Ezuri is a powerful commander that allows for very fast wins. The buildup of experience counters is normally extremely fast, and most games will end before opponents know what hit them.
Unlike Zegana, the deck doesn't require you set up before casting your general, and unlike Edric, Ezuri is able to win the game quickly instead of trying to attack for 12 turns. While Edric's card advantage is generally superior, it's sometimes unable to do anything aside from drop a bunch of Flying Men onto the battlefield, and this deck's creature diversity gives it a better toolbox approach. The +1/+1 counters easily allow you to play a fair tempo/midrange game if you're unable to combo off, though this is not recommended since the deck is not built for longer, grindy games, and will scoop if it gets board-wiped twice.
Prime Speaker Vannifar is another good Simic commander that utilizes a toolbox approach. However, it skews too far in that direction; in testing, Vannifar had to mulligan far more often than Ezuri due to drawing combo pieces in the opening hand, as well as having more situational cards and CMC 5+ cards in the opener. Ezuri normally only mulligans if it doesn't have enough mana sources/accelerants.
If you like fast games with numerous lines of play available every turn, this is the deck for you. If you aren't a sequencing expert and don't enjoy creatures or combo wins, I wouldn't recommend this deck. Seriously, if you pick up this deck, you'll want to spend a few hours goldfishing before playing it against others. Many turns will involve you taking 6+ actions, and whether or not you're able to go off depends on being able to sequence perfectly.
The central premise of this deck is to get four experience counters, then stick Sage of Hours to get the fifth experience counter and take all the turns. ~80% of games are won this way. Cultivator of Blades is responsible for most other wins. Ideally, you won't cast either of these creatures without some way of protecting them; however, Cultivator is often useful to build up counters and draw removal away from Ezuri. Only use Cultivator to bait removal if you know you'll be able to stick Sage of Hours shortly thereafter. Your win conditions are valuable and are not to be thrown around with impunity.
An ideal opening hand consists of 2-3 land (with at least 1 source of each color), 1-2 accelerants (these need to cost 1-2 mana; midgame mana creatures do not count), 1 protection spell/counter, and 1-2 other creatures/tutors. Building experience counters is fairly easy; the creature base is built with a "creatures beget creatures" philosophy. If you are able to untap with Ezuri on the battlefield, it shouldn't be hard to go off that turn or the following turn.
The deck is able to recover from most board wipes fairly quickly; it's the Wildfire/Cataclysm effects that will wreck you. Don't run too many creatures out if you fear a board wipe and are unable to go off. You don't need more than five experience counters, ever.
Deck History
I built this deck because I wanted to build a competitive deck that wasn't Stax. I've had tons of success with Stax and reanimator, but wanted to challenge myself to build with creatures and still win on turn ~4. I've been playing Magic since Masques block and EDH since 2011, so I trusted myself as a builder and dismissed most of the recommendations from EDHREC - most people's lists aren't as tuned as mine. In fact, I was unable to find a polished, competitive build for this commander at all. The resulting brewing culminated in a deck that wasn't too far off from where it is today.
The original build of the deck had a slightly higher curve, topping out with a 6-drop (Prime Speaker Zegana) and some 5-mana tutors for Sage of Hours (Primal Command, Bring to Light). All of those cards were too clunky and left Ezuri too exposed, so they were replaced by additional ramp sources and protection creatures. Llawan, Cephalid Empress was added because everyone plays blue cards.
Since late 2017, I'd say the build has been fairly optimized. I've toyed with different card choices for different environments, but the core of the deck remains the same.
You'll need an accelerant in your opening hand; it's only acceptable to cast Ezuri later than turn 3 if you've set up protection for him. Normally you'll want to cast him turn 2 or 3. Follow him up with a protection creature and some way to disrupt an opponent. You'll want to cast Ezuri before you dump most of your hand in order to build experience counters.
This deck is much faster than most and has a high degree of redundancy, so your draws will be more consistent than other decks. You are always trying to win on or before turn 5. This will happen often, but as with any variance-based game, sometimes it won't. If it doesn't, shift your game plan toward drawing cards. Once you have a couple counterspells available, you shouldn't be as worried if the game goes long - you can still win, though the deck isn't designed for there to be a late game.
If you don't have a way to tutor for Sage of Hours, focus on building experience counters and disrupting opponents. If you can find Sage of Hours and have four or more experience (with Sage being the fifth), focus on comboing. Ideally you'll have a counterspell of some sort to protect the Sage from instant-speed disruption. If you know an opponent will be able to disrupt Sage, use Cultivator of Blades or a card-draw creature like Fathom Mage to bait the removal.
Don't be too upset if opponents target your tutoring-related noncreature permanents. If you aren't able to go off (or generate overwhelming advantage from it) the following turn, it's likely not worth it to get into a counter war over a Birthing Pod. Save your counters to protect your resources, your commander, and your combo.
The library is the safest place for Sage of Hours. Don't grab it until you know you can win with it. When you're ready to combo, ideally you'll have at least one counterspell ready to protect Sage against countermagic or disruption. It's best to wait for at least one opponent, preferably a blue one, to tap out before trying to go off. You can't win a multi-player counter war; don't try. Hold off on comboing if you know multiple players have countermagic up; instead, force them to answer other cards until you've run them out of answers.
If the game does go longer, try to get Skullclamp and a token generator going. This should allow you to quickly dig through your library, build experience, and find a way to win.
Torpor Orb is this deck's worst nightmare, as are Wildfire effects. Counter these when they are cast; you will not be able to win if they resolve.
Should You Keep?
