At one point in time in about July 2011, I was going to play Rafiq during an EDH night at my LGS. A buddy of mine who was going to be showing up later didn't have a deck to play, so I ended up sorting through cards and building him an Omnath deck. Alas, the ungrateful ****** didn't even bother to show up.
So after a couple games with Rafiq in which he really didn't end up doing much, I figured, "hey, why don't I give this deck a spin?" The first game I would have tabled if I had attacked the guy playing Dralnu before killing the guy playing Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, but I still killed everyone else. I didn't make the same mistake twice. Tabled the second game.
From that moment, I knew it was love, and I've been refining the list ever since. This is the decklist that I've come up with after fine-tuning it since about July 2011. In that time, about half the cards in the deck were in the original incarnation, with the other half finding its way in over time. It has become one of my "play to win" decks, but it's also a lot of fun. It's powerful without being degenerate.
When I started out, it was definitely more of a ramp + goodstuff deck. While those elements are still quite prevalent, it has also developed a notable token subtheme. I believe that I've found an effective balance between those themes, while still maintaining a good shell of a support cards that can enable multiple strategies.
You should play Omnath if:
- You like ramping into gigantic creatures or a massive army of tokens.
- You like generating an absolute boatload of mana.
- You like using that mana to beat face without having to actually spend it.
- You like casting Genesis Wave where X = 39 on turn 4.
- You like having a constant supply of readily available mana.
- You like killing people with your Commander.
- You like ignoring your opponents' threats and simply trampling over their defenses.
- You like playing a straight-forward "beat em up" style of Magic, as opposed to navigating the maze of multiplayer politics.
- You like winning.
You shouldn't play Omnath if:
- You don't like any of the reasons why you should play him.
- You prefer playing control or combo decks.
- You don't like being targeted automatically in multiplayer due to the strength of your Commander.
- You don't like being the target of most removal.
- You prefer winning by attrition, politics or subterfuge.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It bears mentioning that Omnath is VERY flexible in how you can build him. There is no one right way to make an Omnath deck. This deck is based on my own playing experience, and what I've found to be strongest. Your local metagame, however, will have a very prominent effect on how you build your deck.
Azusa, Lost But Seeking: Azusa is the original big name in big mana. Indeed, she and Omnath share many cards and a decent amount of strategy. Whether or not one will thrive over the other is dependent on your metagame. For all Omnath's explosive potential, Azusa can be even more so, as she is, in essence, Exploration on a stick. However, in order for Azusa to abuse that fact, she needs a constant supply of cards, she tends to run cards such as Recycle which can limit flexibility, as well as other resource-granting cards like Horn of Greed which also benefit opponents. Additionally, as she tends to get her lands out faster than Omnath, she's even more susceptible to mass land destruction.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Selvala is the most recent addition to the big mana club. She has her own advantages and disadvantages as compared to Omnath (as well as Azusa). While Omnath relies more of less on the lands you have to ramp, acting as a battery, what Selvala wants is creatures. She has the ability to continually make mana herself over the course of the game, and has a very relevant card drawing ability, both of which are pretty big boons for a general to have. However, she can't store mana like Omnath can, and doesn't represent a threat to your opponents' life total by herself, which means you can't win the game on her power alone if you draw dead or if your opponents have ways to remove your other creatures. Additionally, while her card draw is more likely to benefit you, it can also potentially draw cards for your opponents as well. It is notable, however, that, so long as she isn't also removed from play, that she is more durable against land destruction.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Vorinclex is another quintessential "ramp deck" general, and generally plays similarly to Omnath. A key difference between him and Omnath is that, while Omnath is both a means to play your win conditions as well as being a win condition himself, Vorinclex is all win condition. His unenviable position near the top of the mana curve means that he'll never be helping you out early game, although his end-game abilities are also quite potent, acting as a mana doubler and resource denial, all in one. However, therein lies another problem. Because he actively denies your opponents' resources, he makes himself a hate-magnet. Strange as though it sounds, Omnath has the advantage over Vorinclex of simply being more innocuous (if only slightly).
Yeva, Nature's Herald: While Yeva plays differently than Omnath, many of the creatures she'll be casting still require a lot of mana to play, so I'd say she still falls under the heading of "big mana." Yeva's unique ability lends her to be a prime candidate as a "Goodstuff" mono-green general. The advantage of this style is increased flexibility and resiliance, while the disadvantage is that she'll often lack focus and will be slower to play. Because she also doesn't enable your mana production herself, she'll also be more dependant on lower-costed cards to get the job done, as well as cards that reduce the casting cost of cards in the deck.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: As opposed to the heads of other mono-green decks, Kamahl is definitely a consumer, rather than a producer. Kamahl and Omnath are certainly fundamentally different. While Omnath likes to store mana up inside his battery in order to unleash big, splashy cards, Kamahl prefers to clog the ground with a ton of small creatures as fast as he possibly can, then use any mana he can possibly generate in order to activate his built-in Overrun effect. While Kamahl is a fine token deck general, I feel he's been supplanted ever since they printed Ezuri, Renegade Leader. While Ezuri does have a built-in tribal restriction, he can also protect members of his tribe (making him far more resiliant), has synergy with other members of his tribe, and generally comes down at least a couple turns sooner.
One area that Kamahl DOES excel in far more than any other mono-green general is that he really dissuades board sweepers, due to his ability to turn any land into a creature. If you play a sweeper against a properly built Kamahl deck, you're bound to lose more than you gain.
There are multiple ways you can win with this deck, but they all revolve around one base premise: lots of mana. There are several ways to ramp in this deck, including land tutors, mana doublers, etcetera. Once critical mass has been achieved, you can...
Use an overrun effect on Omnath to trample over enemy defences and kill your opponent with General damage.
Generate a metric ton of tokens, which can kill your opponent by either using an overrun effect, or simply overwhelming your opponents' defenses with pure numbers.
Throw down Eldrazi Monument or Akroma's Memorial and fly right over your opponents defenses.
Ramp into an early spell which takes out your opponents' resources such as Ulamog or Terastodon.
Power out an enormous Genesis Wave and overwhelm your opponents with card advantage.
One thing that's great about Omnath is that he allows you to drop any pretense as to what you're going to be trying to do. Now, sometimes this means your opponents will be gunning for you right from the get-go. They may even be able to take you down before you can get set up. However, more often than not, Omnath is going to be first out of the gate, swinging for the fences. As a result, his strategy really doesn't change much from early to mid to late game. The only really palpable difference is card advantage becomes exponentially important as a game wears on, so you'll want to start slinging spells such as Planar Portal, Regal Force and Greater Good, and you can't simply vomit your entire hand onto the table. The endgame though, will remain the same: beat your opponents with the pure power of your creatures.
Now, simply because Omnath tends to be apolitical doesn't mean there isn't some modicum of strategy involved as to whether or not you play him. One of the great things about him is that he can lure removal away from your other threats if you need him to. Your opponents will basically be treating your Omnath as one of two things: 1) a threat in and of itself, or 2) a means to get other threats onto the field. We know, of course, that Omnath is like Batman: he's whatever Gotham needs him to be.
One fairly easy way to test how your opponents are going to react is by... well, playing him. Simply get him onto the field as quickly as you possibly can. If your opponent aims the spot removal cannon directly at his face as soon as he hits the field, you know that they're more concerned about Omnath as a gigantic beater. If that happens, simply withhold playing Omnath a second time until you've had the chance to establish more board presence, understanding that, while Omnath obviously helps this plan, this deck is entirely capable of generating big mana without him if the need calls for it either.
If your opponent doesn't hit him with the spot removal straight away, the next course of action is to see what happens when you pump some mana into him and attack. (Sidenote: how much mana you'll want to pump into him is situational, based on what your opponent has for blockers and what you may want to cast after combat, as if your opponent blocks, casting a spell could reduce his toughness to below the amount of damage taken.) If you've still got an Omnath left at the end of combat, you'll know your opponents are saving their removal so that they get maximum value by blowing up your other threats along with Omnath. Don't give it to them. Chip away with Omnath until they find themselves in a situation where they're desperate enough to point removal at him. Once that's done, start throwing some other threats their way as well. If they don't, eventually you'll be able to dig for an Eldrazi Monument, Akroma's Memorial, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or Craterhoof Behemoth and send Omnath right through their defenses for the win.
Mono-green beats at instant speed is surely
a harbinger of the coming apocalypse.
The smartest opponents, of course, will take down Omnath during your combat phase, because a) it resets your mana production, and b) puts you behind. Contrary to what your instincts might tell you though, the response to this situation is to then ignore what they do entirely (beyond situationally responding to threats, that is) and simply race, because it tells you that they know the only way they have to beat you is to get ahead of you in resource production. Once they think they're ahead, they'll start pumping out their own resources like no tomorrow in order to secure their win condition. Little do they know that it's nigh impossible to race a ramp deck.
There are three cards that I would like to specifically address, which together constitute what I call THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, or TOPS. These cards are Aluren, Vedalken Orrery and Winding Canyons. What they do is they allow you to recast Omnath should he get blown up, and do so during the same step/phase as when he is destroyed/exiled. This has the added value of allowing you to keep any mana that you previously had in your pool, minus of course the mana used to recast Omnath.
Now despite the fact that there are plenty of ways to protect Omnath himself, the fact is your other creatures are likely to die in this environment, due to board sweepers and spot removal. There are two ways to deal with this: 1) remember that Omnath himself is always going to be a threat that your opponents have to deal with, simply due to his potentially huge size. 2) There are a few recursion tools included in the decklist, such as Eternal Witness and Praetor's Council. If your meta is more focused on spot removal than mine, some other worthwhile additions could be Regrowth, Restock, Moldgraf Monstrosity and Creeping Renaissance. Eldrazi Monument, Akroma's Memorial and Asceticism help protect your creatures further.
As a ramp deck, one opposing strategy that you'll need to beware of is Mass Land Destruction. While the usual strategy for a ramp deck involves simply getting all your mana out of your deck as fast as you possibly can, should you face off against a land destruction deck, you'll want to ration yourself. Nothing is more devastating than pulling all the Forests out of you deck and onto the field, only to get hit with by Wake of Destruction. As I don't face land destruction in my own meta, this deck wasn't built with it in mind. However, should it be something you'll see in your meta, some helpful tools are Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam and Creeping Renaissance (although that last one does have a fairly steep cost for a card being used to get land back after having it all being blown away).
Garruk and Omnath have always been best
of friends. At least, before Garruk
went crazy...
Garruk Wildspeaker: Garruk serves two basic functions: ramping up, and giving your creatures trample. If Omnath is big enough, simply giving him trample will allow you to run someone right over and kill them with general damage.
Garruk, Primal Hunter: Most of the time, this guy will be doing one thing and one thing only: acting as a better Soul's Majesty (better because it doesn't target, it simply chooses your largest creature as it resolves). However, if card draw isn't an issue, he can also start pumping out tokens, culminating with the use of his ultimate ability, which will often win you the game if you can activate it.
Karn Liberated: Repeatable targeted removal that can hit any permanent and exiles? Where do I sign? In truth, when Karn comes down, he can single-handedly take over the game himself if your opponents don't have a way to get him off the board. Even if he does nothing else, at worst he's a colorless Angel of Despair that exiles.
Creatures Acidic Slime: This fellow is simply one of the best toolbox creatures in green. It takes out several problem cards, and leaves behind a nice deathtouching body to dissuade your opponents from attacking, for a very reasonable cost.
Ant Queen: Repeat after me. "During your end step, I'll make 79,462 1/1 tokens."
Avenger of Zendikar: This guy really doesn't need any introduction, but for the record, he is the definition of a win condition. While he lost some of his power with the banning of Primeval Titan, this deck can still get enough land out to make his tokens nice and big.
Courser of Kruphix: Courser was introduced as a replacement for Krosan Tusker, who I no longer felt was pulling his weight. While Courser obviously can't draw a card like Tusker, he can provide more lands over time, incidental life-gain and a mana-effecient body on the field (something that Tusker never did by virtue of the fact that he was never cast).
Craterhoof Behemoth: Working especially well with tokens in much the same way Beastmaster Ascension does, Craterhoof Behemoth is essentially a one-shot Beastmaster Ascension which is easily tutorable.
Deadwood Treefolk: This guy is great value. He regrows a creature when he comes onto play and when he leaves. Additionally, he provides a reasonably sized blocker while in play.
Eternal Witness: Eternal Witness is one of the most prevalent green staples for a reason. A Regrowth effect stapled to an easy to cast 2/2 body for 1GG is excellent value on its own. However, when you factor in that her nature as a creature means she can also often be played multiple times in a game, she becomes truly exceptional.
Fierce Empath: Fierce Empath is another example of a strong value creature in green. While the body isn't exceptional, it's the ability to tutor for a creature with CMC of 6 or higher directly into your hand that matters, making it an excellent toolbox option. Absolutely need to deal with something on the field? Find Terastodon or Ulamog. Need to recur a creature? Find Deadwood Treefolk. Want a unit of the best blockers around? Get Hornet Queen. Want an army of tokens for the inevitable push to victory? Get Avenger of Zendikar. Want to seal your victory? Find Craterhoof Behemoth or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.
Genesis: Let's be serious here, your creatures are going to die. They'll die gloriously, but they'll die. Sometimes though, you won't want them to die. Other times, you'll specifically want them to die, so you can re-use their enter/exit the battlefield effects. Whatever the case may be, if you've got a creature in your graveyard that you want back, Genesis provides an easy, cheap, and hard-to-deal-with way for you to get it back. The value offered by this fellow when he sits in your yard is second to none.
Hornet Queen: This is the dark horse of the deck, and she provides a function that nothing else in the deck can. She provides her own personally army that is equally at ease playing the role of offense or defense. Got an opposing army staring you down? She gives you five blockers with deathtouch that can even block flying creatures. Want to get some damage in? Go ahead, no one is going to throw their hard-earned creatures under the bus to block 1 or 2 damage.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: The Otarian Barbarian. Mr. Fist here provides two very important functions: 1) he flat out wins you the game, 2) he wards off mass removal. Kamahl is one of the most powerful threats in a deck that can generate this mana tokens and this much mana, and when you've got access to those, he brings the pain in a mean way. And when your opponents can see the writing on the wall, his second ability will dissuade them from wrathing the board, lest you turn their lands into creatures to get blown up.
