Can't believe I just found this deck... I need this in my life! How does this deck do in reasonably powerful metas? Say turn 5 or 6 games?
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My modern Decks: GBRJundGBR URWJeskai NahiriURW My Legacy Deck: URBGrixis DelverURB My EDH Decks: GJarad, Golgari Lich LordB GRhys, The RedeemedW RWArchangel AvacynRW UWDragonlord OjutaiUW
Can't believe I just found this deck... I need this in my life! How does this deck do in reasonably powerful metas? Say turn 5 or 6 games?
In my experience with the deck thusfar, its not really doing until later in the game, and it very easily takes over once it's going. The problem is fixing all of the mana until you can reliably play cheap auras and hand them out. Well every donation comes with a baseline WUR cost to it, so being realistic you can't expect to do anything before turn 4. Sure you can hold counter magic and help contribute to the game politically. You can also just suit up Zedruu and start swinging, but eventually you'll run out of gas and need to hand stuff out.
That's why it fits into my Meta so well, there are no turn 3 combos, and it's still capable of steamrolling everything with sheer card advantage and life gain, and it's the only permission deck that's really even available. That being said, it is the most fun and "fair" version of Voltron that I've seen so far - which is why I built it the same way.
I'm not sure, but it's definitely got me excited. The only issue is that it does nothing on its own so having it in the deck would increase the number of opening hands that don't have much of a plan; something the deck is already susceptible to. You're correctly evaluating the upside, though. Flash is terrific for this deck.
Also, can we get an update to the main page deck list? I'm having trouble finding why I have certain cards in my list and not in yours.
Absolutely. Part of the reason you have certain cards in your list that aren't listed in my Primer might be that you've been able to test and include some new cards that I've only been able to speculate about. I'm hesitant to formally suggest cards in a Primer that I haven't actually played with yet, and school does nothing to help my playtesting schedule. But I'll go ahead and lock in some changes which I'm theoretically very confident about that have put up some good testing results. To whet your appetite, I'm putting up an Eldritch Moon set review on the main page now. Here are some highlights from it:
Faith Unbroken. "Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut-butter!"
Imprisoned in the Moon. One of the more appealing parts of this card is that it's removal that doesn't induce a zone change.
Strange Augmentation. In my fantasies, this card was printed as R instead of B, but it's probably for the best that I don't have to incorporate fetchlands into the mana base to support delirium.
Can't believe I just found this deck... I need this in my life!
That makes me happy, thanks.
How does this deck do in reasonably powerful metas? Say turn 5 or 6 games?
Because of all the cheap countermagic, versatile removal and ability to snowball, this deck can compete in turn 5-6 games with the right draw. However, the "right draw" will almost always mean a Mox, a 2 CMC counter, and none of the lands that enter the battlefield tapped. In other words, I would expect to get, on average, obliterated in a quick combo meta with this deck.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown review is now up. While it discusses several cards the closest to a playable addition to this deck is Subterranean Tremors, and even that gets a big ol' "maaaaaaybe." It's always a let-down when a set contains nothing for one's interests, but WotC has been extremely kind to this deck lately so I can't complain.
At least once in this thread I've mentioned the possibility of including a few creature lands, with Needle Spires topping the list because double strike is great with pumps. In the past I've been skeptical but after some thought experiments (nope, haven't playtested yet so this could all be garbage) I'm leaning toward its inclusion. To explain why it'll help to talk about one of the main ways this deck looses. Once you've set up Zedruu with some sort of protective aura/equipment and given away a few gifts it can be easy to write the game off as in the bag. After all, it's hard to imagine loosing when you're drawing 5 cards and gaining 4 life every turn. But a lot of cards in the deck are, well, low-impact. This means that it's entirely possible to run out of relevant permission even with the engine online, and even one turn with the shields down could see our benevolent minotaur monk turned into BBQ. This is part of the reason I like to sandbag a few auras in hand; to rebuild if necessary. Even so, rebuilding by recasting Zedruu is often slow and expensive, especially if it's her second or third round-trip from the Command Zone. This is the main reason I've considered Narset, Enlightened Master and/or Bruna, Light of Alabaster as a "back-up squad." Those powerful creatures, however, never stay in the deck for very long because they're just a distraction when things are going right. Needle Spires, on the other hand, is minimally invasive as a color-fixing land and it still has the ability to punk someone out of the game if they're not careful (resolving a Zedruu-killing sweeper against this deck usually involves fighting a counter war or exiling a Darksteel Plate so odds are that somebody's going to be tapped out if Zedruu just died). But that's an old argument. What's got me reconsidering Needle Spires is the realization that it enables a combo mode for the deck with Jeskai Ascendancy on the battlefield. A lot of our spells cost W or R so Spires + Ascendancy could easily get out of hand quick. But unlike the legendary back-up squad, this plan fixes my colors when not needed instead of just rotting in hand.