One of the toughest decisions involved with this deck is whether or not to keep an opening hand. Remember, an ideal opener contains 1-2 pieces of acceleration, 1-2 forms of protection/counters, ideally 3 mana sources, and some way to generate card advantage, massive experience, or tutor. I intentionally excluded hands that look like "nut draws" or zero-landers.
Hand A has one land, which only produces one color. It has a mana dork, but even on 2 mana, you're only able to drop a Duskwatch Recruiter. Mulligan.
Hand B has both colors of mana, but the green source you need effectively comes in tapped. This delays you by a whole turn, which often spells doom for this deck. Plus, you don't need both Nissa and Cultivator of Blades; they serve the same purpose, so you've effectively mulliganed already. Mulligan.
Hand C has mana sources, but it's not without its flaws. It also requires that you use your Worldly Tutor to find an accelerant if you hope to curve out properly. Defensible to keep, but I'd mulligan. The deck can do better.
Hand D is great. You get your dork and protection online in the first two turns, you have 5 experience built in (Deranged Hermit), and Glen Elendra Archmage can land the turn before you cast Ezuri if needed, so you can keep presumably mana open the following turn to protect Ezuri when you cast him. Keep.
Got the hang of it? Now four more.
Hand A is obviously stellar. The ideal sequence depends on the matchup; if you think your opponent(s) will have removal, play both Elves on turn 2. If not, you can cast Ezuri on turn 2, then follow him up with the Priest. Keep.
Hand B is missing an accelerant, and does nothing until turn 3. Mulligan.
Hand C has literally everything you want, but it's missing one land. If your Birds of Paradise can survive, you'll be able to ramp again. However, it's risky, and you don't need both Fathom Mage and Cold-Eyed Selkie, so you're already effectively down a card. Keeping is defensible, but I'd mulligan because the deck can do better.
Hand D is amazing and you shouldn't hesitate to keep it.
Sequencing Scenarios
Now for the real fun. Assume you are at zero experience counters and in your first main phase in each of these scenarios.
Tap Devoted Druid and the Forest to cast Nest Invader, creating an Eldrazi Spawn and getting you two experience counters. At the beginning of combat, put two +1/+1 counters onto Devoted Druid. One will cancel out the -1/-1 counter, and the other will be placed onto it. Postcombat, tap the Devoted Druid, then untap it and tap it, then sacrifice the Eldrazi Spawn. Cast the Glen Elendra Archmage using the Island, the two mana from Devoted Druid, and the one mana from the Eldrazi Spawn.
Goal: Draw four cards and have two forms of protection up for Ezuri.
Crack Misty Rainforest for a basic Island. Using the Tropical Island and 1 mana from the Ancient Tomb, cast Earthcraft. You now have colorless floating. Tap the basic Island, then untap it using Ezuri and Earthcraft. You now have 1U floating. Tap the Birds of Paradise and the Island to cast Fathom Mage. You now have 1 experience counter and zero mana floating. Tap Fathom Mage using Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to cast Siren Stormtamer, then use it to untap the basic Island. You now have 2 experience. Cast Sidisi's Faithful, untapping the basic Island with Earthcraft with the exploit trigger on the stack. You now have three experience. Sacrifice the Faithful to bounce the Stormtamer, then recast the Stormtamer. You now have four experience. Tap the Stormtamer with Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to keep mana up to activate its ability. At the beginning of combat, put four +1/+1 counters on Fathom Mage to draw four cards.
Against stax strategies, aim for an opening hand with multiple mana dorks to ensure you can power out your commander quickly. Having a counterspell is also crucial since they'll likely tutor for Fire Covenant or Toxic Deluge, as stax pieces alone are generally unable to keep up with the mass of creatures this deck spews out.
Against Teferi Stasis, the goal is to find and resolve Manglehorn. Counterspells are good here, but being able to disrupt two mana rocks will normally lead to victory. These decks keep pace with each other very well, so try to stay at mana parity to avoid falling behind.
Against reanimation strategies, being able to disrupt the creature is key. If you are unable to counter the reanimation spell, make sure you can tutor for Sidisi's Faithful or make a big enough Walking Ballista. If your meta is reanimation-heavy, add Scavenging Ooze to the deck in place of something slow like Beast Whisperer.
Against storm strategies (Jhoira 2, Yidris, etc.), disrupting the commander will often buy enough time to go off. Storm is heavily impacted by variance and will likely spend the first few turns hand-sculpting and putting out mana rocks, so if you can stick Llawan, Cephalid Empress to shut off a creature-based card advantage source, that will often slow them down enough.
Against combo-control decks (Breya, etc.), save your countermagic to protect Ezuri and mana dorks. These are not favorable matchups since they have both spot and mass removal. Creatures that provide incremental advantage, such as Trygon Predator and Cold-Eyed Selkie, are good here.
My meta doesn't have Hulk decks, so I haven't gotten any real testing in against those.
These creatures are included to help get Ezuri out on turn 2-3. In the later game, you should be pitching these to Survival of the Fittest/Fauna Shaman/etc.
Note that Duskwatch Recruiter can also accelerate, but don't play this over other ramp creatures in the first couple turns unless you have no other acceleration.
These creatures are included to keep Ezuri alive against spot removal. Ideally, you will have one of these on the battlefield before you cast Ezuri; however, don't let the absence of one of these prevent you from bringing him out. Tutor for one as soon as possible unless you're immediately able to go off or are otherwise able to draw removal away from Ezuri.
Your deck is trying to win in the first few turns. Most creature-based decks will not be able to disrupt or kill you quickly enough, so you should focus your disruption on noncreature permanents (and spells) to try to cut players off of colored mana/accelerants. The creature interaction in here is mainly to keep problem generals like Zur off the battlefield. You'll normally cast one of these the turn after you cast Ezuri.