Lotus Cobra: I'll admit, he's not particuarly useful in the late game as any more than a blocker if you're in topdeck mode. Early game, however, he can help generate mana at a fast pace, and does so in a way that's so innocuous that no one is going to waste a card killing him.
Magus of the Library: This guy is a fiend if he comes down turn 2. Honestly, it might even be better than Rofellos in the early game, because the card advantage he provides is not to be trifled with. He's also innocuous enough that most people won't pay attention to him until it's too late. He may not be Library of Alexandria, but in this deck, he's not far off.
What're you lookin' at??
Oracle of Mul Daya: She originally wasn't in the deck. However, the September 2012 banning of Primeval Titan necessitated some changes to make the ramp aspect more consistent, even if it meant sacrificing some consistency. At very least, she helps dig through your deck, and isn't threatening enough to have a target painted on her, unlike Primeval Titan, who was not only a magnet for removal, but theft as well.
Regal Force: One of the more recent additions, Regal Force made the cut because I found myself vomitting out my entire hand and having nothing to back it up with, and top-deck mode is just dangerous. This creature provides a quick, easy way to restock your hand after dumping a bunch of creatures on board. It's also an excellent card to pair with Avenger of Zendikar whilst Tooth and Nailing.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: It's function is basic, but that doesn't mean it's not important: she tutors a forest right into play. That's never a bad thing, with this deck.
Seedborn Muse: With Omnath on the field, this girl basically kicks your mana production into overdrive by allowing you to add as much mana as you have access to into your pool during your opponents' turns as well, rather than just your own.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Selvala represents one of the best additions to the deck in a long time and is, in essence, the spiritual successor to Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. Her card draw ability is good, but the real money here is her mana generation ability. Specifically, her ability scales incredibly well with Omnath. Omnath has 10 mana in the tank? Pay one with Selvala, tap and add another 10. Great rate rate, and has a relevant extra ability stapled on that should benefit you more than your opponents.
Soul of the Harvest: Not an exciting card by any means, but it can net you significant card advantage if you get it down early game, and comes with a very reasonable 6/6 trampling body.
Terastodon: An early Terastodon is one of the bust brutal ways you can take someone out of a game. Let's say it's turn 5 and you've managed to get ramped out, and your opponent has 4 lands in play. If you throw down Terastodon and blow up 3 of his lands, you'll effectively put him 3 turns behind a ramp deck, which is not a good place to be. Not to mention, they'll often need to draw into those lands in order to replace them. Your opponent would be coming back from that one.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: If an early game Terastodon is backbreaking, an early game Ulamog is like running your opponent through a fine screen mesh. His indestructibility combined with Annihilator can win tables by itself if you get him down early enough. The vindicate-on-cast is just icing on the cake.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Do you want your opponents to not like you? Well then, here's a card for you. The combination of doubling your mana production while simultaneously denying resources to all your opponents will not make you any friends, but it will win you games. Plus, he's a big giant trampler.
Wickerbough Elder: This little fella is Naturalize on a stick, and you get to keep the stick once you've used his ability. This guy is very well costed, if relatively unexciting.
Wolfbriar Elemental: So, I hear you saying "Well, I've got this awesome Omnath with 2.7 million green mana saved up, but he's getting chump-blocked all day!" Well, your prayers have been answered, because Wolfbriar Elemental is one of the single most powerful mana dumps available. Combined with Omnath's ability to store mana, he'll come down and bring an entire legion of followers with him, netting you very close to 2 power for every 1 mana that you spend. He synergizes incredibly well with Garruk Wildspeaker's ultimate, Beastmaster Ascension, Eldrazi Monument and Kamahl, but even if you don't have them, he still brings an incredible amount of pain. Just put him onto the battlefield and proclaim "this army."
Artifacts Akroma's Memorial - After a while, I was finding that one of my biggest wincons, Genesis Wave, wasn't having as immediate an impact as I would have liked, mainly because the creatures I was able to generate from it didn't have haste. Akroma's Memorial improves the effectiveness of Genesis Wave, Wolfbriar Elemental, Avenger of Zendikar and Ant Queen by a significant margin, especially if Beastmaster Ascension is also in play.
Make ALL the mana!
Caged Sun: Essentially a mana-doubler, but one that also pumps all your green creatures, including the tokens that you're likely to make.
Eldrazi Monument: Nothing ruins the corn flakes of a deck that wins with creatures more than a board wipe. Eldrazi Monument laughs in the face of board wipes, and then let's you fly over your opponents' defenses to deliver a supreme, indestructible beatdown.
Extraplanar Lens: I've made the fact that I'm loathe to run any card that potentially bolsters your opponents' ability to generate mana as much as your own. Extraplanar Lens circumvents this (but only barely) based on how inexpensively it comes down, and the fact that only someone tapping a Forest will benefit from it.
Lightning Greaves: Omnath gets big. Really big. That means he's going to be target of spot removal. Lightning Greaves gives him a free cloak of invisibility so your opponents can't hit him. It has the benefit of still being useful late game, as you can throw down Omnath, throw on greaves, put 10 mana into your pool and swing with a hasty 11/11.
Mana Crypt: Sol Ring #2, and potentially even better, as a turn 1 mana crypt can be parlayed into a turn one Omnath. Definitely one of the greatest mana rocks ever created.
Mind's Eye: Because Omnath plays the role of mana battery, you'll almost always have mana available to draw a card from your opponents' draws. 1 mana per card is a price this deck can most definitely afford to pay, and because you're not drawing a boatload of cards at a time, opponents aren't likely to kill it with spot removal.
Planar Portal: This card provides repeatable tutoring for any card in any color. While obviously mana-intensive, this deck doesn't exactly have a problem with that.
Scroll Rack: This card replaced Worldly Tutor. With the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, a turn 1 Worldly Tutor just wasn't as good as it used to be. Combined with the fact that Worldly Tutor is inherent card disadvantage, it just wasn't pulling its weight without Rofellos. I decided if I couldn't have that explosive start, I would put in a card that's well known for providing great consistency over the course of a whole game.
Sol Ring: I sincerely doubt I need to elaborate, but this card is second to none when it comes to outracing opponents during the early turns of a game. (Alright, maybe it's second to Mana Crypt.)
Vedalken Orrery: One of three cards from what I call THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, aka TOPS. The function of these cards is basically all the same: in case Omnath gets blown up or exiled (and it will), they allow you to recast him during the same step/phase as he was killed, letting you hold onto any mana in your pool aside from the mana it cost to recast him.
Enchantments Aluren: Another card from THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE. While this card technically helps your opponents as well, it will almost always help you more. It has the added bonus of allowing you to not pay Omnath's base 2G cost, which means you only have to pay his Commander Tax while Aluren is on the field in order to recast him.
Asceticism: While I don't consider this card to be part of THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, it still provides a relevant function. First of all, it gives all your creatures Hexproof, essentially making them immune to spot removal. Secondly, it allows you to regenerate your creatures for a very reasonable 1G each. Being as Omnath almost always has mana on hand to do this, it's makes your creatures at least partially immune to board wipes as well.
Pretty much the ULTIMATE in draw, especially
with Omnath hanging around.
Beastmaster Ascension: Alright, let's say that you've just generated a metric ton of tokens, but you're staring down a similar army of tokens owned by your opponent. Throw this baby down and you'll decimate him as soon as your creatures attack. While a constant +5/+5 for all your creatures is always useful, nowhere is it more of a blowout when you drop it against another token deck and surprise them with it.
Exploration: Being as we can't have Fastbond, we'll just have to make due with this. The true benefit of Exploration is that, if you have it in your opening hand, it can power you to a turn 2 Omnath quite easily. You DO have to be very careful with this card though, as it can be tempting to vomit out your entire hand with it, and even though Omnath trades in explosiveness, it's still often better to be a little cautious.
Gaea's Touch: For a very reasonable GG, this enchantment acts as a second Exploration, and can be sacrificed at instant speed to give you back the mana that you used to play it if you're in a pinch.
Greater Good: This is one of the most powerful card draw engines in the entire game of Magic. Got an Omnath with 20 mana in your pool? Sacrifice it to Greater Good, draw 21 cards, replay your Omnath and you've still got 15 mana in your pool to cast whatever you drew off Greater Good! The synergy is just plain bonkers.
Mana Reflection: At first glance, it's just another mana doubler, but if you read closely, you'll realize that this card acts as a mana doubler for your mana doublers as well. And unlike other doublers, it actually doubles the mana produced by cards that generate more than one mana on their own, such as Rofellos and Gaea's Cradle.
Mirri's Guile: Originally, she was left out due to the presence of Sensei's Divining Top. However, the early mana you can be forced to spend on top early in the game can make a lot of difference with regards to getting Omnath out early. While it doesn't protect itself like top and can't draw you any cards, the fact that it allows you to filter for free makes it more valuable in this deck.
Survival of the Fittest: A more powerful creature tutor, there has never been. While is has the minor disadvantage of having to pitch a creature into your graveyard, that disadvantage is negligible when you consider that you can simply pitch a creature, fetch Genesis into your hand, pitch Genesis, get the creature you really want, and then pay 2G during your next upkeep to get the creature that you had to pitch originally back into your hand. This card is a supremely good bargain (there's a reason it's banned in Legacy. ;))
Sylvan Library: Sensei's Divining Top #2. While it doesn't protect itself like top does, it has the added bonus of allowing you to keep more than three cards, accelerating your draws and netting card advantage. While 4 life per extra card is not inconsiderable, you'll more often than not find a win condition before you blow through too much life.
Instants Beast Within: This card is quite simply the most potent piece of spot removal that mono-green has access to. The ability to Vindicate ANY PERMANENT for 2G and only leave your opponent with a 3/3 vanilla token (which isn't a threat at all against this deck) is just... awesome!
Chord of Calling: While this card isn't cheap, it's Convoke ability certainly helps mitigate the cost, even allowing you to use it for free if you've got enough creatures in play. Combined with the fact that it can be used at instant speed makes it an incredibly potent tutor which can get you any creature you need at instant speed.
Crop Rotation: This card is the best way to get the utility land that you need right now into play and usable. Need big mana? Get yourself a Gaea's Cradle. Need to protect a creature from getting blown to bits? Tutor up Yavimaya Hollow. While the fact that it costs you another lot isn't inconsiderable, you'll still almost invariably come out ahead if you play it judiciously.
Krosan Grip: Essentially an uncounterable Naturalize. Not exciting by any stretch, but it provides a necessary function.
Momentous Fall: This card is essentially a one-shot of Greater Good. You can use it on you Omnath, draw a boatload of cards, recast Omnath, and still have enough mana left to cast whatever you drew from it. You can even do it in response to Omnath being hit with spot removal, giving it a great versatility factor.
Sorceries All Is Dust: Even a beatdown deck like Omnath needs a mass removal spell on occasion, and this one takes care of anything but lands and colorless artifacts.
It's the Genesis Wave! They're on a build-up
to detonation!
Boundless Realms: With Oracle of Mul Daya replacing the consistency aspect of Primeval Titan after its September 2012 banning, this is the card that we'll now depend on to provide explosive levels of mana production. The old standby play used to be to fetch Gaea's Cradle into play with Primeval Titan. This is the next best thing.
Genesis Wave: No card embodies the "HOLY CRAP, DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?" Quality of Commander more than Genesis Wave. A card that I maintain was named after Star Trek II, this card creates life from lifelessness. And by that, it takes all your mana and vomits your entire library onto the table, to do with as you please. If you manage to get this off for big numbers, you win, even if you lose the game.
Green Sun's Zenith: One of the most flexible tutor spells around, it's useful at practically any point in the game. The only downside is that it can't find Ulamog. However, only paying 1 extra G over the casting cast of whatever green creature you want to put it directly from your library into play, as well as technically being repeatable, is a great bargain.
Harmonize: This card's effect is as bland as tofu. It draws a few cards. That's it. But it does it for a reasonable cost and can go a long way to restocking a hand.
Natural Order: Another great creature tutor. While you do have to sacrifice a green creature to use it, you're almost guaranteed to still be upgrading by casting this. It allows you to turn your spent Acidic Slime into a Vorinclex, or whatever you want, really (except Ulamog).
Nissa's Pilgrimage: In a mono-green deck, Nissa's Pilgrimage is a strict upgrade, albeit however slightly, over two Commander staples: Cultivate and Kodama's Reach (barring any Arcane synergies with the latter). While it likely won't be relevant often, having the ability to pull 3 lands out of your deck in the mid-to-late game instead of just 2 will help ensure relevant draws.
Praetor's Counsel: The ultimateRestock effect. While it can only be used once, once is all you'll need.
Scapeshift: This deck has no trouble cranking out forests. Scapeshift lets you turn some of those forests into versatile utility lands that can help you both survive and win. The ability to fetch Gaea's Cradle into play is, of course, a big draw.
Skyshroud Claim: Of all the ways to get lands from your deck directly into play, this one is probably the best, because it brings your forests into play untapped, which means you can turn around and pump that mana right back into Omnath. Extra value if you've got a mana doubler on the field.
Tooth and Nail: Ah, Tooth and Nail, what can I say about you? Can I say that you can single handedly win games? Can I say that you can single handedly turn a defeat into a fighting chance? Well, I say... why not both?
Blighted Woodland: This card is basically a land that you can crack for an Explosive Vegetation while tapping for colorless in the meantime. That means it provides both inherent card advantage and ramp in one easy to use package. Excellent value here, if very understated.
Dryad Arbor: Got a Green Sun's Zenith in your opening hand? Tutor for this on turn 1 and you can accelerate right into a turn 2 Omnath.
Gaea's Cradle: Can you believe that, when I first acquired this card, I didn't put it in the deck? I reasoned that "well, it's useless if I have to play it early before I can play a creature." And while that remains true, the upside blows the downside out of the water. Once you start generating creatures, this card doesn't stop giving you mana. It is the mana-generating land in EDH (with the possible exception of Coffers + Urborg).
