Hey guys and welcome! I wanted to share this decklist for a long time and now I feel confident enough to do so. I want to turn this into a primer eventually, but that will surely take some time and effort. So for now I will keep it pretty basic and work my way to a more comprehensive thread.
Update 02/20/2019: I started to work on this thread again after a pretty long break due to massive personal life shake-ups. Over the last couple of months I started to build a second, independent decklist, which I will organize and update all in the same thread, because they share a lot in common. So I have essentially two deck lists and sections that I'll try my best to merge together in an organized way.
My name is Sebastian, I'm from Germany and started playing Magic in 2002. As most newbies a friend showed it to me and we were playing very casual in the schoolbus, in the school and in our free time. I kept playing up until the release of the first Zendikar Block, which was a time where I was occupied with many other things and I just couldn't afford to play much magic. I still followed the game as a silent observer for the coming years though and in early 2016 some friends introduced me to EDH, which is what I've been playing ever since.
I was introduced to a local meta which consists out of around 20 players, playing decks of different powerlevels and flavors. I'm living in a small student town where new players come to the meta every other semester so it never gets stale. I would describe my meta as 75%. Pretty competetive for the most part, but still not cEDH, which is a very pleasing powerlevel for me. There are strong plays made, yet everyone can still please their inner Timmy and try some obscure stuff.
Since November 2016 I've been investing heavily into the format, both time and money, and I increased my skills as a deckbuilder and player significantly compared to the old days. EDH is a format where I feel home, able to try out almost everything I want and express myself with my commander and the underlying strategy. Some of my favorite strategies are sacrifice based aristocrat decks, like Teysa, Orzhov Scion and as far as my meta goes I am taking the role of the control guy that always has an answer. I don't enjoy combo decks and hence try to build every deck I have without infinite interactions.
Without further ado, let's get to the fun part.
It was December 2017 when I was brainstorming ideas for a new deck. I was playing different control decks at the time, mostly Simic based ones, to very great success. I always wanted to play a Bant colored deck, but wasn't particular happy with the commander choices available, besides Derevi, Empyrial Tactician. The problem however was the super nasty stigma that was attached to Derevi rendering her as one of the biggest villains you could encounter, due to her excellent synergies with stax cards like Winter Orb. Obviously you don't want to be the archenemy from the get go, so I hesitated a little, but one month later I decided to get myself a copy and start brewing with the clear limitation of not using any stax pieces. Just a few weeks later I got myself a full art altered Derevi, because I fell in love with this commander and I absolutely love birds.
The decks first weeks were very rocky and I did not had a clear vision in mind where to take this deck. I realised that Derevi is so open ended when it comes to archetypes and at that point I also didn't understand the hate for Derevi anymore. Its literally a deck builders decision to break a card and while Derevi has undoubtly massive potential to be degenerate, it also has massive room for strategies that are fair and engagaing. The first lists I had going on where pretty creature heavy, with some equipment sprinkled in. It had similarities with Edric, Spymaster of Trest, but ultimately didn't worked out that well.
I played this deck pretty much exclusively from January 2018 to June 2018, making tons of changes, going through a massive list of cards, trying multiple archetypes and just shuffling and playing the crap out of the cards. It was around the end of April when the list finally begun to feel pretty solid and the streamlining process could start. The only thing that was in the deck from the first iteration was the equipment theme, but the rest more and more became a brutal control shell. Optimizing the list even further from there, by the time we had May 2018, the deck was a very solid contender in our meta, feared by the most competitive decks and players. I was there. Finally another deck finished and pimped out 99%.
In June I reviewed the progress I made with Derevi and I realized the similarities with another archetype... Known and hated by many players of that standard era, banned precautiously in Modern, brought back to life in Legacy and still remembered as one of the greatest decks of all time...
!!! CAWBLADE !!!
It was cool to see such overlaps are possible and I think the closest recreation of a Cawblade list for EDH I have seen was a Geist of Saint Traft list a buddy of me made. However that list was not very succesful. So, I saw the overlaps with Cawblade, Stoneblade & Deathblade thinking to myself "How do I call my EDH version of this archetype"? It didn't took long to get the name "Flashblade", one because Derevi essentially has flash, but also a significant portion of the deck is instant speed or grants my blades flash. I'm looking at you Sigarda's Aid & Alchemist's Refuge. That is how Flashblade was born and up until today I'm playing and refining this deck, with very great success. I'm looking forward to a bright future for this archetype and hope to share thoughts and discussions with the community. But now....
What the hell is Flashblade?
The original deck was a list by Brian Kibler called Caw-Go, which later was changed into Cawblade with the release of Sword of Feast and Famine. It played 4 Squadron Hawk's & 4 Stoneforge Mystic's as it's creatures, where the Squadron Hawk would hold the blade and attack, while the Stoneforge Mystic tutored for the blade and cheated it into play uncounterable. The deck also ran Jace, the Mind Sculptor to generate absurd card advantage in conjunction with Squadron Hawk's ability. The rest of the shell where typical control cards... counterspells and removal. With the release of New Phyrexia Batterskull & Sword of War and Peace were added to the deck, which made it too powerful resulting in a ban of Jace & SFM.
So, the first big similarity between Cawblade & Flashblade is the fact that a bird is holding a blade and flying to victory. I just find it funny that a bird commander is one of the best to emulate the Cawblade playstyle in EDH.
The general shell of the deck is an azorius control package, similar to the original, with some additional green utility cards that give the deck a little bit more reach. The equipment package found in the list is small but high in quality and versatility. To round out the package this list plays plenty of card advantage and card selection spells to guarantee the right cards when we need them.
In a nutshell, Flashblade is a control deck which seeks to take away your opponents tempo in small increments, while simultaniously accelerating your own tempo. This is done by carefully sequencing your spells and turns, anticipating what your opponents are up to and of course some clever politial interactions as well. The deck can play multiple roles very easily and switch between them seamless, so its in turn very hard for your opponents to anticipate what you are up to. The commander, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has it in it's name... TACTICIAN. Thats what she is and that is what you have to become if you want to successfully pilot this deck.
