I've been testing an all-in Opt version of U/W control based on miracles and locking out the game with multiple Gideons on the field. The power of this deck comes from the card Supreme Will, and of course the ability to choose when you want to cast Terminus. It's quite easy to set up a board wipe with this deck, because of 4 Halimar Depths and plenty of top-of-library manipulation. Cryptic Command into Terminus is so brutal. Here's the deck I am testing:
How do people feel about Summary Dismissal against Tron? I like that it counters eldrazi abilities and exiles the actual eldrazi as well. Not dead against regular spells, and can even be used to counter a plainswalker's ability if needed.
SB: 1 Clip Wings
SB: 2 Dead Weight
SB: 1 Duress
SB: 1 Grasp of Darkness
SB: 2 Infinite Obliteration
SB: 3 Languish
SB: 1 Pick the Brain
SB: 1 Seasons Past
SB: 1 To the Slaughter
SB: 1 Transgress the Mind
SB: 1 Virulent Plague
The last 15 with SB are the sideboard. The deck, I built myself using some new cards from EMN. The Sideboard is copied from a deck on mtgtop8. It fits the meta and I like it so no changes there. Having Emrakul in the deck makes it an inevitable win. The 7 mana mindbender eldrazi do major work and will become a staple in any BG midrang-y deck. Liliana is amazing vs creature strategies (kills things and +1s at the same time), and also control, because she just keeps +1ing. Thoughts on the list? A lot of it is simple, traditional Seasons control cards.
I should add that hedonist's trove is the only effect in standard that exiles your opponent's graveyard. It has proved surprisingly useful so far.
I played a Modern event today for Expeditions and went undefeated to claim a Misty Rainforest. I usually play Merfolk; after getting a feel for the decks in the meta for the last event 2 weeks ago, I came across this list (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=11774&d=267147&f=MO) which I liked and tweaked it to my own liking. I was expecting a mix of Merfolk, UR Eldrazi, Black Eldrazi, Burn, Ad Nauseum, Jund, Infect, and Affinity (about 70% of those decks were present). Here's what I ran:
Round 1, I won 2-1 against UR Delver. Wasn't much to say about this; the one game I lost was mostly due to mana issues. Pretty easy and the heavy creature removal is useful here.
Round 2, I won 2-0 against Red Deck Wins. I was paired down for this round; he was a playing a mono-red variant of RDW with Hellspark Elemental. Game 1 was pretty easy to take control of once I resolved Sphinx's Revelation for a lot. Game 2, he mulled to 6 and started with a Leyline of Punishment. Despite this, I had basically the perfect mix of removal and counterspells to stabilize long enough for Elspeth to get online, and ended the game at 3 life.
Round 3, I won 2-1 against Black Eldrazi (the processor version). He wasn't super familiar with either deck and ended up taking a significant portion of the clock (I knew both lists pretty well and was keeping it moving as fast as I could). In game 3 we got to time with me having an Elspeth on board with Cryptic, Snapcaster, Verdict, and Tec Edge in hand to his 1-2 cards in hand, Eye, and a few 2/2s, which was pretty clear cut in my favor. He ended up conceding the game which I think was reasonable considering his disproportionate amount of time used and the fairly solid lock I had on that game.
Round 4, I ID-ed with my opponent (who I ended up playing in the finals).
Top 4, I won 2-1 against Lantern Control. I nearly had him in game 1; he got an Ensnaring Bridge online and I had a two-turn clock ready with 2 Cryptic Commands in hand. I bounced his Bridge at end of turn, attacked him for 9, and passed. I had just enough mana so when I played my land drop next turn, I'd have lethal after using Cyptic at his end step on Bridge once he replayed it. He then proceeded to topdeck Surgical Extraction, nailed the Cryptic in the yard, and out the window went my shot at winning game 1. Game 2, I sided in 11 cards and went with a much more aggressive plan. I played 3 2/1 creatures and countered his Bridge twice before he died. Game 3, I kept a hand with 3 land in it including one Flooded Strand. Played a Colonnade T1, then he Inquisitons me, and then casts Pithing Needle on Flooded Strand after seeing it in my hand. My next two draws are both Flooded Strands (>.<). However, I proceed to draw a 4th mana, and I'm sitting with an Ojutai's Command and a Cryptic Command in hand. He proceeds to mill off a bunch of cards including Snapcaster Mage and Hurkyl's Recall, giving me a Lone Missionary, some Colonnades, and other lands to draw each turn as he amasses a large number of mill-rocks and 3 Bridges on board. I waited until I had about 16 cards left in my deck (having around 13-14 lands in play by now including 3 Flooded Strands still being Needled), wait for him to tap out in his main phase (he has 4 lands including 1 Glimmervoid and no Opals), cast Ojutai's Command, reanimate Snapcaster Mage, then cast Hurkyl's Recall, completely wiping his board. I attack him, he tried to replay Needle on my Colonnades, which I counter, and proceed to kill him the next turn. It took forever, but Ojutai's Command in my starting hand ended up being the game winning card. This matchup is awful to play and took an eternity to get through.
Finals, I won 2-1 vs GB The Rock. My opponent took game 1 after I proceed to flood out (ended up with 10 lands to his 5). He played it very carefully; never overdeployed and just forced me to 1-for-1 him on each threat before dropping the next one. Game 2, He Thoughtseizes me turn 1, and turn 2 I draw Elspeth with a clear path to play her on turn 6. He was absolutely not prepared for the carnage that she delivered Game 3 was very grindy. I ended up missing my 4th land drop, but managed to find the 4th land on turn 5, which turned on a bunch of cards in my hand, and I was eventually able to start fighting my way back into the game. I got him down to 2 cards in hand, and from there I resolved a Revelation for 3 and that was pretty much where it finally turned around for me. This was an extremely grindy match and there were definitely points at which he could have drawn a Liliana of the Veil which likely would have locked me out of the game, but fortunately he seemed to be flooding the same way I did in game 1.
I really liked the 4/2 split on Path to Exile / Condemn, both cards did amazing work for me. Ojutai's Command was also surprisingly good and enabled some rather unique lines of play after turns 5 and 6. I'm almost kinda sad that the meta is about to change as I really like this deck. Hopefully it endures whatever the new metagame will look like, because it felt really powerful today.
I really like your build, and tested it out. It preforms much better than the lists with bounce/resto packages, because it is more focused on control. You never have a conflict of interest (do I wipe the board?) The decision is always clear. Ojutai's Command works very well. It is great game 1 vs burn. Helps you get a win sometimes. Countering a creature and returning a wall is pretty efficient too. Happened once. I like jace. He preformed well every time. Same with Elspeth.
However, I found that the list struggled against other control decks, both game 1 and in the sideboard matches. 3-color control decks have better lands than us, more man lands, more reach, and more versatility. I like my chances against everything else, but I wanted something more here. So, what can you do to crush a control deck? Use this card: Alchemist's Refuge This card is great against control. You will notice that in the list below, I took out the glacial fortresses for 2 Refuges, a Temple Garden, and a Breeding Pool. With the amount of fethes we run, this is enough to reliably have Refuge online by the time we need it. It is also useful against midrange decks if we want to flash in a Supreme Verdict, or a Jace that would otherwise die before we untapped with it. Additionally, it only takes 5 lands to flash in a baby Jace or a wall, which is very nice. This list is still U/W control because it does not actually run any green cards. It just needs a couple green sources for Refuge, and stays true to the U/W control shell. NOTE: There is a new archtype that uses Eerie Interlude with Collected Company to abuse ETB abilities to an extreme. Flashing in boardwipes is NEEDED against Eerie Interlude, which basically gives all sorcery-speed boardipes the finger. For those unaware, Eerie Interlude can bounce an entire field, and if they have Eternal Witness, they can do this indefinitely. It's no joke.
In addition to the Refuge package, I have made these changes:
-2 Sphinx's Rev:
I don't like this card in modern. It's great when it's good, but it's sad when it's bad. And let's face it: it's bad most of the time. With the Alchemist's Refuge, you have a mana dump for EOT effects, so this will not missed even if you do have a lot of mana on hand.
-3 Mana Leak:
I don't like having to leave 2 mana up for counters when I need to tap out for something. It makes all my 4 drops 6 drops, and forget about casting Elspeth against control. (Don't even think about winning with collonade against control. They will path it, tec-edge it, or something else.)It's irrelevant vs. weenies and goblins, and also against the new ETB-Eerie Company decks that are popping up, and will surely dominate after Eldrazi gets the hack.
+1 Terminus:
Not sure how I feel about this one. Still testing it, but others seem to like it so I'm willing to try. Results have not been fantastic but I'm a believer so I'll keep testing. I may change this out for a 4th Spell Snare.
+3 Spell Snare:
I want my counters to be 1 mana. If it's not a 2-drop, I can deal with it on-board. However, more than often I need to cast a threat with mana open against a counterspell. Sometimes I am playing second and need to counter their turn 2 play. There's a reason why this is a popular card in Modern. I wouldn't be so hasty not to run it. A lot of times against control, it just comes down to, who has Cryptic + protection for cryptic? (spell snare)
+1 Cryptic Command:
This is a pure control deck, so we should be running 4 of these. End of story. I don't know why people stopped doing this. Here is a reminder of why we need 4:
1) counter + draw = raw card advantage
2) Bouncing something relevant, even a land, is a versatile option to have. No card advantage lost if used with draw option.
3) Tapping an enemy army while at the same time digging for a boardwipe esta papa.
4) If you tap the enemy team, it makes them more likely to overextend after they deal no damage, by casting yet another creature. Even pros make mistakes.
You know how good of a card it is. You know you always want it when you have 4 mana and don't need to supreme verdict. Every single game. So run 4.
I changed the sideboard to reflect what I face. Stony silence because affinity and those darned top control decks. With Refuge added, we are likely to win game 1 vs control now, so 2 Dispels is enough. I almost never bring in detention sphere, and feel like Auriok Champion might be a better choice because the deck suffers vs. burn, and goblin bushwacker. Champion is also good vs. Jund and Grixis-style decks. Runed Halo is great against Boggles and Burn. Against combo you can name Conflagrate or Grapeshot, depending on which combo you face, and it will be easier for you to win. Conflagrate decks sometimes run Echoing Truth, which is another reason Spell Snare is good. Celestial Purge is amazing against liliana, but also against goblins, and all sorts of other things. Love it.
I love your addition of Condemn. I have even condemned my own Collonade to gain 4 life and stay out of reach against a burn deck when we were both grinding and I was very low on life. Having 6 spot removals is amazing. I never have to worry about infect...that deck just dies to this list. Affinity is a lot more favorable too.
Overall great list. It inspired me to tweak it an I now have a deck I like to play.
I feel like this rule change lines up with the Commander philosophy that decks should need their commander to function at the most optimal level. Now that you can't completely get rid of commanders, players will be encouraged to build more around a commander than a concept. I see this as a healthy update to the rules.
Phew, finally done. Thanks for commenting. I hope a lot of people find this list and test it, so the sadness and torture that this deck causes can spread like Ebola.