Should be pretty easy to make room for a W/R land, but even here there are tough decisions to make. I've narrowed it down to three lands:
Temple of Triumph. It makes the most sense from a tempo perspective to replace one ETBT land with another, but scry 1 is no joke as setting up my early draws is important.
Boros Garrison has only been in the deck a short while, but it does all the stuff I want of it: color-fixing, land count fixing, and Tax-effect enabling.
Reflecting Pool enters the battlefield untapped, but it will never ever let you hit a previously unaccessible color by its self.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Each new set of cards brings with it a lot of interesting questions, from "how does this new card fit into the puzzle?" to "why was I ever playing that other card?" Strangely enough Kaladesh, being an artifact set, has a few things to offer this list. Here are the two cards I'm most excited about. See the opening post for a full review.
Giant Spectacle is along similar lines to Madcap Skills and I'm pretty sure it's good enough to play here. But what to cut for it?
Key to the City. Evasion and early game card filtering in one card? Sign me up! Only issue is the potential for blowout by some jerk who Shatters it before you get to untap. No idea what to cut for this one, either.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Got a chance to play a few games on Friday afternoon; a rare treat. I only took notes for one of them, but the lessons from it were reinforced by my experiences in the other games. I didn't write down what turn everything happened on or every detail, so this is not exactly a play-by-play. Anyway, here's the game:
It's me playing Zedruu Voltron versus a casual Azami, Lady of Scrolls, non-Food ChainProssh and my Reaper Kingomni-tribal. Because it's a pretty casual table I decide to keep a hand of Pentad Prism, Immolation and 5 lands, two of which are temples. I win the die roll and lead off on a temple, scrying another land to the bottom. Everyone else follows in kind, just playing a land on turn 1. I play a second temple which shows me a Cryptic Command; I gently place it back on top of my library. Reaper gets the ball rolling with a Harabaz Druid, while Prossh durdles around with Transguild Promenade. Azami just plays a second Island. Over the next few turns Prossh makes a Zulaport Cutthroat and suits it up with Lightning Greaves. Reaper casts a Defiant Falcon and starts digging up changelings, ramping pretty hard with that Druid. Azami is stuck on two lands and spends many turns discarding large blue fliers. Prossh hits the battlefield and starts wailing on Reaper. This is fine by me so I just sit tight, clutching Winds of Rath and Cryptic Command. I plan on playing Zedruu after the dust settles from the sweeper, but in retrospect maybe I should have been more aggressive. Reaper deploys his own copy of Azami, Lady of Scrolls and immediately draws a bunch of cards off the "rebels" he'd been recruiting. I immolateAzami on my turn and feel really slick about it. Prossh has been draining everybody with Zulaport Cutthroat and a never-ending pile of Kobolds of Kher Keep so I slam Rest in Peace to put an end to that nonsense. Reaper casts his commander and tries to recruit up a scarecrow to blow up some of Prossh's stuff. Prossh responds with Word of Seizing on the Reaper and promptly sacrifices it. I breath a sigh of relief that I hadn't deployed the Goat the previous turn. Azami finally hits land 3 and casts Second Sight to dig for more lands. I decide that it's time to strike, so I cast Winds of Rath, Sigarda's Aid and Zedruu. Azami gets some action going with a few wizards and at the end of his turn I lay a handfull of auras down. I start donating things and after Prossh finishes off Reaper he comes after me, hitting for 5 and then 5 more. I keep attacking him to try and manage the Kobolds of Kher Keep and keep from getting one-shotted, but of all the extra cards I'm drawing none answer Prossh with Lightning Greaves. While at 15 Commander damage from Prossh I use Cryptic Command to bounce Lightning Greaves and draw a card at the end of Azami's turn. I've given away lots of stuff and am set to draw 5 extra cards. Alas, I brick, finding neither a removal spell nor an aura that grants flying and I die the next turn. Azami ends up stabilizing and beats Prossh handily.