The win condition of this deck is your commander itself which will mostly finish with commander damage. However, this is not a stubborn voltron deck even if you put more gear on Derevi than she could probably hold. Its merely the inevitable outcome of the consistent attacking with her over the course of a game, that finds it's peak in killing your opponents with 21 damage dealt. I would absolutely say its one of the better ways to finish in a control deck because you are not wasting precious deck slots with combo cards nor with tons of non-control cards. This is very important for an EDH control deck to function properly in fact, since we have not one but three opponents we need to control at the same time.
The deck plays very reactively, hence as the pilot of Flashblade you need to be familiar with the stack, interactions between cards, timing rules as well as your opponents individual decks and play patterns. While the original Cawblade did very often just say draw-go, the fantastic traits of Derevi, Empyrial Tactician allow us to change the tempo of the game bilaterally. More on that in the "Why Derevi" section later on.
Compared to Cawblade or Stonebade decks we have to generate way more card advantage to keep up with 3 opponents at the same time. Flashblade is able to do it by establishing multiple draw engines within a game that keep the cards flowing. Additionally you combine the steady flow of cards with small cantrips and card selection spells to make sure you find the engine cards and have a backup if the engines fail.
One of the most interesting aspects of this control deck is its ability to adapt to your opponents powerlevel. While higher powered pods require you to play way more cautiously, lower power pods enable you to play more aggressive and experimental. I've never before witnessed a control deck that can perform so vastly different in various pods, yet still keep its consistency overall. The main reason for this is of course our commander, which is complemented by a clockwork like shell that works with Derevi and with itself.
Dear Lord, I don't even know where to start, but I figured I just break down the card in it's individual components and go from there. Let's start with the basic stats.
For GWU we get a 2/3 Bird Wizard with the combat keyword flying. Nothing too spectacular here honestly. The creature type wizard might be relevant, since there is quite some support for that tribe and it will probably become more going forward. As of now the only relevant wizard tribal card for Flashblade is Wizard's Retort if you are on a budget and maybe need a replacement for something like Mana Drain.
The creature type bird matters even less so far and while there are many bird tribal cards, none but one is appropriate for this archetype. The one gem for this deck that cares about birds is Seaside Haven, which is such a great card for Flashblade. A land that serves as a sacrifice outlet, specifically for your commander drawing you a card for 1WU is actually really good and saved me multiple times from dying or bricking with my draws. It might seem small, but it's very important in a control deck to appreciate the little things.
The combat keyword flying is very relevant for this deck, since we want to attack with our commander as often as we can and get trough the lines unblocked to trigger saboteur effects. Its astonishing how many decks have serious problems with flying creatures, but that is of course a plus for us. Very rarely will we be in pods where there is not even a sinle player we can slip Derevi through. Maybe not so important, but still worth mentioning is the fact that we can block flying creatures with Derevi if we really need to.
The CMC of 3 is also perfect for a commander. I'm just obsessed with low casting cost commanders and while I tried out some with CMC 5 or higher, I was never amazed by them. There is just something about CMC 4 or lower commanders that seems to be working better in more competitive metas like mine, so I generally favor them. Now, lets get to the main ability of Derevi.
"1GWU: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone."
This activated ability is 50% of the reason why Derevi is just perfect for the Cawblade playstyle in EDH. What it essentially reads is: Flash
Derevi can't be countered.
Commander tax costs don't apply to Derevi.
My view on this ability This ability is crazy good in so many different ways and the main reason why Derevi is frowned upon. Bypassing the commander tax is serious business and in most players minds something like that shouldn't exist at all. But how breakable is it in reality? I think its certainly possible to do some degenerate stuff with this, but for the most part I think its fine and not worse than some other commander's abilities. I get the idea that WotC probabaly had in mind when designing this card. It should represent a commander that is like the wind, you can't see it coming, you can't beat the wind and the wind always comes to blow you in your face. Its actually very flavorful overall and the fact that Derevi is a bird sailing in the wind substantiates it.
In the overall picture of the EDH format she seems to be fine as well and if she really would be as problematic, we probabaly would have seen a ban already. I will agree that stax is an unfun strategy to play against in a multiplayer game where turns take very long already, but as long as Derevi isn't commanding a stax strategy she is fine. Additionally she is just a small flyer and I think this could have been way more problematic if WotC gave her higher power/toughness.
Flash
The first part we are going to look at is the ability to flash Derevi in at all times. This makes the way this deck can sequence and take actions very dynamic. Timing is very important for control decks - instant speed spells and interactions are needed. Derevi seamlessly works in conjuntion with instants, because you never have to play her into a dangerous board, worry about giving her haste and you can immediately replay her if she gets killed or - you just answer something and hold her back. Because that ability has no timing restrictions you can dogde so much stuff other commanders just can't, exactly what makes Flashblade so unique. However, this still doesn't mean you can play unresponsible with Derevi. It still costs mana to get her out and you never can afford to waste mana in control decks. Its a learning process to know when to flash her in and when to leave her back.
A nice addition to flash is that its so hard for your opponents to see your next move coming. Playing control in a multiplayer game can be like a super tight chess game and every advantage you can get is very welcome. While the pod knows that you always have the ability to bring her in, they still don't know the exact moment and that messes with them and sometimes forces mistakes and play arounds which buy you time and tempo.
Derevi can't be countered
Another great thing to have in a control deck is your threats being hard to interact with and it all begins on the stack. While technically people can counter Derevi's activated ability with Stifle-like effects, in reality that doesn't happen very often and even if, it merely postpones the inevitable and takes some tempo away from us.
The ability to dodge conventional counterspells though is gross and keeps a lot of pressure away from us that we would have with other commanders. We never have to worry about other control players threatning to counter the center piece of Flashblade, which frees up resources in return. It also allows us to count on our commander in critical situations and that threatens our opponents and forces them to always calculate with an additional variable.
Commander tax costs don't apply to Derevi.
This is the heartpiece of the ability. Playing as much tempo as Flashblade can, is only made possible because we can play our commander early and often without worries of her being expensive later on. This means we can use Derevi as an attacker that almost feels relentless and like a wasted target for your opponents removal. And that brings us to an important quality of Derevi: She drains away your opponents resources. Removal just can't stop our commander effectively and that leads to a huge decision your opponents have to make - How do I deal with this deck?
