best played before anyone has the chance to get their artifacts out in the early stages of the game or after you've ripped specific players to pieces with the annihilator trigger.
Removed because: The urn has been underperforming for a while. It was a really difficult one to take out because of the sheer amount of mana it can produce but at 5 with no immediate payoff it had to go.
Since taking it out I've not lost in consistency or even noticed that it's missing. A good sign I made the correct cut.

Conduit of Ruin: a six drop that finds Ulamog, top decks him and then goes on to reduce the costs of creatures. Plus he's pretty good in a fight.
It's best to think of this one as a pseudo mana rock that casts 6 and generates a non-repeatable 2.
Removed because: in a more creature oriented build he'd be a lot better but in mine, he only hits one creature and puts him on top of your deck. His cost reduction can't chain our artifact casts together so if he's cast early game he doesn't progress our board and makes our next card we draw dead. He's ramp... but he isn't. If he put the creature he searched for into our hand it would be a different story.
Alas, he is not.

Drownyard Temple: not a particularly thrilling land but we are sometimes prone to overdraw and discard. Or get milled.
I have, after not loving a 9 card deep scroll racking, quartered my own drownyard temple just for a shuffle. I got my wastes and then threw my temple back onto the field.
Removed because: it often didn't really do much. 3 mana to return it to battle field tapped and only really had synergy with one other land, neither of which I would ever tutor for to put together.

Hall of the Bandit Lord: Brilliant way of making Kozilek hit the ground running but aside from the obvious Metalworker/Geode Golem synergy it’s not worth running a land that comes in tapped. It threw off the casting chains too badly by being inaccessible when it enters. For the very same reason you’ll notice that I don’t run Vesuva!
Plus, 3 life for one mana hurts when you want that mana available every turn without fail. You can lose Almere a quart of your life total to this card by turn 4 and not benefitted from the haste aspect.

Mana Web Errata- When a land an opponent controls is tapped for mana...: Great card. Shuts down all those opponents who want to EOT remove or counter a wincon.
There in lies the problem:
Opponent A is a blue deck full of counters.
Opponent B is comboing off.
Opponent A has no open mana because you have Mana Web in play.
Opponent B combos off.
Shutting out your opponents is great but being colourless we have a limited number of removal and response cards. If we take away our opponent's ability to remove each others threats, we all die to those threats.

Phyrexian Dreadnought: a one drop sac for Kozilek which gets you a 12/12 trampler.
Works really well and is a really good beater but it's no good until you have Kozilek on the field.
It's a dead card in hand until your first commander cast and if you've been stalled it's literal dead weight in your hand.

Semblance Anvil: it doesn't take a genius to work out that if this card stays around for too long we'll abuse it so much that it'll end the game.
If you can imprint something like Palladium Myr you'll reduce the cost of Kozilek as well. Awesome!
Removed because: This card is often one of those 'kill on sight' cards. You can't even argue to your opponents that it's 'not going to do that much' because that's a lie. It is. It's the number one card on the board to remove at times, especially early game when that reduction of 2 is most impactful.
The problem is that when it's removed you're two cards down. In the early turns that is a huge setback until you can cast Kozilek. That's a risk I can't afford so I just can't justify playing this wonderful little anvil.

Swiftfoot Boots: haste and hexproof, what more could you want? Well now that I’ve asked, I’d like to not have to pay the 1 to equip.
I can’t fault anyone for running the boots but from where I’m often standing, having to pay the 1 is sometimes a bit of a big ask after dropping Kozi. If I can’t play Kozi then equip on the same turn, what did I play the boots for?

Tectonic Edge: probably the least efficient in the world of land destruction lands but I've got a soft spot for it as I love the art on the promo foil. I would switch this for Wasteland if I had one. Does it’s job well but the constraints can be a tad annoying when your opponent starts enchanting their basics.
Removed because: I rarely used the land destruction. Make way for a utility land I’ll use!

The Immortal Sun: Draws cards, has a cloud key effect but in shuts down the two walkers in the deck.
Removed because: I found it quite slow in the games I played it in.
It’s a tough one to prioritise when constantly restocking my hand with better options. The cost reduction is good and the draw is nice but games aren’t usually long enough to see a decent return on that 6 mana.
Great of up against some kind of super friends deck but just too slow for my meta.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: This dude eats combo decks. Literally eats them.
Swing in and exile 20 cards and watch captain combo grimace as his pieces disappear into nothingness.
The removal is no joke either. And he's indestructible. Awesome!
Removed because: I run too many high mana cost cards and the choice came down to this guy and his predecessor Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. My curve was off so something had to budge.
I find the annihilator version to be more oppressive so the Hunger got the cut.
I still keep him close by if needed though.