So here's what I've learned:
Tolaria West is clunky as hell but when facing down mono-U I feel so much safer having a second Cavern of Souls around.
I need to play the deck a little more aggressively. Yes, if Zedruu eats early removal it sucks, but without Zedruu most of my draws suck more.
Key to the City would have won the game above and several others played that day. It's probably safe to replace a cantrip with it, since it's effective at digging for lands 3-5 and beyond.
Sigarda's Aid was good but not great. Most of my auras are cheap so it only lets me leave up a little bit more mana most of the time. I didn't get to slip a Darksteel Plate down in response to removal, but that's just how the cards broke.
I did whiff quite a lot, but I also didn't give myself every opportunity to draw out of the situation. Had I played out Zedruu a turn or two earlier I would've seen more cards. Dodging Word of Seizing by waiting was nice at the time, but the more I think about it, the less it mattered. First of all, Reaper still would have gone for the Rebel/Scarecrow play and induced the Word play anyway. Second, there's so few of them that, unless you know for sure one's lurking, it doesn't make much sense to play around cards with Split Second. I guess the moral of the story is: "Be more aggressive with your Voltron deck." Seems pretty obvious when I write it out like that...
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I really love this deck and primer. Great work!! Thank you.
I play cards like Psychotic Fury and RedBerserk to make it a bit more dangerous.
For the same reason, I go more for the Looting and Replenish/Retether - route.
(Plus Nomad Mythmaker. I just love this card)
I was surprised how good my comeback potential was in the last game I played although my board was pretty wrecked.
Thanks! I'm glad the deck's been performing for you. Mind sharing your list? The few times Replenish/Retether came up my list wasn't playing as many draw/discard cards, and those certainly improve the stock of the white sorceries. And as we'll discuss below, there are even a couple more looting effects (Edit: and a totally sweet enchantment with cycling) to seriously consider so it's probably be time to review Replenish/Retether again.
Well the cartouche is kind of a nonbo since it can't be donated, but Trial of Knowledge is fascinating. Oath of Jace costing 3 is kind of a big deal so the Trial definitely won't replace it. However, the card does do things the deck is in the market for. In my view, what's keeping Trial of Knowledge from being an easy automatic slam dunk is that it's got some stiff competition as a draw spell at 4 CMC and sorcery speed. For example, even though you can donate it for value, is Sift on a stick better than Fact or Fiction? To me that's an open question and I'm very interested to hear what people think about it.
Without getting too deep into the spoilers (gotta save something for the set review, after all) I can pretty safely name Cast Out as an auto-include. My god, is this actually better than Banishing Light? Flash is amazing in this deck and it even cycles out of the way if it would otherwise be a clunker in the early game. This card just does everything. Between this and Trial of Knowledge it's clear that the gods of Amonkhet are in favor of Greathearted Beatings.
One other card I want to bring up is Dack Fayden. I've considered him before as a cheap piece of early game card filtration, but it recently occurred to me that his other two abilities are stupendous in this deck. The -2 is almost always going to be a ramp spell for you in a multiplayer game, which this deck just can't get enough of. Swiftfoot Boots is also a commonly played card that'd be fantastic to steal. The ultimate provides an alternate win condition: it turns all the cheap auras into Control Magics. The only issue is, as it was before, I'm not really sure the deck can sufficiently defend Dack. To make things even more complicated, Dack's inclusion is entangled with Replenish/Retether since one hand washes the other there.