Of course there are plenty of ways to hinder or even halt Flashblade, but it requires skills, experience and some clever political interactions by your opponents.
An additional upside of this ability is the fact that our mass removals can be used without much regret and worry, since our commander will still have a stable cost. Especially in a control deck where you need to play sweepers to take away your opponents tempo and resources this is a more than welcome trait of Derevi. But let's look at her other ability.
"Whenever Derevi, Empyrial Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent"
Now, this is the other reason as to why Derevi is generally the best commander for this specific playstyle. Being able to tap or untap permanents whenever she enters the battlefield or any creature we control deals combat damage opens us up to do what control decks would like to do: Freeing up lands to play stuff on your turn, while having the mana to react to your opponents.
In Flashblade we mainly use the ability to untap lands, however be aware that there is huge potential for this to synergize whith tons of other things. The interaction with something like an Isochron Scepter imprinted with a Impulse enables you to establish a card selection engine for example. The Scepter is actually the only interaction I choose to play in this deck, because we are not running enough creatures to reliably trigger multiple targets. In other Derevi lists where you would play more creatures to get triggers you could go absolutely go crazy with tap/untap shenanigans.
I want to point out that even untapping a single land each turn can go a very long way over the course of a game and while it might seem cute compared to ramp strategies, it's actually exactly tailored to a control gameplan. The cost/effectiveness ratio is actually better than playing ramp and it also means that you do not clutter your late game draws with ramp spells, which is a huge deal.
Instead of making a "Why play Derevi" section, I figured to make a specific list for this archetype, since there are many archetypes possible with this commander.
You might like Flashblade, if...
You like to play a reactive deck that still has its own synergies and is not entirely good-stuff
You like instant speed heavy decks
You love Equipments
You like to swing with creatures (Even if it's mostly just one)
You like to have a deck that scales very well across different powerlevels and metas
You like to win with combat damage
You like the idea of Voltron, but you don't want to go all-in on that route
You like huge decision trees, complicated situations and tight gameplay
You might dislike Flashblade, if...
You don't like control decks
Your meta doesn't like full control decks
You want to win with combos
You want to play very creature-heavy
You want a deck that plays itself and you don't have to think too much
You fear that you get targeted more because of your commander
You are super winning oriented and don't value a tight race
I personally think True Conviction is way over the top.
What does Dromoka's Command accomplish?
Can you elaborate on Reap? It's pretty obvious it's a meta card, but I feel like there's more to say.
Suggestions:
I think that since you're a control deck and you like having lots of mana and lots of cards, Sphinx's Revelation is amazing for you. You already have a ton of small, incremental card advantage slots, I also think you need one that will set you farther ahead.
Also in the field of big mana, I think an argument can be made for Rout. You have few ways to actually answer the entire board, and you don't having a lot of mana, and you want to play spells at instant speed. It's just too good for you.
I personally think True Conviction is way over the top.
What does Dromoka's Command accomplish?
Can you elaborate on Reap? It's pretty obvious it's a meta card, but I feel like there's more to say.
Suggestions:
I think that since you're a control deck and you like having lots of mana and lots of cards, Sphinx's Revelation is amazing for you. You already have a ton of small, incremental card advantage slots, I also think you need one that will set you farther ahead.
Also in the field of big mana, I think an argument can be made for Rout. You have few ways to actually answer the entire board, and you don't having a lot of mana, and you want to play spells at instant speed. It's just too good for you.
Thank you for your comment and your suggestions. Much appreciated on my side. I want to note that I'm still working on the primer section and some cards that puzzle you actually will have their own section later on to explain them in more detail. However, I'm going to go through your cards right now, because it will probably take me some time to reach that section in the primer.
True Conviction: I was actually thinking the same way for a long time until I tested it to finally conclude if it is worth it. It is so far. The reason I play this is that I need sources of lifegain, because with that low creature count your life can get pretty low sometimes. Additionally this enchantment grants double-strike which is so damn powerful with many of the saboteur effects in this list, including Derevi her own. Also, you have to count its mana cost different. While it costs 3WWW on its own if you attack with Derevi hitting for double-strike and you untap 2 lands it now becomes just 2WW for example. If you have a Karoo Land like Selesnya Sanctuary in play, the discount is even better.
So in conclusion, this enchantment really pressures your opponents to do something about it and if not you are very likely to run away with the game. I've done this multiple times.
Dromoka's Command: It's just a fine modal spell in my opinion. The preventing of instant or sorcery damage isn't very useful often, though it did save me a few times. Making someone sac an enchantment is great and the other two modes work very well with Derevi. Giving her a counter than let her fight something troublesome. I think its in here for it's sheer flexibilty.
Reap: Man, this is such a strong card and not just a meta call. I play it in all green decks that want to run this type of effect. Worst case - no one playing black, you just discard it with loot effects. Moderate case - someone has one black permanent, you get an instant speed Regrowth. Best case - someone having 3+ black permanents, you have an instant speed upgraded version of Yawgmoth's Will for 1G. Upgraded because you don't have to play the cards immediatly and can potentially return even more than you would play with a Will anyways. Let's be honest black is one of, if not the most popular color in EDH. This card is just bonkers and such a hidden gem. Its also great in an Isochron Scepter.
No Rewind: Well, this is simply due to the fact that I don't have more room for counterspells as of now. The ones I have are either cheaper, have some extras or are part of a modal spell which I value more. I agree though that it's a fine option.
No Rhystic Study: I hate this card a lot. It is good if you drop it early game and it goes unanswered for some turns, but in the late game this card is horrible beyond belief. It's not drawing you cards reliably enough and I can't afford to have a card like that in this specific list, which is tight when it comes to draw effects. Mystic Remora on the other hand just costs a single U and the tax is way higher, so no one will pay 4 to keep me from drawing cards. Also if you drop it late game its very likely to be a situation where your opponents need to deal with your stuff and very often that is done with noncreature spells, so the limitation isn't really a big deal. I generally think that Mystic Remora is the better card for more competitive metas honestly. And on top of that I just personally dislike Rhystic Study. It has the potential to really warp the game around it and and I hate cards like that. If someone plays a Study I simply ignore it and let them draw their cards, because I'm a guy that likes to play many spells a turn, so I can't afford to be taxed for every damn spell. If I get the chance to get rid of a Study I will do it in an eye blink though.