In the movies, it seems like every time the villain has the hero at his mercy, he feels the need to explain his world domination plan. Then, just like clockwork, the villain is killed by the hero's trusty sidekick in the nick of time. If you feel sorry for the villain and wish that just once he could kill the hero and then watch the world burn as his nuke goes off, uninterrupted by annoying sidekicks, this deck is for you.
Hi, and welcome to my primer on enchantment lockdown in EDH. You may remember a similar post I made back in 2014. Since then, I have sold all my Magic cards and deleted the post. Drastic? Maybe. But now that I've got my ***** together, it's time for me to share with the world the monstrosity that is Enchantment Lockdown. Even over a year later, I am still unable to find a list comparable to mine in functionality and power. That's kind of sad. I urge anyone who reads this to give this list a try, copy it, and change it if you want. More lists like this need to exist. Otherwise, how will we be able to make three EDH players cry in unison without playing something painfully overdone like that one ******basket of a commander that starts with "Z"? (His name escapes me.)
I suppose that a quick and dirty explanation of how this deck is supposed to win the game is in order. All you really need to know at this point is that your goal is to cast and resolve Enduring Ideal and make resistance a child's fantasy using degenerate enchantments. Throughout this primer, I will refer to the time before I resolve Enduring Ideal as "Pre-Epic", and the time after I resolve Enduring Ideal will be called "Post-Epic".
Anyways, without further distractions, let me show you what the inside of Satan's ******** would look like if it was a Magic: the Gathering deck.
THIS IS WHERE AN OVERSIZED PICTURE OF THE BEST CARD IN THE DECK WOULD BE IF I GAVE A *****
Let's just break it down section by section, like how they did it when I was your age.
Pretty straightforward. This deck needs 5 colors. Atogatog has a 5-color color identity. It works out. You could use any other 5-color commander, but since you won't really cast it then why bother? If you decide to use that one dragon commander (I think its name is Python of the Ur *************pieceof*****dragon...could be wrong.), then so be it. But it will only tempt you to put *just one* dragon combo in there and then the whole deck ends up being compromised because apparently you're too cool for Atogatog. He looks great in foil, anyways. And we all know that's the most important factor when deciding on which commander to choose for your deck. I'm not being sarcastic. It looks amazing. Order it on eBay right now, please.
I would like you to notice that I do not run all ten original dual lands; neither do I run all ten shock lands. The lands of these respective categories that I do not run are as follows:
The most important colors in this deck are as follows:
1) White
2) Black
3) Blue
4) Green
5) Red
That being known, you can understand why I made the omission of 4 dual-type lands. Taiga and Stomping Grounds both only produce the most unimportant colors in the deck, so I will never search for them with a fetch. Even beyond those, I had to omit two more lands to make room for castable cards. If you use logic, you can see that my next two omissions would include the worst color, along with the next worse color. 5-4 lands have already been taken out (Taiga and Stomping Ground), so 5-3 lands are next. Using this logic, you can create a manabase that produces maximum potency in your deck.
Now let's talk about the mana-fixing lands. Even with the best dual lands in the format, color screw is bound to happen. To reduce this awkward situation's likelihood of showing up, I have implemented some choice 5-color lands, as well as a couple of other smart mana fixing land choices. Command Tower and City of Brass are rather obvious choices. Murmuring Bosk is the only dual land in magic that is fetchable with one of the 10 fetch lands, so I think that's rather obvious too. Additionally, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth lets all of my lands tap for the second-best color in the deck. Now there's an auto-include. But why do I pick Forbidden Orchard over say, Mana Confluence? There three reasons, actually. Firstly, it doesn't harm me right away. In a multiplayer game, those tokens are probably going to be staying on the defensive, ready to be sacrificed in order to save someone's ass from being torn wide open by some gargantuan beast without trample. So, those tokens might not even hurt me at all. Secondly, it has good synergy with the deck. This deck has all sorts of ways to make creatures completely irrelevant, so a 1/1 spirit without flying won't exactly cause me to quake in my boots if it does happen to swing its spirit fists in my general direction. Lastly, politics. If you give someone a 1/1 to block or attack with, they are going to think you are a nice person. You aren't a nice person if you are playing this deck, but I like to think that it's what's on the outside that counts. Isn't that in the Bible somewhere?
Alright, almost done with the lands here. I know, they're boring. You don't want to read about them. But hey, this is a primer. I have to talk about boring ***** like lands, otherwise I might as well just post a decklist and let you figure the damn thing out by yourself. So, let's fasten our seat belts because it's the law, and get ready for yet another slow and boring drive in landville while I blabber on about the five tech lands in this deck.
Ancient Tomb. Ah, Ancient Tomb Ancient Tomb Ancient Tomb. It's such a great land. If you are playing commander, I really hope this card is in your deck. It really speeds things up, and it's almost like a Sol Ring. This is an obvious include if ever there was one. Barbarian Ring exists for one reason, and one reason only: Aven Mindcensor. This is one bad bird. When you're rocking this deck, Aven Mindcensor does what pretty much all birds do in real life: it *****s on your face. Having a way to kill it when we are not able to cast spells is important. It doesn't come into play tapped either, so hey. I guess we've got to run it.
Now, here's what is probably the most obvious inclusion in this deck: Boseiju, Who Shelters All. And really, Boseiju does shelter all. And Boseiju does it well. So run Boseiju, who shelters ******* all.
Next up is Mistveil Plains. Now this is a very important piece of tech. Once we go Epic, we need to assemble a combo. All of our combos consist of two parts. So what happens when one part ends up in our hand or graveyard? Mistveil Plains happens. If it's in our hand, we stall until we can discard it, then send it to the bottom with the Wonder White of lands, then fetch it and kick ass. If it's already in the yard, then stop being a tard and let Mistveil Plains take you to the promised land.
Alright, almost done. We just need to talk about Maze of Ith now. And there really isn't much to say about it. It's a card that counts as a land drop and that doesn't tap for mana. So, pretty *****ty at first glance. But, anything that helps to save my ass post-Epic deserves to be looked at, and this card makes the cut for now. I like it, okay? There are two cards in this deck that let Maze of Ith tap for mana, so there's that, too.
Boom. We're done talking about them boring-as-***** lands. Now let's talk about ...other boring things that may or may not tap for mana!
Ramp is important in this deck. And 3 is the magic number when it comes to ramp. Through rigorous testing, I have found that it is best to cast Enduring Ideal on or before turn 4. Since Enduring Ideal costs 7 mana, we will be needing at least 3 extra mana before turn 4. Therefore, our 3 best artifacts are as follows:
Knowing this fact simplifies our game plan. It means that all we need to win before turn 5 is one of these artifacts and a tutor. Or, just 2 tutors. It's easier than you think.
If you don't have access to one of those 3 cards, other artifacts like the beloved Sol Ring are there for you. It's surprisingly easy to pull off a turn 4 Epic with this list. You just have to know what you need from turn 1 and make it happen. Be smart about your ramp and color choices when fetching for artifacts or lands. And if you don't manage to go Epic by turn 4, don't sweat it. The beauty of this deck is that you can be 2 hours into the game without going Epic. But once you do, you flat out win. So take your time if you find yourself in a sticky situation. Sometimes you'll just end up placing 7 lands and then going Epic.
Now, it's time for me to explain my reasoning for the inclusion of the various tech-artifacts of the deck (ones that don't tap for mana).
Let's start with Helm of Obedience. This card is actually a win condition. It's part of a two-card combo that lets you exile someone's entire library at instant speed. The other half of the combo is Rest in Peace. However, if you are like me and see ending the game as winning, you can enchant someone with Wheel of Sun and Moon and activate Helm of Obedience, targeting them. This causes an infinite loop and the game will be considered a draw.
Another tech artifact in the deck is Scroll Rack. Not only does this card help us dig for key pieces needed to go Epic, but it also acts well with the 10 fetch lands that we run. We can essentially get a brand new hand at the cost of 1 mana with this card. Going Epic is nice with this out, because key enchantments in your hand become a hell lot more accessible. Sensei's Divining Top is another great card to have before and after going Epic. Before, it helps you get the right lands off the top so you get the right colors. It also makes cards like Personal Tutor pretty amazing. After, it helps to make sure you never draw an enchantment you need. Definitely an all-star card. Sculpting Steel could be another Mind Stone, or another Gilded Lotus. It could even be another Sensei's Divining Top if you really want to get freaky with the stack. A great include all around in my opinion.
In this deck, we run one creature, and one creature only.
Bob is a fantastic include in this deck. He's right up there with Library, Arena, and Dark Tutelage. We need all the dig power we can get, and as long as we win the game it doesn't matter what our life total is at the end of it all. We have plenty of ways to deal with unwanted enchantments in our hand post-Epic, so you really can't go wrong casting this guy.
In this deck, we're only going to be running three counterspells. Since our goal is to go Epic around turn 4, we don't really need more than the bare minimum. Rather than clutter up the deck with unneeded counters to address Blue players, we will just have to play smartly and wait for an opening. Since our goal is to go Epic around turn 4, Enduring Ideal being countered usually isn't an issue. Players love to tap out for their mana rocks, draw engines and other ***** in the first 5 turns of the game, so we use that to our advantage. Or, sometimes it just means using a Demonic Tutor on Boseiju. I chose Force of Will and Pact of Negation because they are free too cast. Being able to tap out for Enduring Ideal and still having the option to counter a response is extremely powerful. Those two cards have definitely earned their places in the deck, as I have seen from very many games already. And that leaves Mana Drain. Although it costs 2 mana to cast, it can actually ramp our mana up quite a bit; sometimes allowing for turn 3 Enduring Ideals.
For our instant-speed tutors, I have selected only the best. Enlightened Tutor is an extremely versatile card, allowing us to fetch either a much-needed mana rock, or perhaps a Humility if you feel the immediate need. Additionally, I oftentimes find myself using it to fetch a lifesaving Sylvan Library to help push me through the mid-game grind when things aren't looking to hopeful. Lim-Dûl's Vault is a recent addition to this deck, and I've never regretted having it. Often I like it better than Vampiric Tutor, because it allows me to find Enduring Ideal, and control the other 4 cards around it as well. You might be surprised how often you decide that leaving it 2 or 3 cards deep is the wiser move. Mystical Teachings is also a newer addition to the deck. It's powerful because you can find a Mystical or Vampiric Tutor with it, then flash it back for a Pact of Negation to set yourself up for the perfectly safe Epic. Mystical Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are similar cards in nature, and obvious additions. I don't feel the need to talk about them much. However, please note that with Mystical Tutor, the wiser choice in some situations is to grab a Demonic Tutor, so as to appear inconspicuous while remaining versatile.
The only instant card in this deck that is used for a technical purpose is Brainstorm. With the number of fetchlands we run, it would be foolish not to include this powerful 1-drop. In addition to that interaction, its synergy with top-of-the-library tutors like Personal Tutor cannot be ignored. It can also be used to toss enchantments like Dovescape or Havoc Festival back into your library for later use.