Finally, here's the most recent round of changes quoted straight from the changelog in the Primer:
03/13/17 Out
Weathered Wayfarer just never works out for me. Even against land-ramp decks I found that putting more lands into my hand wasn't actually getting me ahead.
Sigarda's Aid, much to my surprise, was a virtual blanck in this deck during the time I ran it. I think the issue is that all my auras are cheep, so it doesn't help you to leave up very much mana. Still, I could be pursauded to give it another shot someday.
Hyena Umbra is another one that looks solid but just never does enough.
Mountain. Turns out there are only about half a dozen red spells in this deck, none of which cost RR. Even with R in Zedruu's cost and activated ability, I so rarely need more than one red mana per turn that I'm comfortable cutting a Mountain (read: comfortable with not always being able to fetch two Mountains with Myriad Landscape).
Ponder is substantially less powerful in a deck without fetchalnds, but I'm still replacing it with a card that helps filter my early draws.
Reflecting Pool only ever ended up fixing my mana when my mana was great to begin with.
In
Consulate Crackdown is expensive and somewhat narrow, but odds are that in a typical game of EDH it'll be able to scoop up 3 or 4 artifacts. This one could be meta-dependent but I'm expecting it to do good work.
Mana Drain is basically just a second Counterspell and this deck is in the market for that. The card is broken in half but this deck will usually use it like a fair spell.
Key to the City. Card filtering early, evasion on Voltron later. It's not the best at either thing but doing both should make it worthwhile.
Mystic Gate. Generic replacement for Reflecting Pool. Enters the battlefield untapped, taps for two colors, helps make the UU and UUU costs in this deck more practical. Good - if boring - stuff.
Needle Spires for the secret back-door win! I don't expect to fire off a bunch of auras onto the 2/1 double striking elemental land, or go off with Jeskai Ascendancy, very often. Just having the possibility on a land that taps for two colors is good enough.
Talisman of Progress is another new recruite which isn't especially exciting, but the deck can be clunky (to say the least) and functions so much better when it gets a jump on mana.
Excited to test out the new changes. I run Dack Fayden in another deck, and unless you get the board wiped and have shields up - he's hard to protect. But he could be a 1URHijack with upside if necessary.
Cast Out being uncommon is great, so it won't be insanely expensive like Grasp of Fate
Any news on the Amonkhet updates? Also, is Spectral Flight better than Angelic Gift by your estimation? Is the +2/+2 better than a card? I spent some time going over the cantrip auras and I'm interested in your opinions on: Sage's Reverie and Unquestioned Authority
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This list looks so great. Exactly the kind of deck that makes me love EDH! I might have to build a variant myself, I only wish I had thought of it first
Cartouche of Knowledge seems like a great inclusion to me. Cheap, donatable, cantrips, and provides evasion.
Have you ever tried any of the other strictly evasive auras, like Cloak of Mists or Invisibility? Dust Corona also seems interesting given how often we can give Zedruu flying.
This list looks so great. Exactly the kind of deck that makes me love EDH! I might have to build a variant myself, I only wish I had thought of it first
Cartouche of Knowledge seems like a great inclusion to me. Cheap, donatable, cantrips, and provides evasion.
Have you ever tried any of the other strictly evasive auras, like Cloak of Mists or Invisibility? Dust Corona also seems interesting given how often we can give Zedruu flying.
I may be wrong, but Dust Corona was considered before or was at some point in the deck, right, HG?
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
CartoucheofTraits fall off when donated, so that's awkward. The blue one might still be good enough.
Trial of Knowledge is definitely a challenge. The effect is just about perfect, but costing 4 mana and being a sorcery is rough. Of course, I still pre-ordered one.
Yes, I'd say that it is. Generally speaking cards are better than just about anything else in Magic, but Zedruu only has 2 power. She really needs every point of power and toughness possible in order to rumble in EDH.
The reverie is pricey and it only functions if the engine's already going. A powerful card to be sure, but it's a little redundant since the auras draw a card a piece per turn and typically also provide +1 or more power. Unquestioned Authority is like a compromise between Spirit Mantle and Holy Mantle. Worth thinking about since 'protection from creatures' is protection plus evasion.