Sphinx's Revelation: Its a super good card I tried before. I'm still investigating wether I need a big draw effect though. Very often the draw engines in this deck are working good and my premise for draw spells in this deck was "Look as deep as you can, for as low mana cost possible", so I would personally favor Pull from Tomorrow. One thing on top of that is the fact that if you are a control player you don't want to draw more cards than you can hold in your hand and have to discard all your precious answers. I think its important to strike the balance here. Good suggestion nonetheless and I will ivestigate this further.
Rout: I mean, I have Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, Hour of Revelation, Evacuation & Cyclonic Rift. I think 5 sweepers is more than enough, considering my opponents play sweepers as well and I have some spot removal on top of that. Rout never really impressed me in most decks. I should give it a try in this list maybe.
I had a nice gaming evening with 3 friends yesterday and I was playing Flashblade again after quite some absence from the deck, due to other projects. It was a pretty competetive pod and we played 4 games in total. We generally had a very pleasing experience and super enegaging games, however I did notice a few things and decided to give the deck a small revison.
The first thing that I re-realized was how tight the gameplay with this archetype is. There is no room for mistakes and unfortunately I did make a few yesterday which cost me in the end. It's certainly a list that you have to play extensively to become the best possible pilot and being abscent from playing it a few months, piloting many other decks, caused me to make some small mistakes here and there. So I decided to get more playtime down with it again from now on.
One thing that I witnessed in all 4 games though was one or more situations where I was exactly one mana short of handling a situation perfectly and that certainly sucked. Once it was a critical counterspell that I just couldn't cast, the other game it wasn't possible to sequence mana efficient and in the other 2 games I was literally going into the finishing state of the game, but my mana supply was to low and I could not handle the repercussions of my opponents, trying to stop me. So here are the changes I decided to make based on yesterdays eperience.
So all the 3 cards I'm taking out were cards I questioned earlier already. As with most decks, this is not 100%, though its close. Over the long course of bulding this deck these 3 defintely felt the weakest, so it wasn't too hard to cut them.
Out Thassa, God of the Sea: It's a fine card and scrying on each upkeep helps control decks to get the relevant stuff. On top of that she offered a way to make Derevi unblockable against players with strong flying defenses. However, it always feels bad to spend 3 mana on the turn she comes down and doing asolutely nothing. On top of that I realized that flyers, if present, aren't that big of a deal to get rid of for this deck, so thats why she gets the cut.
Supreme Will: A card that got added for its modal nature. I found myself very often casting the Impulse mode, which I wasn't too thrilled about for 2U. While the Mana Leak mode can be a really great tempo play early on, it sucks very often in the late game. I need my counters to be more reliable and my cantrips to be cheaper so I take it out.
Careful Consideration: I played this card because it looks very deep for its mana cost while being an instant. I did knew though that this card will probabaly be replaced down the road, because for 4 mana it's not giving us enough raw card advantage, especially if we cast it outside of our main phase.
In Carpet of Flowers: I've been sitting on this card for quite a while, not sure where to play it in. This card is getting hot lately in competitive EDH for good reason. Since I am in a very blue meta, which EDH seems to be in general, I think this could do a good figure in Flashblade. The mana can only be used in our main phases, but that is mostly the time where we want to play equipments, equip them or cast other sorcery speed things. That mana should free up lands for our opponents turns, which is exactly what we want. Also, it's super effecient costing only G and has the potential to be a Mega-Sol Ring.
One with Nature: That's another hidden gem I already played in this deck before. Even if we only get one use out of it it's a Rampant Growth for G which is great. If we however trigger it a couple times it reaches astronomical effeciency levels. Works very good with double strike as well.
Thrasios, Triton Hero: This is a card I have a very positive relationship with, played him as a commander on and off since his release. He is a very good control commander himself and he should function in the 99 of Flashblade as well. His ability is relevant at all times of a game and having a quality mana sink can never hurt. Also he tackles the problem of being one mana short very easily
Conclusion
While I did take out 2 instants overall with this revison and added a creature, which is generally not prefered, I did lower the average CMC quite a a bit. Hopefully these changes help me to get more consistency with my mana availability and prevent me from being to much behind opponents that are ramping hard. While Flashblade does not want to play a ramp game of course, having some extra lands or mana for a cheap price certainly can't hurt. I make sure to report on the outcome and if anyone has some further suggestions they are much appreciated.
Hey man, I just want to chime in and encourage you to keep at writing this. It's well-written and a great concept. I'm extremely tempted to build this deck and finally sell my soul to play Bant headed by Derevi.
My one question is: how often does your equipment stay alive? I notice a lack of recursion for your equipment which seems a little troubling to me. Artifacts are notorious in Commander now and I find that mine are destroyed frequently.
Hey man, I just want to chime in and encourage you to keep at writing this. It's well-written and a great concept. I'm extremely tempted to build this deck and finally sell my soul to play Bant headed by Derevi.
My one question is: how often does your equipment stay alive? I notice a lack of recursion for your equipment which seems a little troubling to me. Artifacts are notorious in Commander now and I find that mine are destroyed frequently.
Hey man, thank you for the nice words and encouraging me to keep writing. I will definitely do it, right now I'm just a little bit busy with moving to a new flat but once that is sorted out I will keep adding to the thread. I will however take this moment to answer your question.
I agree with you that artifact hate is very prevalent in EDH, in my meta as well. Sometimes more sometimes less. I generally have my equipments around most the times and I'm going to elaborate on some cards in the deck that help me to make sure that they stay on the board. First and foremost though, you never want to over extend with them, so if a boardwipe hits the field you have blades in your hand to follow up with. It's very important to read the game, so you know exactly when to drop equipments and when to better hold back. This is especially true for the big finisher equipments like Runechanter's Pike & Blackblade Reforged. You never want to drop them early, because they don't do a lot besides making your opponents pay attention to your board.