Homeward Path: The ultimate hoser against theft effects such as Bribery and Blatant Thievery, as well as generals such as Merieke Ri Berit (even though the creature will blow up as you try to return it, at least she won't have it in her clutches anymore).
Mosswort Bridge: The condition of this card is certainly the easiest to achieve of all the hideaway lands, especially when you've got a General who gains P/T from storing mana. You're guaranteed to get value when you use this. One of the best plays I've made is to attack my opponent with a token army, only to bring Kamahl out of hiding and start making my tokens huge.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: The power of Cabal Coffers working in conjunction with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is well known to any player running black. Nykthos can single-handedly provide similarly powerful mana ramp to decks of every color.
Reliquary Tower: This deck has excellent card-drawing capacity, so at some point, you're going to want to keep cards that you would otherwise have to discard. Reliquary Tower allows that to happen.
Tranquil Thicket: Excellent utility, if unexciting. Draw it early game? Play it as a mana source. Late game? Cycle it. It can always do something useful.
Winding Canyons: The last card in THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE. Another card that allows you to recast Omnath at instant speed should he get blown up, allowing you to keep any mana that you have left in your mana pool. Has the added bonus of allowing you to use it to cast other creatures as well.
Yavimaya Hollow: Simple but effective, this card protects Omnath in a different way than other cards of its ilk. By it's simple present, it dissuades your opponents from throwing spot removal at your creatures, because it let's your opponents know right now that you've got a way to deal with it. This forces your opponents to either use their best removal to exile your creature, or to use multiple removal spells in order to deal with your creature.
PLEASE NOTE: Given how card values fluctuate, I can't guarantee that cards used below will always meet the budgetary restrictions I've attempted to adhere to for this alternate list. This will also likely be compounded over time due to the fact that I won't be updating this list regularly, as operating a budget list isn't my primary concern with this primer.
Given how brutally expensive some green EDH staples have become, it's understandable that some people wouldn't want to pay the price for all the cards on the above list. As such, I've put together an alternate decklist specifically targeted to more budget-conscious builders. The following is an alternate decklist I've compiled in which the value of every card (with the exception of Omnath himself) has a median price of no greater than $10.00 USD on TCGplayer. As of December 13, 2016 (the date this list was last compiled), all cards below meet this restriction, and the number of cards to be swapped is 28. Below the decklist is a specific account of the cards added and removed from the base list further up the page.
It goes without saying that this list simply won't be as effective as the original. That's just the nature of the game. The reason the cards that were cut were too expensive to begin with is because of how effective they are (although their rarity also plays a part in this as well). The most notable casualty are cards which manipulate the top of the deck. In the main list, we've got Sylvan Library, Mirri's Guile and Scroll Rack (Sensei's Divining Top is another prime example of this kind of effect, although I don't run it in my list). Unfortunately the only real viable option for top-deck manipulation I could find which met this budget requirement was Crystal Ball.
Fierce Empath (Note: This is only because it loses utility due to the changes required due to budgetary constraints, this card is not worth more than $10.)
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: While this can only protect your instants and sorceries, knowing that no one's going to be able to counter your 50 point Genesis Wave (barring a Mindbreak Trap or Venser, Shaper Savant) can be mighty reassuring. Plus, there are some other instants and sorceries in Green which then make your creatures uncounterable for the turn.
Cavern of Souls: As it is, this deck contains 13 different creature types, which means that this isn't exactly the optimal solution. However, naming Elemental will allow you to protect Omnath, as well as Avenger of Zendikar, Regal Force (2 creatures that go VERY well together), Soul of the Harvest, and Wolfbriar Elemental (one of the most common win conditions of the deck). Plus, it can generate green mana to make Omnath larger, even if it turns out you can't spend that mana on much.
Gaea's Herald & Leyline of Lifeforce: These ones are a bit of a double-edged sword. While they do help you quite a bit, they can also help your opponents quite a bit if you're playing against another creature-heavy deck in a game also featuring a blue mage.
City of Solitude & Dosan the Falling Leaf: At first glance, these appear to be almost all upshot for you. However, because this is a multiplayer format, there are sometimes where it'd be really great if the white mage could cast his instant-speed Rout right after someone makes a billion tokens with Ghave, Guru of Spores with Akroma's Memorial in play, or if a blue mage could counter the Mind Over Matter that someone else is playing with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind on the field. Still, definitely worth considering.
Hall of Gemstone: Not only is this a powerful answer to counterspells in the same vein as City of Solitude and Dosan, but it really neuters multi-colored strategies as well if they can't find an answer. The downside is also negligible for Omnath, aka "The Green Mana Batter."
Gaea's Revenge and Terra Stomper: Good, big beaters that simply don't have to worry about counterspells on their own. Gaea's Revenge also has the advantage of resistance to nearly all spot removal as well.
Quicksilver Amulet: This card can do some serious work, and is worth consideration even if you're not playing in a countermagic-heavy metagame. A good hand can sometimes lead to you playing this on turn 2, then something like Ulamog on turn 3. The fact of its ability's overall uncounterability (aside from things like Trickbind) is icing on the cake.
Insist and Autumn's Veil: Good single-use spells (unless you throw in an Isochron Scepter to use with Autumn's Veil) which allow you to insist (heh) that your creatures hit the field. Insist has an advantage of a) being cheap and b) being a cantrip, while Autumn's Veil has the advantage of a) potentially protecting multiple spells, and b) can protect your existing creature for a turn against blue and black targeted spells.
Crucible of Worlds: The quintessential card to get your lands back from the Graveyard, it doesn't get much better than this.
Life From the Loam: Another great option to get your land back. While having to mill yourself in order to recur it is a bit of a drag, the fact that it's recurrable at all can be a life saver. Plus, you may just mill some land into your graveyard to get back.
Timber Protector: Protects your most vital source of mana (your forests), and coincidentally can also make Deadwood Treefolk, Dungrove Elder and Wickerbough Elder indestructible while in play.
Groundskeeper: It can only get basic lands back, but sometimes that's enough. Gets points for being cheap enough to come down pretty easily even after all lands have been wiped.
Splendid Reclamation: Not the easiest to cast, but if you get there, you'll have a huge advantage over the rest of the table in case of a mass wipe.
Tilling Treefolk and Creeping Renaissance: Some of the more expensive options, those only really help you once your mana production has started up again. Still, they'll ensure that you've got a smooth supply to rebuild.
Darksteel Garrison: This is very much a fringe option, but if you just HAVE to protect that Gaea's Cradle, this card will do it.
Eldrazi Monument(Already in the main decklist): The strength of this card can't be downplayed. It's a permanent way to give your creatures indestructible, at the meager cost of one creature getting sacrificed during your upkeep, a downside which is meaningless if you've got a token producer on board.
Asceticism(Already in the main decklist): While there are some mass removal spells that this won't help against (actually, a lot of them, now that I look at it), there are still a good number of common mass removal spells that this can kibosh). Plus, if you've got a Mana Reflection and Gaea's Cradle, they can make enough mana between them to regenerate all your creatures.
Yavimaya Hollow(Already in the main decklist): Essentially a once-per-turn cycle Regenerate staples to a land. It's a good deterrent for your opponents to cast some board wipes, knowing that you'll be able to keep your Omnath right through them.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: While this can only protect so many of your creatures (unless you've got a fully charged Beastmaster Ascension), it can at least protect itself, Omnath, and some other powerful creatures like Vorinclex.
That Which Was Taken: A bit dicier than Eldrazi Monument because it's slow to really work its magic (and because the protection it grants is rendered moot if it leaves play), it can still protect your general and, slowly, can also make your other creatures indestructible as well.
Wrap in Vigor and Resuscitate: Good instant-speed tricks to regenerate your creatures, although the latter is a bit mana-intensive.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa(Already in the main decklist) and Jolrael, Empress of Beasts: These cards aren't protection from the effects of board wipes so much as they're a promise to your opponents that, if they do play a sweeper, they'll lose far more than you. The ability to turn your opponent's mana base into creatures at instant speed is something that will make anyone think twice before playing Wrath of God.
Arashi, the Sky Asunder: Fortunately, killing flyers is one area where green positively excels, and Arashi is one of the most flexible options, allowing for multiple single-target kills or a full-on hurricane one shot.
Silklash Spider: A card that can not only kill flyers with ease, it can also block them effectively if you somehow find yourself in a situation where you don't have the mana to take them down.
Hurricane, Corrosive Gale, Windstorm & Squall Line: Good single shot spells which can take down entire flying armies with ease. Hurricane and Squall Line also it players. Windstorm and Squall Lines have a slight edge because they're instants, which Corrosive Gale has a minor advantage of it's single green mana being Phyrexian, which let's you pay 2 life to save an extra mana to throw in its X cost.
Gravity Well: If you can't beat em in the sky, make them come at you on the ground. This card permanently negates any advantage that a flying creature might have while attacking you, forcing them to face you on your terms.
Raking Canopy: An excellent answer if you see a lot of flyers in your metagame. It will discourage anything with toughness less than 5 from attacking you, which eliminates a lot of threats in the air.
Tornado Elemental: A very effective one-shot that does 6 damage to all flyers. It's also guaranteed to hit someone for 6 if you want it to (barring removal or static effects that affect its power).
Scavenging Ooze: If it's good enough for Legacy, it's good enough for me! One of the most powerful GY spot-removal type cards in all of Magic.
Night Soil: Another option in the same vein as Scavenging Ooze, it can take care of two creatures at once, gives you a token creature, and is harder to remove by virtue of being an enchantment.
Ground Seal: While this also hoses your own re-growth effects, it also makes life hell for your opponents if they want to reanimate their creatures. Plus, cantrip.
Loaming Shaman: Not only is this also an excellent way to recur your own cards, but you can also use it against an opponent who's dumped his library into his graveyard in order to set up a mass-reanimate.
Relic of Progenitus: Got more than one person abusing the graveyard? This will take care of all of them.
Tormod's Crypt: One of the most classic options for graveyard removal. Also doesn't hurt your tempo, as the mana cost is zero.
Mimic Vat: Is there a creature who's ETB effect your opponent is abusing by constantly reanimating it? Throw this down, and not only will they no longer be able to, but you will instead!
Bonds of Mortality: Admittedly, mono-green isn't exactly in the best position to take advantage of this enchantment on its own. However, given that this is a multiplayer format, you and an opponent may be able to form an alliance of convenience if you need to deal with a worrisome creature that's sporting either hexproof or indestructible. This card let's you do that, and replaces itself to boot. And hey, you might even have the Beast Within in hand that you need to deal with it yourself.
Please note just because a card isn't on this list does NOT mean it's not a viable choice, it simply means that I've gone with an option that I believe to be superior for my strategy and/or playing style. Additionally, there are several cards that haven't been included simply because my metagame doesn't require me to have them, such as Crucible of Worlds. Your meta may be different.
Brawn: I cut this card because the creatures in this deck already hit so hard that having to throw a guy into the graveyard to give them trample just wasn't worth it.
Brutalizer Exarch: It's true that this little dude does something you don't often see in green, getting rid of problem permanents, even indestructible ones. He's just on the cusp of not being included in the deck.
Burgeoning: Another card that got cut. It generated a huge amount of hate really didn't speed me up as fast as I'd hoped.
Cultivate: After testing, it became clear that I only needed one card between Cultivate and Kodama's Reach. Initially I went with Cultivate for no reason in particular, but then I acquired a foil Kodama's Reach, so they swapped. Functionally, neither has an advantage over the other. (although, as of Magic Origins, the Kodama's Reach has been bumped for a Nissa's Pilgrimage).
Earthcraft: Despite an abundance of token makers, The only thing I could really do with all that mana is simply to make more tokens. By that time I'm already going for the kill.
Explosive Vegetation: It was in the deck, but was cut when I acquired a Skyshroud Claim, which is strictly better for this deck.
Heartbeat of Spring: This is a very dangerous mana-doubler to toy with for this deck, as it doubles the mana generation of EVERY other player's mana. As a result, it's unplayable in the early game, where I would gain the most advantage from it.
Helix Pinnacle: I just don't really enjoy insta-win cards like this very much. Is it powerful? Without a doubt. Could I abuse it? Again, sure, but it would be a hollow victory.
Kodama's Reach: A fine card for a ramp deck by any measure, but in my particular build, I only wanted one effect like it, and Magic Origins gave us Nissa's Pilgrimage, which is a strict upgrade over both Cultivate and Kodama's Reach (assuming you're not playing the latter for it's Arcane synergy).
Lurking Predators: Considering it's a mono-green deck, I'm really not running that many creatures. This is definitely more suited to my Animar deck.
Nature's Will: This deck just has so many ways to get big mana that this was redundant. It used to be in the deck, and it even won me a couple games, but it eventually got cut for Regal Force because I need the card draw to keep up with my mana production.
Nissa, Worldwaker: Admittedly, Nissa's second ability (+1: Untap up to 4 forests) is incredibly tempting. Unfortunately, it's the only one I'd ever use. Animating lands in Commander is simply too risky a proposition to be worthwhile, given the general glut of mass removal spells floating around a typical game of EDH.
Patron of the Orochi: While it seems like Seedborn Muse #2 at first glance, I see a lot of green in my meta, which means that other players would benefit from its use. I don't want that. In a meta where green is less prevalent, I could see this being very useful.
Primal Command: While I admire the flexibility of this card, the only thing I would really be using it for is a creature tutor, and there are better options for that.
Primal Surge: I tend to run more non-permanent spells than your typical deck of this sort, which means highly diminishing returns for this card. Genesis Wave is simply the superior option for this deck.
Shaman of the Forgotten Ways: Another near-miss. Biorhythm on a creature is tempting, but given that my particular build of Omnath has relatively fewer creatures than one might expect, it just doesn't quite get there.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: This was definitely one card that I thought would be an auto-include when I first saw it. Unfortunately, the -X ability, which is generally the ability that first attracted me, hurts me just as much as anyone else, so I decided to forego it, even though that ultimate is really attractive.