I may be wrong, but Dust Corona was considered before or was at some point in the deck, right, HG?
Indeed it was. It actually didn't line up with a flying effect to make Zedruu only blockable by creatures with reach often enough to make it worthwhile.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Went to a new game store (new to me; apparently they've been there for 25 years) last Friday night and got to play some EDH with a really great group of people. I also got to try out a couple of the goodies from Amonkhet in Cast Out and As Foretold. Cast Out, to the surprise of no one, was unbelievable. Flash is so sweet it's making me rethink Stasis Snare. Didn't actually draw As Foretold so no new play info on that one at all.
I didn't take any notes so my account of the game is a bit hazy. My opponents, clockwise, are "it's not what you think" Jhoira, Yidris pre-con (and a pilot who's new to the game) and Kynaios and Tiro pillow fort // group hug. When they see I'm playing Zedruu, K&T says "Oh fun! Now we have two group hug decks!" to which I reply "nope." Jhoira and K&T then express concerns about suddenly losing the game, but I reassure them that "it's not what you think, I'm playing Voltron". They all clearly think I'm kidding about the beatdown plan but are nevertheless satisfied that there won't be any shenanigans. I win the die roll and draw basically the perfect 7 and then draw great for the first 3 or 4 turns. My early board/hand is something like two rocks, some lands, a counter, a pump aura, Tragic Arrogance and Cast Out. We go around the table a few times hitting land drops, K&T and me ramping in the early turns. First real action of the game is K&T tapping out for Mirari's Wake and me slamming Cast Out on top of it, untapping, and casting Zedruu with counter backup. One of my rocks was Sphere of the Suns so in response to Zedruu's upkeep trigger I use the last counter off of it to give Jhoira a really nice paperweight. Yidris says he's ready to call my bluff about being a Voltron deck and casts Goblin Spymaster. The two other players think this is funny so I shrug and say "aw shucks, guess I'll have to attack." Then the auras start flowing. First Tahngarth's Rage, then Vanishing, then Daybreak Coronet and others. Immolation takes down Jhoira at some point. Vanishing protects itself and Zedruu from all manner of terrible fates. I counter some things. Zedruu goes around the table killing everyone in two hits each. I end the game at 72 with a Tragic Arrogance in hand that I never had to pull the trigger on. It was pretty much the most savage beating the deck is capable of dishing out... and my opponents thought it was hilarious. I have to agree.
One thing I'm noticing more and more in game play is that you almost never need more than RR or WWW in a single turn but there are a lot of scenarios where you need UUUUU or more, especially when Vanishing or Cryptic Command get involved. Therefore I'm going to add Irrigated Farmland not over Temple of Enlightenment but over some Boros land TBD.
Hey, I'd love to see the discussion on this thread pick back up cause this is still one of my favorite decks to play. The slow grindy Voltron strategy is one I don't see very often and this deck does it brilliantly and with such great style. I'm slowly going to go through the newer sets that haven't been talked about since the last posts and see which ones fit the plan but if anyone has cards they want to share that haven't been mentioned in this post definitely don't wait for me and give them a shoutout!
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This is as game changing as it looks, right? Reactionary auras and equipment?
Also, can we get an update to the main page deck list? I'm having trouble finding why I have certain cards in my list and not in yours.
Can't believe I just found this deck... I need this in my life! How does this deck do in reasonably powerful metas? Say turn 5 or 6 games?
GBRJundGBR
URWJeskai NahiriURW
My Legacy Deck:
URBGrixis DelverURB
My EDH Decks:
GJarad, Golgari Lich LordB
GRhys, The RedeemedW
RWArchangel AvacynRW
UWDragonlord OjutaiUW
In my experience with the deck thusfar, its not really doing until later in the game, and it very easily takes over once it's going. The problem is fixing all of the mana until you can reliably play cheap auras and hand them out. Well every donation comes with a baseline WUR cost to it, so being realistic you can't expect to do anything before turn 4. Sure you can hold counter magic and help contribute to the game politically. You can also just suit up Zedruu and start swinging, but eventually you'll run out of gas and need to hand stuff out.