Wirewood Symbiote is an interesting creature that initially made the cut to protect Ezuri - casting it from the hand for 4 is a lot easier than casting it from the command zone for 6 (or more.) However, the card has proven to be one of the best creatures in the deck.
Don't forget - every time you recast an Elf aside from Ezuri, you'll get an experience counter. Don't be afraid to bounce your mana dorks to untap other mana dorks and recast what you bounced - you'll build experience really quickly!
-Gyre Sage (too slow, did not immediately accelerate)
+Siren Stormtamer (it's a 1-drop that protects Ezuri)
(11/17)
-Rishkar, Peema Renegade - I want mana creatures on 1 or 2, not 3.
-Old Man of the Sea - The old man was good at baiting spot removal, but that's really it.
+Bloom Tender - finally got a foil. I expect tapping for GU will make this card a long-term inclusion.
+Elvish Spirit Guide - I like turn 2 Ezuri.
The Nissa, Steward of Elements slot is once again open - Nissa is strong, but a bit grindy for my liking. I'm trying to end the game on turn ~4, not gradually gain advantage.
1) It costs 1 mana, and without real ways to flicker things, it's better than Man-o-War and Aether Adept because it costs 2 less. The body sticking around does not matter. Costing one mana instead of three is huge when you're trying to go off on turn 4-5, since you'll often be casting three or four spells that turn.
2) It lets you sacrifice a larger Skullclamped creature to draw two cards.
3) It's a Wizard, unlike Man-o-War, so Vedalken Aethermage can tutor it.
How useful do you find Steely Resolve to be? Would you ever set it to name a non-Warrior type card?
How has the Earthcraft/Squirrel's Nest combo worked out for you? I run just Earthcraft in my Momir Vig deck, as I find Squirrel's Nest a little too janky. I know your deck can do more with miscellaneous 1/1s than mine can (for when you draw only the Nest) but I'm curious to hear what else you've experienced with the combo.
Have you tried Thrasios as an additional counterpart to Duskwatch Recruiter? I run both in my Vig deck, and find that they're both very useful.
Steely Resolve is a better Lightning Greaves since they can't Path to Exile the creature in response to equipping (and players have more artifact removal than enchantment removal). It always names Warrior. Nothing else is as valuable as your commander, and giving Sage of Hours shroud is a bad idea.
Earthcraft is good enough to play even without Squirrel Nest. The combo is a fine backup win condition, but it also enables turns in which you can cast 5 spells. The Nest is fine with Skullclamp etc., so it's a fine (albeit unexciting) inclusion. Earthcraft also goes infinite with Shrieking Drake and a basic Island, so even if/when the Nest leaves, Earthcraft would stay.
Are you sure about that? I think that would only make infinite mana if you had previously cast High Tide that turn. Otherwise you just have infinite ETB/Storm and Ezuri triggers.
Beast Within and Sylvan Tutor were already cut - I almost never cast them. I might try Pact of Negation over Nissa, but I think Spell Pierce is better since it can also stop opposing early combos/acceleration in addition to protecting the combo.
Uncage the Menagerie: This is a good card, but it'll cost at least 4 mana (Sage of Hours + Nest Invader) and not put them into play. Mana inefficiency kills this one; if it had been XG, it would have been much more likely to make the cut.
Ramunap Excavator: I really like this card. I almost want to cut Yavimaya Hollow to move Wasteland back in to support this card. However, it's another 3-drop that only gives one experience counter, does not provide guaranteed card advantage, and does not protect Ezuri. Pass.
The Nissa, Steward of Elements slot is now occupied by... Mausoleum Wanderer! I was looking for more protection and more to do with my counters, and this 1-drop fits perfectly.
Hey there, I'd like to ask if you have seen or are willing to discuss the Ixalan leaked cards. There are some cards that I am considering in my Momir Vig deck, and would like to have someone else's two cents on the cards as well.
Additionally, have you ever considered running Familiar's Ruse as an additional Counterspell variant? I have been running it in Vig in place of Arcane Denial (which I know you don't have in your list) and so far I have been pretty satisfied it in the instances where it has been valuable for me to return a creature to my hand.
I don't think anything from Ixalan that has leaked would go into Ezuri. Then again, I could only read like 12 of the cards - I'm hoping better stuff comes at lower rarities. This deck loves uncommons, lol.
As for Familiar's Ruse, I have considered it, but I need to keep a high creature density. I can't really afford to cut creatures, and actually just axed Animation Module in favor of Deranged Hermit.
I don't think anything from Ixalan that has leaked would go into Ezuri. Then again, I could only read like 12 of the cards - I'm hoping better stuff comes at lower rarities. This deck loves uncommons, lol.
So I'm actually going to bring up two cards that have been read, one of which I think is very powerful, and the other is one that I have seen generate discussion in other cEDH areas. I'll keep them spoiled in case others don't want to see them.
Tishana, Voice of Thunder ?GU - Merfolk ?
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
You have no maximum hand size.
When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card for each creature you control.
*/*
Shaper's Sanctuary G
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may draw a card.
Assuming the first card is of a lower cost (it appears to have a 1 or 2 in its cost, as opposed to a higher number), what do you think of it? The effect seems to be pretty powerful.
Additionally, what are your thoughts of the latter card? You seem to run similar enchantment effects to it already (similar in the sense of de-incentivizing targeting).
As for Familiar's Ruse, I have considered it, but I need to keep a high creature density.
That's very understandable, I'm just surprised that the density is so necessary that you have to keep over 40% of your deck as creatures.
If it's 1GU or 2GU, I'm running that Merfolk. One of my friends said it was 5GU though, which made me super disappointed. Hopefully it's cheap.