Vernal Bloom and Gauntlet of Power: With the presence of Extraplanar Lens, Caged Sun, Mana Reflection and Vorinclex, these cards are rendered pretty much redundant, especially because they also grant my opponent the same ramp if he's playing green. Extraplanar Lens escapes that condition by virtue of how early it can come down, but Gauntlet and Vernal Bloom just aren't worth it.
Vigor: This guy protects against damage, but it's almost never actual damage that ends up killing my creatures, but rather mass removal or spot removal, which this fellow doesn't help against.
Woodfall Primus: Choosing between this and Terastodon was VERY tough. I inevitably went with Terastodon because a) he could kill more than one permanent at a time, and b) this deck doesn't feature any ways to really abuse Woodfall Primus' ability.
Zendikar Resurgent: This is certainly an excellent choice for an enchantment-based ramp for anyone that doesn't own a Mana Reflection, which is understandable given the current value of that card. While the ramp provided isn't on par with Mana Reflection with regards to permanents such as Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx that produce multiple mana, it does have the added advantage of having a permanent Glimpse of Nature built in.
November 8, 2013:
- Re-sorted the decklists by heading, then converted mana cost (except for lands in the Card Type list), then alphabetal (mana cost was not previously used).
Neither of them really fit. I've got too many non-permanents to make proper use of Primal Surge, and Craterhoof Behemoth doesn't make as much sense in the context of the deck as Overwhelming Stampede or Kamahl. Granted, maybe I could try running it over Beastmaster Ascension...
Winding Canyons is so good I play with Vesuva just so they have to blow it up twice to get rid of it. I actually play with Cartographer (and Eternal Witness but that has tons of other purposes as well) because I wanted a creature based method of pulling it out of my GY if it winds up there. Momentous Fall is great, you can sometimes draw half your library... but most importantly gives you a way to kill Omnath if he's about to be Mind Controled or tucked so you can recast and not lose your giant mana pool (I know you already have other ways to kill him with greater good and if I had a dime for every time I Beast Withined my own Omnath... but you have so many fatties Momentous Fall just seems like a perfect fit.
Heh, I take it you didn't read the "cards that I would put in if I owned them" section, eh? I've been trying pretty much since I built the deck to acquire a Vedalken Orrery. The last time I went on vacation, I went to every MTG single seller in the city that I went, and NO one had one. No one had an Ertai, Wizard Adept either, but that's for another deck.
Momentous Fall is great, you can sometimes draw half your library... but most importantly gives you a way to kill Omnath if he's about to be Mind Controled or tucked so you can recast and not lose your giant mana pool (I know you already have other ways to kill him with greater good and if I had a dime for every time I Beast Withined my own Omnath... but you have so many fatties Momentous Fall just seems like a perfect fit.
Momentous Fall is always a card I try to fit in green decks and can never seem to. I just don't know what I would cut in order to throw it in.
I cut Quicksilver because it really doesn't do anything if I don't have a fatty in hand, while Momentous Fall helps give me some gas. Okina was cut because, in this deck, it can't pump my general any better than a forest. Also, there are only 4 other legends in the deck and none of them really benefit from being pumped, being as no one plays Gut Shot in this format.
I'm debating the addition of Boundless Realms from the upcoming M13 set, but again, I don't know what to cut. I'd say first on the chopping block is probably Pattern of Rebirth, namely because I've *never* actually gotten to use it. However, that card does provide Wrath protection in some form, which can also be important.
One fun card is Sprout Swarm. As long as you have 5 mana, you get infinite 1/1's (assuming you don't get wrathed, and even then, they still need t get you to discard it).
Just a few things i find helpful:
Creatures:
Brawn, Gaea's Revenge, Duplicant, Gamekeeper, Oracle of Mul Daya, Seedguide Ash, Loaming Shaman.
Artifacts and spells:
Vedalken Orrery, Altar of Dementia, Hurricane, Howl of the Night Pack, Far Wanderings, and Early Harvest.
I also play Guantlets for another mana ramp.
Most of the time it's ramp early Genesis Wave for like 50 and Altar of Dementia for the win. I hope and of these cards help you and manage to make it into your deck, good luck.
As far as Gauntlet of Power goes, I've made remarks regarding it in the "cards that I don't run" section. I feel the downside of it allowing other green decks the same ramp combined with its high cost takes it out of the running. Extraplanar lens is cheap enough that I'm okay using it with the same negative effect.
High Market is honestly probably a good idea, although I'm really trying not to dilute the forest count too much. Theft hasn't been much of a problem for the deck though, because most of the cards don't really benefit the stealer nearly as much as they benefit me, and the deck has enough built in redundancy that it can survive the theft of a few permanents.
As for Miren, the Moaning Well, I'm pretty well already set for card draw. Green is a color that has enough powerful card draw effects that it doesn't need to give card draw to its opponents as well.
One fun card is Sprout Swarm. As long as you have 5 mana, you get infinite 1/1's (assuming you don't get wrathed, and even then, they still need t get you to discard it).
Now THAT looks like a good idea, although it feels like it might be a bit slow. I'll probably try it out though.
Just a few things i find helpful:
Creatures:
Brawn, Gaea's Revenge, Duplicant, Gamekeeper, Oracle of Mul Daya, Seedguide Ash, Loaming Shaman.
Artifacts and spells:
Vedalken Orrery, Altar of Dementia, Hurricane, Howl of the Night Pack, Far Wanderings, and Early Harvest.
I also play Guantlets for another mana ramp.
Most of the time it's ramp early Genesis Wave for like 50 and Altar of Dementia for the win. I hope and of these cards help you and manage to make it into your deck, good luck.
Some of the cards you mention are in my list of cards that I've decided not to run (Brawn, Oracle of Mul Daya).
As well, Vedalken Orerry would easily go in the deck if I could find one. Believe me, I've been trying to acquire one now for about a year. It's getting frustrating.
I'll address the others:
- Gaea's Revenge: If Dungrove Elder didn't exist or if GR had trample, it might have a shot. However, Dungrove Elder gets bigger and has better protection.
- Duplicant: That's a pretty good idea. I'll grant that this deck is more concerned with running right over creatures than removing them, but I'll certainly look at it closer.
- Gamekeeper: To be honest, I'd never even heard of this card. It looks good, except there's one critical card that it's anti-synergistic with: Wolfbriar Elemental. One of my most reliable win-cons is throwing down a Wolfbrial Elemental with a gigantic multikicker, and then beating face. If this guy's ability draws into WE, I get squat.
- Altar of Dementia: An excellent suggestion, and gives the deck access to a completely alternate win condition. This may actually make the cut. I'll need to acquire one first, though.
- Seedguide Ash: Another card I didn't know existed (I didn't start playing until Zendikar). Definitely a powerful effect, and synergistic with the overall theme, AND gives me something in the event of a wrath. I'll have to find one and try it out.
- Loaming Shaman: This card used to be in the deck. He even saved my butt a couple times by allowing me to screw with a black deck after they had cast Buried Alive. It eventually got cut to make the deck more consistent. If I could make a 102 card deck, it would probably make the cut.
- Hurricane: I'm not that concerned with flyers, because they usually end up playing defence against my horde of giant beaters. If I was going to throw in protection against flyers, it would be in the form of either Arashi, the Sky Asunder or Silklash Spider.
- Howl of the Night Pack: I don't like this card for this deck because, unlike Wolfbriar Elemental, it makes no use of the mana I've stored up with Omnath, and it gains no benefit from mana doublers.
- Early Harvest: This card just seems to be a bit win-more to me. I've already got the ability to generate huge amounts of mana, a one-time effect to generate SUPER-huge amounts of mana seems kind of pointless.
- Far Wanderings: I tested this out a bit, but I just didn't like it that much.
Second, and arguably more importantly, the foil count has now been increased to 58! Plus, my general is now a legitimate Worldwake foil Omnath, instead of an FTV Omnath.
Cause, ya know.
(Updated the original post to show exactly which cards have been foiled.)
Do you struggle with your mana with 35 lands? I run an Omnath deck and only have 32 lands and have never been mana-screwed yet, If so then a few of these suggestions can be added at the cost of a land or two.
I know people are quite strongly opposed to going lower than 35/36 lands but I never have an issue with all of the ramp in my deck, I see you have plenty of ramp in yours so it maybe worth considering.
While it's rare for me to get mana-screwed, it has happened a couple times. I've found 35 hits the right balance of not only screwed vs. flooded, but also basics vs. non-basics.
One card I notice hasn't been mentioned but is an obvious choice is Yeva, Nature's Herald, the same as Vedalken Orrery but just for green creatures, she is a great way to spend the mana from Omnath when he inevitably gets killed.
Yeva is a card that I want to try and fit somehow, but I just don't have a place for. She's a great way to re-cast Omnath because of the "SURPRISE!" factor of throwing her down just after Omnath is killed and then recasting Omnath as well. However, she's also more fragile than the other forms of Flash-granting cards I have in the deck.
I've decided to sub out Sword of Feast and Famine for Sword of Fire and Ice. Haven't had much opportunity to test it yet, but I haven't found SoFaF to be particularly useful as of late, and I think the card draw from SoFaI will help.
Neither of them really fit. I've got too many non-permanents to make proper use of Primal Surge, and Craterhoof Behemoth doesn't make as much sense in the context of the deck as Overwhelming Stampede or Kamahl. Granted, maybe I could try running it over Beastmaster Ascension...
But my Beastmaster Ascension is foil...
I think this is probably the best post of the thread.
Surprisingly little, although I know I'm playing with fire by not including one or more of those. The deck in my meta that really constitutes a theft deck is a guy who runs Merieke Ri Berit, but his deck is more about stealing all your creatures and blowing them up along the way than using them against me. That particular general will always be a bad matchup for Omnath though, no matter what I do.
The question becomes, again, what would I take out? A cursory glance suggests the prime targets would be either Maze of Ith or Tranquil Thicket, but they've both proven quite useful in certain instances.
With as few lands as you run, I think Tranquil Thicket is meh. I hate come into play tapped lands (though it looks like you only have two) and I would almost always rather play the land than cycle it unless I was left with only one card in hand. Maze I ended up cutting from most of my decks because it gets blown up by the first strip mine that hits the field, it doesn't tap for mana, and it more often than not made me the target of a lot of damage. Just a meta thing though im sure.
You could also try running Magus of the Vineyard just to get that extra green, just an idea though.
The thought had occured to me. Alas, I feel that I'm better off running cards that don't share my resources. Omnath trades a lot in pure explosivity, and giving early game mana to my opponents, even if it's colorless could spell doom for the whole operation by potentially allowing them to set up as fast as me. Hence why I don't run Vernal Bloom or Heartbeat of Spring.
Why no fetch lands? I know you're not running Crucilble of Worlds, but still they thin your deck and virtually are forests.
If this was a standard deck, I'd be using every fetchland that I could get my hands on. However, there's only so much difference that they can make in an EDH deck. Turning a 99 card EDH deck into a 95 card (at very best) deck doesn't have nearly the same impact as turning a 60 card Standard deck into a 52 card deck. Don't get me wrong, it's completely viable to run them, and if you're the kind of person to wring out absolutely maximum value from every single card you possibly can, then power to you. To me, however, it seems a bit unnecessary in a deck that requires no color fixing. It can also hurt when I've set up with Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library.
To be honest I am the kind of person you describe, but I see your point. I just wondered if they might hurt the manabase in any way.
The way I see it they help when there's nothing relevant on top and you'd like to reshuffle. Also, they form a nice draw/manabase engine with the cycle-lands (2 green and 1 colorless) and Life from the Loam.
All in all my list runs them. I hope I'll manage to visit my LGS today and do some testing.
Also, how good is Magus of the Library? This guy seems really not worh investing in mid to late game, when you have less cards in your hand. Or am I missing something?
It's true that Magus' value mid-late game is diminished if you can't find a way to get a full hand. However, if you get him out early enough, you'll never not have a full hand. Besides, the argument can be made that the value of several cards is diminished late game. Do you really need that Kodama's Reach if you've already got 20 lands in play, as well as a Vorinclex and Mana Reflection? Probably not.
Regarding shuffling bad draws away, it's true that it can be useful. However, there's already 15 ways to shuffle the deck in the current library, some of them repeatable.
I used to play Omnath and loved it. It's my Vorinclex deck now
Anyway, a few suggestions.
A great card, Eldrazi Conscription. My record for getting it on is turn 4....in a mono green deck, for me, it's becoming a staple. So good...
To combo with that, Overwhelming Stampede is amazing. My record swing with after using that card is 200 something with 2 Eldrazis and a creature with Conscription on it. Nuff said.
Also, I don't know if you're running enough lands to make full use of the Exploration effects. That might be the way I shuffle, but every time I play it, I maybe get one land out with it and then play my regular land drop for the next x turns.
A hidden gem that I found a while back is Patron of the Orochi. Decent body, not too bad of a cost for green, and he's a free doubling cube that untaps creatures too. Especially with Rofellos out, he's stupid good.
One more, then I'm done, I promise. No Kozilek? He's so good. Card draw in green is pretty good, especially 4 cards, a 12/12 body with annihilator that gets re shuffled into your library from the graveyard.
Just a few thoughts
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I used to play Omnath and loved it. It's my Vorinclex deck now
Anyway, a few suggestions.
A great card, Eldrazi Conscription. My record for getting it on is turn 4....in a mono green deck, for me, it's becoming a staple. So good...
To combo with that, Overwhelming Stampede is amazing. My record swing with after using that card is 200 something with 2 Eldrazis and a creature with Conscription on it. Nuff said.
Heh, there's no way Eldrazi Conscription would survive in my meta long enough for me to use it.
I did used to have Overwhelming Stampede in the deck, but it got the axe once I finally acquired a Vedalken Orerry.
Also, I don't know if you're running enough lands to make full use of the Exploration effects. That might be the way I shuffle, but every time I play it, I maybe get one land out with it and then play my regular land drop for the next x turns.
It's true that Exploration is pretty weak after your first 3 turns or so, but that early tempo advantage can make all the difference in the world.