That's why it fits into my Meta so well, there are no turn 3 combos, and it's still capable of steamrolling everything with sheer card advantage and life gain, and it's the only permission deck that's really even available. That being said, it is the most fun and "fair" version of Voltron that I've seen so far - which is why I built it the same way.
I'm not sure, but it's definitely got me excited. The only issue is that it does nothing on its own so having it in the deck would increase the number of opening hands that don't have much of a plan; something the deck is already susceptible to. You're correctly evaluating the upside, though. Flash is terrific for this deck.
Absolutely. Part of the reason you have certain cards in your list that aren't listed in my Primer might be that you've been able to test and include some new cards that I've only been able to speculate about. I'm hesitant to formally suggest cards in a Primer that I haven't actually played with yet, and school does nothing to help my playtesting schedule. But I'll go ahead and lock in some changes which I'm theoretically very confident about that have put up some good testing results. To whet your appetite, I'm putting up an Eldritch Moon set review on the main page now. Here are some highlights from it:
That makes me happy, thanks.
Because of all the cheap countermagic, versatile removal and ability to snowball, this deck can compete in turn 5-6 games with the right draw. However, the "right draw" will almost always mean a Mox, a 2 CMC counter, and none of the lands that enter the battlefield tapped. In other words, I would expect to get, on average, obliterated in a quick combo meta with this deck.
At least once in this thread I've mentioned the possibility of including a few creature lands, with Needle Spires topping the list because double strike is great with pumps. In the past I've been skeptical but after some thought experiments (nope, haven't playtested yet so this could all be garbage) I'm leaning toward its inclusion. To explain why it'll help to talk about one of the main ways this deck looses. Once you've set up Zedruu with some sort of protective aura/equipment and given away a few gifts it can be easy to write the game off as in the bag. After all, it's hard to imagine loosing when you're drawing 5 cards and gaining 4 life every turn. But a lot of cards in the deck are, well, low-impact. This means that it's entirely possible to run out of relevant permission even with the engine online, and even one turn with the shields down could see our benevolent minotaur monk turned into BBQ. This is part of the reason I like to sandbag a few auras in hand; to rebuild if necessary. Even so, rebuilding by recasting Zedruu is often slow and expensive, especially if it's her second or third round-trip from the Command Zone. This is the main reason I've considered Narset, Enlightened Master and/or Bruna, Light of Alabaster as a "back-up squad." Those powerful creatures, however, never stay in the deck for very long because they're just a distraction when things are going right. Needle Spires, on the other hand, is minimally invasive as a color-fixing land and it still has the ability to punk someone out of the game if they're not careful (resolving a Zedruu-killing sweeper against this deck usually involves fighting a counter war or exiling a Darksteel Plate so odds are that somebody's going to be tapped out if Zedruu just died). But that's an old argument. What's got me reconsidering Needle Spires is the realization that it enables a combo mode for the deck with Jeskai Ascendancy on the battlefield. A lot of our spells cost W or R so Spires + Ascendancy could easily get out of hand quick. But unlike the legendary back-up squad, this plan fixes my colors when not needed instead of just rotting in hand.
Should be pretty easy to make room for a W/R land, but even here there are tough decisions to make. I've narrowed it down to three lands:
Each new set of cards brings with it a lot of interesting questions, from "how does this new card fit into the puzzle?" to "why was I ever playing that other card?" Strangely enough Kaladesh, being an artifact set, has a few things to offer this list. Here are the two cards I'm most excited about. See the opening post for a full review.