I need the creature density to guarantee I can dump my hand quickly and power out the five experience counters I need. Sitting there during turns that could be spent advancing my board with lots of counterspells in my hand isn't what the deck wants to do. I have a few counterspells to protect Ezuri and the combo; I just need to ensure I can get to 5 experience counters on or before turn 5.
As for the Sanctuary, drawing a card when Ezuri gets targeted doesn't undo the fact that they killed Ezuri. I'd rather stop the thing that kills Ezuri than play a conditional draw spell.
This is a finely tuned deck. I think it's actually really quite decent. Bravo.
I think that Heroic Intervention is a worthy inclusion as well. I'm not sure that a mass removal spell would resolve with the counterspell suite that's here, but I still think it's good to hedge against it. My Edric deck got wrathed twice and it was pretty annoying to rebuild quickly.
I was using Scavenging Ooze but my local group has few to no graveyard effects I'm worried about, so it got cut. I'm able to interact with everyone in other ways so things in the yard tend not to come out if I'm not OK with it.
Viridian Zealot is another card to consider for Torpor Orb removal, but is significantly weaker than Caustic Caterpillar, Reclamation Sage, or even Nature's Claim.
I have two suggestions: Manglehorn in for Viridian Corrupter and Inkmoth Nexus in for a land. Manglehorn is slightly easier to cast than Viridian Corrupter and continues to be effective past its enter-the-battlefield effect. Inkmoth Nexus flies, dodges almost as much removal as Lumbering Falls, and is easier to activate than Falls. I have had good results with these cards, but if you are using the Corrupter for infect more often than not, these changes may not be desirable. What do you think about this?
I have been testing Crop Rotation for tutor-access to Gaea's Cradle and Inkmoth Nexus. It feels lackluster, often ending up as a dead card in hand because it's not a creature and therefore cannot advance this deck's board state without an existing presence. I have my sights set on testing Traverse the Ulvenwald in its place, but I may swap that slot for a creature instead.
I have two suggestions: Manglehorn in for Viridian Corrupter and Inkmoth Nexus in for a land. Manglehorn is slightly easier to cast than Viridian Corrupter and continues to be effective past its enter-the-battlefield effect. Inkmoth Nexus flies, dodges almost as much removal as Lumbering Falls, and is easier to activate than Falls. I have had good results with these cards, but if you are using the Corrupter for infect more often than not, these changes may not be desirable. What do you think about this?
I run a fairly tuned version of this list myself. Manglehorn is good, but unlike Viridian Corrupter it can't really win just by giving it a few counters. Depending on the meta it might be worthwhile to run both though. Inkmoth Nexus is great and I definitely recommend it over the Lumbering Falls. A decent budget alternative would be Treetop Village.
I have been testing Crop Rotation for tutor-access to Gaea's Cradle and Inkmoth Nexus. It feels lackluster, often ending up as a dead card in hand because it's not a creature and therefore cannot advance this deck's board state without an existing presence. I have my sights set on testing Traverse the Ulvenwald in its place, but I may swap that slot for a creature instead.
I LOVE Crop Rotation! I also run Cavern of Souls and Homeward Path in addition to Strip Mine. No Gaea's Cradle(yet!) so I settle for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx instead. Being able to fetch whichever of those I happen to need at instant speed has saved me so many times! In an absolute pinch it can even get my Dryad Arbor if I just need that one last experience counter or even a surprise chump blocker to stay alive. It's a wonderful card and I run it in quite a few of my decks.
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Unlike Zegana, the deck doesn't require you set up before casting your general, and unlike Edric, Ezuri is able to win the game quickly instead of trying to attack for 12 turns. While Edric's card advantage is generally superior, it's sometimes unable to do anything aside from drop a bunch of Flying Men onto the battlefield, and this deck's creature diversity gives it a better toolbox approach. The +1/+1 counters easily allow you to play a fair tempo/midrange game if you're unable to combo off, though this is not recommended since the deck is not built for longer, grindy games, and will scoop if it gets board-wiped twice.
Prime Speaker Vannifar is another good Simic commander that utilizes a toolbox approach. However, it skews too far in that direction; in testing, Vannifar had to mulligan far more often than Ezuri due to drawing combo pieces in the opening hand, as well as having more situational cards and CMC 5+ cards in the opener. Ezuri normally only mulligans if it doesn't have enough mana sources/accelerants.
If you like fast games with numerous lines of play available every turn, this is the deck for you. If you aren't a sequencing expert and don't enjoy creatures or combo wins, I wouldn't recommend this deck. Seriously, if you pick up this deck, you'll want to spend a few hours goldfishing before playing it against others. Many turns will involve you taking 6+ actions, and whether or not you're able to go off depends on being able to sequence perfectly.
An ideal opening hand consists of 2-3 land (with at least 1 source of each color), 1-2 accelerants (these need to cost 1-2 mana; midgame mana creatures do not count), 1 protection spell/counter, and 1-2 other creatures/tutors. Building experience counters is fairly easy; the creature base is built with a "creatures beget creatures" philosophy. If you are able to untap with Ezuri on the battlefield, it shouldn't be hard to go off that turn or the following turn.
The deck is able to recover from most board wipes fairly quickly; it's the Wildfire/Cataclysm effects that will wreck you. Don't run too many creatures out if you fear a board wipe and are unable to go off. You don't need more than five experience counters, ever.
I built this deck because I wanted to build a competitive deck that wasn't Stax. I've had tons of success with Stax and reanimator, but wanted to challenge myself to build with creatures and still win on turn ~4. I've been playing Magic since Masques block and EDH since 2011, so I trusted myself as a builder and dismissed most of the recommendations from EDHREC - most people's lists aren't as tuned as mine. In fact, I was unable to find a polished, competitive build for this commander at all. The resulting brewing culminated in a deck that wasn't too far off from where it is today.