I would like to talk briefly about the sorceries of the deck. They are all tutors, so this shouldn't take long.
Demonic Tutor is an all-round tutor that can be used effectively to find a mana rock or your wincon, Enduring Ideal. Sometimes you will need it for other things, like a Sylvan Library, a Humility, or perhaps a Jace, the Mindsculptor in a 1-on-1 match. Imperial Seal and Personal Tutor are strictly worse versions of Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor, respectively. However, they remain extremely powerful choices and this deck would be much worse off without them. Idyllic Tutor is usually used to fetch Sylvan Library, but depending on the situation I might fetch any number of enchantments. I recall fetching the infamous Humility nearly as often as Sylvan Library, and when playing against Storm or other decks that try to be cute with card interactions, I enjoy fetching the more specific Rule of Law. Merchant Scroll, you will find, will be used almost exclusively to find Mystical Tutor. It can also be used to find a counterspell to make sure your Enduring Ideal resolves quite nicely. Enduring Ideal is our win condition, as you know. Always keep in mind that before you fetch this card, you need to make sure that you have a way to produce 2 white mana the turn that you cast it. Fetching Scrubland and Tundra are things that you will find yourself doing quite often in this game. Maybe this information belongs in the section about lands, but always remember that if you are fetching a land at the end of your opponent's turn and you won't be using it until your next main phase, get a shock land instead of an original dual land. That way, you will draw a Tundra instead of a Hallowed Fountain down the road. This could make the difference between winning and losing if you are at 2 life and you need to tap your Ancient Tomb to go Epic later on, but you just drew a shock land. Please do not let that happen.
I run two plainswalkers in this deck: Jace and Tezzeret. Jace, the Mindsculptor is often just a 4-mana sorcery-speed Brainstorm, but the technical help that he provides during a game usually pays off; and a turn 2 or turn 3 Jace is a real possibility with this deck. You may argue that this slot would be better off with another tutor in it, or at least a counterspell. However, you must remember that this deck needs to be able to compete without casting Enduring Ideal for a very long time. I've even won without it a few times (not many). This deck is a glass-cannon, and jace helps it to be a little more shatter-proof, if you will.
That said, if I could only run one plainswalker in this deck it would not be the hyped Jace, the Walletsculptor. It would without a doubt be Tezzeret, the Seeker. This card is extremely useful in so many ways. When you cast him, you can actually net mana (albeit colorless, but who cares, really?). He can fetch for a top, crypt, sol ring, or scroll rack in a pinch, and he greatly helps accelerate our board in general. Tezzeret is often the power behind a turn 3 or 4 Enduring Ideal if we are lucky enough to have him in our opener.
Excellent, all the boring, technical, pre-Epic boa***** is out of the way. Now we can get into what actually makes this deck the monstrosity that it is.
Ah, such a beautiful array of enchantments. You are looking at a list hand-picked by yours truly to be the most devastatingly effective way to lock any number of players out of the game as fast and as efficiently as possible. All the while, it is ensured that you will stay alive long enough to end the game on your terms. Pretty sweet, I know.
Rather than systematically explain each an every card individually, I'm going to take through the three steps needed to achieve victory that we must go through after we have resolved Enduring Ideal. I'll explain the cards themselves along the way.
STEP ONE
-THE LOCK-
The first thing we need to is to make sure our opponents are crippled. And I don't mean sort of crippled, like someone who with no legs and the downs who still manages to compete in the special Olympics. No. We're talking full-fledged vegetable state here. By the time the game is over, your opponents will be a vegetable patch, seared and sauteed to your liking, so you can eat them. They shall not be allowed to tap anything, resolve anything, or do anything except cry and wish to end their very lives. Are we clear? Good. I'm so glad.
To achieve this state of total vegetable-lockdown, we will need 2-card combo. Here are the best two-card combos to lock down the game with:
What it does:
When in place, this combo makes all spells irrelevant. Creatures lose all usefulness and noncreatures are straight-up countered.
Application:
This combo is the best go-to enchantment lock in the deck, because both pieces protect themselves from removal by either spells or ETB (Enter-the-Battlefield abilities), respectively. As to which piece you should fetch first, that depends on what your opponents are running. If you are facing off against green-heavy players, you might opt for Humility as your first fetch. This shuts down some peoples' entire arsenal of removal, especially for those who run Animar, Soul of Elements as their general. On the other hand, if you find yourself pitted against players who are running Blue and White generals, your best choice might be Dovescape. Use your best judgement.
What to watch out for:
Uncounterable spells such as those cast with Boseiju, Who Shelters All and spells with the Split-Second ability such as Krosan Grip are useful against this combo. If you think someone might use one such card against you, plan accordingly. You might want to consider fetching Possibility Storm, which negates uncounterability and Split-Second cards alike; or, you might fancy fetching a card that protects your other enchantments by giving them shroud, such as Greater Auramancy. To be extremely safe, you could even fetch Wheel of Sun and Moon to ensure that even if something does wind up destroyed, you can just fetch it again with ease. If a man-land seems to be threatening you, fetch Living Plane. Man lands get around Humility because of how layers and timestamps work. However, your man-land issues are gone with Living Plane on the battlefield. Now they won't have the ability to tap for mana, and they definitely can't turn into creatures!
What it does:
With this combo in place, no players are able to resolve spells. The first spell they cast that turn gets exiled by Possibility Storm. Then, they exile cards off of the top of their library until they exile a card that shares a type with the first card exiled with Possibility Storm. That card is uncastable, so all cards are then sent to the bottom of that player's library in random order. The end result is that no spells are resolved and no more spells can be cast that turn by whoever cast the original spell. Even uncounterable cards and cards with the Split-Second ability are exiled by Possibility Storm. Pretty sweet, huh?
Application:
Say you are quite sure that players have removal in their hands in the form of both creature and noncreature spells. Fetching Dovescape or Humility just might not cut it. It's time for another combo. Enter: Possibility Storm. With this crazy card out, anything a player draws is now considered irrelevant. With Possibility Storm out, the chances of it being removed are pretty small. After you fetch Possibility Storm, fetch Rule of Law to seal everyone's fate.
What to watch out for:
With this combo in place, and nothing rule-altering on the field that lets players cast things from anywhere but the hand, there is really nothing to watch out for. This combo shuts things down pretty tight. Just proceed to step 2 so you won't die from any creatures on the battlefield once you have this combo in place. If there is, say, a [Melek, Izzet Paragon] on the field, go ahead and fetch [Humility] to stop that madness. [Dovescape], unfortunately, would not preform well with Melek out, since a second copy of any spell cast off the top of that player's library is generated, but not cast. If there seems to be too many creatures on the field for you to survive until you have both combo pieces, just fetch Possibility Storm and then go with something that makes you invincible, from step 2. If there are not any flying creatures on the field, consider fetching Island Sanctuary and immediatly skipping your next draw. That way, if someone is able to remove it, the affect still applies. You can then fetch another damage-negating enchantment, until it gets through a whole turn cycle without being removed; then fetch Rule of Law. They can't be lucky forever.
What it does:
These two cards together make it so that lands are 0/0 creatures. Upon fetching the entirety of this combo, state-based actions will be checked and boom. All lands are history. Nobody can even respond once they let the copy of Enduring Ideal fetch the second half of this combo. Any new lands placed are also unable to tap for mana before state-based actions are checked and they are sent to the graveyard.
Application:
This is a great combo for turn 3 Epics. You resolve Enduring Ideal on turn 3 and fetch Living Plane. Not only have you set up for a devastating lock, but you have effectively destroyed your opponents' next land drop due to the fact that it will be affected by summoning sickness. After that, just fetch Night of Souls' Betrayal and listen as the groaning and moaning ensues. Watch as the tears start to flow. Smile as the lands disappear forever.
What to watch out for:
Removal can hit this combo pretty hard while you are trying to assemble it. This combo is best early, when players have not drawn into their removal yet, or they just don't have the mana for it. Make sure people don't have any color-producing artifacts when you pull off this combo. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for losing the game to your own stupidity and lack of preparation when someone uses his Sol Ring and his Chromatic Lantern to cast Beast Within on your Night of Souls' Betrayal.
What it does:
This combo is similar to the previous one, which involves Living Plane and Night of Souls' Betrayal. However, instead of killing your opponents' lands, you will be rendering them useless. Trust me, it's just as satisfying.
Application:
It it's early in the game, try fetching Living Plane first so your opponents' next land drop is useless. If it's later in the game or if you feel an enchantment-hating creature is lurking in someone's hand, go with Humility first and see what happens.
What to watch out for:
Just like the Living Planes + Night of Souls' Betrayal combo, this combo is weak to removal of many sorts. Be aware of what your opponents are capable of by checking to see how much mana they have access to, and how many cards are in their hands. Remember, always play it safe.
STEP TWO
-BECOMING A GOD-
Alright, you've got a lock in place. You've pretty much won, but you still need to go through the motions so everyone can see how hopeless it is. It's time to become invincible mother****ers! There are singular cards in this deck that can keep us alive, as well as numerous combos. Let's go through the combos first.
What it does:
It makes you invulnerable to both damage and life loss. Unlife states that you can't lose the game for having 0 life, but damage gives you poison counters. Shield states that you can't take damage. Instead your life total just goes down. This makes it so that you never, ever die. I like to think of this combo as the filter in a fish tank. Damage is water, and Delaying Shield converts that damage into clean, breathable life-loss. Ah, how refreshing. Also note that just Delaying Shield alone makes you invulnerable to general damage and infect damage.
Application:
Fetch Delaying Shield first. After you fetch it, your opponent swings in one final effort to beat you, using his 9,000/9,000 creature. You have no blocks, and you put 9,000 counters on Delaying Shield. He passes the turn. Delaying Shield's trigger goes off on our upkeep, and so does Enduring Ideal's trigger from its Epic ability. So, what happens? Well, according to the rules of Magic, whenever two triggers you control happen at the same time, you get to decide which happens first. Looks like both triggers happen at the start of your upkeep, so we're golden. Just have Delaying Shield trigger first and Epic trigger last, so Epic resolves first. Fetch Phyrexian Unlife, and then let Delaying Shield resolve. You choose not to pay anything because you already nuked everyone's lands. You lose 9,000 life, but you aren't dead due to having Phyrexian Unlife out. BAM! We live.
If you are having trouble understanding why this works, here's a lesson on the stack that I made just for you:
You have a plate and 3 pancakes. Pancake A, Pancake B, and Pancake C. Your goal is to eat these pancakes, so you put them on your plate on top of each other. First you put Pancake A on the plate, then you put Pancake B on the plate, and finally you put Pancake C on the plate. Great. Now you have a plate of pancakes! It looks like this:
Pancake C
Pancake B
Pancake A PLATE
So, now you have to eat them, obviously. Which one do you eat first? The top pancake of course! So you eat pancake C. The plate looks like this now:
Pancake B
Pancake A PLATE
YUM. That was a good pancake. I'm glad we ate it. But there are two left! Let's eat the next one. Mmmmm, Our plate now looks like this, with one pancake left!