It's me playing Zedruu Voltron versus a casual Azami, Lady of Scrolls, non-Food Chain Prossh and my Reaper King omni-tribal. Because it's a pretty casual table I decide to keep a hand of Pentad Prism, Immolation and 5 lands, two of which are temples. I win the die roll and lead off on a temple, scrying another land to the bottom. Everyone else follows in kind, just playing a land on turn 1. I play a second temple which shows me a Cryptic Command; I gently place it back on top of my library. Reaper gets the ball rolling with a Harabaz Druid, while Prossh durdles around with Transguild Promenade. Azami just plays a second Island. Over the next few turns Prossh makes a Zulaport Cutthroat and suits it up with Lightning Greaves. Reaper casts a Defiant Falcon and starts digging up changelings, ramping pretty hard with that Druid. Azami is stuck on two lands and spends many turns discarding large blue fliers. Prossh hits the battlefield and starts wailing on Reaper. This is fine by me so I just sit tight, clutching Winds of Rath and Cryptic Command. I plan on playing Zedruu after the dust settles from the sweeper, but in retrospect maybe I should have been more aggressive. Reaper deploys his own copy of Azami, Lady of Scrolls and immediately draws a bunch of cards off the "rebels" he'd been recruiting. I immolate Azami on my turn and feel really slick about it. Prossh has been draining everybody with Zulaport Cutthroat and a never-ending pile of Kobolds of Kher Keep so I slam Rest in Peace to put an end to that nonsense. Reaper casts his commander and tries to recruit up a scarecrow to blow up some of Prossh's stuff. Prossh responds with Word of Seizing on the Reaper and promptly sacrifices it. I breath a sigh of relief that I hadn't deployed the Goat the previous turn. Azami finally hits land 3 and casts Second Sight to dig for more lands. I decide that it's time to strike, so I cast Winds of Rath, Sigarda's Aid and Zedruu. Azami gets some action going with a few wizards and at the end of his turn I lay a handfull of auras down. I start donating things and after Prossh finishes off Reaper he comes after me, hitting for 5 and then 5 more. I keep attacking him to try and manage the Kobolds of Kher Keep and keep from getting one-shotted, but of all the extra cards I'm drawing none answer Prossh with Lightning Greaves. While at 15 Commander damage from Prossh I use Cryptic Command to bounce Lightning Greaves and draw a card at the end of Azami's turn. I've given away lots of stuff and am set to draw 5 extra cards. Alas, I brick, finding neither a removal spell nor an aura that grants flying and I die the next turn. Azami ends up stabilizing and beats Prossh handily.
So here's what I've learned:
That's a shame that you whiffed all that time, but it's pretty sweet that the goofy goat can put up a fight in a match like that.
Feeling?
Big update coming: set reviews, deck changes, improved strategy guide. Stay tuned!
Exciting. I outsource the deck tuning and changes to you for my meta. Basically all of the hard work.
Thanks! I'm glad the deck's been performing for you. Mind sharing your list? The few times Replenish/Retether came up my list wasn't playing as many draw/discard cards, and those certainly improve the stock of the white sorceries. And as we'll discuss below, there are even a couple more looting effects (Edit: and a totally sweet enchantment with cycling) to seriously consider so it's probably be time to review Replenish/Retether again.
Well the cartouche is kind of a nonbo since it can't be donated, but Trial of Knowledge is fascinating. Oath of Jace costing 3 is kind of a big deal so the Trial definitely won't replace it. However, the card does do things the deck is in the market for. In my view, what's keeping Trial of Knowledge from being an easy automatic slam dunk is that it's got some stiff competition as a draw spell at 4 CMC and sorcery speed. For example, even though you can donate it for value, is Sift on a stick better than Fact or Fiction? To me that's an open question and I'm very interested to hear what people think about it.
Without getting too deep into the spoilers (gotta save something for the set review, after all) I can pretty safely name Cast Out as an auto-include. My god, is this actually better than Banishing Light? Flash is amazing in this deck and it even cycles out of the way if it would otherwise be a clunker in the early game. This card just does everything. Between this and Trial of Knowledge it's clear that the gods of Amonkhet are in favor of Greathearted Beatings.
One other card I want to bring up is Dack Fayden. I've considered him before as a cheap piece of early game card filtration, but it recently occurred to me that his other two abilities are stupendous in this deck. The -2 is almost always going to be a ramp spell for you in a multiplayer game, which this deck just can't get enough of. Swiftfoot Boots is also a commonly played card that'd be fantastic to steal. The ultimate provides an alternate win condition: it turns all the cheap auras into Control Magics. The only issue is, as it was before, I'm not really sure the deck can sufficiently defend Dack. To make things even more complicated, Dack's inclusion is entangled with Replenish/Retether since one hand washes the other there.
