MTG Salvation

I was fairly excited to see Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive. I tried building a Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir aggro deck a few years back but people killed me asap cause Teferi and fear of combo. I thought Tetsuko might help me fill the longing I've had for mono-blue aggro for so many years.

Been looking at gatherer for hours and can't find any instant speed temporary buff in blue and there really doesn't seem like there's any creatures with [on combat damage] abilities that can eliminate an opponent in less than ~7 turns. I was really hoping to see something that could serve as an actual reliable win condition. Gigantoplasm, Mindshrieker, and Chasm Skulker are the only things I can find that might be able to give an opponent a clock shorter than 6+ turns.

So I’ve recently posted a Tetsuko list (link in signature). I’ve found that more lockdown elements Meekstone, and focusing on Tetsuko’s inherent evasion can go a long way. In addition, while building her I focused on fact that she can play more like Edric, Spymaster of Trest, but can be used with a more diverse on hit triggers as she gives the evasion rather than the payoff. Finally, the Monarch is a good ability to play with her as you can easily get it back.

Sounds like someone's never used...Erratic Mutation!

Quietus Spike/Scytheclaw

Bloodforged Battle-Axe is an excellent win condition for tetsuko as you can throw it onto a 1/1 and continuously generate more Axes each turn.

Tribal rogue with Notorious Throng for fun? I had other suggestions but they've been made. Cloak and Dagger could be secret tech if you get hate coming your way. Card does say power or toughness, so I assume you only need to fulfill one of those conditions. Otherwise the standard stuff of Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa for advantage moving forward.

Thinking on it, could Trepanation Blade be of any use? Mill isn't an incredibly reliably win con in EDH, but it could make your swings really hurt.

Quote from MRdown2urth »

Sounds like someone's never used...Erratic Mutation!

Quietus Spike/Scytheclaw

Scytheclaw is iffy because it requires the germ token to survive, otherwise it’s a much worse Quietus Spike.

While not a wincon, how about Ninjas in general? Your creatures are generally unblockable. There's also Ophidian for cards.

Quote from MRdown2urth »

Sounds like someone's never used...Erratic Mutation!

Quietus Spike/Scytheclaw

I have used Erratic Mutation. Love the idea of the card, but it ends up being a kill spell more often than a buff.

Quitus Spike is ok. Still takes quite a while to eliminate an opponent even with a bunch of creatures on the board. Takes 4 turns to take an opponent from 40 to 0 with 5 power on board and everything guaranteed to hit. A 4 turn clock isn't bad. Scytheclaw is really bad in this deck though; If the germ dies, then it's useless.

Quote from Rosy Dumplings »

Bloodforged Battle-Axe is an excellent win condition for tetsuko as you can throw it onto a 1/1 and continuously generate more Axes each turn.

I love the ax, I really do, but almost all the good [when ~ deal combat damage] have 1 power and higher than 1 toughness. In a deck full of Blighted Agents and other 1-toughness creatures it would work really well. If I have more than ten 1-toughness creatures, then I'd consider it.

Quote from cyberium_neo »

While not a wincon, how about Ninjas in general? Your creatures are generally unblockable. There's also Ophidian for cards.

Oh, yeah, there's like 3 ninjas that are near auto includes: Mistblade Shinobi, Sakashima's Student, and Walker of the Secret Ways. Mistblade is way too good. Sakashima's Student can drop as an opponent's big thing, *cough* Avenger of Zendikar *cough*, and be unblockable with some added benefits. Walker let's me bounce Sakashima's student and gives me some info.

Also, there's like six or so creatures that let you draw a card when it deals combat damage with no drawback like what Ophidian has.

Oooh! OOOOOH! Sun Quan, Lord of Wu is a great Plan B for this deck, and he's sorely underrated as far as blue aggro cards.

Do you think that an extra turns build is viable?

• Ludevic's Test Subject
  
• Morphling
  
• Aetherling
  
• Riptide Mangler
  
• Thing in the Ice

I mean...they are there.

Quote from MRdown2urth »

• Ludevic's Test Subject
  
• Morphling
  
• Aetherling
  
• Riptide Mangler
  
• Thing in the Ice

I mean...they are there.

I fail to understand some of these suggestions. Ludevic's Test Subject and Thing in the Ice both have defender so there's no swinging and turning them into big creatures post blocks.

Riptide Mangler seems pretty interesting, though I wouldn't want anyone having a big enough creature to warrant it getting very big.

Finally a use for Warmonger’s Chariot!

Edit: Nevermind, forgot that boosts power.

There's enough equipment that only boosts power. As long as the toughness remains 1, your creatures are still unblocksble.

Sword of the Paruns and Contested War Zone both allow you to mass pump your team at instant speed. Puffer Extract can also get you some big hits, but it will cost you your creature as well.