The original build of the deck had a slightly higher curve, topping out with a 6-drop (Prime Speaker Zegana) and some 5-mana tutors for Sage of Hours (Primal Command, Bring to Light). All of those cards were too clunky and left Ezuri too exposed, so they were replaced by additional ramp sources and protection creatures. Llawan, Cephalid Empress was added because everyone plays blue cards.
Since late 2017, I'd say the build has been fairly optimized. I've toyed with different card choices for different environments, but the core of the deck remains the same.
1x Ezuri, Claw of Progress
Creatures
1x Allosaurus Shepherd
1x Arbor Elf
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
1x Collector Ouphe
1x Cultivator of Blades
1x Deep Forest Hermit
1x Deranged Hermit
1x Devoted Druid
1x Duskwatch Recruiter
1x Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fathom Mage
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Incubation Druid
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Kiora's Follower
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Manglehorn
1x Mausoleum Wanderer
1x Nest Invader
1x Oakhame Adversary
1x Plaxmanta
1x Priest of Titania
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Sage of Hours
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Scute Swarm
1x Shrieking Drake
1x Siren Stormtamer
1x Sylvan Safekeeper
1x Thieving Skydiver
1x Trinket Mage
1x Viridian Corrupter
1x Walking Ballista
1x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Breeding Pool
1x Cavern of Souls
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Flooded Grove
1x Flooded Strand
2x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Hinterland Harbor
3x Island
1x Mana Confluence
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Prismatic Vista
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Strip Mine
1x Tropical Island
1x Turntimber Symbiosis
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Waterlogged Grove
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Yavimaya Coast
1x Yavimaya Hollow
Instants
1x Brainstorm
1x Chord of Calling
1x Counterspell
1x Fierce Guardianship
1x Force of Will
1x Lazotep Plating
1x Mana Drain
1x Mental Misstep
1x Muddle the Mixture
1x Mystical Dispute
1x Scatter the Seeds
1x Spell Pierce
1x Swan Song
1x Worldly Tutor
1x Dense Foliage
1x Earthcraft
1x Mystic Remora
1x Squirrel Nest
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Sylvan Library
Sorceries
1x Eldritch Evolution
1x Finale of Devastation
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Neoform
Artifacts
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mox Diamond
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
Planeswalkers
1x Kiora, Master of the Depths
This deck is much faster than most and has a high degree of redundancy, so your draws will be more consistent than other decks. You are always trying to win on or before turn 5. This will happen often, but as with any variance-based game, sometimes it won't. If it doesn't, shift your game plan toward drawing cards. Once you have a couple counterspells available, you shouldn't be as worried if the game goes long - you can still win, though the deck isn't designed for there to be a late game.
If you don't have a way to tutor for Sage of Hours, focus on building experience counters and disrupting opponents. If you can find Sage of Hours and have four or more experience (with Sage being the fifth), focus on comboing. Ideally you'll have a counterspell of some sort to protect the Sage from instant-speed disruption. If you know an opponent will be able to disrupt Sage, use Cultivator of Blades or a card-draw creature like Fathom Mage to bait the removal.
Don't be too upset if opponents target your tutoring-related noncreature permanents. If you aren't able to go off (or generate overwhelming advantage from it) the following turn, it's likely not worth it to get into a counter war over a Birthing Pod. Save your counters to protect your resources, your commander, and your combo.
The library is the safest place for Sage of Hours. Don't grab it until you know you can win with it. When you're ready to combo, ideally you'll have at least one counterspell ready to protect Sage against countermagic or disruption. It's best to wait for at least one opponent, preferably a blue one, to tap out before trying to go off. You can't win a multi-player counter war; don't try. Hold off on comboing if you know multiple players have countermagic up; instead, force them to answer other cards until you've run them out of answers.
If the game does go longer, try to get Skullclamp and a token generator going. This should allow you to quickly dig through your library, build experience, and find a way to win.
Torpor Orb is this deck's worst nightmare, as are Wildfire effects. Counter these when they are cast; you will not be able to win if they resolve.
Should You Keep?
One of the toughest decisions involved with this deck is whether or not to keep an opening hand. Remember, an ideal opener contains 1-2 pieces of acceleration, 1-2 forms of protection/counters, ideally 3 mana sources, and some way to generate card advantage, massive experience, or tutor. I intentionally excluded hands that look like "nut draws" or zero-landers.
Hand A has one land, which only produces one color. It has a mana dork, but even on 2 mana, you're only able to drop a Duskwatch Recruiter. Mulligan.
Hand B has both colors of mana, but the green source you need effectively comes in tapped. This delays you by a whole turn, which often spells doom for this deck. Plus, you don't need both Nissa and Cultivator of Blades; they serve the same purpose, so you've effectively mulliganed already. Mulligan.
Hand C has mana sources, but it's not without its flaws. It also requires that you use your Worldly Tutor to find an accelerant if you hope to curve out properly. Defensible to keep, but I'd mulligan. The deck can do better.
Hand D is great. You get your dork and protection online in the first two turns, you have 5 experience built in (Deranged Hermit), and Glen Elendra Archmage can land the turn before you cast Ezuri if needed, so you can keep presumably mana open the following turn to protect Ezuri when you cast him. Keep.
Got the hang of it? Now four more.
Hand A is obviously stellar. The ideal sequence depends on the matchup; if you think your opponent(s) will have removal, play both Elves on turn 2. If not, you can cast Ezuri on turn 2, then follow him up with the Priest. Keep.
Hand B is missing an accelerant, and does nothing until turn 3. Mulligan.