Pancake A PLATE
I'm still hungry! Time to eat the pancake that was at the bottom now. I bet it will be so tasty! Ahhh, so worth it. Now the plate is empty and looks like this:
PLATE
...There's nothing on it, and I'm still hungry! Time to make some more, I guess.
Okay, that story didn't make much sense to you, and now you're hungry. Wait! Before you head to the fridge, go back to my little story and re-read it. Only this time replace all instances of "plate" with "stack". Replace all instances of "pancake" with "spell". Replace all instances of "eat" with "resolve", and replace all instances of "make" with "cast".
Congratulations. You now understand the stack. So, that's why our Delaying Shield + Phyrexian Unlife combo works. If two *pancakes* are *made* at the same time, we can choose which *pancakes* to put on our *plate* first. We decided to put the Delaying Shield *pancake* on our *plate*, then the Epic *pancake* on our *plate*. Now we *eat* the one on top first, which is the Epic *pancake*.
NOW THAT'S MOTHER******* TASTY
Let's get into another combo that makes us invincible. Variety is the spice of life!
What it does:
This combo makes it so that sources you don't control can't damage you, and since cards never hit the graveyard, it will stay that way. This doesn't protect you from your own Mana Crypt, and try not to tap your Ancient Tomb too much.
Application:
Fetch Rest in Peace first, duh. Otherwise, someone will just use a fetchland and your combo is over. Overall, this isn't my favorite combo. It's not the best. But it can get the job done, so keep it in mind.
What it does:
This combo makes it so that creatures cannot attack. Period. Well, man-lands with flying can. But you can deal with those as discussed earlier.
Application:
You probably already have Humility out. So fetch Moat. It's really that ******* simple. Feel free to fetch Form of the Dragon instead of Moat. Same dif, breh.
Alright, so those are the combos that help us to stay alive. However, a lot of the time you won't even need a combo to stay alive. You just need one card. Here are the cards that get the job done and don't need no goddamn help.
Explanation:
This is my absolute favorite card to fetch to stay alive after I've locked everyone down. Why? Because it elegantly accomplishes so many things at the same time. Firstly, it lets you skip your draws for the rest of the game; so you never, ever, ever have to draw something you wanted to fetch. Secondly, it's a Moat with a mother******* Pegasus on it! And lastly, it works until your next turn, even if someone finds a way to destroy it. Now that's my kind of card. Worship it. Like it. Eat it. Just kidding, don't eat it. But do run it in your Enchantment Lockdown deck. It's good *****.
Explanation:
Here's a card that just does it all for you. And, like the card above, it has applications beyond that of keeping your life total above 0. Other than making you an untouchable god, this amazing card can actually help you send things in your hand back into your library! How cool is that? All you need is Wheel of Sun and Moon and you can send that Humility in your hand back into your library for use on your sad little opponents. If you need to keep Solitary Confinement on the field for a while, fetch Phyrexian Arena so you won't run out of cards to discard.
Explanation:
Which is more satisfying: causing all creatures on the field to become absolutely ******* useless, or to be able to tutor up an alternate art Meishin, the Mind Cage with Nicholas Cage's glorious head bursting forth for all to see, his mouth wide open and his eyeballs bulging from their very sockets? With this card, you don't have to make that decision, because you can have both.
To conclude this section, if you have locked down the game and are unable to find a way to make yourself invincible, you are on some kind of acid.
STEP THREE
-SMILE-
At this point, the only ones still playing are only doing so because they are curious as to how you can win. Let's not disappoint them, then. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. This isn't the most competitive version of the deck. Some of my "win conditions" could be taken out for some very useful tech cards. However, EDH is about having fun. Sadistic fun, the kind of fun that ends friendships. So I threw in some cards that, while totally unnecessary, are actually really ******* necessary. We'll start it off with a combo.
Explanation:
First fetch Wound Reflection. At this point everyone will wonder what the hell you are planning. Next fetch Havoc Festival. A lot of people still don't get it at this point. You pass the turn. Johny, who is at 80,000,000 life, silently quits. Cassandra, who seems to be illiterate and mentally challenged on multiple levels, draws a card. You stop her and tell her to lose half her life. She says "Ah," with a comma at the end.
"So thirty minus half of...fifteen..."
"YES."
She turns her Avacyn Restored spindown die down to 15, and passes the turn after staring at your foil Dovescape for a full 5 seconds. You tell her to lose the other half of her life total, as you point to Wound Reflection. Cassandra's jaw drops, and you really hope a bug flies in there. It doesn't but she collects her cards and goes away. Spike, who is the last opponent still alive, is at 3 life, because he's been trying to find an answer for your combos with his Necropotence. He's a spike, so he doesn't mind paying life to do what's necessary. What a pro. He announces his upkeep, and loses 1 life. You tell him to lose 2 life. He says "No, it's rounded up." You hand him the card and wait while he rereads it 5,000 times in 3 seconds. He drops Havoc Festival, and scoops up his cards while saying "Scoop".
You just killed everyone before your next upkeep. Pretty legit, huh.
Now, Wound Reflection is not really needed if you have Phyrexian Unlife out, so I guess you could replace it with something else. But killing everyone before your next upkeep while teaching them how to round up is pretty entertaining. For me it is, anyways. Anywho, let's take a look at some more cards that can end the game.
Explanation:
This card is full of flavor, and can actually make you invulnerable while killing your opponents or their planeswalkers/creatures. Most people in this world are pretty simple-minded, so if you want to kill people quickly this is the way to go. It's obvious to them that they will eventually die from this card, so everyone will just scoop it up.
Explanation:
Now this has got to be my favorite way to end the game. The look on peoples' faces when you tie the game is just too funny. And it's even better if you're playing for packs in a tournament. Nobody knows what the **** to do. So you just say, "Alright, I'll just fetch Aura of Silence next upkeep and then fetch Form of the Dragon so I can kill you all slowly." Everyone scoops it up and hands you the packs.
GG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice job, young grasshopper. You have made it through step 3, and are smiling. Your opponents aren't, but you are. So, yeah. That's generally how you would play the deck once you resolve Enduring Ideal. I'd like to spend some time now talking about the various tech-related enchantments in the deck, and teaching you how to use them effectively. We'll just do this in alphabetical order to make things simple.
Card: Act of Authority Explanation:
Every deck needs an O-Ring, and this is mine. Pretty much the only thing I ever need to remove are artifacts (like Oblivion Stone or other enchantments (maybe an Oblivion Ring...I don't know). So, I might as well run something that gets rid of them for good, and lets me re-use it if I need to. When the ***** hits the fan, you would be surprised how useful it is to exile someone's ***** a second time in exchange for them being able to do it right back. And hey, if you have Greater Auramancy out that won't even be a problem. Sometimes I've used Act of Authority to get rid of my own Phyrexian Arena.
Card: Aura of Silence Explanation:
This is a useful card pre-Epic, because EDH is a format plagued by artifact-based mana acceleration Post-Epic, it's just another Act of Authority most of the time.
Card: Copy Artifact Explanation:
A great all-round enchantment. You can use it to accelerate your mana, or maybe copy your opponent's Crucible of Worlds so they can't try anything their mother wouldn't approve of. (hint: it has to do with Strip Mine.)
Card: Copy Enchantment Explanation:
This card is a wonderful gift from above. Pre-Epic, you can copy that Sylvan Library that your opponent just wasted a tutor on. Post-Epic, you can use it to protect your own enchantments by simply making copies of them, or by using it with Greater Auramancy.
Card: Dark Tutelage Explanation:
It's painful, but it gets the job done. A harder-to-remove bob that is easier to tutor for, and it costs just 1 more mana. Sold. Note its synergy with Sensei's Divining Top and similar effects.
Card: Greater Auramancy Explanation:
Whether it gets killed right away or it gets copied to make our enchantments untouchable forever, it serves its purpose. A great include, and easily castable pre-Epic.
Card: Phyrexian Arena Explanation:
If you think Dark Tutelage is good, this card is going to blow your mind and tell you to leave some money on the nightstand. One life a turn in EDH is nothing. Seriously, with the card advantage this enchantment provides, you had better be running it.
Card: Rest in Peace Explanation:
A lot of EDH decks rely heavily on the graveyard as a resource. This card *****s on them. It combos with the aforementioned Energy Field to make you hard to kill, and it combos with Helm of Obedience to exile some unlucky bastard's library at instant speed.
Card: Sterling Grove Explanation:
A multiple-use card that is really annoying to waste a removal spell on. Your opponent will cringe as he wastes a Nature's Claim on it, only to watch you place Humility on the top of your library. Aw, man! A lot of times, you will be using this card to fetch...
Card: Sylvan Library Explanation:
Opponents will roll their eyes as you immediately pay 8 life to dig for Enduring Ideal. **** 'em. This is your deck's best draw engine. Don't be afraid to use it to its maximum potential.
Card: Wheel of Sun and Moon Explanation:
I have grown to really appreciate this card a lot over time. It has so many applications that you don't even realize until you take advantage of them in-game. Someone's playing a graveyard deck. Your friend is playing Hermit Druid. Nope! not today, ******. Not today. Or perhaps you've gone Epic but you're holding a key piece needed to finish the game. Just fetch Wheel and stall with cards like Meishin, the Mind Cage and Solitary Confinement until you can toss it back into the library. Do you feel the need to draw the game without going Epic? With Wheel and Helm of Obedience, you can make the game a draw by making someone infinitely put the top card of their library onto the bottom.
Well, that should be enough info for this to be considered a "Primer", or whatever you hip Magic kids call it these days. Feel free to comment with any criticism or questions about the deck.
I was already thinking of testing City of Solitude, but I think I like your suggestion of Hall of Gemstone even more. Not only does it stop counters, but it also supremely messes with multicolored decks. I'm going to test this. Thanks!
I have to drive thirty minutes to even find a store that supports EDH and it's pretty casual. My plan is to keep beating them into the ground until they decide to be better. It worked for teaching my younger brother ping pong!
I think EDH needs to become more like Vintage. And in case you haven't started foaming at the mouth yet, here's why: in vintage, almost all decks run the power 9. Instead of trying to make gentleman's agreements and build "fair" decks, people play the apprioriate answers and guess what? It's a healthy format.
EDH is the same. You know those cards that nearly every deck needs to run, and there's a lot of valid strategies that are frowned upon because people are too lazy to adjust their bomb-filled timmy decks to run a Nature's Claim. If you adjust to the powerful spells instead of making them taboo you get a healthy format that ALL kinds of players can get in to!
Something the should be observed is Second Chance comboing with Form of the Dragon. With either Mistveil Plains or Wheel of Sun and Moon it is infinite turns and infinite damage once you cast Enduring Ideal.