The first category of cards that help to have equipments around are protection spells, namely Heroic Intervention and Teferi's Protection. I can't stress out enough how good these two are, especially if you combine them with something like Hour of Revelation to save your own stuff, but blow the world up. In response to your opponents these are very good as well of course.
Second category are just simple and easy counterspells. That's the reason why they are so good, right? They can act as a form of protection for your own stuff or to prevent your opponents from developing their board or resolving a combo.
Lastly, Academy Ruins, Noxious Revival and Reap help to gain them back if stuff already is in the yard. It's not much recursion, I agree, but I never had huge problems with my stuff being blown up. In the end of the day I think it's all a combination of saving your recursion for the right moment, playing your equipments a the right time and never over extending too much, so you stay under the radar.
I hope this helps you a little and I would definitely recommend to sell your soul to Derevi It's a very fun commander to build around and I'm currently building my second deck with her, also non stax.
Greetings SubstaX
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Hey guys and welcome! I wanted to share this decklist for a long time and now I feel confident enough to do so. I want to turn this into a primer eventually, but that will surely take some time and effort. So for now I will keep it pretty basic and work my way to a more comprehensive thread.
Update 02/20/2019: I started to work on this thread again after a pretty long break due to massive personal life shake-ups. Over the last couple of months I started to build a second, independent decklist, which I will organize and update all in the same thread, because they share a lot in common. So I have essentially two deck lists and sections that I'll try my best to merge together in an organized way.
I was introduced to a local meta which consists out of around 20 players, playing decks of different powerlevels and flavors. I'm living in a small student town where new players come to the meta every other semester so it never gets stale. I would describe my meta as 75%. Pretty competetive for the most part, but still not cEDH, which is a very pleasing powerlevel for me. There are strong plays made, yet everyone can still please their inner Timmy and try some obscure stuff.
Since November 2016 I've been investing heavily into the format, both time and money, and I increased my skills as a deckbuilder and player significantly compared to the old days. EDH is a format where I feel home, able to try out almost everything I want and express myself with my commander and the underlying strategy. Some of my favorite strategies are sacrifice based aristocrat decks, like Teysa, Orzhov Scion and as far as my meta goes I am taking the role of the control guy that always has an answer. I don't enjoy combo decks and hence try to build every deck I have without infinite interactions.
Without further ado, let's get to the fun part.
The decks first weeks were very rocky and I did not had a clear vision in mind where to take this deck. I realised that Derevi is so open ended when it comes to archetypes and at that point I also didn't understand the hate for Derevi anymore. Its literally a deck builders decision to break a card and while Derevi has undoubtly massive potential to be degenerate, it also has massive room for strategies that are fair and engagaing. The first lists I had going on where pretty creature heavy, with some equipment sprinkled in. It had similarities with Edric, Spymaster of Trest, but ultimately didn't worked out that well.
I played this deck pretty much exclusively from January 2018 to June 2018, making tons of changes, going through a massive list of cards, trying multiple archetypes and just shuffling and playing the crap out of the cards. It was around the end of April when the list finally begun to feel pretty solid and the streamlining process could start. The only thing that was in the deck from the first iteration was the equipment theme, but the rest more and more became a brutal control shell. Optimizing the list even further from there, by the time we had May 2018, the deck was a very solid contender in our meta, feared by the most competitive decks and players. I was there. Finally another deck finished and pimped out 99%.
In June I reviewed the progress I made with Derevi and I realized the similarities with another archetype... Known and hated by many players of that standard era, banned precautiously in Modern, brought back to life in Legacy and still remembered as one of the greatest decks of all time...
It was cool to see such overlaps are possible and I think the closest recreation of a Cawblade list for EDH I have seen was a Geist of Saint Traft list a buddy of me made. However that list was not very succesful. So, I saw the overlaps with Cawblade, Stoneblade & Deathblade thinking to myself "How do I call my EDH version of this archetype"? It didn't took long to get the name "Flashblade", one because Derevi essentially has flash, but also a significant portion of the deck is instant speed or grants my blades flash. I'm looking at you Sigarda's Aid & Alchemist's Refuge. That is how Flashblade was born and up until today I'm playing and refining this deck, with very great success. I'm looking forward to a bright future for this archetype and hope to share thoughts and discussions with the community. But now....
What the hell is Flashblade?
The original deck was a list by Brian Kibler called Caw-Go, which later was changed into Cawblade with the release of Sword of Feast and Famine. It played 4 Squadron Hawk's & 4 Stoneforge Mystic's as it's creatures, where the Squadron Hawk would hold the blade and attack, while the Stoneforge Mystic tutored for the blade and cheated it into play uncounterable. The deck also ran Jace, the Mind Sculptor to generate absurd card advantage in conjunction with Squadron Hawk's ability. The rest of the shell where typical control cards... counterspells and removal. With the release of New Phyrexia Batterskull & Sword of War and Peace were added to the deck, which made it too powerful resulting in a ban of Jace & SFM.
So, the first big similarity between Cawblade & Flashblade is the fact that a bird is holding a blade and flying to victory. I just find it funny that a bird commander is one of the best to emulate the Cawblade playstyle in EDH.
The general shell of the deck is an azorius control package, similar to the original, with some additional green utility cards that give the deck a little bit more reach. The equipment package found in the list is small but high in quality and versatility. To round out the package this list plays plenty of card advantage and card selection spells to guarantee the right cards when we need them.
In a nutshell, Flashblade is a control deck which seeks to take away your opponents tempo in small increments, while simultaniously accelerating your own tempo. This is done by carefully sequencing your spells and turns, anticipating what your opponents are up to and of course some clever politial interactions as well. The deck can play multiple roles very easily and switch between them seamless, so its in turn very hard for your opponents to anticipate what you are up to. The commander, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has it in it's name... TACTICIAN. Thats what she is and that is what you have to become if you want to successfully pilot this deck.