Hand C has literally everything you want, but it's missing one land. If your Birds of Paradise can survive, you'll be able to ramp again. However, it's risky, and you don't need both Fathom Mage and Cold-Eyed Selkie, so you're already effectively down a card. Keeping is defensible, but I'd mulligan because the deck can do better.
Hand D is amazing and you shouldn't hesitate to keep it.
Sequencing Scenarios
Now for the real fun. Assume you are at zero experience counters and in your first main phase in each of these scenarios.
Goal: Control Glen Elendra Archmage with enough mana to activate it.
Tap Devoted Druid and the Forest to cast Nest Invader, creating an Eldrazi Spawn and getting you two experience counters. At the beginning of combat, put two +1/+1 counters onto Devoted Druid. One will cancel out the -1/-1 counter, and the other will be placed onto it. Postcombat, tap the Devoted Druid, then untap it and tap it, then sacrifice the Eldrazi Spawn. Cast the Glen Elendra Archmage using the Island, the two mana from Devoted Druid, and the one mana from the Eldrazi Spawn.
Goal: Draw four cards and have two forms of protection up for Ezuri.
Crack Misty Rainforest for a basic Island. Using the Tropical Island and 1 mana from the Ancient Tomb, cast Earthcraft. You now have colorless floating. Tap the basic Island, then untap it using Ezuri and Earthcraft. You now have 1U floating. Tap the Birds of Paradise and the Island to cast Fathom Mage. You now have 1 experience counter and zero mana floating. Tap Fathom Mage using Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to cast Siren Stormtamer, then use it to untap the basic Island. You now have 2 experience. Cast Sidisi's Faithful, untapping the basic Island with Earthcraft with the exploit trigger on the stack. You now have three experience. Sacrifice the Faithful to bounce the Stormtamer, then recast the Stormtamer. You now have four experience. Tap the Stormtamer with Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to keep mana up to activate its ability. At the beginning of combat, put four +1/+1 counters on Fathom Mage to draw four cards.
Against stax strategies, aim for an opening hand with multiple mana dorks to ensure you can power out your commander quickly. Having a counterspell is also crucial since they'll likely tutor for Fire Covenant or Toxic Deluge, as stax pieces alone are generally unable to keep up with the mass of creatures this deck spews out.
Against Teferi Stasis, the goal is to find and resolve Manglehorn. Counterspells are good here, but being able to disrupt two mana rocks will normally lead to victory. These decks keep pace with each other very well, so try to stay at mana parity to avoid falling behind.
Against reanimation strategies, being able to disrupt the creature is key. If you are unable to counter the reanimation spell, make sure you can tutor for Sidisi's Faithful or make a big enough Walking Ballista. If your meta is reanimation-heavy, add Scavenging Ooze to the deck in place of something slow like Beast Whisperer.
Against storm strategies (Jhoira 2, Yidris, etc.), disrupting the commander will often buy enough time to go off. Storm is heavily impacted by variance and will likely spend the first few turns hand-sculpting and putting out mana rocks, so if you can stick Llawan, Cephalid Empress to shut off a creature-based card advantage source, that will often slow them down enough.
Against combo-control decks (Breya, etc.), save your countermagic to protect Ezuri and mana dorks. These are not favorable matchups since they have both spot and mass removal. Creatures that provide incremental advantage, such as Trygon Predator and Cold-Eyed Selkie, are good here.
My meta doesn't have Hulk decks, so I haven't gotten any real testing in against those.
Accelerants
These creatures are included to help get Ezuri out on turn 2-3. In the later game, you should be pitching these to Survival of the Fittest/Fauna Shaman/etc.
Birds of Paradise / Elvish Mystic / Llanowar Elves / Fyndhorn Elves / Joraga Treespeaker / Kiora's Follower / Devoted Druid / Priest of Titania / Sakura-Tribe Elder / Arbor Elf / Incubation Druid / Nest Invader (also useful when going off since it provides 2 experience counters).
Note that Duskwatch Recruiter can also accelerate, but don't play this over other ramp creatures in the first couple turns unless you have no other acceleration.
Misc.
Trinket Mage
Note that Trinket Mage can fetch you a 0-mana experience counter (Walking Ballista) and Skullclamp in addition to the usual mana artifacts. However, it will normally fetch Mana Crypt.
Protection
These creatures are included to keep Ezuri alive against spot removal. Ideally, you will have one of these on the battlefield before you cast Ezuri; however, don't let the absence of one of these prevent you from bringing him out. Tutor for one as soon as possible unless you're immediately able to go off or are otherwise able to draw removal away from Ezuri.
Sylvan Safekeeper (you will Chord of Calling for this creature often!) / Eladamri, Lord of Leaves / Mausoleum Wanderer / Siren Stormtamer / Plaxmanta / Wirewood Symbiote / Glen Elendra Archmage
Disruption
Your deck is trying to win in the first few turns. Most creature-based decks will not be able to disrupt or kill you quickly enough, so you should focus your disruption on noncreature permanents (and spells) to try to cut players off of colored mana/accelerants. The creature interaction in here is mainly to keep problem generals like Zur off the battlefield. You'll normally cast one of these the turn after you cast Ezuri.
Sidisi's Faithful / Trygon Predator / Viridian Corrupter / Reclamation Sage / Walking Ballista (who said Simic can't have one-sided board wipes?) / Llawan, Cephalid Empress / Manglehorn / Collector Ouphe
Advantage
Because drawing cards matters.