A hidden gem that I found a while back is Patron of the Orochi. Decent body, not too bad of a cost for green, and he's a free doubling cube that untaps creatures too. Especially with Rofellos out, he's stupid good.
I address that card in my post. Basically, I see a lot of other green in my meta, and Patron of the Orochi helps other green players as much as it helps me, as opposed to Seedborn Muse, which only helps me. Again, this call is purely meta dependent, so if you don't see much other green, then run it by all means.
One more, then I'm done, I promise. No Kozilek? He's so good. Card draw in green is pretty good, especially 4 cards, a 12/12 body with annihilator that gets re shuffled into your library from the graveyard.
Just a few thoughts
Kozilek was actually in the original version of the deck. Eventually I found that the job of gigantic annihilating beatstick was better suited to Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, while the role of mass card drawing creature was beature suited to Regal Force (which I can find with Natural Order, in a pinch).
Deck Origins
At one point in time in about July 2011, I was going to play Rafiq during an EDH night at my LGS. A buddy of mine who was going to be showing up later didn't have a deck to play, so I ended up sorting through cards and building him an Omnath deck. Alas, the ungrateful ****** didn't even bother to show up.
So after a couple games with Rafiq in which he really didn't end up doing much, I figured, "hey, why don't I give this deck a spin?" The first game I would have tabled if I had attacked the guy playing Dralnu before killing the guy playing Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, but I still killed everyone else. I didn't make the same mistake twice. Tabled the second game.
From that moment, I knew it was love, and I've been refining the list ever since. This is the decklist that I've come up with after fine-tuning it since about July 2011. In that time, about half the cards in the deck were in the original incarnation, with the other half finding its way in over time. It has become one of my "play to win" decks, but it's also a lot of fun. It's powerful without being degenerate.
When I started out, it was definitely more of a ramp + goodstuff deck. While those elements are still quite prevalent, it has also developed a notable token subtheme. I believe that I've found an effective balance between those themes, while still maintaining a good shell of a support cards that can enable multiple strategies.
Reasons to play Omnath
You should play Omnath if:
- You like ramping into gigantic creatures or a massive army of tokens.
- You like generating an absolute boatload of mana.
- You like using that mana to beat face without having to actually spend it.
- You like casting Genesis Wave where X = 39 on turn 4.
- You like having a constant supply of readily available mana.
- You like killing people with your Commander.
- You like ignoring your opponents' threats and simply trampling over their defenses.
- You like playing a straight-forward "beat em up" style of Magic, as opposed to navigating the maze of multiplayer politics.
- You like winning.
You shouldn't play Omnath if:
- You don't like any of the reasons why you should play him.
- You prefer playing control or combo decks.
- You don't like being targeted automatically in multiplayer due to the strength of your Commander.
- You don't like being the target of most removal.
- You prefer winning by attrition, politics or subterfuge.
The Decklist
IMPORTANT NOTE: It bears mentioning that Omnath is VERY flexible in how you can build him. There is no one right way to make an Omnath deck. This deck is based on my own playing experience, and what I've found to be strongest. Your local metagame, however, will have a very prominent effect on how you build your deck.
3 Omnath, Locus of Mana
Planeswalkers (3):
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
7 Karn Liberated
Creatures (24):
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Magus of the Library
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Eternal Witness
3 Fierce Empath
3 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Wickerbough Elder
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
5 Acidic Slime
5 Ant Queen
5 Genesis
5 Seedborn Muse
6 Deadwood Treefolk
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
6 Soul of the Harvest
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Hornet Queen
7 Regal Force
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Terastodon
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Scroll Rack
3 Extraplanar Lens
4 Vedalken Orrery
5 Eldrazi Monument
5 Mind's Eye
6 Caged Sun
6 Planar Portal
7 Akroma's Memorial
Enchantments (10):
1 Exploration
1 Mirri's Guile
2 Gaea's Touch
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Sylvan Library
3 Beastmaster Ascension
4 Aluren
4 Greater Good
5 Asceticism
6 Mana Reflection
Instants (5):
1 Crop Rotation
3 Beast Within
3 Chord of Calling
3 Krosan Grip
4 Momentous Fall
1 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Genesis Wave
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Harmonize
4 Natural Order
4 Scapeshift
4 Skyshroud Claim
7 All Is Dust
7 Boundless Realms
7 Tooth and Nail
8 Praetor's Counsel
Non-Basic Lands (10):
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Homeward Path
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Winding Canyons
1 Yavimaya Hollow
Basic Lands (25):
25 Forest
Decklist (Organized by Card Function)
3 Omnath, Locus of Mana
Ramp (21):
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Mana Crypt
0 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Exploration
1 Sol Ring
2 Gaea's Touch
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Extraplanar Lens
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
3 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds (Also Draw)
4 Garruk Wildspeaker (Also Win-Con)
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Seedborn Muse
6 Caged Sun
6 Mana Reflection
7 Boundless Realms
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Tutors (9):
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Crop Rotation
2 Survival of the Fittest
3 Chord of Calling
3 Fierce Empath
4 Natural Order
4 Scapeshift
5 Ring of Three Wishes
7 Tooth and Nail
0 Tranquil Thicket
2 Magus of the Library (Also Ramp)
2 Sylvan Library (Also Filtering)
4 Greater Good
4 Harmonize
4 Momentous Fall
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter (Also Win-Con)
5 Mind's Eye
6 Soul of the Harvest
7 Regal Force
Removal (8):
3 Beast Within
3 Krosan Grip
4 Wickerbough Elder
5 Acidic Slime
7 All Is Dust
7 Karn Liberated
8 Terastodon
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (Also Recursion)
Recursion (4):
3 Eternal Witness
5 Genesis
6 Deadwood Treefolk
8 Praetor's Counsel
Utility & Protection (13):
0 Homeward Path
0 Mosswort Bridge
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Winding Canyons
0 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Mirri's Guile
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Scroll Rack
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Aluren
4 Vedalken Orrery
5 Asceticism
7 Hornet Queen
3 Beastmaster Ascension
3 Genesis Wave
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
5 Ant Queen
5 Eldrazi Monument
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
7 Akroma's Memorial
7 Avenger of Zendikar
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Basic Lands (25):
25 Forest
Comparing Omnath to other mono-green Commanders
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Selvala is the most recent addition to the big mana club. She has her own advantages and disadvantages as compared to Omnath (as well as Azusa). While Omnath relies more of less on the lands you have to ramp, acting as a battery, what Selvala wants is creatures. She has the ability to continually make mana herself over the course of the game, and has a very relevant card drawing ability, both of which are pretty big boons for a general to have. However, she can't store mana like Omnath can, and doesn't represent a threat to your opponents' life total by herself, which means you can't win the game on her power alone if you draw dead or if your opponents have ways to remove your other creatures. Additionally, while her card draw is more likely to benefit you, it can also potentially draw cards for your opponents as well. It is notable, however, that, so long as she isn't also removed from play, that she is more durable against land destruction.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Vorinclex is another quintessential "ramp deck" general, and generally plays similarly to Omnath. A key difference between him and Omnath is that, while Omnath is both a means to play your win conditions as well as being a win condition himself, Vorinclex is all win condition. His unenviable position near the top of the mana curve means that he'll never be helping you out early game, although his end-game abilities are also quite potent, acting as a mana doubler and resource denial, all in one. However, therein lies another problem. Because he actively denies your opponents' resources, he makes himself a hate-magnet. Strange as though it sounds, Omnath has the advantage over Vorinclex of simply being more innocuous (if only slightly).
Yeva, Nature's Herald: While Yeva plays differently than Omnath, many of the creatures she'll be casting still require a lot of mana to play, so I'd say she still falls under the heading of "big mana." Yeva's unique ability lends her to be a prime candidate as a "Goodstuff" mono-green general. The advantage of this style is increased flexibility and resiliance, while the disadvantage is that she'll often lack focus and will be slower to play. Because she also doesn't enable your mana production herself, she'll also be more dependant on lower-costed cards to get the job done, as well as cards that reduce the casting cost of cards in the deck.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: As opposed to the heads of other mono-green decks, Kamahl is definitely a consumer, rather than a producer. Kamahl and Omnath are certainly fundamentally different. While Omnath likes to store mana up inside his battery in order to unleash big, splashy cards, Kamahl prefers to clog the ground with a ton of small creatures as fast as he possibly can, then use any mana he can possibly generate in order to activate his built-in Overrun effect. While Kamahl is a fine token deck general, I feel he's been supplanted ever since they printed Ezuri, Renegade Leader. While Ezuri does have a built-in tribal restriction, he can also protect members of his tribe (making him far more resiliant), has synergy with other members of his tribe, and generally comes down at least a couple turns sooner.
One area that Kamahl DOES excel in far more than any other mono-green general is that he really dissuades board sweepers, due to his ability to turn any land into a creature. If you play a sweeper against a properly built Kamahl deck, you're bound to lose more than you gain.
Strategy
There are multiple ways you can win with this deck, but they all revolve around one base premise: lots of mana. There are several ways to ramp in this deck, including land tutors, mana doublers, etcetera. Once critical mass has been achieved, you can...
Now, simply because Omnath tends to be apolitical doesn't mean there isn't some modicum of strategy involved as to whether or not you play him. One of the great things about him is that he can lure removal away from your other threats if you need him to. Your opponents will basically be treating your Omnath as one of two things: 1) a threat in and of itself, or 2) a means to get other threats onto the field. We know, of course, that Omnath is like Batman: he's whatever Gotham needs him to be.
One fairly easy way to test how your opponents are going to react is by... well, playing him. Simply get him onto the field as quickly as you possibly can. If your opponent aims the spot removal cannon directly at his face as soon as he hits the field, you know that they're more concerned about Omnath as a gigantic beater. If that happens, simply withhold playing Omnath a second time until you've had the chance to establish more board presence, understanding that, while Omnath obviously helps this plan, this deck is entirely capable of generating big mana without him if the need calls for it either.
If your opponent doesn't hit him with the spot removal straight away, the next course of action is to see what happens when you pump some mana into him and attack. (Sidenote: how much mana you'll want to pump into him is situational, based on what your opponent has for blockers and what you may want to cast after combat, as if your opponent blocks, casting a spell could reduce his toughness to below the amount of damage taken.) If you've still got an Omnath left at the end of combat, you'll know your opponents are saving their removal so that they get maximum value by blowing up your other threats along with Omnath. Don't give it to them. Chip away with Omnath until they find themselves in a situation where they're desperate enough to point removal at him. Once that's done, start throwing some other threats their way as well. If they don't, eventually you'll be able to dig for an Eldrazi Monument, Akroma's Memorial, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or Craterhoof Behemoth and send Omnath right through their defenses for the win.
a harbinger of the coming apocalypse.
The smartest opponents, of course, will take down Omnath during your combat phase, because a) it resets your mana production, and b) puts you behind. Contrary to what your instincts might tell you though, the response to this situation is to then ignore what they do entirely (beyond situationally responding to threats, that is) and simply race, because it tells you that they know the only way they have to beat you is to get ahead of you in resource production. Once they think they're ahead, they'll start pumping out their own resources like no tomorrow in order to secure their win condition. Little do they know that it's nigh impossible to race a ramp deck.
There are three cards that I would like to specifically address, which together constitute what I call THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, or TOPS. These cards are Aluren, Vedalken Orrery and Winding Canyons. What they do is they allow you to recast Omnath should he get blown up, and do so during the same step/phase as when he is destroyed/exiled. This has the added value of allowing you to keep any mana that you previously had in your pool, minus of course the mana used to recast Omnath.
Now despite the fact that there are plenty of ways to protect Omnath himself, the fact is your other creatures are likely to die in this environment, due to board sweepers and spot removal. There are two ways to deal with this: 1) remember that Omnath himself is always going to be a threat that your opponents have to deal with, simply due to his potentially huge size. 2) There are a few recursion tools included in the decklist, such as Eternal Witness and Praetor's Council. If your meta is more focused on spot removal than mine, some other worthwhile additions could be Regrowth, Restock, Moldgraf Monstrosity and Creeping Renaissance. Eldrazi Monument, Akroma's Memorial and Asceticism help protect your creatures further.
As a ramp deck, one opposing strategy that you'll need to beware of is Mass Land Destruction. While the usual strategy for a ramp deck involves simply getting all your mana out of your deck as fast as you possibly can, should you face off against a land destruction deck, you'll want to ration yourself. Nothing is more devastating than pulling all the Forests out of you deck and onto the field, only to get hit with by Wake of Destruction. As I don't face land destruction in my own meta, this deck wasn't built with it in mind. However, should it be something you'll see in your meta, some helpful tools are Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam and Creeping Renaissance (although that last one does have a fairly steep cost for a card being used to get land back after having it all being blown away).
Summary of Card Functions
Planeswalkers
of friends. At least, before Garruk
went crazy...
Garruk, Primal Hunter: Most of the time, this guy will be doing one thing and one thing only: acting as a better Soul's Majesty (better because it doesn't target, it simply chooses your largest creature as it resolves). However, if card draw isn't an issue, he can also start pumping out tokens, culminating with the use of his ultimate ability, which will often win you the game if you can activate it.
Karn Liberated: Repeatable targeted removal that can hit any permanent and exiles? Where do I sign? In truth, when Karn comes down, he can single-handedly take over the game himself if your opponents don't have a way to get him off the board. Even if he does nothing else, at worst he's a colorless Angel of Despair that exiles.
Creatures
Acidic Slime: This fellow is simply one of the best toolbox creatures in green. It takes out several problem cards, and leaves behind a nice deathtouching body to dissuade your opponents from attacking, for a very reasonable cost.
Ant Queen: Repeat after me. "During your end step, I'll make 79,462 1/1 tokens."
Avenger of Zendikar: This guy really doesn't need any introduction, but for the record, he is the definition of a win condition. While he lost some of his power with the banning of Primeval Titan, this deck can still get enough land out to make his tokens nice and big.
Courser of Kruphix: Courser was introduced as a replacement for Krosan Tusker, who I no longer felt was pulling his weight. While Courser obviously can't draw a card like Tusker, he can provide more lands over time, incidental life-gain and a mana-effecient body on the field (something that Tusker never did by virtue of the fact that he was never cast).