Finally, here's the most recent round of changes quoted straight from the changelog in the Primer:
Cast Out being uncommon is great, so it won't be insanely expensive like Grasp of Fate
Amonkhet doesn't really have that many goodies for Zedruu besides Cast Out (an autoinclude, in my opinion) and the only relevant cartouches for Zedruu.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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Cartouche of Knowledge seems like a great inclusion to me. Cheap, donatable, cantrips, and provides evasion.
Have you ever tried any of the other strictly evasive auras, like Cloak of Mists or Invisibility? Dust Corona also seems interesting given how often we can give Zedruu flying.
I may be wrong, but Dust Corona was considered before or was at some point in the deck, right, HG?
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Cast Out. Yes, please.
Cartouche of Traits fall off when donated, so that's awkward. The blue one might still be good enough.
Trial of Knowledge is definitely a challenge. The effect is just about perfect, but costing 4 mana and being a sorcery is rough. Of course, I still pre-ordered one.
Yes, I'd say that it is. Generally speaking cards are better than just about anything else in Magic, but Zedruu only has 2 power. She really needs every point of power and toughness possible in order to rumble in EDH.
The reverie is pricey and it only functions if the engine's already going. A powerful card to be sure, but it's a little redundant since the auras draw a card a piece per turn and typically also provide +1 or more power. Unquestioned Authority is like a compromise between Spirit Mantle and Holy Mantle. Worth thinking about since 'protection from creatures' is protection plus evasion.
The Cartouches fall off if you donate them, but Cartouche of Knowledge might be good enough anyway.
I have and the issue is that you too often wind up with a 4/6 with 'can't be blocked' and two instances of flying.
Indeed it was. It actually didn't line up with a flying effect to make Zedruu only blockable by creatures with reach often enough to make it worthwhile.
I didn't take any notes so my account of the game is a bit hazy. My opponents, clockwise, are "it's not what you think" Jhoira, Yidris pre-con (and a pilot who's new to the game) and Kynaios and Tiro pillow fort // group hug. When they see I'm playing Zedruu, K&T says "Oh fun! Now we have two group hug decks!" to which I reply "nope." Jhoira and K&T then express concerns about suddenly losing the game, but I reassure them that "it's not what you think, I'm playing Voltron". They all clearly think I'm kidding about the beatdown plan but are nevertheless satisfied that there won't be any shenanigans. I win the die roll and draw basically the perfect 7 and then draw great for the first 3 or 4 turns. My early board/hand is something like two rocks, some lands, a counter, a pump aura, Tragic Arrogance and Cast Out. We go around the table a few times hitting land drops, K&T and me ramping in the early turns. First real action of the game is K&T tapping out for Mirari's Wake and me slamming Cast Out on top of it, untapping, and casting Zedruu with counter backup. One of my rocks was Sphere of the Suns so in response to Zedruu's upkeep trigger I use the last counter off of it to give Jhoira a really nice paperweight. Yidris says he's ready to call my bluff about being a Voltron deck and casts Goblin Spymaster. The two other players think this is funny so I shrug and say "aw shucks, guess I'll have to attack." Then the auras start flowing. First Tahngarth's Rage, then Vanishing, then Daybreak Coronet and others. Immolation takes down Jhoira at some point. Vanishing protects itself and Zedruu from all manner of terrible fates. I counter some things. Zedruu goes around the table killing everyone in two hits each. I end the game at 72 with a Tragic Arrogance in hand that I never had to pull the trigger on. It was pretty much the most savage beating the deck is capable of dishing out... and my opponents thought it was hilarious. I have to agree.
One thing I'm noticing more and more in game play is that you almost never need more than RR or WWW in a single turn but there are a lot of scenarios where you need UUUUU or more, especially when Vanishing or Cryptic Command get involved. Therefore I'm going to add Irrigated Farmland not over Temple of Enlightenment but over some Boros land TBD.