Fathom Mage / Duskwatch Recruiter (the best mana sink in the deck) / Cold-Eyed Selkie
Win Conditions, Tutoring, Combo Pieces
Sage of Hours / Cultivator of Blades / Yisan, the Wanderer Bard (get Sylvan Safekeeper or Sidisi's Faithful on 1 verse counter, then Sage of Hours on 2) / Fauna Shaman / Shrieking Drake (infinite experience counters with Earthcraft and a basic Island)
The creatures that produce tokens are great Eldritch Evolution choices because they fuel the convoke spells.
The five most important creatures are Sage of Hours, Fauna Shaman, Sylvan Safekeeper, Wirewood Symbiote, and Cultivator of Blades.
Wirewood Symbiote Subsection
With Reclamation Sage and Viridian Corrupter, you can kill an artifact every turn. Use the untap ability to untap a creature that produces multiple mana, such as Joraga Treespeaker or Priest of Titania.
Don't forget - every time you recast an Elf aside from Ezuri, you'll get an experience counter. Don't be afraid to bounce your mana dorks to untap other mana dorks and recast what you bounced - you'll build experience really quickly!
Noncreatures
Accelerants
Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault (use this with Kiora's Follower for extreme acceleration), Green Sun's Zenith (this is normally cast with X=0 for Dryad Arbor), Earthcraft (turns your protection creatures into mana sources)
Protection
Steely Resolve (set this to Warrior), Dense Foliage, Lazotep Plating
Experience
Combine any of these with Skullclamp for a hand refill.
Squirrel Nest (infinite Squirrels and experience counters with Earthcraft if this enchants a basic land), Scatter the Seeds, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Tutoring & Advantage
Worldly Tutor, Kiora, Master of the Depths, Survival of the Fittest, Eldritch Evolution, Sylvan Library, Finale of Devastation, Chord of Calling, Brainstorm, Neoform, Muddle the Mixture (this will often be a counterspell, but sometimes you'll use it to find Sage of Hours or Earthcraft to go off) / Mystic Remora
The three most important non-mana-rock noncreature permanents in the deck are Survival of the Fittest, Earthcraft, and Dense Foliage.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - slow
I want to test Crop Rotation but it's a $100 foil for a common, which is dumb. Also, Mystical Tutor, Nature's Claim, and Natural State are cards that look good for a competitive meta.
(4/17)
-Saproling Burst
-Cephalid Constable
+Stubborn Denial
+Nissa, Steward of Elements
-Nissa, Steward of Elements (too slow)
+Mausoleum Wanderer (good to dump +1/+1 counters on, provides protection)
-Animation Module (I rarely used the second ability, and the first ability was slow)
+Deranged Hermit (It's an Elf for Wirewood Symbiote, helps Gaea's Cradle and Skullclamp, and immediately lets you Chord of Calling for 2 aka Sage of Hours upon resolution of the trigger. It also immediately puts you to 5 experience counters.)
-Gyre Sage (too slow, did not immediately accelerate)
+Siren Stormtamer (it's a 1-drop that protects Ezuri)
-Rishkar, Peema Renegade - I want mana creatures on 1 or 2, not 3.
-Old Man of the Sea - The old man was good at baiting spot removal, but that's really it.
+Bloom Tender - finally got a foil. I expect tapping for GU will make this card a long-term inclusion.
+Elvish Spirit Guide - I like turn 2 Ezuri.
-Elvish Spirit Guide - I didn't need this to be explosive.
-Lumbering Falls - ETB tapped.
-Temple of Mystery - ETB tapped.
+Mox Diamond - My turn 0 mana should stick around.
+Opposition - Good with Squirrel Nest etc, locks opponents out
+Island - More moon effects have been showing up, and I need these for Earthcraft.
-Mystic Snake - Clunky, easy to read, never desirable in my opening hand
+Manglehorn - Artifact disruption and tempo advantage are good
-Whirler Rogue
+Beast Whisperer
-Coiling Oracle
-Nature's Lore
+Mental Misstep
+Incubation Druid
-Bloom Tender
-Nature's Lore
+Lazotep Plating
+Neoform
-Beast Whisperer - 4 mana and no guaranteed same-turn advantage
-Birthing Pod - normally I only need to activate once, and Collector Ouphe was added
-Trygon Predator - slow and unreliable
-Vedalken Aethermage - hard to tell if this or Yisan should go, but the ceiling on Yisan is higher
-Forest
-Island
+Mystic Remora
+Finale of Devastation - normally this will get Dryad Arbor for GG, but can also get Sage of Hours
+Collector Ouphe
+Deep Forest Hermit
+Waterlogged Grove
+Windswept Heath
-Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
+Fierce Guardianship
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Out:
Cephalid Constable (very easy to block/disrupt)
In:
Nissa, Steward of Elements
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Out:
Saproling Burst (5 mana and not named Cultivator of Blades.) Card was good but I need a bit more protection/combo disruption.
In:
Stubborn Denial
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Possible contenders:
Bloom Tender
Spellskite
Deranged Hermit
Winter Orb
Bane of Progress (because Breya)
Heroic Intervention
Mental Misstep
Spell Pierce
Unified Will
Nature's Claim
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
1) It costs 1 mana, and without real ways to flicker things, it's better than Man-o-War and Aether Adept because it costs 2 less. The body sticking around does not matter. Costing one mana instead of three is huge when you're trying to go off on turn 4-5, since you'll often be casting three or four spells that turn.
2) It lets you sacrifice a larger Skullclamped creature to draw two cards.
3) It's a Wizard, unlike Man-o-War, so Vedalken Aethermage can tutor it.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
How useful do you find Steely Resolve to be? Would you ever set it to name a non-Warrior type card?
How has the Earthcraft/Squirrel's Nest combo worked out for you? I run just Earthcraft in my Momir Vig deck, as I find Squirrel's Nest a little too janky. I know your deck can do more with miscellaneous 1/1s than mine can (for when you draw only the Nest) but I'm curious to hear what else you've experienced with the combo.