Craterhoof Behemoth: Working especially well with tokens in much the same way Beastmaster Ascension does, Craterhoof Behemoth is essentially a one-shot Beastmaster Ascension which is easily tutorable.
Deadwood Treefolk: This guy is great value. He regrows a creature when he comes onto play and when he leaves. Additionally, he provides a reasonably sized blocker while in play.
Eternal Witness: Eternal Witness is one of the most prevalent green staples for a reason. A Regrowth effect stapled to an easy to cast 2/2 body for 1GG is excellent value on its own. However, when you factor in that her nature as a creature means she can also often be played multiple times in a game, she becomes truly exceptional.
Fierce Empath: Fierce Empath is another example of a strong value creature in green. While the body isn't exceptional, it's the ability to tutor for a creature with CMC of 6 or higher directly into your hand that matters, making it an excellent toolbox option. Absolutely need to deal with something on the field? Find Terastodon or Ulamog. Need to recur a creature? Find Deadwood Treefolk. Want a unit of the best blockers around? Get Hornet Queen. Want an army of tokens for the inevitable push to victory? Get Avenger of Zendikar. Want to seal your victory? Find Craterhoof Behemoth or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.
Genesis: Let's be serious here, your creatures are going to die. They'll die gloriously, but they'll die. Sometimes though, you won't want them to die. Other times, you'll specifically want them to die, so you can re-use their enter/exit the battlefield effects. Whatever the case may be, if you've got a creature in your graveyard that you want back, Genesis provides an easy, cheap, and hard-to-deal-with way for you to get it back. The value offered by this fellow when he sits in your yard is second to none.
Hornet Queen: This is the dark horse of the deck, and she provides a function that nothing else in the deck can. She provides her own personally army that is equally at ease playing the role of offense or defense. Got an opposing army staring you down? She gives you five blockers with deathtouch that can even block flying creatures. Want to get some damage in? Go ahead, no one is going to throw their hard-earned creatures under the bus to block 1 or 2 damage.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa: The Otarian Barbarian. Mr. Fist here provides two very important functions: 1) he flat out wins you the game, 2) he wards off mass removal. Kamahl is one of the most powerful threats in a deck that can generate this mana tokens and this much mana, and when you've got access to those, he brings the pain in a mean way. And when your opponents can see the writing on the wall, his second ability will dissuade them from wrathing the board, lest you turn their lands into creatures to get blown up.
Lotus Cobra: I'll admit, he's not particuarly useful in the late game as any more than a blocker if you're in topdeck mode. Early game, however, he can help generate mana at a fast pace, and does so in a way that's so innocuous that no one is going to waste a card killing him.
Magus of the Library: This guy is a fiend if he comes down turn 2. Honestly, it might even be better than Rofellos in the early game, because the card advantage he provides is not to be trifled with. He's also innocuous enough that most people won't pay attention to him until it's too late. He may not be Library of Alexandria, but in this deck, he's not far off.
Regal Force: One of the more recent additions, Regal Force made the cut because I found myself vomitting out my entire hand and having nothing to back it up with, and top-deck mode is just dangerous. This creature provides a quick, easy way to restock your hand after dumping a bunch of creatures on board. It's also an excellent card to pair with Avenger of Zendikar whilst Tooth and Nailing.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: It's function is basic, but that doesn't mean it's not important: she tutors a forest right into play. That's never a bad thing, with this deck.
Seedborn Muse: With Omnath on the field, this girl basically kicks your mana production into overdrive by allowing you to add as much mana as you have access to into your pool during your opponents' turns as well, rather than just your own.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: Selvala represents one of the best additions to the deck in a long time and is, in essence, the spiritual successor to Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. Her card draw ability is good, but the real money here is her mana generation ability. Specifically, her ability scales incredibly well with Omnath. Omnath has 10 mana in the tank? Pay one with Selvala, tap and add another 10. Great rate rate, and has a relevant extra ability stapled on that should benefit you more than your opponents.
Soul of the Harvest: Not an exciting card by any means, but it can net you significant card advantage if you get it down early game, and comes with a very reasonable 6/6 trampling body.
Terastodon: An early Terastodon is one of the bust brutal ways you can take someone out of a game. Let's say it's turn 5 and you've managed to get ramped out, and your opponent has 4 lands in play. If you throw down Terastodon and blow up 3 of his lands, you'll effectively put him 3 turns behind a ramp deck, which is not a good place to be. Not to mention, they'll often need to draw into those lands in order to replace them. Your opponent would be coming back from that one.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: If an early game Terastodon is backbreaking, an early game Ulamog is like running your opponent through a fine screen mesh. His indestructibility combined with Annihilator can win tables by itself if you get him down early enough. The vindicate-on-cast is just icing on the cake.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Do you want your opponents to not like you? Well then, here's a card for you. The combination of doubling your mana production while simultaneously denying resources to all your opponents will not make you any friends, but it will win you games. Plus, he's a big giant trampler.
Wickerbough Elder: This little fella is Naturalize on a stick, and you get to keep the stick once you've used his ability. This guy is very well costed, if relatively unexciting.
Wolfbriar Elemental: So, I hear you saying "Well, I've got this awesome Omnath with 2.7 million green mana saved up, but he's getting chump-blocked all day!" Well, your prayers have been answered, because Wolfbriar Elemental is one of the single most powerful mana dumps available. Combined with Omnath's ability to store mana, he'll come down and bring an entire legion of followers with him, netting you very close to 2 power for every 1 mana that you spend. He synergizes incredibly well with Garruk Wildspeaker's ultimate, Beastmaster Ascension, Eldrazi Monument and Kamahl, but even if you don't have them, he still brings an incredible amount of pain. Just put him onto the battlefield and proclaim "this army."
Artifacts
Akroma's Memorial - After a while, I was finding that one of my biggest wincons, Genesis Wave, wasn't having as immediate an impact as I would have liked, mainly because the creatures I was able to generate from it didn't have haste. Akroma's Memorial improves the effectiveness of Genesis Wave, Wolfbriar Elemental, Avenger of Zendikar and Ant Queen by a significant margin, especially if Beastmaster Ascension is also in play.
Caged Sun: Essentially a mana-doubler, but one that also pumps all your green creatures, including the tokens that you're likely to make.
Eldrazi Monument: Nothing ruins the corn flakes of a deck that wins with creatures more than a board wipe. Eldrazi Monument laughs in the face of board wipes, and then let's you fly over your opponents' defenses to deliver a supreme, indestructible beatdown.
Extraplanar Lens: I've made the fact that I'm loathe to run any card that potentially bolsters your opponents' ability to generate mana as much as your own. Extraplanar Lens circumvents this (but only barely) based on how inexpensively it comes down, and the fact that only someone tapping a Forest will benefit from it.
Lightning Greaves: Omnath gets big. Really big. That means he's going to be target of spot removal. Lightning Greaves gives him a free cloak of invisibility so your opponents can't hit him. It has the benefit of still being useful late game, as you can throw down Omnath, throw on greaves, put 10 mana into your pool and swing with a hasty 11/11.
Mana Crypt: Sol Ring #2, and potentially even better, as a turn 1 mana crypt can be parlayed into a turn one Omnath. Definitely one of the greatest mana rocks ever created.
Mind's Eye: Because Omnath plays the role of mana battery, you'll almost always have mana available to draw a card from your opponents' draws. 1 mana per card is a price this deck can most definitely afford to pay, and because you're not drawing a boatload of cards at a time, opponents aren't likely to kill it with spot removal.
Planar Portal: This card provides repeatable tutoring for any card in any color. While obviously mana-intensive, this deck doesn't exactly have a problem with that.
Scroll Rack: This card replaced Worldly Tutor. With the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, a turn 1 Worldly Tutor just wasn't as good as it used to be. Combined with the fact that Worldly Tutor is inherent card disadvantage, it just wasn't pulling its weight without Rofellos. I decided if I couldn't have that explosive start, I would put in a card that's well known for providing great consistency over the course of a whole game.
Sol Ring: I sincerely doubt I need to elaborate, but this card is second to none when it comes to outracing opponents during the early turns of a game. (Alright, maybe it's second to Mana Crypt.)
Vedalken Orrery: One of three cards from what I call THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, aka TOPS. The function of these cards is basically all the same: in case Omnath gets blown up or exiled (and it will), they allow you to recast him during the same step/phase as he was killed, letting you hold onto any mana in your pool aside from the mana it cost to recast him.
Enchantments
Aluren: Another card from THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE. While this card technically helps your opponents as well, it will almost always help you more. It has the added bonus of allowing you to not pay Omnath's base 2G cost, which means you only have to pay his Commander Tax while Aluren is on the field in order to recast him.
Asceticism: While I don't consider this card to be part of THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE, it still provides a relevant function. First of all, it gives all your creatures Hexproof, essentially making them immune to spot removal. Secondly, it allows you to regenerate your creatures for a very reasonable 1G each. Being as Omnath almost always has mana on hand to do this, it's makes your creatures at least partially immune to board wipes as well.
with Omnath hanging around.
Exploration: Being as we can't have Fastbond, we'll just have to make due with this. The true benefit of Exploration is that, if you have it in your opening hand, it can power you to a turn 2 Omnath quite easily. You DO have to be very careful with this card though, as it can be tempting to vomit out your entire hand with it, and even though Omnath trades in explosiveness, it's still often better to be a little cautious.
Gaea's Touch: For a very reasonable GG, this enchantment acts as a second Exploration, and can be sacrificed at instant speed to give you back the mana that you used to play it if you're in a pinch.
Greater Good: This is one of the most powerful card draw engines in the entire game of Magic. Got an Omnath with 20 mana in your pool? Sacrifice it to Greater Good, draw 21 cards, replay your Omnath and you've still got 15 mana in your pool to cast whatever you drew off Greater Good! The synergy is just plain bonkers.
Mana Reflection: At first glance, it's just another mana doubler, but if you read closely, you'll realize that this card acts as a mana doubler for your mana doublers as well. And unlike other doublers, it actually doubles the mana produced by cards that generate more than one mana on their own, such as Rofellos and Gaea's Cradle.
Mirri's Guile: Originally, she was left out due to the presence of Sensei's Divining Top. However, the early mana you can be forced to spend on top early in the game can make a lot of difference with regards to getting Omnath out early. While it doesn't protect itself like top and can't draw you any cards, the fact that it allows you to filter for free makes it more valuable in this deck.
Survival of the Fittest: A more powerful creature tutor, there has never been. While is has the minor disadvantage of having to pitch a creature into your graveyard, that disadvantage is negligible when you consider that you can simply pitch a creature, fetch Genesis into your hand, pitch Genesis, get the creature you really want, and then pay 2G during your next upkeep to get the creature that you had to pitch originally back into your hand. This card is a supremely good bargain (there's a reason it's banned in Legacy. ;))
Sylvan Library: Sensei's Divining Top #2. While it doesn't protect itself like top does, it has the added bonus of allowing you to keep more than three cards, accelerating your draws and netting card advantage. While 4 life per extra card is not inconsiderable, you'll more often than not find a win condition before you blow through too much life.
Instants
Beast Within: This card is quite simply the most potent piece of spot removal that mono-green has access to. The ability to Vindicate ANY PERMANENT for 2G and only leave your opponent with a 3/3 vanilla token (which isn't a threat at all against this deck) is just... awesome!
Chord of Calling: While this card isn't cheap, it's Convoke ability certainly helps mitigate the cost, even allowing you to use it for free if you've got enough creatures in play. Combined with the fact that it can be used at instant speed makes it an incredibly potent tutor which can get you any creature you need at instant speed.
Crop Rotation: This card is the best way to get the utility land that you need right now into play and usable. Need big mana? Get yourself a Gaea's Cradle. Need to protect a creature from getting blown to bits? Tutor up Yavimaya Hollow. While the fact that it costs you another lot isn't inconsiderable, you'll still almost invariably come out ahead if you play it judiciously.
Krosan Grip: Essentially an uncounterable Naturalize. Not exciting by any stretch, but it provides a necessary function.
Momentous Fall: This card is essentially a one-shot of Greater Good. You can use it on you Omnath, draw a boatload of cards, recast Omnath, and still have enough mana left to cast whatever you drew from it. You can even do it in response to Omnath being hit with spot removal, giving it a great versatility factor.
Sorceries
All Is Dust: Even a beatdown deck like Omnath needs a mass removal spell on occasion, and this one takes care of anything but lands and colorless artifacts.
to detonation!
Genesis Wave: No card embodies the "HOLY CRAP, DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?" Quality of Commander more than Genesis Wave. A card that I maintain was named after Star Trek II, this card creates life from lifelessness. And by that, it takes all your mana and vomits your entire library onto the table, to do with as you please. If you manage to get this off for big numbers, you win, even if you lose the game.
Green Sun's Zenith: One of the most flexible tutor spells around, it's useful at practically any point in the game. The only downside is that it can't find Ulamog. However, only paying 1 extra G over the casting cast of whatever green creature you want to put it directly from your library into play, as well as technically being repeatable, is a great bargain.
Harmonize: This card's effect is as bland as tofu. It draws a few cards. That's it. But it does it for a reasonable cost and can go a long way to restocking a hand.
Natural Order: Another great creature tutor. While you do have to sacrifice a green creature to use it, you're almost guaranteed to still be upgrading by casting this. It allows you to turn your spent Acidic Slime into a Vorinclex, or whatever you want, really (except Ulamog).
Nissa's Pilgrimage: In a mono-green deck, Nissa's Pilgrimage is a strict upgrade, albeit however slightly, over two Commander staples: Cultivate and Kodama's Reach (barring any Arcane synergies with the latter). While it likely won't be relevant often, having the ability to pull 3 lands out of your deck in the mid-to-late game instead of just 2 will help ensure relevant draws.
Praetor's Counsel: The ultimate Restock effect. While it can only be used once, once is all you'll need.