The win condition of this deck is your commander itself which will mostly finish with commander damage. However, this is not a stubborn voltron deck even if you put more gear on Derevi than she could probably hold. Its merely the inevitable outcome of the consistent attacking with her over the course of a game, that finds it's peak in killing your opponents with 21 damage dealt. I would absolutely say its one of the better ways to finish in a control deck because you are not wasting precious deck slots with combo cards nor with tons of non-control cards. This is very important for an EDH control deck to function properly in fact, since we have not one but three opponents we need to control at the same time.
The deck plays very reactively, hence as the pilot of Flashblade you need to be familiar with the stack, interactions between cards, timing rules as well as your opponents individual decks and play patterns. While the original Cawblade did very often just say draw-go, the fantastic traits of Derevi, Empyrial Tactician allow us to change the tempo of the game bilaterally. More on that in the "Why Derevi" section later on.
Compared to Cawblade or Stonebade decks we have to generate way more card advantage to keep up with 3 opponents at the same time. Flashblade is able to do it by establishing multiple draw engines within a game that keep the cards flowing. Additionally you combine the steady flow of cards with small cantrips and card selection spells to make sure you find the engine cards and have a backup if the engines fail.
One of the most interesting aspects of this control deck is its ability to adapt to your opponents powerlevel. While higher powered pods require you to play way more cautiously, lower power pods enable you to play more aggressive and experimental. I've never before witnessed a control deck that can perform so vastly different in various pods, yet still keep its consistency overall. The main reason for this is of course our commander, which is complemented by a clockwork like shell that works with Derevi and with itself.
For GWU we get a 2/3 Bird Wizard with the combat keyword flying. Nothing too spectacular here honestly. The creature type wizard might be relevant, since there is quite some support for that tribe and it will probably become more going forward. As of now the only relevant wizard tribal card for Flashblade is Wizard's Retort if you are on a budget and maybe need a replacement for something like Mana Drain.
The creature type bird matters even less so far and while there are many bird tribal cards, none but one is appropriate for this archetype. The one gem for this deck that cares about birds is Seaside Haven, which is such a great card for Flashblade. A land that serves as a sacrifice outlet, specifically for your commander drawing you a card for 1WU is actually really good and saved me multiple times from dying or bricking with my draws. It might seem small, but it's very important in a control deck to appreciate the little things.
The combat keyword flying is very relevant for this deck, since we want to attack with our commander as often as we can and get trough the lines unblocked to trigger saboteur effects. Its astonishing how many decks have serious problems with flying creatures, but that is of course a plus for us. Very rarely will we be in pods where there is not even a sinle player we can slip Derevi through. Maybe not so important, but still worth mentioning is the fact that we can block flying creatures with Derevi if we really need to.
The CMC of 3 is also perfect for a commander. I'm just obsessed with low casting cost commanders and while I tried out some with CMC 5 or higher, I was never amazed by them. There is just something about CMC 4 or lower commanders that seems to be working better in more competitive metas like mine, so I generally favor them. Now, lets get to the main ability of Derevi.
"1GWU: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone."
This activated ability is 50% of the reason why Derevi is just perfect for the Cawblade playstyle in EDH. What it essentially reads is:
Flash
Derevi can't be countered.
Commander tax costs don't apply to Derevi.
This ability is crazy good in so many different ways and the main reason why Derevi is frowned upon. Bypassing the commander tax is serious business and in most players minds something like that shouldn't exist at all. But how breakable is it in reality? I think its certainly possible to do some degenerate stuff with this, but for the most part I think its fine and not worse than some other commander's abilities. I get the idea that WotC probabaly had in mind when designing this card. It should represent a commander that is like the wind, you can't see it coming, you can't beat the wind and the wind always comes to blow you in your face. Its actually very flavorful overall and the fact that Derevi is a bird sailing in the wind substantiates it.
In the overall picture of the EDH format she seems to be fine as well and if she really would be as problematic, we probabaly would have seen a ban already. I will agree that stax is an unfun strategy to play against in a multiplayer game where turns take very long already, but as long as Derevi isn't commanding a stax strategy she is fine. Additionally she is just a small flyer and I think this could have been way more problematic if WotC gave her higher power/toughness.
Flash
The first part we are going to look at is the ability to flash Derevi in at all times. This makes the way this deck can sequence and take actions very dynamic. Timing is very important for control decks - instant speed spells and interactions are needed. Derevi seamlessly works in conjuntion with instants, because you never have to play her into a dangerous board, worry about giving her haste and you can immediately replay her if she gets killed or - you just answer something and hold her back. Because that ability has no timing restrictions you can dogde so much stuff other commanders just can't, exactly what makes Flashblade so unique. However, this still doesn't mean you can play unresponsible with Derevi. It still costs mana to get her out and you never can afford to waste mana in control decks. Its a learning process to know when to flash her in and when to leave her back.
A nice addition to flash is that its so hard for your opponents to see your next move coming. Playing control in a multiplayer game can be like a super tight chess game and every advantage you can get is very welcome. While the pod knows that you always have the ability to bring her in, they still don't know the exact moment and that messes with them and sometimes forces mistakes and play arounds which buy you time and tempo.
Derevi can't be countered
Another great thing to have in a control deck is your threats being hard to interact with and it all begins on the stack. While technically people can counter Derevi's activated ability with Stifle-like effects, in reality that doesn't happen very often and even if, it merely postpones the inevitable and takes some tempo away from us.
The ability to dodge conventional counterspells though is gross and keeps a lot of pressure away from us that we would have with other commanders. We never have to worry about other control players threatning to counter the center piece of Flashblade, which frees up resources in return. It also allows us to count on our commander in critical situations and that threatens our opponents and forces them to always calculate with an additional variable.
Commander tax costs don't apply to Derevi.
This is the heartpiece of the ability. Playing as much tempo as Flashblade can, is only made possible because we can play our commander early and often without worries of her being expensive later on. This means we can use Derevi as an attacker that almost feels relentless and like a wasted target for your opponents removal. And that brings us to an important quality of Derevi: She drains away your opponents resources. Removal just can't stop our commander effectively and that leads to a huge decision your opponents have to make - How do I deal with this deck?
Of course there are plenty of ways to hinder or even halt Flashblade, but it requires skills, experience and some clever political interactions by your opponents.