Have you tried Thrasios as an additional counterpart to Duskwatch Recruiter? I run both in my Vig deck, and find that they're both very useful.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Primer UG
Earthcraft is good enough to play even without Squirrel Nest. The combo is a fine backup win condition, but it also enables turns in which you can cast 5 spells. The Nest is fine with Skullclamp etc., so it's a fine (albeit unexciting) inclusion. Earthcraft also goes infinite with Shrieking Drake and a basic Island, so even if/when the Nest leaves, Earthcraft would stay.
As for Thrasios, Triton Hero, I might try him in the Nissa, Steward of Elements slot. I've been looking for another mana sink and he seems alright. I'd prefer something closer to Duskwatch Recruiter, but I doubt they'll print another similar effect for a while.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Are you sure about that? I think that would only make infinite mana if you had previously cast High Tide that turn. Otherwise you just have infinite ETB/Storm and Ezuri triggers.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Primer UG
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Uncage the Menagerie: This is a good card, but it'll cost at least 4 mana (Sage of Hours + Nest Invader) and not put them into play. Mana inefficiency kills this one; if it had been XG, it would have been much more likely to make the cut.
Ramunap Excavator: I really like this card. I almost want to cut Yavimaya Hollow to move Wasteland back in to support this card. However, it's another 3-drop that only gives one experience counter, does not provide guaranteed card advantage, and does not protect Ezuri. Pass.
River Hoopoe: Thrasios, Triton Hero is just better.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Additionally, have you ever considered running Familiar's Ruse as an additional Counterspell variant? I have been running it in Vig in place of Arcane Denial (which I know you don't have in your list) and so far I have been pretty satisfied it in the instances where it has been valuable for me to return a creature to my hand.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Primer UG
As for Familiar's Ruse, I have considered it, but I need to keep a high creature density. I can't really afford to cut creatures, and actually just axed Animation Module in favor of Deranged Hermit.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
~'s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
You have no maximum hand size.
When ~ enters the battlefield, draw a card for each creature you control.
*/*
Shaper's Sanctuary G
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may draw a card.
Additionally, what are your thoughts of the latter card? You seem to run similar enchantment effects to it already (similar in the sense of de-incentivizing targeting).
That's very understandable, I'm just surprised that the density is so necessary that you have to keep over 40% of your deck as creatures.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary Primer UG
I need the creature density to guarantee I can dump my hand quickly and power out the five experience counters I need. Sitting there during turns that could be spent advancing my board with lots of counterspells in my hand isn't what the deck wants to do. I have a few counterspells to protect Ezuri and the combo; I just need to ensure I can get to 5 experience counters on or before turn 5.
As for the Sanctuary, drawing a card when Ezuri gets targeted doesn't undo the fact that they killed Ezuri. I'd rather stop the thing that kills Ezuri than play a conditional draw spell.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
OUT: Gyre Sage
IN: Siren Stormtamer
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
I think that Heroic Intervention is a worthy inclusion as well. I'm not sure that a mass removal spell would resolve with the counterspell suite that's here, but I still think it's good to hedge against it. My Edric deck got wrathed twice and it was pretty annoying to rebuild quickly.
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
It's great against durtle decks.
I also like Den Protector for his flip ability.
Another good protection source is Plaxcaster Frogling.
Bonus question: if you ran a six drop for Birthing Pod, what would be your critter of choice?
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Ground Seal
Relic of Progenitus
This will hurt this deck, but handy.
Grafdigger's Cage
If I had to play a 6-drop, Bane of Progress would be first, followed by Prime Speaker Zegana.
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
Check out my competitive Ezuri, Claw of Progress primer!
You mention that a major weakness of this deck is Torpor Orb. Have you considered Caustic Caterpillar? It's more green-intensive than Reclamation Sage when cast and activated on the same turn, but easier to search for with Green Sun's Zenith, Chord of Calling, Eldritch Evolution and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, and can be played on turn one to threaten fast mana.
Viridian Zealot is another card to consider for Torpor Orb removal, but is significantly weaker than Caustic Caterpillar, Reclamation Sage, or even Nature's Claim.
I have two suggestions: Manglehorn in for Viridian Corrupter and Inkmoth Nexus in for a land. Manglehorn is slightly easier to cast than Viridian Corrupter and continues to be effective past its enter-the-battlefield effect. Inkmoth Nexus flies, dodges almost as much removal as Lumbering Falls, and is easier to activate than Falls. I have had good results with these cards, but if you are using the Corrupter for infect more often than not, these changes may not be desirable. What do you think about this?
I have been testing Crop Rotation for tutor-access to Gaea's Cradle and Inkmoth Nexus. It feels lackluster, often ending up as a dead card in hand because it's not a creature and therefore cannot advance this deck's board state without an existing presence. I have my sights set on testing Traverse the Ulvenwald in its place, but I may swap that slot for a creature instead.
I run a fairly tuned version of this list myself. Manglehorn is good, but unlike Viridian Corrupter it can't really win just by giving it a few counters. Depending on the meta it might be worthwhile to run both though. Inkmoth Nexus is great and I definitely recommend it over the Lumbering Falls. A decent budget alternative would be Treetop Village.
I LOVE Crop Rotation! I also run Cavern of Souls and Homeward Path in addition to Strip Mine. No Gaea's Cradle(yet!) so I settle for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx instead. Being able to fetch whichever of those I happen to need at instant speed has saved me so many times! In an absolute pinch it can even get my Dryad Arbor if I just need that one last experience counter or even a surprise chump blocker to stay alive. It's a wonderful card and I run it in quite a few of my decks.