Sigil of Sleep seems good for your deck as well. Also, Coastal Piracy andBident of Thassa can keep your card supply up to make sure you draw enough tricks to defend yourself as your creatures will have a hard time doing so.

Myr Turbine, Oketra's Monument, Orochi Hatchery, Sarpadian Empires vol. VII and Throne of Empires keep providing 1/1's.

Umezawa's Jitte is surprisingly competent at ending games with Tetsuko. Also, that flavour include is on point.

Shapesharer is interesting, since it can turn into whatever at instant speed and extend that power to Mothdust Changeling and Turtleshell Changeling if you want to go super deep.

Mill is probably not the way, but Scalpelexis gets better with Tetsuko.

"Build your own ninja" is good so I'd consider any card that applies a saboteur effect and doesn't boost power AND toughness; most of the greats have been mentioned but Mask of Memory, Specter's Shroud, Rogue's Gloves, and Hammer of Ruin are all options as well. I'm sure there is also some sort of sick combo-wombo you can build with Spellbinder and even just Fact or Fiction or Vapor Snag every single turn is preetttyy good.

Quote from Ertai Planeswalker »

There's enough equipment that only boosts power. As long as the toughness remains 1, your creatures are still unblocksble.

Sword of the Paruns and Contested War Zone both allow you to mass pump your team at instant speed. Puffer Extract can also get you some big hits, but it will cost you your creature as well.

Sigil of Sleep seems good for your deck as well. Also, Coastal Piracy andBident of Thassa can keep your card supply up to make sure you draw enough tricks to defend yourself as your creatures will have a hard time doing so.

Myr Turbine, Oketra's Monument, Orochi Hatchery, Sarpadian Empires vol. VII and Throne of Empires keep providing 1/1's.

I forgot about Sword of the Paruns. I'm so used to abusing the ability to untap the creature that I forget it does other things.

Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa are auto-includes.

Most of the token makers I've seen are a bit subpar. Orochi Hatchery I like a lot, but it's really mana intensive. I also considered Snake Basket

Quote from ChaosNomad »

Umezawa's Jitte is surprisingly competent at ending games with Tetsuko. Also, that flavour include is on point.

I do not own one, but I agree completely. Jitte is amazing in any deck that likes to attack a lot.

I have been working on a Testsuko commander deck over the last week, and figured I would post my list here in case it helps to give you any ideas. I focused on using smaller creatures with cards that provide value when they connect, as a pure beatdown strategy is not efficient in a multiplayer environment. One thing that I have found to be a bit of a trap is relying too much on your commander, as if the opponent kills Tetsuko after attackers are declared, they are able to block and kill your creatures with ease, so I run a lot of evasive creatures, but Tetsuko helps to get them trough when flying isn't enough.

As far as win conditions go, Bloodforged Battle-Axe, Stolen Identity, Quietus Spike, Knowledge Exploitation and Notorious Throng are the best ones that I have found.


Link to deck @ TappedOut.net

Captain's Claws seems decent for the mana investment. Not a spot removal target like Skullclamp but adds a little pump and makes more unblockable creatures.

If spending lots of mana is in the game plan, Wine of Blood and Iron can pump post blocks.

Looking at artifacts, I see Thran Weaponry, Extruder, Scroll of the Masters, Sword of the Chosen.

If you go for the equipment plan, Brass Squire might be your gameplan.

I like cipher here: Hidden Strings is a good time to push out extra mana from rocks, Stolen Identity creates more creatures or rocks.

Prying Blade keeps your toughness to 1 on the right creature, and gives you treasure per damage.
Depends how nasty you want to get, do you include Worldslayer as a reset? Tetsuko is cheap to cast, so there's that.

The Cipher sorceries would be very good with Tetsuko, but only a few are really worthwhile.

Cephalid Constable is the only weenie I see that screams "win con." With just a moderate +X/0 pump you can basically take an opponent out of the game. Will immediately be removed when possible, however.

Spellbinder could be neat but you'd basically need to structure your deck to include a lot of good instants. Could include Surrakar Spellblade then? Probably too wide a scope, then again Runechanter's Pike does exist.

To my mind, the best win con you have here is Notorious Throng. If you can create a whole lot of weenies quickly, you can very quickly swarm the board. Same goes if you can cause a dramatic loss of life with Quietus Spike or Sickleslicer, as Throng doesn't care about combat damage. All this especially if you can recur or copy the Throng somehow. You're in blue, there's plenty of ways to do it. The toughest thing will be to have the weight of tokens to make it a win;
Homarid Spawning Bed - there's probably not enough fatties to make this work.
Chasm Skulker - great card, you just need a way to kill it.
Master of Waves - I see this being a strong option, especially if you can flash it in, which, again, you're in the colours for.