An additional upside of this ability is the fact that our mass removals can be used without much regret and worry, since our commander will still have a stable cost. Especially in a control deck where you need to play sweepers to take away your opponents tempo and resources this is a more than welcome trait of Derevi. But let's look at her other ability.
"Whenever Derevi, Empyrial Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent"
Now, this is the other reason as to why Derevi is generally the best commander for this specific playstyle. Being able to tap or untap permanents whenever she enters the battlefield or any creature we control deals combat damage opens us up to do what control decks would like to do: Freeing up lands to play stuff on your turn, while having the mana to react to your opponents.
In Flashblade we mainly use the ability to untap lands, however be aware that there is huge potential for this to synergize whith tons of other things. The interaction with something like an Isochron Scepter imprinted with a Impulse enables you to establish a card selection engine for example. The Scepter is actually the only interaction I choose to play in this deck, because we are not running enough creatures to reliably trigger multiple targets. In other Derevi lists where you would play more creatures to get triggers you could go absolutely go crazy with tap/untap shenanigans.
I want to point out that even untapping a single land each turn can go a very long way over the course of a game and while it might seem cute compared to ramp strategies, it's actually exactly tailored to a control gameplan. The cost/effectiveness ratio is actually better than playing ramp and it also means that you do not clutter your late game draws with ramp spells, which is a huge deal.
Instead of making a "Why play Derevi" section, I figured to make a specific list for this archetype, since there are many archetypes possible with this commander.
You might like Flashblade, if...
You might dislike Flashblade, if...
1 Academy Ruins
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Bountiful Promenade
1 Breeding Pool
1 Canopy Vista
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
5 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
5 Plains
1 Prairie Stream
1 Sea of Clouds
1 Seaside Haven
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Windswept Heath
Creature (6)
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Hushwing Gryff
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Spell Queller
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Thrasios, Triton Hero
1 Hour of Revelation
1 Open the Armory
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Serum Visions
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
Instant (28)
1 Anticipate
1 Arcane Denial
1 Bant Charm
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dig Through Time
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Evacuation
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Impulse
1 Krosan Grip
1 Mana Drain
1 Mission Briefing
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Noxious Revival
1 Opt
1 Path to Exile
1 Reap
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Teferi's Protection
1 Telling Time
1 Trickbind
1 Unwind
1 Batterskull
1 Blackblade Reforged
1 Conqueror's Flail
1 Dowsing Dagger
1 Hammer of Nazahn
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Mask of Memory
1 Runechanter's Pike
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Spellbinder
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Enchantment (7)
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Duelist's Heritage
1 Mystic Remora
1 One with Nature
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Sigarda's Aid
1 True Conviction
I personally think True Conviction is way over the top.
What does Dromoka's Command accomplish?
Can you elaborate on Reap? It's pretty obvious it's a meta card, but I feel like there's more to say.
Unwind but not Rewind? 1 mana more is surely worth being able to counter everything.
Mystic Remora but no Rhystic Study?
Suggestions:
I think that since you're a control deck and you like having lots of mana and lots of cards, Sphinx's Revelation is amazing for you. You already have a ton of small, incremental card advantage slots, I also think you need one that will set you farther ahead.
Also in the field of big mana, I think an argument can be made for Rout. You have few ways to actually answer the entire board, and you don't having a lot of mana, and you want to play spells at instant speed. It's just too good for you.
Thank you for your comment and your suggestions. Much appreciated on my side. I want to note that I'm still working on the primer section and some cards that puzzle you actually will have their own section later on to explain them in more detail. However, I'm going to go through your cards right now, because it will probably take me some time to reach that section in the primer.
True Conviction: I was actually thinking the same way for a long time until I tested it to finally conclude if it is worth it. It is so far. The reason I play this is that I need sources of lifegain, because with that low creature count your life can get pretty low sometimes. Additionally this enchantment grants double-strike which is so damn powerful with many of the saboteur effects in this list, including Derevi her own. Also, you have to count its mana cost different. While it costs 3WWW on its own if you attack with Derevi hitting for double-strike and you untap 2 lands it now becomes just 2WW for example. If you have a Karoo Land like Selesnya Sanctuary in play, the discount is even better.
So in conclusion, this enchantment really pressures your opponents to do something about it and if not you are very likely to run away with the game. I've done this multiple times.
Dromoka's Command: It's just a fine modal spell in my opinion. The preventing of instant or sorcery damage isn't very useful often, though it did save me a few times. Making someone sac an enchantment is great and the other two modes work very well with Derevi. Giving her a counter than let her fight something troublesome. I think its in here for it's sheer flexibilty.
Reap: Man, this is such a strong card and not just a meta call. I play it in all green decks that want to run this type of effect. Worst case - no one playing black, you just discard it with loot effects. Moderate case - someone has one black permanent, you get an instant speed Regrowth. Best case - someone having 3+ black permanents, you have an instant speed upgraded version of Yawgmoth's Will for 1G. Upgraded because you don't have to play the cards immediatly and can potentially return even more than you would play with a Will anyways. Let's be honest black is one of, if not the most popular color in EDH. This card is just bonkers and such a hidden gem. Its also great in an Isochron Scepter.
No Rewind: Well, this is simply due to the fact that I don't have more room for counterspells as of now. The ones I have are either cheaper, have some extras or are part of a modal spell which I value more. I agree though that it's a fine option.
No Rhystic Study: I hate this card a lot. It is good if you drop it early game and it goes unanswered for some turns, but in the late game this card is horrible beyond belief. It's not drawing you cards reliably enough and I can't afford to have a card like that in this specific list, which is tight when it comes to draw effects. Mystic Remora on the other hand just costs a single U and the tax is way higher, so no one will pay 4 to keep me from drawing cards. Also if you drop it late game its very likely to be a situation where your opponents need to deal with your stuff and very often that is done with noncreature spells, so the limitation isn't really a big deal. I generally think that Mystic Remora is the better card for more competitive metas honestly. And on top of that I just personally dislike Rhystic Study. It has the potential to really warp the game around it and and I hate cards like that. If someone plays a Study I simply ignore it and let them draw their cards, because I'm a guy that likes to play many spells a turn, so I can't afford to be taxed for every damn spell. If I get the chance to get rid of a Study I will do it in an eye blink though.
Sphinx's Revelation: Its a super good card I tried before. I'm still investigating wether I need a big draw effect though. Very often the draw engines in this deck are working good and my premise for draw spells in this deck was "Look as deep as you can, for as low mana cost possible", so I would personally favor Pull from Tomorrow. One thing on top of that is the fact that if you are a control player you don't want to draw more cards than you can hold in your hand and have to discard all your precious answers. I think its important to strike the balance here. Good suggestion nonetheless and I will ivestigate this further.
Rout: I mean, I have Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, Hour of Revelation, Evacuation & Cyclonic Rift. I think 5 sweepers is more than enough, considering my opponents play sweepers as well and I have some spot removal on top of that. Rout never really impressed me in most decks. I should give it a try in this list maybe.
The first thing that I re-realized was how tight the gameplay with this archetype is. There is no room for mistakes and unfortunately I did make a few yesterday which cost me in the end. It's certainly a list that you have to play extensively to become the best possible pilot and being abscent from playing it a few months, piloting many other decks, caused me to make some small mistakes here and there. So I decided to get more playtime down with it again from now on.
One thing that I witnessed in all 4 games though was one or more situations where I was exactly one mana short of handling a situation perfectly and that certainly sucked. Once it was a critical counterspell that I just couldn't cast, the other game it wasn't possible to sequence mana efficient and in the other 2 games I was literally going into the finishing state of the game, but my mana supply was to low and I could not handle the repercussions of my opponents, trying to stop me. So here are the changes I decided to make based on yesterdays eperience.
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Supreme Will
1 Careful Consideration
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 One with Nature
1 Thrasios, Triton Hero
So all the 3 cards I'm taking out were cards I questioned earlier already. As with most decks, this is not 100%, though its close. Over the long course of bulding this deck these 3 defintely felt the weakest, so it wasn't too hard to cut them.
Out
Thassa, God of the Sea: It's a fine card and scrying on each upkeep helps control decks to get the relevant stuff. On top of that she offered a way to make Derevi unblockable against players with strong flying defenses. However, it always feels bad to spend 3 mana on the turn she comes down and doing asolutely nothing. On top of that I realized that flyers, if present, aren't that big of a deal to get rid of for this deck, so thats why she gets the cut.
Supreme Will: A card that got added for its modal nature. I found myself very often casting the Impulse mode, which I wasn't too thrilled about for 2U. While the Mana Leak mode can be a really great tempo play early on, it sucks very often in the late game. I need my counters to be more reliable and my cantrips to be cheaper so I take it out.
Careful Consideration: I played this card because it looks very deep for its mana cost while being an instant. I did knew though that this card will probabaly be replaced down the road, because for 4 mana it's not giving us enough raw card advantage, especially if we cast it outside of our main phase.
In
Carpet of Flowers: I've been sitting on this card for quite a while, not sure where to play it in. This card is getting hot lately in competitive EDH for good reason. Since I am in a very blue meta, which EDH seems to be in general, I think this could do a good figure in Flashblade. The mana can only be used in our main phases, but that is mostly the time where we want to play equipments, equip them or cast other sorcery speed things. That mana should free up lands for our opponents turns, which is exactly what we want. Also, it's super effecient costing only G and has the potential to be a Mega-Sol Ring.
One with Nature: That's another hidden gem I already played in this deck before. Even if we only get one use out of it it's a Rampant Growth for G which is great. If we however trigger it a couple times it reaches astronomical effeciency levels. Works very good with double strike as well.
Thrasios, Triton Hero: This is a card I have a very positive relationship with, played him as a commander on and off since his release. He is a very good control commander himself and he should function in the 99 of Flashblade as well. His ability is relevant at all times of a game and having a quality mana sink can never hurt. Also he tackles the problem of being one mana short very easily
Conclusion
While I did take out 2 instants overall with this revison and added a creature, which is generally not prefered, I did lower the average CMC quite a a bit. Hopefully these changes help me to get more consistency with my mana availability and prevent me from being to much behind opponents that are ramping hard. While Flashblade does not want to play a ramp game of course, having some extra lands or mana for a cheap price certainly can't hurt. I make sure to report on the outcome and if anyone has some further suggestions they are much appreciated.
SubstaX
My one question is: how often does your equipment stay alive? I notice a lack of recursion for your equipment which seems a little troubling to me. Artifacts are notorious in Commander now and I find that mine are destroyed frequently.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Hey man, thank you for the nice words and encouraging me to keep writing. I will definitely do it, right now I'm just a little bit busy with moving to a new flat but once that is sorted out I will keep adding to the thread. I will however take this moment to answer your question.
I agree with you that artifact hate is very prevalent in EDH, in my meta as well. Sometimes more sometimes less. I generally have my equipments around most the times and I'm going to elaborate on some cards in the deck that help me to make sure that they stay on the board. First and foremost though, you never want to over extend with them, so if a boardwipe hits the field you have blades in your hand to follow up with. It's very important to read the game, so you know exactly when to drop equipments and when to better hold back. This is especially true for the big finisher equipments like Runechanter's Pike & Blackblade Reforged. You never want to drop them early, because they don't do a lot besides making your opponents pay attention to your board.
The first category of cards that help to have equipments around are protection spells, namely Heroic Intervention and Teferi's Protection. I can't stress out enough how good these two are, especially if you combine them with something like Hour of Revelation to save your own stuff, but blow the world up. In response to your opponents these are very good as well of course.
Second category are just simple and easy counterspells. That's the reason why they are so good, right? They can act as a form of protection for your own stuff or to prevent your opponents from developing their board or resolving a combo.
Lastly, Academy Ruins, Noxious Revival and Reap help to gain them back if stuff already is in the yard. It's not much recursion, I agree, but I never had huge problems with my stuff being blown up. In the end of the day I think it's all a combination of saving your recursion for the right moment, playing your equipments a the right time and never over extending too much, so you stay under the radar.
I hope this helps you a little and I would definitely recommend to sell your soul to Derevi It's a very fun commander to build around and I'm currently building my second deck with her, also non stax.
Greetings SubstaX