Scapeshift: This deck has no trouble cranking out forests. Scapeshift lets you turn some of those forests into versatile utility lands that can help you both survive and win. The ability to fetch Gaea's Cradle into play is, of course, a big draw.
Skyshroud Claim: Of all the ways to get lands from your deck directly into play, this one is probably the best, because it brings your forests into play untapped, which means you can turn around and pump that mana right back into Omnath. Extra value if you've got a mana doubler on the field.
Tooth and Nail: Ah, Tooth and Nail, what can I say about you? Can I say that you can single handedly win games? Can I say that you can single handedly turn a defeat into a fighting chance? Well, I say... why not both?
Non-Basic Lands
Dryad Arbor: Got a Green Sun's Zenith in your opening hand? Tutor for this on turn 1 and you can accelerate right into a turn 2 Omnath.
Gaea's Cradle: Can you believe that, when I first acquired this card, I didn't put it in the deck? I reasoned that "well, it's useless if I have to play it early before I can play a creature." And while that remains true, the upside blows the downside out of the water. Once you start generating creatures, this card doesn't stop giving you mana. It is the mana-generating land in EDH (with the possible exception of Coffers + Urborg).
Homeward Path: The ultimate hoser against theft effects such as Bribery and Blatant Thievery, as well as generals such as Merieke Ri Berit (even though the creature will blow up as you try to return it, at least she won't have it in her clutches anymore).
Mosswort Bridge: The condition of this card is certainly the easiest to achieve of all the hideaway lands, especially when you've got a General who gains P/T from storing mana. You're guaranteed to get value when you use this. One of the best plays I've made is to attack my opponent with a token army, only to bring Kamahl out of hiding and start making my tokens huge.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: The power of Cabal Coffers working in conjunction with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is well known to any player running black. Nykthos can single-handedly provide similarly powerful mana ramp to decks of every color.
Reliquary Tower: This deck has excellent card-drawing capacity, so at some point, you're going to want to keep cards that you would otherwise have to discard. Reliquary Tower allows that to happen.
Tranquil Thicket: Excellent utility, if unexciting. Draw it early game? Play it as a mana source. Late game? Cycle it. It can always do something useful.
Winding Canyons: The last card in THE OMNATH PROTECTION SUITE. Another card that allows you to recast Omnath at instant speed should he get blown up, allowing you to keep any mana that you have left in your mana pool. Has the added bonus of allowing you to use it to cast other creatures as well.
Yavimaya Hollow: Simple but effective, this card protects Omnath in a different way than other cards of its ilk. By it's simple present, it dissuades your opponents from throwing spot removal at your creatures, because it let's your opponents know right now that you've got a way to deal with it. This forces your opponents to either use their best removal to exile your creature, or to use multiple removal spells in order to deal with your creature.
Building Omnath on a budget
PLEASE NOTE: Given how card values fluctuate, I can't guarantee that cards used below will always meet the budgetary restrictions I've attempted to adhere to for this alternate list. This will also likely be compounded over time due to the fact that I won't be updating this list regularly, as operating a budget list isn't my primary concern with this primer.
Given how brutally expensive some green EDH staples have become, it's understandable that some people wouldn't want to pay the price for all the cards on the above list. As such, I've put together an alternate decklist specifically targeted to more budget-conscious builders. The following is an alternate decklist I've compiled in which the value of every card (with the exception of Omnath himself) has a median price of no greater than $10.00 USD on TCGplayer. As of December 13, 2016 (the date this list was last compiled), all cards below meet this restriction, and the number of cards to be swapped is 28. Below the decklist is a specific account of the cards added and removed from the base list further up the page.
It goes without saying that this list simply won't be as effective as the original. That's just the nature of the game. The reason the cards that were cut were too expensive to begin with is because of how effective they are (although their rarity also plays a part in this as well). The most notable casualty are cards which manipulate the top of the deck. In the main list, we've got Sylvan Library, Mirri's Guile and Scroll Rack (Sensei's Divining Top is another prime example of this kind of effect, although I don't run it in my list). Unfortunately the only real viable option for top-deck manipulation I could find which met this budget requirement was Crystal Ball.
3 Omnath, Locus of Mana
Planeswalkers (3):
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
5 Nissa, Vital Force
Creatures (27):
2 Magus of the Library
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Voyaging Satyr
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Dungrove Elder
3 Eternal Witness
3 Lifeblood Hydra
4 Karametra's Acolyte
4 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
4 Temur Sabertooth
4 Wickerbough Elder
4 Wolfbriar Elemental
4 Yeva, Nature's Herald
5 Acidic Slime
5 Ant Queen
5 Genesis
6 Brutalizer Exarch
6 Deadwood Treefolk
6 Duplicant
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
6 Realm Seekers
6 Soul of New Phyrexia
6 Soul of the Harvest
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Regal Force
8 Patron of the Orochi
8 Terastodon
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Crystal Ball
4 Dragon Throne of Tarkir
4 Perilous Vault
4 Vedalken Orrery
5 Citanul Flute
5 Eldrazi Monument
5 Mind's Eye
6 Caged Sun
6 Planar Portal
Enchantments (8):
2 Gaea's Touch
3 Beastmaster Ascension
3 Elemental Bond
3 Song of the Dryads
4 Frontier Siege
4 Vernal Bloom
5 Asceticism
7 Zendikar Resurgent
Instants (5):
1 Crop Rotation
3 Beast Within
3 Chord of Calling
3 Krosan Grip
4 Momentous Fall
Sorceries (10):
1 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Sylvan Scrying
3 Cultivate
3 Genesis Wave
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Harmonize
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Overwhelming Stampede
7 Boundless Realms
8 Praetor's Counsel
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Homeward Path
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Winding Canyons
Basic Lands (26):
26 Forest
Cards to add (28):
Possible Sideboard/Metagame-Specific Alternatives
Cavern of Souls: As it is, this deck contains 13 different creature types, which means that this isn't exactly the optimal solution. However, naming Elemental will allow you to protect Omnath, as well as Avenger of Zendikar, Regal Force (2 creatures that go VERY well together), Soul of the Harvest, and Wolfbriar Elemental (one of the most common win conditions of the deck). Plus, it can generate green mana to make Omnath larger, even if it turns out you can't spend that mana on much.
Gaea's Herald & Leyline of Lifeforce: These ones are a bit of a double-edged sword. While they do help you quite a bit, they can also help your opponents quite a bit if you're playing against another creature-heavy deck in a game also featuring a blue mage.
City of Solitude & Dosan the Falling Leaf: At first glance, these appear to be almost all upshot for you. However, because this is a multiplayer format, there are sometimes where it'd be really great if the white mage could cast his instant-speed Rout right after someone makes a billion tokens with Ghave, Guru of Spores with Akroma's Memorial in play, or if a blue mage could counter the Mind Over Matter that someone else is playing with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind on the field. Still, definitely worth considering.
Hall of Gemstone: Not only is this a powerful answer to counterspells in the same vein as City of Solitude and Dosan, but it really neuters multi-colored strategies as well if they can't find an answer. The downside is also negligible for Omnath, aka "The Green Mana Batter."
Gaea's Revenge and Terra Stomper: Good, big beaters that simply don't have to worry about counterspells on their own. Gaea's Revenge also has the advantage of resistance to nearly all spot removal as well.
Quicksilver Amulet: This card can do some serious work, and is worth consideration even if you're not playing in a countermagic-heavy metagame. A good hand can sometimes lead to you playing this on turn 2, then something like Ulamog on turn 3. The fact of its ability's overall uncounterability (aside from things like Trickbind) is icing on the cake.
Insist and Autumn's Veil: Good single-use spells (unless you throw in an Isochron Scepter to use with Autumn's Veil) which allow you to insist (heh) that your creatures hit the field. Insist has an advantage of a) being cheap and b) being a cantrip, while Autumn's Veil has the advantage of a) potentially protecting multiple spells, and b) can protect your existing creature for a turn against blue and black targeted spells.
Life From the Loam: Another great option to get your land back. While having to mill yourself in order to recur it is a bit of a drag, the fact that it's recurrable at all can be a life saver. Plus, you may just mill some land into your graveyard to get back.
Timber Protector: Protects your most vital source of mana (your forests), and coincidentally can also make Deadwood Treefolk, Dungrove Elder and Wickerbough Elder indestructible while in play.
Groundskeeper: It can only get basic lands back, but sometimes that's enough. Gets points for being cheap enough to come down pretty easily even after all lands have been wiped.
Splendid Reclamation: Not the easiest to cast, but if you get there, you'll have a huge advantage over the rest of the table in case of a mass wipe.
Tilling Treefolk and Creeping Renaissance: Some of the more expensive options, those only really help you once your mana production has started up again. Still, they'll ensure that you've got a smooth supply to rebuild.
Darksteel Garrison: This is very much a fringe option, but if you just HAVE to protect that Gaea's Cradle, this card will do it.
Asceticism (Already in the main decklist): While there are some mass removal spells that this won't help against (actually, a lot of them, now that I look at it), there are still a good number of common mass removal spells that this can kibosh). Plus, if you've got a Mana Reflection and Gaea's Cradle, they can make enough mana between them to regenerate all your creatures.
Yavimaya Hollow (Already in the main decklist): Essentially a once-per-turn cycle Regenerate staples to a land. It's a good deterrent for your opponents to cast some board wipes, knowing that you'll be able to keep your Omnath right through them.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: While this can only protect so many of your creatures (unless you've got a fully charged Beastmaster Ascension), it can at least protect itself, Omnath, and some other powerful creatures like Vorinclex.
That Which Was Taken: A bit dicier than Eldrazi Monument because it's slow to really work its magic (and because the protection it grants is rendered moot if it leaves play), it can still protect your general and, slowly, can also make your other creatures indestructible as well.
Wrap in Vigor and Resuscitate: Good instant-speed tricks to regenerate your creatures, although the latter is a bit mana-intensive.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa (Already in the main decklist) and Jolrael, Empress of Beasts: These cards aren't protection from the effects of board wipes so much as they're a promise to your opponents that, if they do play a sweeper, they'll lose far more than you. The ability to turn your opponent's mana base into creatures at instant speed is something that will make anyone think twice before playing Wrath of God.
Regrow-Effect Cards: Green has LOTS of cards that can get your permanents back for you if they get blown up, including Regrowth, Restock, Praetor's Counsel (already in the deck), Artisan of Kozilek, Codex Shredder, Buried Ruin, Petrified Field, Deadwood Treefolk (already in the deck), Eternal Witness (already in the deck), Dowsing Shaman, Genesis (already in the deck), Nature's Spiral, Nostalgic Dreams, Loaming Shaman, Moldgraf Monstrosity... the options go on!
Silklash Spider: A card that can not only kill flyers with ease, it can also block them effectively if you somehow find yourself in a situation where you don't have the mana to take them down.
Hurricane, Corrosive Gale, Windstorm & Squall Line: Good single shot spells which can take down entire flying armies with ease. Hurricane and Squall Line also it players. Windstorm and Squall Lines have a slight edge because they're instants, which Corrosive Gale has a minor advantage of it's single green mana being Phyrexian, which let's you pay 2 life to save an extra mana to throw in its X cost.
Gravity Well: If you can't beat em in the sky, make them come at you on the ground. This card permanently negates any advantage that a flying creature might have while attacking you, forcing them to face you on your terms.
Raking Canopy: An excellent answer if you see a lot of flyers in your metagame. It will discourage anything with toughness less than 5 from attacking you, which eliminates a lot of threats in the air.
Tornado Elemental: A very effective one-shot that does 6 damage to all flyers. It's also guaranteed to hit someone for 6 if you want it to (barring removal or static effects that affect its power).
Night Soil: Another option in the same vein as Scavenging Ooze, it can take care of two creatures at once, gives you a token creature, and is harder to remove by virtue of being an enchantment.
Ground Seal: While this also hoses your own re-growth effects, it also makes life hell for your opponents if they want to reanimate their creatures. Plus, cantrip.
Loaming Shaman: Not only is this also an excellent way to recur your own cards, but you can also use it against an opponent who's dumped his library into his graveyard in order to set up a mass-reanimate.
Relic of Progenitus: Got more than one person abusing the graveyard? This will take care of all of them.
Tormod's Crypt: One of the most classic options for graveyard removal. Also doesn't hurt your tempo, as the mana cost is zero.
Mimic Vat: Is there a creature who's ETB effect your opponent is abusing by constantly reanimating it? Throw this down, and not only will they no longer be able to, but you will instead!
Exclusions and Explanations
Brawn: I cut this card because the creatures in this deck already hit so hard that having to throw a guy into the graveyard to give them trample just wasn't worth it.
Brutalizer Exarch: It's true that this little dude does something you don't often see in green, getting rid of problem permanents, even indestructible ones. He's just on the cusp of not being included in the deck.
Burgeoning: Another card that got cut. It generated a huge amount of hate really didn't speed me up as fast as I'd hoped.
Cultivate: After testing, it became clear that I only needed one card between Cultivate and Kodama's Reach. Initially I went with Cultivate for no reason in particular, but then I acquired a foil Kodama's Reach, so they swapped. Functionally, neither has an advantage over the other. (although, as of Magic Origins, the Kodama's Reach has been bumped for a Nissa's Pilgrimage).
Earthcraft: Despite an abundance of token makers, The only thing I could really do with all that mana is simply to make more tokens. By that time I'm already going for the kill.
Explosive Vegetation: It was in the deck, but was cut when I acquired a Skyshroud Claim, which is strictly better for this deck.
Heartbeat of Spring: This is a very dangerous mana-doubler to toy with for this deck, as it doubles the mana generation of EVERY other player's mana. As a result, it's unplayable in the early game, where I would gain the most advantage from it.
Helix Pinnacle: I just don't really enjoy insta-win cards like this very much. Is it powerful? Without a doubt. Could I abuse it? Again, sure, but it would be a hollow victory.
Kodama's Reach: A fine card for a ramp deck by any measure, but in my particular build, I only wanted one effect like it, and Magic Origins gave us Nissa's Pilgrimage, which is a strict upgrade over both Cultivate and Kodama's Reach (assuming you're not playing the latter for it's Arcane synergy).