Hey pal, thanks for checking this out! I address Second Chance in the "WHY U O X?!" section of the primer. basically, my view is that the combo cannot be assembled until after I go Epic, and is prone to removal unless I fetch protection first, which means I must have already locked down the board. However, if I have already locked down the board I don't really need infinite turns. I have a lot of ways to win already, so a 3-card or 4-card combo isn't ideal here. Although, I am going to test Mistveil Plains as a card in the deck. It seems like it could save me from having to waste a fetch on Wheel of Sun and Moon after I go Epic. Thanks for the suggestions!
I found a way to fix it. Apparently I had too many lists within lists. From there it was easy to fix. Someone should look into this issue though. I am probably not the only one this has happened to.
I have been working on a primer for an EDH deck for a couple weeks, and today when I tried to keep going, I was surprised to find several issues:
Firstly, after a certain point (in the "WHY U NO" section) the format of the entire post changes to be more full-screen (the textless section of the post under my name simple ceases to exist). It makes it weird to read and it probably has something to do with the other issues.
When I try to edit my post, I get redirected to this weird screen that has no images. The link I get is:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/comments/13087073/edit
It says I can edit it, but the editing box is extremely small. I tried to counteract this by copying my post and pasting it in microsoft word, editing it, then replacing the old post with the edited version. I thought whatever, I can live with this. But then another issue arose.
When I press "preview" or "save changes", it brings me to a page that is what seems to be my entire post in some weird code. Just black text on a white screen.
If someone could please help me through this I would appreciate it. My primer is a project I care about and it discourages me that for some unknown reason I cannot make progress right now.
The link to the post I am talking about is in my sig.
edit: oh, and also I must note that the "edit" button and other buttons to change my primer post are different than the one to edit or quote replies to peoples' responses to the post. Instead of black text on white background, they are blue bubbles like the "upload image" and "save changes" buttons I see below this as I type. I don't get this....at all.
Hi, just wanted to say I love your build! I want to build a Sigarda deck one day and this is the best example I have seen so far. I love all the hate against the ever popular artifact ramp that most Commander players use, and meanwhile you are just ramping with enchantments no problem! I might have played you on Cockatrice before, but not sure.
//4 Creature
4 Snapcaster Mage
//17 Instant
4 Path to Exile
4 Opt
4 Supreme Will
4 Cryptic Command
1 Commit // Memory
//25 Land
4 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
5 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Halimar Depths
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Gideon Jura
3 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
//9 Sorcery
4 Serum Visions
4 Terminus
1 Entreat the Angels
//4 Artifact
4 Relic of Progenitus
//2 Creature
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Geist of Saint Traft
//2 Enchantment
2 Stony Silence
// 6 Instant
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dispel
//1 Planeswalker
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
//1 Sorcery
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Nissa's Renewal
3 Dark Petition
2 Languish
3 Liliana, Last Hope
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Seasons Past
4 Distended Mindbender
1 Hedonist's Trove
2 Ruinous Path
1 The Gitrog Monster
4 Deathcap Cultivator
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Grasp of Darkness
1 Oath of Liliana
2 Read the Bones
1 Explosive Vegetation
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Hissing Quagmire
6 Swamp
5 Forest
1 Wastes
1 Caves of Koilos
4 Matter Reshaper
SB: 1 Clip Wings
SB: 2 Dead Weight
SB: 1 Duress
SB: 1 Grasp of Darkness
SB: 2 Infinite Obliteration
SB: 3 Languish
SB: 1 Pick the Brain
SB: 1 Seasons Past
SB: 1 To the Slaughter
SB: 1 Transgress the Mind
SB: 1 Virulent Plague
The last 15 with SB are the sideboard. The deck, I built myself using some new cards from EMN. The Sideboard is copied from a deck on mtgtop8. It fits the meta and I like it so no changes there. Having Emrakul in the deck makes it an inevitable win. The 7 mana mindbender eldrazi do major work and will become a staple in any BG midrang-y deck. Liliana is amazing vs creature strategies (kills things and +1s at the same time), and also control, because she just keeps +1ing. Thoughts on the list? A lot of it is simple, traditional Seasons control cards.
I should add that hedonist's trove is the only effect in standard that exiles your opponent's graveyard. It has proved surprisingly useful so far.
I really like your build, and tested it out. It preforms much better than the lists with bounce/resto packages, because it is more focused on control. You never have a conflict of interest (do I wipe the board?) The decision is always clear. Ojutai's Command works very well. It is great game 1 vs burn. Helps you get a win sometimes. Countering a creature and returning a wall is pretty efficient too. Happened once. I like jace. He preformed well every time. Same with Elspeth.
However, I found that the list struggled against other control decks, both game 1 and in the sideboard matches. 3-color control decks have better lands than us, more man lands, more reach, and more versatility. I like my chances against everything else, but I wanted something more here. So, what can you do to crush a control deck? Use this card: Alchemist's Refuge This card is great against control. You will notice that in the list below, I took out the glacial fortresses for 2 Refuges, a Temple Garden, and a Breeding Pool. With the amount of fethes we run, this is enough to reliably have Refuge online by the time we need it. It is also useful against midrange decks if we want to flash in a Supreme Verdict, or a Jace that would otherwise die before we untapped with it. Additionally, it only takes 5 lands to flash in a baby Jace or a wall, which is very nice. This list is still U/W control because it does not actually run any green cards. It just needs a couple green sources for Refuge, and stays true to the U/W control shell. NOTE: There is a new archtype that uses Eerie Interlude with Collected Company to abuse ETB abilities to an extreme. Flashing in boardwipes is NEEDED against Eerie Interlude, which basically gives all sorcery-speed boardipes the finger. For those unaware, Eerie Interlude can bounce an entire field, and if they have Eternal Witness, they can do this indefinitely. It's no joke.
In addition to the Refuge package, I have made these changes:
-2 Sphinx's Rev:
I don't like this card in modern. It's great when it's good, but it's sad when it's bad. And let's face it: it's bad most of the time. With the Alchemist's Refuge, you have a mana dump for EOT effects, so this will not missed even if you do have a lot of mana on hand.
-3 Mana Leak:
I don't like having to leave 2 mana up for counters when I need to tap out for something. It makes all my 4 drops 6 drops, and forget about casting Elspeth against control. (Don't even think about winning with collonade against control. They will path it, tec-edge it, or something else.)It's irrelevant vs. weenies and goblins, and also against the new ETB-Eerie Company decks that are popping up, and will surely dominate after Eldrazi gets the hack.
+1 Terminus:
Not sure how I feel about this one. Still testing it, but others seem to like it so I'm willing to try. Results have not been fantastic but I'm a believer so I'll keep testing. I may change this out for a 4th Spell Snare.
+3 Spell Snare:
I want my counters to be 1 mana. If it's not a 2-drop, I can deal with it on-board. However, more than often I need to cast a threat with mana open against a counterspell. Sometimes I am playing second and need to counter their turn 2 play. There's a reason why this is a popular card in Modern. I wouldn't be so hasty not to run it. A lot of times against control, it just comes down to, who has Cryptic + protection for cryptic? (spell snare)
+1 Cryptic Command:
This is a pure control deck, so we should be running 4 of these. End of story. I don't know why people stopped doing this. Here is a reminder of why we need 4:
1) counter + draw = raw card advantage
2) Bouncing something relevant, even a land, is a versatile option to have. No card advantage lost if used with draw option.
3) Tapping an enemy army while at the same time digging for a boardwipe esta papa.
4) If you tap the enemy team, it makes them more likely to overextend after they deal no damage, by casting yet another creature. Even pros make mistakes.
You know how good of a card it is. You know you always want it when you have 4 mana and don't need to supreme verdict. Every single game. So run 4.
Without anything further, here's the list.
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
Creatures (10)
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Wall of Omens
Spells (21)
2 Condemn
4 Path to Exile
1 Cyclonic Rift
3 Spell Snare
2 Ojutai's Command
4 Cryptic Command
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
4 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Island
2 Plains
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Stony Silence
2 Runed Halo
2 Celestial Purge
2 Detention Sphere
2 Dispel
2 Rest in Peace
I changed the sideboard to reflect what I face. Stony silence because affinity and those darned top control decks. With Refuge added, we are likely to win game 1 vs control now, so 2 Dispels is enough. I almost never bring in detention sphere, and feel like Auriok Champion might be a better choice because the deck suffers vs. burn, and goblin bushwacker. Champion is also good vs. Jund and Grixis-style decks. Runed Halo is great against Boggles and Burn. Against combo you can name Conflagrate or Grapeshot, depending on which combo you face, and it will be easier for you to win. Conflagrate decks sometimes run Echoing Truth, which is another reason Spell Snare is good. Celestial Purge is amazing against liliana, but also against goblins, and all sorts of other things. Love it.
I love your addition of Condemn. I have even condemned my own Collonade to gain 4 life and stay out of reach against a burn deck when we were both grinding and I was very low on life. Having 6 spot removals is amazing. I never have to worry about infect...that deck just dies to this list. Affinity is a lot more favorable too.
Overall great list. It inspired me to tweak it an I now have a deck I like to play.
Congratz on your Rainforest!!!
Artifact
Whenever an artifact with a converted
mana cost of 5 or more is put into a
graveyard from anywhere, tear it in half.
IIW: states "win the game"
Hi, and welcome to my primer on enchantment lockdown in EDH. You may remember a similar post I made back in 2014. Since then, I have sold all my Magic cards and deleted the post. Drastic? Maybe. But now that I've got my ***** together, it's time for me to share with the world the monstrosity that is Enchantment Lockdown. Even over a year later, I am still unable to find a list comparable to mine in functionality and power. That's kind of sad. I urge anyone who reads this to give this list a try, copy it, and change it if you want. More lists like this need to exist. Otherwise, how will we be able to make three EDH players cry in unison without playing something painfully overdone like that one ******basket of a commander that starts with "Z"? (His name escapes me.)
I suppose that a quick and dirty explanation of how this deck is supposed to win the game is in order. All you really need to know at this point is that your goal is to cast and resolve Enduring Ideal and make resistance a child's fantasy using degenerate enchantments. Throughout this primer, I will refer to the time before I resolve Enduring Ideal as "Pre-Epic", and the time after I resolve Enduring Ideal will be called "Post-Epic".
Anyways, without further distractions, let me show you what the inside of Satan's ******** would look like if it was a Magic: the Gathering deck.
THIS IS WHERE AN OVERSIZED PICTURE OF THE BEST CARD IN THE DECK WOULD BE IF I GAVE A *****
Let's just break it down section by section, like how they did it when I was your age.
Pretty straightforward. This deck needs 5 colors. Atogatog has a 5-color color identity. It works out. You could use any other 5-color commander, but since you won't really cast it then why bother? If you decide to use that one dragon commander (I think its name is Python of the Ur *************pieceof*****dragon...could be wrong.), then so be it. But it will only tempt you to put *just one* dragon combo in there and then the whole deck ends up being compromised because apparently you're too cool for Atogatog. He looks great in foil, anyways. And we all know that's the most important factor when deciding on which commander to choose for your deck. I'm not being sarcastic. It looks amazing. Order it on eBay right now, please.
1x Badlands
1x Bayou
1x Plateau
1x Savannah
1x Scrubland
1x Tropical Island
1x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
Shock Lands
1x Blood Crypt
1x Breeding Pool
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Temple Garden
1x Watery Grave
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
Color-Fixing Lands
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Forbidden Orchard
1x Murmuring Bosk
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Barbarian Ring
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Maze of Ith
1x Mistveil Plains
I would like you to notice that I do not run all ten original dual lands; neither do I run all ten shock lands. The lands of these respective categories that I do not run are as follows:
-Taiga
The most important colors in this deck are as follows:-Stomping Ground
-Volcanic Island
-Steam Vents
1) White
That being known, you can understand why I made the omission of 4 dual-type lands. Taiga and Stomping Grounds both only produce the most unimportant colors in the deck, so I will never search for them with a fetch. Even beyond those, I had to omit two more lands to make room for castable cards. If you use logic, you can see that my next two omissions would include the worst color, along with the next worse color. 5-4 lands have already been taken out (Taiga and Stomping Ground), so 5-3 lands are next. Using this logic, you can create a manabase that produces maximum potency in your deck.2) Black
3) Blue
4) Green
5) Red
Now let's talk about the mana-fixing lands. Even with the best dual lands in the format, color screw is bound to happen. To reduce this awkward situation's likelihood of showing up, I have implemented some choice 5-color lands, as well as a couple of other smart mana fixing land choices.
Command Tower and City of Brass are rather obvious choices. Murmuring Bosk is the only dual land in magic that is fetchable with one of the 10 fetch lands, so I think that's rather obvious too. Additionally, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth lets all of my lands tap for the second-best color in the deck. Now there's an auto-include. But why do I pick Forbidden Orchard over say, Mana Confluence? There three reasons, actually. Firstly, it doesn't harm me right away. In a multiplayer game, those tokens are probably going to be staying on the defensive, ready to be sacrificed in order to save someone's ass from being torn wide open by some gargantuan beast without trample. So, those tokens might not even hurt me at all. Secondly, it has good synergy with the deck. This deck has all sorts of ways to make creatures completely irrelevant, so a 1/1 spirit without flying won't exactly cause me to quake in my boots if it does happen to swing its spirit fists in my general direction. Lastly, politics. If you give someone a 1/1 to block or attack with, they are going to think you are a nice person. You aren't a nice person if you are playing this deck, but I like to think that it's what's on the outside that counts. Isn't that in the Bible somewhere?
Alright, almost done with the lands here. I know, they're boring. You don't want to read about them. But hey, this is a primer. I have to talk about boring ***** like lands, otherwise I might as well just post a decklist and let you figure the damn thing out by yourself. So, let's fasten our seat belts because it's the law, and get ready for yet another slow and boring drive in landville while I blabber on about the five tech lands in this deck.
Ancient Tomb. Ah, Ancient Tomb Ancient Tomb Ancient Tomb. It's such a great land. If you are playing commander, I really hope this card is in your deck. It really speeds things up, and it's almost like a Sol Ring. This is an obvious include if ever there was one.
Barbarian Ring exists for one reason, and one reason only: Aven Mindcensor. This is one bad bird. When you're rocking this deck, Aven Mindcensor does what pretty much all birds do in real life: it *****s on your face. Having a way to kill it when we are not able to cast spells is important. It doesn't come into play tapped either, so hey. I guess we've got to run it.
Now, here's what is probably the most obvious inclusion in this deck: Boseiju, Who Shelters All. And really, Boseiju does shelter all. And Boseiju does it well. So run Boseiju, who shelters ******* all.
Next up is Mistveil Plains. Now this is a very important piece of tech. Once we go Epic, we need to assemble a combo. All of our combos consist of two parts. So what happens when one part ends up in our hand or graveyard? Mistveil Plains happens. If it's in our hand, we stall until we can discard it, then send it to the bottom with the Wonder White of lands, then fetch it and kick ass. If it's already in the yard, then stop being a tard and let Mistveil Plains take you to the promised land.
Alright, almost done. We just need to talk about Maze of Ith now. And there really isn't much to say about it. It's a card that counts as a land drop and that doesn't tap for mana. So, pretty *****ty at first glance. But, anything that helps to save my ass post-Epic deserves to be looked at, and this card makes the cut for now. I like it, okay? There are two cards in this deck that let Maze of Ith tap for mana, so there's that, too.
Boom. We're done talking about them boring-as-***** lands. Now let's talk about ...other boring things that may or may not tap for mana!
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Coalition Relic
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Grim Monolith
1x Mana Crypt
1x Mana Vault
1x Mind Stone
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Sol Ring
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Thran Dynamo
Tech Artifacts
1x Helm of Obedience
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sensei's Divining Top
Ramp is important in this deck. And 3 is the magic number when it comes to ramp. Through rigorous testing, I have found that it is best to cast Enduring Ideal on or before turn 4. Since Enduring Ideal costs 7 mana, we will be needing at least 3 extra mana before turn 4. Therefore, our 3 best artifacts are as follows:
-Mana Vault
Knowing this fact simplifies our game plan. It means that all we need to win before turn 5 is one of these artifacts and a tutor. Or, just 2 tutors. It's easier than you think.-Grim Monolith
-Basalt Monolith
If you don't have access to one of those 3 cards, other artifacts like the beloved Sol Ring are there for you. It's surprisingly easy to pull off a turn 4 Epic with this list. You just have to know what you need from turn 1 and make it happen. Be smart about your ramp and color choices when fetching for artifacts or lands. And if you don't manage to go Epic by turn 4, don't sweat it. The beauty of this deck is that you can be 2 hours into the game without going Epic. But once you do, you flat out win. So take your time if you find yourself in a sticky situation. Sometimes you'll just end up placing 7 lands and then going Epic.
Now, it's time for me to explain my reasoning for the inclusion of the various tech-artifacts of the deck (ones that don't tap for mana).
Let's start with Helm of Obedience. This card is actually a win condition. It's part of a two-card combo that lets you exile someone's entire library at instant speed. The other half of the combo is Rest in Peace. However, if you are like me and see ending the game as winning, you can enchant someone with Wheel of Sun and Moon and activate Helm of Obedience, targeting them. This causes an infinite loop and the game will be considered a draw.
Another tech artifact in the deck is Scroll Rack. Not only does this card help us dig for key pieces needed to go Epic, but it also acts well with the 10 fetch lands that we run. We can essentially get a brand new hand at the cost of 1 mana with this card. Going Epic is nice with this out, because key enchantments in your hand become a hell lot more accessible.
Sensei's Divining Top is another great card to have before and after going Epic. Before, it helps you get the right lands off the top so you get the right colors. It also makes cards like Personal Tutor pretty amazing. After, it helps to make sure you never draw an enchantment you need. Definitely an all-star card.
Sculpting Steel could be another Mind Stone, or another Gilded Lotus. It could even be another Sensei's Divining Top if you really want to get freaky with the stack. A great include all around in my opinion.
In this deck, we run one creature, and one creature only.
Bob is a fantastic include in this deck. He's right up there with Library, Arena, and Dark Tutelage. We need all the dig power we can get, and as long as we win the game it doesn't matter what our life total is at the end of it all. We have plenty of ways to deal with unwanted enchantments in our hand post-Epic, so you really can't go wrong casting this guy.
1x Force of Will
1x Mana Drain
1x Pact of Negation
1x Enlightened Tutot
1x Lim-Dûl's Vault
1x Mystical Teachings
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Brainstorm
In this deck, we're only going to be running three counterspells. Since our goal is to go Epic around turn 4, we don't really need more than the bare minimum. Rather than clutter up the deck with unneeded counters to address Blue players, we will just have to play smartly and wait for an opening. Since our goal is to go Epic around turn 4, Enduring Ideal being countered usually isn't an issue. Players love to tap out for their mana rocks, draw engines and other ***** in the first 5 turns of the game, so we use that to our advantage. Or, sometimes it just means using a Demonic Tutor on Boseiju. I chose Force of Will and Pact of Negation because they are free too cast. Being able to tap out for Enduring Ideal and still having the option to counter a response is extremely powerful. Those two cards have definitely earned their places in the deck, as I have seen from very many games already. And that leaves Mana Drain. Although it costs 2 mana to cast, it can actually ramp our mana up quite a bit; sometimes allowing for turn 3 Enduring Ideals.
For our instant-speed tutors, I have selected only the best. Enlightened Tutor is an extremely versatile card, allowing us to fetch either a much-needed mana rock, or perhaps a Humility if you feel the immediate need. Additionally, I oftentimes find myself using it to fetch a lifesaving Sylvan Library to help push me through the mid-game grind when things aren't looking to hopeful.
Lim-Dûl's Vault is a recent addition to this deck, and I've never regretted having it. Often I like it better than Vampiric Tutor, because it allows me to find Enduring Ideal, and control the other 4 cards around it as well. You might be surprised how often you decide that leaving it 2 or 3 cards deep is the wiser move.
Mystical Teachings is also a newer addition to the deck. It's powerful because you can find a Mystical or Vampiric Tutor with it, then flash it back for a Pact of Negation to set yourself up for the perfectly safe Epic.
Mystical Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are similar cards in nature, and obvious additions. I don't feel the need to talk about them much. However, please note that with Mystical Tutor, the wiser choice in some situations is to grab a Demonic Tutor, so as to appear inconspicuous while remaining versatile.
The only instant card in this deck that is used for a technical purpose is Brainstorm. With the number of fetchlands we run, it would be foolish not to include this powerful 1-drop. In addition to that interaction, its synergy with top-of-the-library tutors like Personal Tutor cannot be ignored. It can also be used to toss enchantments like Dovescape or Havoc Festival back into your library for later use.
I would like to talk briefly about the sorceries of the deck. They are all tutors, so this shouldn't take long.
1x Enduring Ideal
1x Idyllic Tutor
1x Imperial Seal
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Personal Tutor
Demonic Tutor is an all-round tutor that can be used effectively to find a mana rock or your wincon, Enduring Ideal. Sometimes you will need it for other things, like a Sylvan Library, a Humility, or perhaps a Jace, the Mindsculptor in a 1-on-1 match.
Imperial Seal and Personal Tutor are strictly worse versions of Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor, respectively. However, they remain extremely powerful choices and this deck would be much worse off without them.
Idyllic Tutor is usually used to fetch Sylvan Library, but depending on the situation I might fetch any number of enchantments. I recall fetching the infamous Humility nearly as often as Sylvan Library, and when playing against Storm or other decks that try to be cute with card interactions, I enjoy fetching the more specific Rule of Law.
Merchant Scroll, you will find, will be used almost exclusively to find Mystical Tutor. It can also be used to find a counterspell to make sure your Enduring Ideal resolves quite nicely.
Enduring Ideal is our win condition, as you know. Always keep in mind that before you fetch this card, you need to make sure that you have a way to produce 2 white mana the turn that you cast it. Fetching Scrubland and Tundra are things that you will find yourself doing quite often in this game. Maybe this information belongs in the section about lands, but always remember that if you are fetching a land at the end of your opponent's turn and you won't be using it until your next main phase, get a shock land instead of an original dual land. That way, you will draw a Tundra instead of a Hallowed Fountain down the road. This could make the difference between winning and losing if you are at 2 life and you need to tap your Ancient Tomb to go Epic later on, but you just drew a shock land. Please do not let that happen.
1x Tezzeret, the Seeker
I run two plainswalkers in this deck: Jace and Tezzeret. Jace, the Mindsculptor is often just a 4-mana sorcery-speed Brainstorm, but the technical help that he provides during a game usually pays off; and a turn 2 or turn 3 Jace is a real possibility with this deck. You may argue that this slot would be better off with another tutor in it, or at least a counterspell. However, you must remember that this deck needs to be able to compete without casting Enduring Ideal for a very long time. I've even won without it a few times (not many). This deck is a glass-cannon, and jace helps it to be a little more shatter-proof, if you will.
That said, if I could only run one plainswalker in this deck it would not be the hyped Jace, the Walletsculptor. It would without a doubt be Tezzeret, the Seeker. This card is extremely useful in so many ways. When you cast him, you can actually net mana (albeit colorless, but who cares, really?). He can fetch for a top, crypt, sol ring, or scroll rack in a pinch, and he greatly helps accelerate our board in general. Tezzeret is often the power behind a turn 3 or 4 Enduring Ideal if we are lucky enough to have him in our opener.
Excellent, all the boring, technical, pre-Epic boa***** is out of the way. Now we can get into what actually makes this deck the monstrosity that it is.
1x Dovescape
1x Humility
1x Living Plane
1x Night of Soul's Betrayal
1x Possibility Storm
1x Rule of Law
Stayin' Alive
1x Delaying Shield
1x Energy Field
1x Island Sanctuary
1x Meishin, the Mind Cage
1x Moat
1x Phyrexian Unlife
1x Solitary Confinement
1x Divine Intervention
1x Form of the Dragon
1x Havoc Festival
1x Wound Reflection
Removal
1x Act of Authority
1x Aura of Silence
Tech
1x Copy Artifact
1x Copy Enchantment
1x Dark Tutelage
1x Greater Auramancy
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Rest in Peace
1x Sterling Grove
1x Sylvan Library
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
Ah, such a beautiful array of enchantments. You are looking at a list hand-picked by yours truly to be the most devastatingly effective way to lock any number of players out of the game as fast and as efficiently as possible. All the while, it is ensured that you will stay alive long enough to end the game on your terms. Pretty sweet, I know.
Rather than systematically explain each an every card individually, I'm going to take through the three steps needed to achieve victory that we must go through after we have resolved Enduring Ideal. I'll explain the cards themselves along the way.
The first thing we need to is to make sure our opponents are crippled. And I don't mean sort of crippled, like someone who with no legs and the downs who still manages to compete in the special Olympics. No. We're talking full-fledged vegetable state here. By the time the game is over, your opponents will be a vegetable patch, seared and sauteed to your liking, so you can eat them. They shall not be allowed to tap anything, resolve anything, or do anything except cry and wish to end their very lives. Are we clear? Good. I'm so glad.
To achieve this state of total vegetable-lockdown, we will need 2-card combo. Here are the best two-card combos to lock down the game with:
What it does:
When in place, this combo makes all spells irrelevant. Creatures lose all usefulness and noncreatures are straight-up countered.
Application:
This combo is the best go-to enchantment lock in the deck, because both pieces protect themselves from removal by either spells or ETB (Enter-the-Battlefield abilities), respectively. As to which piece you should fetch first, that depends on what your opponents are running. If you are facing off against green-heavy players, you might opt for Humility as your first fetch. This shuts down some peoples' entire arsenal of removal, especially for those who run Animar, Soul of Elements as their general. On the other hand, if you find yourself pitted against players who are running Blue and White generals, your best choice might be Dovescape. Use your best judgement.
What to watch out for:
Uncounterable spells such as those cast with Boseiju, Who Shelters All and spells with the Split-Second ability such as Krosan Grip are useful against this combo. If you think someone might use one such card against you, plan accordingly. You might want to consider fetching Possibility Storm, which negates uncounterability and Split-Second cards alike; or, you might fancy fetching a card that protects your other enchantments by giving them shroud, such as Greater Auramancy. To be extremely safe, you could even fetch Wheel of Sun and Moon to ensure that even if something does wind up destroyed, you can just fetch it again with ease. If a man-land seems to be threatening you, fetch Living Plane. Man lands get around Humility because of how layers and timestamps work. However, your man-land issues are gone with Living Plane on the battlefield. Now they won't have the ability to tap for mana, and they definitely can't turn into creatures!
What it does:
With this combo in place, no players are able to resolve spells. The first spell they cast that turn gets exiled by Possibility Storm. Then, they exile cards off of the top of their library until they exile a card that shares a type with the first card exiled with Possibility Storm. That card is uncastable, so all cards are then sent to the bottom of that player's library in random order. The end result is that no spells are resolved and no more spells can be cast that turn by whoever cast the original spell. Even uncounterable cards and cards with the Split-Second ability are exiled by Possibility Storm. Pretty sweet, huh?
Application:
Say you are quite sure that players have removal in their hands in the form of both creature and noncreature spells. Fetching Dovescape or Humility just might not cut it. It's time for another combo. Enter: Possibility Storm. With this crazy card out, anything a player draws is now considered irrelevant. With Possibility Storm out, the chances of it being removed are pretty small. After you fetch Possibility Storm, fetch Rule of Law to seal everyone's fate.
What to watch out for:
With this combo in place, and nothing rule-altering on the field that lets players cast things from anywhere but the hand, there is really nothing to watch out for. This combo shuts things down pretty tight. Just proceed to step 2 so you won't die from any creatures on the battlefield once you have this combo in place. If there is, say, a [Melek, Izzet Paragon] on the field, go ahead and fetch [Humility] to stop that madness. [Dovescape], unfortunately, would not preform well with Melek out, since a second copy of any spell cast off the top of that player's library is generated, but not cast. If there seems to be too many creatures on the field for you to survive until you have both combo pieces, just fetch Possibility Storm and then go with something that makes you invincible, from step 2. If there are not any flying creatures on the field, consider fetching Island Sanctuary and immediatly skipping your next draw. That way, if someone is able to remove it, the affect still applies. You can then fetch another damage-negating enchantment, until it gets through a whole turn cycle without being removed; then fetch Rule of Law. They can't be lucky forever.
What it does:
These two cards together make it so that lands are 0/0 creatures. Upon fetching the entirety of this combo, state-based actions will be checked and boom. All lands are history. Nobody can even respond once they let the copy of Enduring Ideal fetch the second half of this combo. Any new lands placed are also unable to tap for mana before state-based actions are checked and they are sent to the graveyard.
Application:
This is a great combo for turn 3 Epics. You resolve Enduring Ideal on turn 3 and fetch Living Plane. Not only have you set up for a devastating lock, but you have effectively destroyed your opponents' next land drop due to the fact that it will be affected by summoning sickness. After that, just fetch Night of Souls' Betrayal and listen as the groaning and moaning ensues. Watch as the tears start to flow. Smile as the lands disappear forever.
What to watch out for:
Removal can hit this combo pretty hard while you are trying to assemble it. This combo is best early, when players have not drawn into their removal yet, or they just don't have the mana for it. Make sure people don't have any color-producing artifacts when you pull off this combo. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for losing the game to your own stupidity and lack of preparation when someone uses his Sol Ring and his Chromatic Lantern to cast Beast Within on your Night of Souls' Betrayal.
What it does:
This combo is similar to the previous one, which involves Living Plane and Night of Souls' Betrayal. However, instead of killing your opponents' lands, you will be rendering them useless. Trust me, it's just as satisfying.
Application:
It it's early in the game, try fetching Living Plane first so your opponents' next land drop is useless. If it's later in the game or if you feel an enchantment-hating creature is lurking in someone's hand, go with Humility first and see what happens.
What to watch out for:
Just like the Living Planes + Night of Souls' Betrayal combo, this combo is weak to removal of many sorts. Be aware of what your opponents are capable of by checking to see how much mana they have access to, and how many cards are in their hands. Remember, always play it safe.
Alright, you've got a lock in place. You've pretty much won, but you still need to go through the motions so everyone can see how hopeless it is. It's time to become invincible mother****ers! There are singular cards in this deck that can keep us alive, as well as numerous combos. Let's go through the combos first.
What it does:
It makes you invulnerable to both damage and life loss. Unlife states that you can't lose the game for having 0 life, but damage gives you poison counters. Shield states that you can't take damage. Instead your life total just goes down. This makes it so that you never, ever die. I like to think of this combo as the filter in a fish tank. Damage is water, and Delaying Shield converts that damage into clean, breathable life-loss. Ah, how refreshing. Also note that just Delaying Shield alone makes you invulnerable to general damage and infect damage.
Application:
Fetch Delaying Shield first. After you fetch it, your opponent swings in one final effort to beat you, using his 9,000/9,000 creature. You have no blocks, and you put 9,000 counters on Delaying Shield. He passes the turn. Delaying Shield's trigger goes off on our upkeep, and so does Enduring Ideal's trigger from its Epic ability. So, what happens? Well, according to the rules of Magic, whenever two triggers you control happen at the same time, you get to decide which happens first. Looks like both triggers happen at the start of your upkeep, so we're golden. Just have Delaying Shield trigger first and Epic trigger last, so Epic resolves first. Fetch Phyrexian Unlife, and then let Delaying Shield resolve. You choose not to pay anything because you already nuked everyone's lands. You lose 9,000 life, but you aren't dead due to having Phyrexian Unlife out. BAM! We live.
If you are having trouble understanding why this works, here's a lesson on the stack that I made just for you:
You have a plate and 3 pancakes. Pancake A, Pancake B, and Pancake C. Your goal is to eat these pancakes, so you put them on your plate on top of each other. First you put Pancake A on the plate, then you put Pancake B on the plate, and finally you put Pancake C on the plate. Great. Now you have a plate of pancakes! It looks like this:
Pancake C
So, now you have to eat them, obviously. Which one do you eat first? The top pancake of course! So you eat pancake C. The plate looks like this now:Pancake B
Pancake A
PLATE
Pancake B
YUM. That was a good pancake. I'm glad we ate it. But there are two left! Let's eat the next one. Mmmmm, Our plate now looks like this, with one pancake left!Pancake A
PLATE
Pancake A
I'm still hungry! Time to eat the pancake that was at the bottom now. I bet it will be so tasty! Ahhh, so worth it. Now the plate is empty and looks like this:PLATE
PLATE
...There's nothing on it, and I'm still hungry! Time to make some more, I guess.Okay, that story didn't make much sense to you, and now you're hungry. Wait! Before you head to the fridge, go back to my little story and re-read it. Only this time replace all instances of "plate" with "stack". Replace all instances of "pancake" with "spell". Replace all instances of "eat" with "resolve", and replace all instances of "make" with "cast".
Congratulations. You now understand the stack. So, that's why our Delaying Shield + Phyrexian Unlife combo works. If two *pancakes* are *made* at the same time, we can choose which *pancakes* to put on our *plate* first. We decided to put the Delaying Shield *pancake* on our *plate*, then the Epic *pancake* on our *plate*. Now we *eat* the one on top first, which is the Epic *pancake*.
Let's get into another combo that makes us invincible. Variety is the spice of life!
What it does:
This combo makes it so that sources you don't control can't damage you, and since cards never hit the graveyard, it will stay that way. This doesn't protect you from your own Mana Crypt, and try not to tap your Ancient Tomb too much.
Application:
Fetch Rest in Peace first, duh. Otherwise, someone will just use a fetchland and your combo is over. Overall, this isn't my favorite combo. It's not the best. But it can get the job done, so keep it in mind.
What it does:
This combo makes it so that creatures cannot attack. Period. Well, man-lands with flying can. But you can deal with those as discussed earlier.
Application:
You probably already have Humility out. So fetch Moat. It's really that ******* simple. Feel free to fetch Form of the Dragon instead of Moat. Same dif, breh.
Alright, so those are the combos that help us to stay alive. However, a lot of the time you won't even need a combo to stay alive. You just need one card. Here are the cards that get the job done and don't need no goddamn help.
Explanation:
This is my absolute favorite card to fetch to stay alive after I've locked everyone down. Why? Because it elegantly accomplishes so many things at the same time. Firstly, it lets you skip your draws for the rest of the game; so you never, ever, ever have to draw something you wanted to fetch. Secondly, it's a Moat with a mother******* Pegasus on it! And lastly, it works until your next turn, even if someone finds a way to destroy it. Now that's my kind of card. Worship it. Like it. Eat it. Just kidding, don't eat it. But do run it in your Enchantment Lockdown deck. It's good *****.
Explanation:
Here's a card that just does it all for you. And, like the card above, it has applications beyond that of keeping your life total above 0. Other than making you an untouchable god, this amazing card can actually help you send things in your hand back into your library! How cool is that? All you need is Wheel of Sun and Moon and you can send that Humility in your hand back into your library for use on your sad little opponents. If you need to keep Solitary Confinement on the field for a while, fetch Phyrexian Arena so you won't run out of cards to discard.
Explanation:
Which is more satisfying: causing all creatures on the field to become absolutely ******* useless, or to be able to tutor up an alternate art Meishin, the Mind Cage with Nicholas Cage's glorious head bursting forth for all to see, his mouth wide open and his eyeballs bulging from their very sockets? With this card, you don't have to make that decision, because you can have both.
To conclude this section, if you have locked down the game and are unable to find a way to make yourself invincible, you are on some kind of acid.
At this point, the only ones still playing are only doing so because they are curious as to how you can win. Let's not disappoint them, then. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. This isn't the most competitive version of the deck. Some of my "win conditions" could be taken out for some very useful tech cards. However, EDH is about having fun. Sadistic fun, the kind of fun that ends friendships. So I threw in some cards that, while totally unnecessary, are actually really ******* necessary. We'll start it off with a combo.
Explanation:
First fetch Wound Reflection. At this point everyone will wonder what the hell you are planning. Next fetch Havoc Festival. A lot of people still don't get it at this point. You pass the turn. Johny, who is at 80,000,000 life, silently quits. Cassandra, who seems to be illiterate and mentally challenged on multiple levels, draws a card. You stop her and tell her to lose half her life. She says "Ah," with a comma at the end.
She turns her Avacyn Restored spindown die down to 15, and passes the turn after staring at your foil Dovescape for a full 5 seconds. You tell her to lose the other half of her life total, as you point to Wound Reflection. Cassandra's jaw drops, and you really hope a bug flies in there. It doesn't but she collects her cards and goes away. Spike, who is the last opponent still alive, is at 3 life, because he's been trying to find an answer for your combos with his Necropotence. He's a spike, so he doesn't mind paying life to do what's necessary. What a pro. He announces his upkeep, and loses 1 life. You tell him to lose 2 life. He says "No, it's rounded up." You hand him the card and wait while he rereads it 5,000 times in 3 seconds. He drops Havoc Festival, and scoops up his cards while saying "Scoop".
You just killed everyone before your next upkeep. Pretty legit, huh.
Now, Wound Reflection is not really needed if you have Phyrexian Unlife out, so I guess you could replace it with something else. But killing everyone before your next upkeep while teaching them how to round up is pretty entertaining. For me it is, anyways. Anywho, let's take a look at some more cards that can end the game.
Explanation:
This card is full of flavor, and can actually make you invulnerable while killing your opponents or their planeswalkers/creatures. Most people in this world are pretty simple-minded, so if you want to kill people quickly this is the way to go. It's obvious to them that they will eventually die from this card, so everyone will just scoop it up.
GG.
Explanation:
Now this has got to be my favorite way to end the game. The look on peoples' faces when you tie the game is just too funny. And it's even better if you're playing for packs in a tournament. Nobody knows what the **** to do. So you just say, "Alright, I'll just fetch Aura of Silence next upkeep and then fetch Form of the Dragon so I can kill you all slowly." Everyone scoops it up and hands you the packs.
GG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice job, young grasshopper. You have made it through step 3, and are smiling. Your opponents aren't, but you are. So, yeah. That's generally how you would play the deck once you resolve Enduring Ideal. I'd like to spend some time now talking about the various tech-related enchantments in the deck, and teaching you how to use them effectively. We'll just do this in alphabetical order to make things simple.
Card:
Act of Authority
Explanation:
Every deck needs an O-Ring, and this is mine. Pretty much the only thing I ever need to remove are artifacts (like Oblivion Stone or other enchantments (maybe an Oblivion Ring...I don't know). So, I might as well run something that gets rid of them for good, and lets me re-use it if I need to. When the ***** hits the fan, you would be surprised how useful it is to exile someone's ***** a second time in exchange for them being able to do it right back. And hey, if you have Greater Auramancy out that won't even be a problem. Sometimes I've used Act of Authority to get rid of my own Phyrexian Arena.
Card:
Aura of Silence
Explanation:
This is a useful card pre-Epic, because EDH is a format plagued by artifact-based mana acceleration Post-Epic, it's just another Act of Authority most of the time.
Card:
Copy Artifact
Explanation:
A great all-round enchantment. You can use it to accelerate your mana, or maybe copy your opponent's Crucible of Worlds so they can't try anything their mother wouldn't approve of. (hint: it has to do with Strip Mine.)
Card:
Copy Enchantment
Explanation:
This card is a wonderful gift from above. Pre-Epic, you can copy that Sylvan Library that your opponent just wasted a tutor on. Post-Epic, you can use it to protect your own enchantments by simply making copies of them, or by using it with Greater Auramancy.
Card:
Dark Tutelage
Explanation:
It's painful, but it gets the job done. A harder-to-remove bob that is easier to tutor for, and it costs just 1 more mana. Sold. Note its synergy with Sensei's Divining Top and similar effects.
Card:
Greater Auramancy
Explanation:
Whether it gets killed right away or it gets copied to make our enchantments untouchable forever, it serves its purpose. A great include, and easily castable pre-Epic.
Card:
Phyrexian Arena
Explanation:
If you think Dark Tutelage is good, this card is going to blow your mind and tell you to leave some money on the nightstand. One life a turn in EDH is nothing. Seriously, with the card advantage this enchantment provides, you had better be running it.
Card:
Rest in Peace
Explanation:
A lot of EDH decks rely heavily on the graveyard as a resource. This card *****s on them. It combos with the aforementioned Energy Field to make you hard to kill, and it combos with Helm of Obedience to exile some unlucky bastard's library at instant speed.
Card:
Sterling Grove
Explanation:
A multiple-use card that is really annoying to waste a removal spell on. Your opponent will cringe as he wastes a Nature's Claim on it, only to watch you place Humility on the top of your library. Aw, man! A lot of times, you will be using this card to fetch...
Card:
Sylvan Library
Explanation:
Opponents will roll their eyes as you immediately pay 8 life to dig for Enduring Ideal. **** 'em. This is your deck's best draw engine. Don't be afraid to use it to its maximum potential.
Card:
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Explanation:
I have grown to really appreciate this card a lot over time. It has so many applications that you don't even realize until you take advantage of them in-game. Someone's playing a graveyard deck. Your friend is playing Hermit Druid. Nope! not today, ******. Not today. Or perhaps you've gone Epic but you're holding a key piece needed to finish the game. Just fetch Wheel and stall with cards like Meishin, the Mind Cage and Solitary Confinement until you can toss it back into the library. Do you feel the need to draw the game without going Epic? With Wheel and Helm of Obedience, you can make the game a draw by making someone infinitely put the top card of their library onto the bottom.
Well, that should be enough info for this to be considered a "Primer", or whatever you hip Magic kids call it these days. Feel free to comment with any criticism or questions about the deck.
YOU'RE WELCOME.
I was already thinking of testing City of Solitude, but I think I like your suggestion of Hall of Gemstone even more. Not only does it stop counters, but it also supremely messes with multicolored decks. I'm going to test this. Thanks!
I think EDH needs to become more like Vintage. And in case you haven't started foaming at the mouth yet, here's why: in vintage, almost all decks run the power 9. Instead of trying to make gentleman's agreements and build "fair" decks, people play the apprioriate answers and guess what? It's a healthy format.
EDH is the same. You know those cards that nearly every deck needs to run, and there's a lot of valid strategies that are frowned upon because people are too lazy to adjust their bomb-filled timmy decks to run a Nature's Claim. If you adjust to the powerful spells instead of making them taboo you get a healthy format that ALL kinds of players can get in to!
Hey pal, thanks for checking this out! I address Second Chance in the "WHY U O X?!" section of the primer. basically, my view is that the combo cannot be assembled until after I go Epic, and is prone to removal unless I fetch protection first, which means I must have already locked down the board. However, if I have already locked down the board I don't really need infinite turns. I have a lot of ways to win already, so a 3-card or 4-card combo isn't ideal here. Although, I am going to test Mistveil Plains as a card in the deck. It seems like it could save me from having to waste a fetch on Wheel of Sun and Moon after I go Epic. Thanks for the suggestions!
It says I can edit it, but the editing box is extremely small. I tried to counteract this by copying my post and pasting it in microsoft word, editing it, then replacing the old post with the edited version. I thought whatever, I can live with this. But then another issue arose.
If someone could please help me through this I would appreciate it. My primer is a project I care about and it discourages me that for some unknown reason I cannot make progress right now.
The link to the post I am talking about is in my sig.
edit: oh, and also I must note that the "edit" button and other buttons to change my primer post are different than the one to edit or quote replies to peoples' responses to the post. Instead of black text on white background, they are blue bubbles like the "upload image" and "save changes" buttons I see below this as I type. I don't get this....at all.