Lurking Predators: Considering it's a mono-green deck, I'm really not running that many creatures. This is definitely more suited to my Animar deck.
Nature's Will: This deck just has so many ways to get big mana that this was redundant. It used to be in the deck, and it even won me a couple games, but it eventually got cut for Regal Force because I need the card draw to keep up with my mana production.
Nissa, Worldwaker: Admittedly, Nissa's second ability (+1: Untap up to 4 forests) is incredibly tempting. Unfortunately, it's the only one I'd ever use. Animating lands in Commander is simply too risky a proposition to be worthwhile, given the general glut of mass removal spells floating around a typical game of EDH.
Patron of the Orochi: While it seems like Seedborn Muse #2 at first glance, I see a lot of green in my meta, which means that other players would benefit from its use. I don't want that. In a meta where green is less prevalent, I could see this being very useful.
Primal Command: While I admire the flexibility of this card, the only thing I would really be using it for is a creature tutor, and there are better options for that.
Primal Surge: I tend to run more non-permanent spells than your typical deck of this sort, which means highly diminishing returns for this card. Genesis Wave is simply the superior option for this deck.
Shaman of the Forgotten Ways: Another near-miss. Biorhythm on a creature is tempting, but given that my particular build of Omnath has relatively fewer creatures than one might expect, it just doesn't quite get there.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: This was definitely one card that I thought would be an auto-include when I first saw it. Unfortunately, the -X ability, which is generally the ability that first attracted me, hurts me just as much as anyone else, so I decided to forego it, even though that ultimate is really attractive.
Vernal Bloom and Gauntlet of Power: With the presence of Extraplanar Lens, Caged Sun, Mana Reflection and Vorinclex, these cards are rendered pretty much redundant, especially because they also grant my opponent the same ramp if he's playing green. Extraplanar Lens escapes that condition by virtue of how early it can come down, but Gauntlet and Vernal Bloom just aren't worth it.
Vigor: This guy protects against damage, but it's almost never actual damage that ends up killing my creatures, but rather mass removal or spot removal, which this fellow doesn't help against.
Woodfall Primus: Choosing between this and Terastodon was VERY tough. I inevitably went with Terastodon because a) he could kill more than one permanent at a time, and b) this deck doesn't feature any ways to really abuse Woodfall Primus' ability.
Zendikar Resurgent: This is certainly an excellent choice for an enchantment-based ramp for anyone that doesn't own a Mana Reflection, which is understandable given the current value of that card. While the ramp provided isn't on par with Mana Reflection with regards to permanents such as Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx that produce multiple mana, it does have the added advantage of having a permanent Glimpse of Nature built in.
Changelog
+ Kodama's Reach
- Cultivate
For no other reason that I acquired a foil KR.
June 14, 2012:
+ Forest
- Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
June 15, 2012:
+ Momentous Fall
- Quicksilver Amulet
July 8, 2012:
+ Vedalken Orrery
+ Wickerbough Elder
- Viridian Zealot
- Overwhelming Stampede
August 6, 2012:
+ Sword of Fire and Ice
- Sword of Feast and Famine
August 12, 2012:
+ Akroma's Memorial
+ Homeward Path
- Sword of Fire and Ice
- Maze of Ith
September 19, 2012: (In response to the banning of Primeval Titan)
+ Oracle of Mul Daya
+ Mirri's Guile
+ Boundless Realms
- Primeval Titan
- Doubling Cube
- Sensei's Divining Top
October 25, 2012:
+ [Primer] Status achieved!
August 9, 2013:
+ Sylvan Primordial
+ Green Sun's Zenith
- Defense of the Heart
- Pattern of Rebirth
October 9, 2013:
+ Ring of Three Wishes
+ Scapeshift
- Fauna Shaman
- Planar Portal
November 8, 2013:
- Re-sorted the decklists by heading, then converted mana cost (except for lands in the Card Type list), then alphabetal (mana cost was not previously used).
February 8, 2014: (In response to banning of Sylvan Primordial)
+ Craterhoof Behemoth
+ Crop Rotation
- Sylvan Primordial
- Yavimaya Elder
September 17, 2014: (In response to banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary)
+ Karametra's Acolyte
- Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
~ New thread title!
February 7, 2015:
+ Frontier Siege
+ Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- Dungrove Elder
- Forest
August 24, 2015:
+ Nissa's Pilgrimage
- Kodama's Reach
February 11, 2016:
+ Blighted Woodland
- Forest
March 11, 2016:
+ Courser of Kruphix
+ Dryad Arbor
+ Planar Portal
+ Scroll Rack
- Forest
- Krosan Tusker
- Ring of Three Wishes
- Worldly Tutor
February 20, 2017:
+ Mana Crypt
+ Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
- Frontier Siege
- Karametra's Acolyte
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
Neither of them really fit. I've got too many non-permanents to make proper use of Primal Surge, and Craterhoof Behemoth doesn't make as much sense in the context of the deck as Overwhelming Stampede or Kamahl. Granted, maybe I could try running it over Beastmaster Ascension...
But my Beastmaster Ascension is foil...
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
another suggestion is cut aluren for Vedalken Orrery
Heh, I take it you didn't read the "cards that I would put in if I owned them" section, eh? I've been trying pretty much since I built the deck to acquire a Vedalken Orrery. The last time I went on vacation, I went to every MTG single seller in the city that I went, and NO one had one. No one had an Ertai, Wizard Adept either, but that's for another deck.
Momentous Fall is always a card I try to fit in green decks and can never seem to. I just don't know what I would cut in order to throw it in.
On a side note, acquired a foil Kodama's Reach today, so I'm ditching Cultivate for it.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
In have gone:
+ Momentous Fall
+ Forest
And out have come:
- Quicksilver Amulet
- Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
I cut Quicksilver because it really doesn't do anything if I don't have a fatty in hand, while Momentous Fall helps give me some gas. Okina was cut because, in this deck, it can't pump my general any better than a forest. Also, there are only 4 other legends in the deck and none of them really benefit from being pumped, being as no one plays Gut Shot in this format.
I'm debating the addition of Boundless Realms from the upcoming M13 set, but again, I don't know what to cut. I'd say first on the chopping block is probably Pattern of Rebirth, namely because I've *never* actually gotten to use it. However, that card does provide Wrath protection in some form, which can also be important.
Thoughts? Alternate suggestions? Hit me!
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
EDH: WBG Karador, Ghost Chiefton
Otherwise, this is a killer deck!
Creatures:
Brawn, Gaea's Revenge, Duplicant, Gamekeeper, Oracle of Mul Daya, Seedguide Ash, Loaming Shaman.
Artifacts and spells:
Vedalken Orrery, Altar of Dementia, Hurricane, Howl of the Night Pack, Far Wanderings, and Early Harvest.
I also play Guantlets for another mana ramp.
Most of the time it's ramp early Genesis Wave for like 50 and Altar of Dementia for the win. I hope and of these cards help you and manage to make it into your deck, good luck.
As far as Gauntlet of Power goes, I've made remarks regarding it in the "cards that I don't run" section. I feel the downside of it allowing other green decks the same ramp combined with its high cost takes it out of the running. Extraplanar lens is cheap enough that I'm okay using it with the same negative effect.
High Market is honestly probably a good idea, although I'm really trying not to dilute the forest count too much. Theft hasn't been much of a problem for the deck though, because most of the cards don't really benefit the stealer nearly as much as they benefit me, and the deck has enough built in redundancy that it can survive the theft of a few permanents.
As for Miren, the Moaning Well, I'm pretty well already set for card draw. Green is a color that has enough powerful card draw effects that it doesn't need to give card draw to its opponents as well.
Now THAT looks like a good idea, although it feels like it might be a bit slow. I'll probably try it out though.
Some of the cards you mention are in my list of cards that I've decided not to run (Brawn, Oracle of Mul Daya).
As well, Vedalken Orerry would easily go in the deck if I could find one. Believe me, I've been trying to acquire one now for about a year. It's getting frustrating.
I'll address the others:
- Gaea's Revenge: If Dungrove Elder didn't exist or if GR had trample, it might have a shot. However, Dungrove Elder gets bigger and has better protection.
- Duplicant: That's a pretty good idea. I'll grant that this deck is more concerned with running right over creatures than removing them, but I'll certainly look at it closer.
- Gamekeeper: To be honest, I'd never even heard of this card. It looks good, except there's one critical card that it's anti-synergistic with: Wolfbriar Elemental. One of my most reliable win-cons is throwing down a Wolfbrial Elemental with a gigantic multikicker, and then beating face. If this guy's ability draws into WE, I get squat.
- Altar of Dementia: An excellent suggestion, and gives the deck access to a completely alternate win condition. This may actually make the cut. I'll need to acquire one first, though.
- Seedguide Ash: Another card I didn't know existed (I didn't start playing until Zendikar). Definitely a powerful effect, and synergistic with the overall theme, AND gives me something in the event of a wrath. I'll have to find one and try it out.
- Loaming Shaman: This card used to be in the deck. He even saved my butt a couple times by allowing me to screw with a black deck after they had cast Buried Alive. It eventually got cut to make the deck more consistent. If I could make a 102 card deck, it would probably make the cut.
- Hurricane: I'm not that concerned with flyers, because they usually end up playing defence against my horde of giant beaters. If I was going to throw in protection against flyers, it would be in the form of either Arashi, the Sky Asunder or Silklash Spider.
- Howl of the Night Pack: I don't like this card for this deck because, unlike Wolfbriar Elemental, it makes no use of the mana I've stored up with Omnath, and it gains no benefit from mana doublers.
- Early Harvest: This card just seems to be a bit win-more to me. I've already got the ability to generate huge amounts of mana, a one-time effect to generate SUPER-huge amounts of mana seems kind of pointless.
- Far Wanderings: I tested this out a bit, but I just didn't like it that much.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
Second, and arguably more importantly, the foil count has now been increased to 58! Plus, my general is now a legitimate Worldwake foil Omnath, instead of an FTV Omnath.
Cause, ya know.
(Updated the original post to show exactly which cards have been foiled.)
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
While it's rare for me to get mana-screwed, it has happened a couple times. I've found 35 hits the right balance of not only screwed vs. flooded, but also basics vs. non-basics.
Yeva is a card that I want to try and fit somehow, but I just don't have a place for. She's a great way to re-cast Omnath because of the "SURPRISE!" factor of throwing her down just after Omnath is killed and then recasting Omnath as well. However, she's also more fragile than the other forms of Flash-granting cards I have in the deck.
Heh, thanks.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
I think this is probably the best post of the thread.
On a more useful note, how often does ommy get stolen? I would feel really naked without a Miren the Moaning Well, High Market, and Homeward Path.
Surprisingly little, although I know I'm playing with fire by not including one or more of those. The deck in my meta that really constitutes a theft deck is a guy who runs Merieke Ri Berit, but his deck is more about stealing all your creatures and blowing them up along the way than using them against me. That particular general will always be a bad matchup for Omnath though, no matter what I do.
The question becomes, again, what would I take out? A cursory glance suggests the prime targets would be either Maze of Ith or Tranquil Thicket, but they've both proven quite useful in certain instances.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
EDH: WBG Karador, Ghost Chiefton
The thought had occured to me. Alas, I feel that I'm better off running cards that don't share my resources. Omnath trades a lot in pure explosivity, and giving early game mana to my opponents, even if it's colorless could spell doom for the whole operation by potentially allowing them to set up as fast as me. Hence why I don't run Vernal Bloom or Heartbeat of Spring.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
If this was a standard deck, I'd be using every fetchland that I could get my hands on. However, there's only so much difference that they can make in an EDH deck. Turning a 99 card EDH deck into a 95 card (at very best) deck doesn't have nearly the same impact as turning a 60 card Standard deck into a 52 card deck. Don't get me wrong, it's completely viable to run them, and if you're the kind of person to wring out absolutely maximum value from every single card you possibly can, then power to you. To me, however, it seems a bit unnecessary in a deck that requires no color fixing. It can also hurt when I've set up with Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
It's true that Magus' value mid-late game is diminished if you can't find a way to get a full hand. However, if you get him out early enough, you'll never not have a full hand. Besides, the argument can be made that the value of several cards is diminished late game. Do you really need that Kodama's Reach if you've already got 20 lands in play, as well as a Vorinclex and Mana Reflection? Probably not.
Regarding shuffling bad draws away, it's true that it can be useful. However, there's already 15 ways to shuffle the deck in the current library, some of them repeatable.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
Anyway, a few suggestions.
A great card, Eldrazi Conscription. My record for getting it on is turn 4....in a mono green deck, for me, it's becoming a staple. So good...
To combo with that, Overwhelming Stampede is amazing. My record swing with after using that card is 200 something with 2 Eldrazis and a creature with Conscription on it. Nuff said.
Also, I don't know if you're running enough lands to make full use of the Exploration effects. That might be the way I shuffle, but every time I play it, I maybe get one land out with it and then play my regular land drop for the next x turns.
A hidden gem that I found a while back is Patron of the Orochi. Decent body, not too bad of a cost for green, and he's a free doubling cube that untaps creatures too. Especially with Rofellos out, he's stupid good.
One more, then I'm done, I promise. No Kozilek? He's so good. Card draw in green is pretty good, especially 4 cards, a 12/12 body with annihilator that gets re shuffled into your library from the graveyard.
Just a few thoughts
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Heh, there's no way Eldrazi Conscription would survive in my meta long enough for me to use it.
I did used to have Overwhelming Stampede in the deck, but it got the axe once I finally acquired a Vedalken Orerry.
It's true that Exploration is pretty weak after your first 3 turns or so, but that early tempo advantage can make all the difference in the world.
I address that card in my post. Basically, I see a lot of other green in my meta, and Patron of the Orochi helps other green players as much as it helps me, as opposed to Seedborn Muse, which only helps me. Again, this call is purely meta dependent, so if you don't see much other green, then run it by all means.
Kozilek was actually in the original version of the deck. Eventually I found that the job of gigantic annihilating beatstick was better suited to Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, while the role of mass card drawing creature was beature suited to Regal Force (which I can find with Natural Order, in a pinch).
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG