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  • posted a message on Infinite combos and strong synergies - now under new management
    In this combo:

    Candelabra of Tawnos + Voltaic Key + Rings of Brighthearth + Cabal Coffers with 6 swamps out of 8 lands = infinite mana

    You can replace Candelabra of Tawnos and Voltaic Key with Deserted Temple.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on [Competitive] Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Whoops, forgot about this thread.

    Quote from nazarener
    I considering building this deck. But I still have some questions.
    Lets say you manage to chain 7 time walks and you have like 10 critter on the board (i assume that both numbers are higher than they usually are). That would equal to 70 dmg barely enough to knock 2 opponents out. I don't see what to do with the remaining opponent/s.
    This is probably the reason I feel like adding waterfront bouncer, erratic portal or words of wind to reccur eternal witness and/or mnemonic wall for infinite turns.
    Speaking of words of wind: Getting it down t3 or t4 can insta win the game. Bouncing 2 to 3 permanents at minimum per turn seems more then slow edh decks can handle. With 1-mana critters, exploration and stuff, it shouldnt hit ourselves to hard.


    The deck can easily kill multiple people by prowling Notorious Throng and recurring it with Eternal Witness, Noxious Revival, etc. Prowling Throng twice should easily give you enough creatures to quickly kill any number of players.

    As to your infinite turns suggestion, the deck has an infinite turn combo in the form of Rite of Replication + Eternal Witness.


    Quote from kicks_422
    Your creature count is a bit too low that what I normally see. How has that been? I usually see creature counts in the mid-30s for Edric decks.


    It works fine, because this deck doesn't need to draw as many cards as other Edric decks to win the game. In Donald's thread, I posted five sample games to illustrate how this list works compared to others. I haven't seen any evidence that my list is somehow slower or less effective than other Edric lists with more creatures (although it does play differently, which could make it seem worse if you're not familiar with the lines of play). As a bonus, I get to run fewer crappy 1/1 creatures that suck when you're behind.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Donald
    We had quite a few people playtesting a very similar build and this was the general consensus we came to on the Time Warp count. They are just pretty poor in the opening hand so I reduced it to the bare minimum to help my mulligans.


    I don't feel that Time Warps are bad in the opening hand. They're unusable for the first three to four turns, but it's so much better to have one than to hope to draw into one. Sure, a lot of the support cards I run are poor in the opening hand or without a Time Warp effect, but as I'll show later in the post, I win as fast or faster than everyone in this thread.

    Quote from Donald
    If your meta packs a lot of Supreme Verdicts and Abrupt Decays there would be more incentive to win the turn you go off instead of passing the turn and relying on counterspells.


    I've found this to be a risky proposition, especially if your opponents are getting use out of Edric. My group is very high powered, making it difficult for me to handle the three players' powerful spells. If you chain extra turns, you don't have to worry about stopping three people. Best defense is a good offense, etc.

    Quote from Naethyn
    I tried a few hands with your list. It trades explosive tempo for long term consistency.


    You're going to have to define your terms. I don't know what you mean by "explosive tempo". If you mean that you draw more cards earlier than my list, I agree completely. However, this is only looking at half the equation. It's not just about how many cards you can draw, but how powerful they are. I don't need to draw as many cards as most other lists to end the game, which allows me to have a more resilient and powerful mid-game without sacrificing speed.

    Quote from Naethyn
    The list has some great ramp, but that's not what this deck needs. It simply does not scale the draw engine as well as the OP list does. Sure, late game it can find a few extra time warps and get the ball going, but that is well after turn 5 or 6 from my play testing.


    Ramp is exactly what this deck needs. Being able to get Edric out as fast as possible is huge, and the sooner you can cast Time Warps, the sooner you can end the game.

    I almost always have the game wrapped up by turn five in goldfishing. I wonder if your results stem from a lack of familiarity with my list. I'm going to goldfish my list five times and post the play-by-play to demonstrate it's speed.

    Quote from Naethyn
    I'm not trying to invalidate your list in any way. It is full of good cards that can win, and Edric is a good commander who can work with a wide variety of builds.


    No worries. I feel that I have something that is as fast or very nearly as fast as the traditional builds while adding resiliency and consistency. I want to make sure it is given its due, which is why I'm thankful that you and others have taken the time to investigate my claims.

    Okay, I'm going to shuffle up my deck and play five games, giving you the play-by-play. I'm going to do it with traditional mulligan rules since that's how most of you seem to play.

    A couple of ground rules:
    • All attackers can always hit a player. There's almost always someone who doesn't have a blocker in a game of EDH. Besides, making up criteria for when a creature can attack and when it can't would be arbitrary and open to endless debate with no right answer.
    • Carpet of Flowers produces zero mana on the first turn of the game and one every turn until turn five at which point it makes two mana for the rest of the game. Carpet of Flowers is often better than this, but rarely worse.
    • Tangle Wire is going to count as an extra turn. It's usually more like two extra turns, but I'm trying to be conservative.
    • Winter Orb is removed from the deck for these purposes. It's too complicated trying to figure out its impact in goldfishing, although it's at least an extra turn worth of slow down when cast.
    • Saprazzan Legate can only be cast for free on turn two or later. I can almost always cast it turn one in my group, but I'm going to slow it down a little.
    • Knowledge Exploitation always gets an extra turn card. There are tons of them in my group, so this holds.

    Game 1

    Worldly Tutor, Tropical Island, Jace's Phantasm, Sylvan Tutor, Arcane Denial, Noxious Revival, Unified Will

    Mulligan into: Yavimaya Coast, Erayo, Cloud of Faeries, Cyclonic Rift, Sakashima's Student, Gaea's Cradle

    Turn 1:

    Draw: Walk the Aeons

    Play Yavimaya Coast.

    Turn 2:

    Draw: Flooded Strand

    Play Flooded Strand, fetch Island, play Cloud of Faeries and Erayo.

    Turn 3:

    Draw: Island

    Play Gaea's Cradle and Sakashima's Student copying Cloud of Faeries to untap Cradle and Island. Play Edric.

    Attack, drawing two cards: City of Brass and Counterspell.

    Turn 4:

    Draw: Chrome Mox

    Attack, drawing four cards: Time Warp, Saprazzan Legate, Muddle the Mixture, Grayscaled Gharial

    Play Island, Saprazzan Legate, Grayscaled Gharial and Time Warp

    Turn 4.1:

    Draw: Willow Dryad

    Attack, drawing six cards: Sakura-Tribe Scout, Arbor Elf, Arcane Denial, Jukai Messenger, Forest, Dryad Arbor

    Play City of Brass. Transmute Muddle the Mixture for Regrowth. Cast Regrowth to get back Time Warp, Cast Time Warp, Play Chrome Mox, flipping Erayo. Imprint Sakura-Tribe Scout. Cast Jukai Messenger.

    Cleanup: discard Forest

    Turn 4.2:

    Draw: Llanowar Elves

    Attack, drawing six cards: Bear Umbra, Mana Crypt, Forest, Long-Term Plans, cast Long-Term Plans for Notorious Throng, Draw Shanodin Dryads and Island.

    Play Island, Shanodin Dryads, Walk the Aeons, Willow Dryad, Arbor Elf, Llanowar Elves.

    Game Over

    At this point I'm taking an extra turn on which I'm prowling a Notorious Throng. I'll have 21 cards to find a way to bring back Notorious Throng or keep taking extra turns. Statistically, this is game over. This wasn't the greatest hand, but it still killed on turn four and had a flipped Erayo.

    Game 2

    Boreal Druid, Carpet of Flowers, Saprazzan Legate, Wooded Foothills, Island, Knowledge Exploitation, Dryad Arbor

    Turn 1:

    Draw: Willow Dryad

    Play Wooded Foothills, fetch Tropical Island, play Boreal Druid

    Turn 2:

    Draw: Sword of Feast and Famine

    Play Island and Carpet of Flowers. Go to second main phase and add G from the Carpet. Play Saprazzan Legate and Edric.

    Turn 3:

    Draw: Notorious Throng Smile

    Attack with Saprazzan Legate and Edric, drawing two cards: Forest and Eternal Witness (I want to save Boreal Duid to make sure I can cast Knowledge Exploitation)

    Add G to mana pool with Carpet of Flowers. Play Dryad Arbor and prowl Knowledge Exploitation for an extra turn card.

    Turn 3.1:

    Draw: Exotic Orchard

    Attack with Saprazzan Legate and Edric drawing two cards: Mystical Tutor and Island.

    Add G to mana pool with Carpet of Flowers. Play Island and prowl Notorious Throng for three tokens and an extra turn.

    Turn 3.2:

    Draw: Worldly Tutor

    Add G to mana pool with Carpet, Play Exotic Orchard and Sword of Feast and Famine (use Boreal Druid, leaving an Island and Dryad Arbor untapped). Equip Sword of Feast and Famine.

    Attack, drawing six cards: Island, Wingcrafter, Island, Time Warp, cast Mystical Tutor for Noxious Revival, draw Noxious Revival, cast Noxious Revival with two life targeting Notorious Throng, draw Notorious Throng. Untap lands including Dryad Arbor with Sword of Feast and Famine

    Play Forest and prowl Notorious Throng for nine tokens and an extra turn.

    Game Over:

    I'm prowling Throng at least one more time with Eternal Witness and Sword of Feast and Famine, plus I have a Time Warp. This was a strong hand and Notorious Throng was a really good draw. I got a little luckier than usual, but games like this are not uncommon.

    Game 3

    Command Tower, Jace's Phantasm, Personal Tutor, Fyndhorn Elves, Polluted Delta, Unified Will, Merfolk Spy

    Turn 1:

    Draw: Arbor Elf

    Play Polluted Delta, fetch Tropical Island, cast Arbor Elf.

    Turn 2:

    Draw: One With Nature

    Play Command Tower, Jace's Phantasm, Fyndhorn Elves, Merfolk Spy

    Turn 3:

    Draw: Nature's Will

    Cast Edric. Attack, drawing three cards: Long-Term Plans, Exotic Orchard, Capture of Jingzhou.

    Play Exotic Orchard and One With Nature

    Turn 4:

    Draw: Forest

    Play Forest and Nature's Will

    Attack, finding Island with One With Nature and untapping all lands, draw five cards: Sakura-Tribe Scout, Crop Rotation, Temporal Mastery, Gaea's Cradle, Shanodin Dryads.

    Cast Capture of Jingzhou.

    Game Over

    I can Personal Tutor for Notorious Throng next turn, prowl it and get something to get it back with Long-Term Plans. Plus I have Temporal Mastery. This was a pretty good hand, but as you've seen, the deck is capable of better.

    Game 4

    Reflecting Pool, Druid's Repository, Boreal Druid, Island, Island, Unified Will, Sol Ring

    Mulligan: Negate, Delay, Erayo, Fyndhorn Elves, Tangle Wire, Gaea's Gradle

    Mulligan: Shanodin Dryads, Island, Breeding Pool, Sylvan Tutor, Reflecting Pool

    Turn 1:

    Draw: Llawan, Cephalid Empress

    Play Breeding Pool, Sylvan Tutor for Llanowar Elves.

    Turn 2:

    Draw: Llanowar Elves

    Play Reflecting Pool, Shanodin Dryads, Llanowar Elves

    Turn 3:

    Draw: Rite of Replication

    Aside: Turn three Llawan, Cephalid Empress is a strong play in my group. It will shut down at least two decks every game until they find an answer. I'm not going to call it game over, but it could be the play that buys me enough time to win the game in my group. I'll pretend it's a 2/3 vanilla for goldfishing

    Play Island, Edric.

    Attack, drawing two cards: Island, Tropical Island.

    Turn 4:

    Draw: Island Frown

    Attack, drawing three cards: Cloud of Faeries, Force of Will, Forest.

    Play Tropical Island, Cloud of Faeries, Llawan

    Turn 5:

    Draw: Reclaim

    Attack, drawing five cards: Regrowth, Scalding Tarn, Exploration, Long-Term Plans, cast Long-Term Plans for Notorious Throng, draw Island.

    Play Exploration, Island, Island

    Turn 6:

    Draw: Noxious Revival Cool

    Game Over

    I'm prowling Notorious Throng at least four times here. Note that I mulled to five cards on account of no green and no initial mana sources - something that could easily happen to any list. I was slightly hurt by drawing some of my support cards at inopportune times, but another creature or two probably wouldn't have made this any faster. Depending on how you want to evaluate that Llawan (I usually count it as buying me two turns), this hand doesn't look that bad.

    Game 5

    Notorious Throng, Skyshroud Ranger, Tropical Island, Arbor Elf, Reclaim, Wooded Foothills, Scalding Tarn

    Turn 1:

    Draw: Mox Diamond Kekeke

    Play Tropical Island, Skyshroud Ranger, Mox Diamond pitching Wooded Foothills, Arbor Elf

    Turn 2:

    Draw: Elvish Mystic

    Play Scalding Tarn, fetch Breeding Pool, cast Edric.

    Attack with Skyshroud Ranger, drawing one card: Forest.

    Play Elvish Mystic

    Turn 3:

    Draw: Knowledge Exploitation

    Attack with Skyshroud Ranger and Edric, drawing two cards: Hinterland Harbor and Flooded Strand

    Play Hinterland Harbor, prowl Notorious Throng for three tokens

    Turn 3.1

    Draw: Exotic Orchard

    Attack, drawing six cards: Wingcrafter, Shanodin Dryads, Dryad Arbor, Rite of Replication, Island, cast Reclaim targeting Notorious Throng, draw Notorious Throng.

    Play Exotic Orchard, prowl Notorious Throng for six tokens.

    Discard Flooded Strand

    Game Over

    I'm drawing at least twenty cards here due to Knowledge Exploitation guaranteeing another extra turn.


    Conclusion:

    Two turn three wins, two turn four wins, and a turn six win. These games show that while the support cards hurt sometimes, they do way more good than harm. I'm not claiming that 40% of my games end on turn three, but I hope this puts to bed the idea that this deck is somehow slower or less explosive than other lists.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Donald
    Keep in mind the list in the OP is pretty explosive as well, my best so far is flipping Erayo on turn 2 and there have been others with similarly absurd starts. Turn 4 kills are very common and even if you "fizzle" you pass the turn with a wall of counterspells and an army of weenies so you can simply try to go off next turn. Either way I think the different mulligan rules could be the reason our builds are different, I did try running the deck with more extra turn support but eventually reduced it down to what I currently have.


    Good to know. I was responding to the people who were saying that this is a turn 5-6 deck. I know I've flipped Erayo on turn two before. Once, I had a game where I could have flipped Erayo on turn two, but it would have been a terrible idea because the guy before me cast a turn one Arcum Dagsson. Mad

    I find it interesting that you reduced all the way down to what you originally had. It's strange to me that you find it easy to win with so few ways to chain extra turns. Anyway, I think I'm going to test the deck with traditional mulligan rules and see what that does to my ability to win the game.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from ISBPathfinder
    You can always send the team at a different opponent. Stopping that key spell and giving out a token still seems like an acceptable trade off.


    I'm sure you could a lot of the time. I'm probably stuck on worst case scenario. If I find room, I'll give it a shot.

    Quote from varal
    Kuma, I just built my first Edric decks with only the cards I had available so not much evasive 1/1 for 1 but it went pretty well except I had a tough time to find my extra turn cards. I'll try your list next time I play EDH since it has a a greater proportion of extra turn effects. Except maybe with (all or half) snow-covered lands since there's some people playing Extraplanar Lens around here.


    Cool! Let me know how that goes.

    Quote from Naethyn
    The key to finding extra turn effects is having as many 1 drop evasive creatures as possible. While Kuma's list is neat as it gives a mainstream commander template to this deck, I feel much of it is not needed. In fact, not needing edh staples that is one of the best qualities.


    No, the key is finding the correct balance between card draw (evasive creatures) and cards you want to draw (extra turns, recursion, etc.). I find it hard to believe that five cards that take extra turns or find them is the optimal balance. I'm not sure what you find "mainstream" about my deck or why you think that's a bad thing. Defining "staples" is always a tricky exercise, but the only cards I consider staples that aren't in the list in the opening post are Rite of Replication, Eternal Witness, Cyclonic Rift, Muddle the Mixture, Worldly Tutor and Sol Ring. This is hardly a "goodstuff" deck.

    Quote from Naethyn
    This deck is so explosive and consistent on its own that you will easily find multiple turn effects if you can quickly scale the amount of cards you draw each turn. By turn 5 or 6 things should be already out of hand in terms of how many creatures are attacking and causing you to draw. The more turns it goes on the father away you get from everyone else's board state. Cards like Winter Orb, Tangle Wire, and Druids' Repository can lock out the game at that point.


    By turn five or six my list has won the game. Turn three goldfishes are not uncommon, turn fours are common and I almost always have it by turn five (not counting extra turns). I encourage you to goldfish my list and see what I'm talking about.

    Quote from Naethyn
    Edit: One other thing that I do differently in this deck. I will play most of my lands in the second main phase after I have drawn cards in the attack. I'm not sure how relevant that is, but I find myself almost always changing plans after the attack draw.


    I do that too unless I have out a land untapping card like Nature's Will and can use the extra mana. It's very relevant as drawing Gaea's Cradle or Dryad Arbor from attacking allows you to improve your land drop if you wait.

    Quote from shneakyshneaky
    I agree, I feel that it trades its early game tempo and explosiveness for mid-late game consistency. With the amount of card draw, I don't believe it's necessary for that many extra turn effects. How many do you really need for this deck with this draw power? You only need enough to get Triumph of the Hordes or Beastmaster Ascension online to win the game.


    I would encourage you to goldfish my list as well and see how explosive it is. Am I running too many extra turn cards? Possibly, but I believe the optimal amount is closer to the twenty cards I run to support extra turn taking than the five everyone else seems to run. How many do I need? Enough to kill the table with Notorious Throng without passing the turn.

    I'm only running like eight less creatures than Donald's list. It's not like I don't have attackers. The beauty of my list is that you don't need so many attackers because you run so many more ways to take extra turns. Many of these cards give added flexibility to the deck that allow it to perform better when it is behind. The best part is that if the turn five or six that everyone keeps throwing around is the standard of speed for this deck, I'm at least a full turn faster too.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    I haven't tested it, because giving out a 2/2 blocker in a deck full of 1/1 flying creatures doesn't seem worth it to save one mana on a counterspell.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Donald
    I read that after I had posted and came to the same conclusion. All my testing was done on MTGO and in my own playgroup and both use traditional mulligan rules.


    Yeah, that makes sense. Still, it's probably worth trying my take on Edric even if they were designed with different mulligan rules in mine (Little known fact, Partial Paris is an "official rule" of Commander on mtgcommander.net). I just don't feel like 5-6 cards is enough to consistently chain extra turns even if 20 is too many.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [Competitive] Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Donald
    Took some time to go through, nice write up! Not much to add but I'm not too keen on Viridian Zealot. I think there's a 1 mana guy you can pay a green sac him to destroy an artifact but his name eludes me. Other than Propaganda and a few others there aren't many enchantments that give me trouble so I would think the cheaper option would be better. Secondly I'd try to find room for Sylvan Safekeeper unless your meta is very spot removal light. It's one of the only ways to deal with Abrupt Decay as well as an efficient way to deal with other spot removal. He's always played out better than Eladamri, Lord of Leaves for me and is usually my go to creature with GSZ if I've already drawn Dryad Arbor.


    Viridian Zealot is certainly one of the weaker slots in my deck, but right now I feel he needs to be there over Elvish Scrapper and/or Scavenger Folk to answer Blood Moon, Defense of the Heart, Food Chain and Stranglehold from my group.

    I've run Sylvan Safekeeper in the past, but cut him to try new cards. I keep wanting to re-add him, but I'm always testing something new in his spot. There isn't a ton of spot removal in my group, but it's there. Eladamri, Lord of Leaves has usually been enough protection. Late game, the land sacrificing isn't a big deal, but it can matter early on even if it's preferable to losing Edric.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Donald
    Thank you very much for posting this KumaTheBear.


    My pleasure. Smile

    Quote from Donald
    The biggest problem I see is having to mulligan more often as the Time Warps and support cards for them aren't very good early on. That said it may be worth the tradeoff to have a little more to do late game.


    I didn't think about it until I read your post, but my group plays with Partial Paris mulligans. It's very easy for me to put back cards that are good in the late game to draw more little creatures. I can certainly see the case for adding more little attackers at the expense of some late-game cards if you play with traditional mulligan rules or "first one's free".

    I've come to realize that you should keep a Time Warp effect or a card that gets you one while taking mulligans (unless you're land starved, or something). It makes starting the extra turn chains so much easier when you don't have to worry about drawing into one.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Donald's Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Hey guys, I just posted my own Edric thread after reading through the last 40 or so pages of this thread. My list has the same basic idea as this one, but there are also numerous differences that I think are worth discussing.

    Thread is here: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=542520



    While I'm still on the lots of little evasive guys plan, I'm running far fewer than Donald's list. I run 19 one mana creatures to Donald's 28 and 25 overall to Donald's 36 (counting Veil of Birds. Alternatively, I'm running lots more cards that enable chaining of extra turns.

    Being able to chain extra turn cards into victory on my third turn is not uncommon, turn four is very common and turn five is almost a certainty, providing I haven't received too much hate from the table.

    Consider:

    Donald's List in the first post:

    That's five ways to take an extra turn, six if you want to count Beastmaster Ascension which usually ends the game.

    My list:

    That's twenty cards that can help chain extra turns compared to five or six. In my list, it's pretty rare for my opponents to have another turn after I cast my first extra turn card. While running fewer little, evasive creatures means I'll draw fewer cards, in practice the deck usually only needs about three attackers or so by turn three to draw enough cards to win the game. These extra slots grant flexibility and resilience that other Edric lists do not have. If you're losing, Knowledge Exploitation, Sakashima's Student or Rite of Replication is much more likely to turn the game around than Thought Nibbler and friends.[/indent]

    The way I usually win is prowling Notorious Throng. Once I'm prowling Notorious Throng, I have enough 1/1 fliers to kill the table in short order. Unless my opponents are masochists or ignorant of how your deck works, they'll concede to four-plus attackers plus two ways to take/recur an extra turn as statistically speaking that's game over.

    This is the biggest difference between my Edric list and other, similar ones. I don't run cards like Beastmaster Ascension and Craterhoof Behemoth because, frankly, they're win-more. I have not found my ability to win to be diminished in the slightest since I cut those cards.

    Other differences:

    Temporal Mastery. Yes you're more likely to draw it when you can't miracle it than when you can. Yes it costs seven mana in those situations. It's still an extra turn card, which is usually the best thing we can topdeck. It's easily the worst one in my list, but it's still an extra turn card. Sometimes I miracle it and it's incredible, but even at seven mana I'm pretty happy to see it as it's still castable for me most of the time.

    Nature's Will, et. al. I've put these cards on notice lately because the deck's curve is so low, but they usually create a crucial extra mana or two. They enable plays like Muddle the Mixture -> Regrowth -> Time Warp that would be difficult to do otherwise. Sometimes they're blank, and they're bad in multiples, but more often than not they do good work.

    There are other differences, but I think this is a good place to start the conversation. Smile
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [Competitive] Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Quote from Toonamiguy
    Why would one want to avoid playing the deck because "Nobody plays green or blue in your group"? I don't get it...


    Because the deck runs a bunch of forestwalkers and islandwalkers that are going to be pretty bad if your opponents don't have the correct basic land types.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [Competitive] Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Edric, Spymaster of Trest




    Overview:

    Edric, Spymaster of Trest does two things well:

    1. Draws you lots of cards.
    2. Keeps your opponents from attacking you.

    The deck's goal is to cast a turn two Edric, Spymaster of Trest while using its little creatures to draw into countermagic and extra turn cards, the latter of which begets more cards and extra turns until you've achieved critical mass and can start killing players by prowling Notorious Throng over and over again.

    An added benefit of Edric, Spymaster of Trest is that your opponents won't tend to attack you as it is more profitable for them to hit their other opponents and draw cards. This can be a mixed bag, as sometimes you'd rather take the damage than let your opponents refill their hands, but the deck is set up so that you should easily profit the most from Edric, Spymaster of Trest being on the battlefield.

    You might like playing Edric if:

    • Your group doesn't allow/like combo decks.
    • The idea of killing people with Cloud Sprite tickles your fancy.
    • You want a deck that makes you think.
    • You like counterspells.
    • You want to try something different.

    You might want to avoid playing Edric if:

    • Your group has a problem with extra turns and/or counterspells.
    • You don't like the combat phase.
    • Your opponents run lots of little creatures and/or make lots of tokens.
    • Your group runs a lot of board sweepers.

    Edric, Spymaster of Trest requires more thought to play than most commanders. In order to succeed, you must be very judicious in deciding when to tap out and when to cast your spells. If you're not into that kind of Magic, you're probably better off with another commander.

    History:

    I got the idea to build Edric, Spymaster of Trest from seeing what he did to the game in my friend's Maelstrom Wanderer deck. Whenever he would have Edric out, people would stop attacking him no matter whether it was the right play or not in exchange for a couple of cards. This led to unending frustration on my part watching how stupid Edric made people. I mentioned this in a conversation with my friend, and he called Edric, "The best Propaganda effect there is." Hoping to channel Edric's brain-numbing effects, I decided to build the deck. Another selling point for me was seeing if I could build a deck that could hang with the high-powered combo decks in my playgroup without being one itself. I liked how Edric won through somewhat non-conventional means, and it's been a blast watching high powered combo decks lose to Triton Shorestalker. I also wanted something I could play with the "no combo" crowd (If I had to...).

    The deck's gameplan hasn't changed much since I first built it. Right away, I knew I wanted a lot of little fliers and landwalkers to guarantee card draw backed up by extra turn cards to get even more card advantage. Eventually, I would hit a kill condition and end the game. The biggest change came when I realized how much better a turn two Edric is compared to a turn three one. This led to the addition of cards like Llanowar Elves and Mox Diamond to power out a turn two Edric.

    The second biggest change to the gameplan, and part of what separates my list from other Edric lists is my lack of a big finisher like Beastmaster Ascension or Craterhoof Behemoth. I've found these cards to be unnecessary and only strong when you're way ahead in the game. My group scoops to the ability to take two or three extra turns with around five attackers I can consistently get through, because they don't want to watch me play solitaire for ten to fifteen minutes ending in their demise. It's still easy enough to kill the table by prowling Notorious Throng once or twice and/or overloading Cyclonic Rift.

    By FunctionMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
    Commander
    3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest

    Ramp: 13
    0 Chrome Mox
    0 Mox Diamond
    0 Mana Crypt
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Carpet of Flowers
    1 Exploration
    1 Skyshroud Ranger
    1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
    1 Boreal Druid
    1 Llanowar Elves
    1 Fyndhorn Elves
    1 Elvish Mystic
    1 Arbor Elf

    Evasive Little Critters: 12
    0 Memnite
    1 Hope of Ghirapur
    1 Faerie Miscreant
    1 Jace's Phantasm
    1 Wingcrafter
    1 Hypnotic Siren
    1 Grayscaled Gharial
    1 Merfolk Spy
    1 Triton Shorestalker
    1 Gudul Lurker
    1 Slither Blade
    2 Cloud of Faeries

    Counterspells: 14
    1 Mental Misstep
    1 Mausoleum Wanderer
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Swan Song
    2 Daze
    2 Delay
    2 Negate
    2 Unsubstantiate
    2 Arcane Denial
    2 Unified Will
    2 Counterspell
    2 Mana Drain
    5 Force of Will

    Other Good Creatures: 7
    1 Sylvan Safekeeper
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    2 Phantasmal Image
    2 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
    3 Reclamation Sage
    3 Eternal Witness
    4 Sakashima's Student

    Extra Turns: 7
    4 Notorious Throng
    5 Time Warp
    5 Temporal Manipulation
    5 Capture of Jingzhou
    6 Part the Waterveil
    6 Walk the Aeons
    7 Temporal Mastery

    Tutors: 8
    1 Personal Tutor
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Crop Rotation
    1 Green Sun's Zenith
    2 Sylvan Scrying
    2 Muddle the Mixture
    3 Long-Term Plans
    7 Knowledge Exploitation

    Graveyard Recursion: 2
    1 Noxious Revival
    2 Regrowth

    Other Good Card:
    2 Cyclonic Rift

    Lands: 34
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Breeding Pool
    1 Polluted Delta
    1 Flooded Strand
    1 Scalding Tarn
    1 Misty Rainforest
    1 Verdant Catacombs
    1 Windswept Heath
    1 Wooded Foothills
    1 Flooded Grove
    1 Yavimaya Coast
    1 Hinterland Harbor
    1 Command Tower
    1 City of Brass
    1 Reflecting Pool
    1 Exotic Orchard
    1 Mana Confluence
    1 Gemstone Caverns
    1 Gaea's Cradle
    1 Dryad Arbor
    1 Pendelhaven
    3 Forest
    10 Island

    Edric, Spymaster of TrestMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
    Commander
    3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest

    Creatures - 27
    1 Skyshroud Ranger
    1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
    1 Boreal Druid
    1 Llanowar Elves
    1 Fyndhorn Elves
    1 Elvish Mystic
    1 Arbor Elf
    1 Sylvan Safekeeper
    1 Hope of Ghirapur
    1 Memnite
    1 Jace's Phantasm
    1 Mausoleum Wanderer
    1 Faerie Miscreant
    1 Hypnotic Siren
    1 Wingcrafter
    1 Grayscaled Gharial
    1 Merfolk Spy
    1 Gudul Lurker
    1 Triton Shorestalker
    1 Slither Blade
    1 Cloud of Faeries
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    2 Phantasmal Image
    2 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
    3 Reclamation Sage
    3 Eternal Witness
    4 Sakashima's Student

    Enchantments - 3
    1 Carpet of Flowers
    1 Exploration
    5 Treachery

    Artifacts - 4
    0 Chrome Mox
    0 Mox Diamond
    0 Mana Crypt
    1 Sol Ring

    Sorcery - 13
    1 Personal Tutor
    1 Green Sun's Zenith
    2 Sylvan Scrying
    2 Regrowth
    4 Notorious Throng
    5 Time Warp
    5 Temporal Manipulation
    5 Capture of Jingzhou
    6 Part the Waterveil
    6 Walk the Aeons
    7 Temporal Mastery
    7 Knowledge Exploitation

    Instant - 19
    1 Mental Misstep
    1 Noxious Revival
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 Swan Song
    1 Mystical Tutor
    1 Crop Rotation
    2 Daze
    2 Delay
    2 Unsubstantiate
    2 Negate
    2 Arcane Denial
    2 Unified Will
    2 Counterspell
    2 Mana Drain
    2 Cyclonic Rift
    2 Muddle the Mixture
    3 Long-Term Plans
    5 Force of Will

    Lands: 34
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Breeding Pool
    1 Polluted Delta
    1 Flooded Strand
    1 Scalding Tarn
    1 Misty Rainforest
    1 Verdant Catacombs
    1 Windswept Heath
    1 Wooded Foothills
    1 Flooded Grove
    1 Yavimaya Coast
    1 Hinterland Harbor
    1 Command Tower
    1 City of Brass
    1 Mana Confluence
    1 Reflecting Pool
    1 Exotic Orchard
    1 Gemstone Caverns
    1 Gaea's Cradle
    1 Pendelhaven
    1 Dryad Arbor
    3 Forest
    10 Island























    Strategy:

    Mulligans:

    The best starting hands allow the following line of play:

    Turn 1: Acceleration
    Turn 2: Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    Turn 3: Attack, draw a card or two, play a creature, keep mana open for a counterspell

    Alternatively, the following line of play is strong, but generally worse than the above one as it's a turn slower in getting your draw engine online and protecting it with countermagic:

    Turn 1: Creature
    Turn 2: Creature, Creature
    Turn 3: Edric, Spymaster of Trest, draw three cards.

    Generally, you should mulligan any cards that aren't little creatures, ramp, extra turns or ways to find them. Throw back any lands you have over three, sometimes two if you have ramp. Don't be afraid to go to six or five cards as you can quickly regain lost card advantage. If you need to mulligan some cards from your hand, it's usually not a problem to get rid of Regrowth effects, situational creatures like Reclamation Sage, acceleration beyond what is needed to cast a turn two Edric, or countermagic in that order. Do not mulligan away little evasive attackers unless you're desperate for lands or you have more than three in your hand.

    Playing Edric:

    Usually, you'll want to cast Edric as soon as possible so you can start drawing cards. This deck goes nowhere fast without an Edric on the table, so you need a very good reason not to cast him. One such reason is if an opponent gets off to a crazy good start and you feel like you might need to counter a spell on turn two or three to keep the game from ending. Another reason is if an opponent is in a position to take better advantage of Edric than you are. This is rare, as the deck is designed to draw more cards off Edric than anyone else, but sometimes this happens in my group when my friend plays his Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck and leads off with a Goblin Lackey. In situations like these, if you can play out more attackers before casting Edric, you should do so. If not, you need to consider waiting to cast Edric (or any creatures, really) until someone else deals with the army of enemy creatures.

    Post-Edric Gameplan:

    After casting Edric, you usually never want to tap out. Keep up mana for any and all counterspells you have. The only times you're going to tap out when you have a counterspell are:

    • Casting an extra turn card.
    • Casting a game-winning bomb like Cyclonic Rift.

    If you have a counterspell and you're tapping out for any other reason, you're probably doing it wrong. Ideally, you'd leave counterspell mana up even when casting these cards, but against fast decks you sometimes have to take the risk to keep up. Against strong decks, you need to take a slow, controlling approach to win the game. I've lost too many games from tapping out on turn four or so when I had a counterspell only to watch an opponent end the game.

    It's worth noting that this deck can't easily win through a resolved board sweeper. This is why you really need to keep counterspell mana up and not play more little dorks instead.

    Usually you'll want to wait until your second main phase to play a land unless it's Gaea's Cradle, because you might draw the cradle from attacking. This is only good Magic playing anyway, but it's easy to be more lax in Commander. You probably shouldn't play anything other than acceleration in your first main phase because you might draw better cards from attacking.

    How in the heck does this deck win? Swinging with Jace's Phantasm 24+ times?

    In a word, no.

    Your path to victory is to cast an extra turn card and draw a bunch of cards on the extra turn, hopefully leading to another extra turn card or a way to recur the first one. Keep it up until you hit Notorious Throng. Once you're prowling Notorious Throng, you'll have enough 1/1 fliers to kill the table in short order. Unless your opponents are masochists or ignorant of how your deck works, they'll concede to four-plus attackers plus two ways to take/recur an extra turn as statistically speaking that's game over.

    This is the biggest difference between my Edric list and other, similar ones. I don't run cards like Beastmaster Ascension and Craterhoof Behemoth because, frankly, they're win-more. I have not found my ability to win to be diminished in the slightest since I cut those cards. I'm running less attackers than these lists in exchange for more ways to chain extra turn cards.

    Consider:

    Typical Edric weenie list:

    That's five ways to take an extra turn, six if you want to count Beastmaster Ascension which usually ends the game.

    My list:

    That's nineteen cards that can help chain extra turns compared to five or six. In my list, it's pretty rare for my opponents to have another turn after I cast my first extra turn card. While running fewer little, evasive creatures means I'll draw fewer cards, in practice the deck usually only needs about three attackers or so by turn three to draw enough cards to win the game. These extra slots grant flexibility and resilience that other Edric lists do not have. If you're losing, Knowledge Exploitation or Sakashima's Student is much more likely to turn the game around than Thought Nibbler and friends.

    Playing Tutors:

    Tutor targets are usually extra turn cards, especially Notorious Throng (or cards that get extra turn cards back from your graveyard.) It's usually all over but the crying if you can cast it for its prowl cost. Remember, Edric, Spymaster of Trest is a rogue. Don't forget, creature tutors can get Eternal Witness which gets back extra turn cards.

    The Combo:

    What? Where? I don't see any combo.

    There isn't one. If you feel like you need one, you can add Rite of Replication to the deck to create one.

    In all fairness, the combo is really bad and you'll probably never need it. Still, for the sake of completion:

    Rite of Replication + Eternal Witness + Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation/Capture of Jingzhou/Walk the Aeons/Notorious Throng

    Cast Rite of Replication with kicker targeting Eternal Witness. Use one of the Eternal Witness triggers to get back Rite of Replication and another to get back the extra turn card. Repeat to take infinite turns.

    Requires 10UUUU at a minimum to maintain and you also have to cast the Eternal Witness for 1GG at some point.

    Just letting you know it's there in case you have the option. Smile

    Combat damage triggers:

    Yes, this primer actually needs this section.

    Remember, each draw from Edric is a separate trigger so you can cast spells in between them resolving. This is especially strong with Mystical Tutor, Long-Term Plans and Noxious Revival, etc.

    Changelog:
    9/19/2015: Updated list and primer to reflect changes made over the past two years.
    10/24/2015: -Spellskite, -Disdainful Stroke, -Talent of the Telepath, -Forest, +Dispel, +Swan Song, +Treachery, +Part the Waterveil
    4/9/2016 -Tangle Wire, +Skullwinder
    8/15/2016 -Galerider Sliver, -Skullwinder, +Mausoleum Wanderer, +Unsubstantiate
    9/7/2016 -Misdirection, -Dispel, + 2 Island
    1/25/2017 -Cloud Sprite, -Flying Men, +Memnite, +Hope of Ghirapur
    5/6/2017 -Reclaim, -Worldly Tutor, -Bribery, -Zephyr Sprite, +Flusterstorm, +Spell Pierce, +Daze, +Slither Blade


    Sakura-Tribe Scout, Skyshroud Ranger, Exploration:
    These cards enable the crucial turn two Edric while developing your mana. These are usually the best turn one play if you have several options. During the first few turns of the game, putting an extra land on the battlefield is generally better than tapping for a mana. As long as you're hitting your land drops Sakura-Tribe Scout and Skyshroud Ranger speed you up a turn while still being able to attack. Exploration gives you the land right away, which can lead to powerful turns early on.

    Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Arbor Elf, Boreal Druid:
    The rest of the creatures that accelerate you into turn two Edric. These aren't quite as good early on, but later when you've run out of lands in hand they can still tap for mana. When attacking with mana creatures, it's important to consider if you'll have enough mana to cast an extra turn you might draw. If you need to immediately find an extra turn card to start the extra turn chain, you'll want to make sure you have five mana available post combat. You may need to hold some mana creatures back. Make sure you have a forest to go along with Arbor Elf in your opening hand when you're deciding what cards to keep. Boreal Druid is clearly the worst here as the deck doesn't have much use for colorless mana, but turn two Edric is just that important.

    Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Gemstone Caverns:
    These are the worst mana accelerants in the deck as they cost you an extra card and can't attack to draw cards. Say it with me, "Turn two Edric is just that important." Besides, the deck draws enough extra cards in the long run to make up for the early card disadvantage. Still, these cards can lead to some busted turn ones where you play a couple of attackers and end up drawing 2-3 extra cards on your second turn. Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond are also great when you've drawn a ton of cards as they let you make use of cards that you would otherwise discard. Note that if you're going first, you can't use Gemstone Caverns's ability that lets you start with it on the battlefield. Consider mulliganing it away when going first.

    Mana Crypt, Sol Ring:
    Most Edric players don't run these cards because of the deck's low mana curve and lack of colorless mana costs. TURN TWO EDRIC IS JUST THAT IMPORTANT. These cards, along with Gaea's Cradle let you have five mana on turn three to start chaining your extra turns as early as possible. They're also pretty great for recasting Edric when he gets killed. These two cards are worse here than in most any other EDH deck, but they're still broken and they still belong.

    Carpet of Flowers:
    This is either your best mana accelerant or your worst. Note that the Oracle wording allows you to choose either your first or second main phase to get the mana. Generally, you'll do this in the second main phase unless you're casting Edric. It's best to wait so you know what kind of mana you'll need and to be able to play any cards you drew during combat. Obviously, if you don't play against blue on a regular basis, you may want to cut it, but who doesn't sit across from blue decks on the regular?

    Memnite, Slither Blade, Faerie Miscreant Jace's Phantasm, Triton Shorestalker, Gudul Lurker:
    These are your bread and butter, difficult to block creatures for drawing cards with Edric. Faerie Miscreant lets you cycle Phantasmal Image and Sakashima's Student if you're desperate. It's also a nice target for kicked Rite of Replication if you're running it. Jace's Phantasm can sometimes kill quickly late in the game, but this usually isn't the case.

    Merfolk Spy, Grayscaled Gharial:
    Like Carpet of Flowers, these are either the best or worst at what they do. You'll probably want to replace these with more fliers if you don't play against blue decks regularly, but who doesn't?

    Wingcrafter, Hypnotic Siren:
    Wingcrafter lets you turn Edric or a mana dork into a flier. Hypnotic Siren lets you take a creature late in the game. It also works as an answer to Llawan, Cephalid Empress since it's not a blue creature spell if you cast it for its bestow cost.

    Mausoleum Wanderer:
    There's no way to get its power any higher, but it's perfectly fine as is. Flies and potentially counters a spell or makes every instant and sorcery your opponents cast cost one more mana.

    Hope of Ghirapur:
    This is a fantastic little flier that can guarantee your extra turn resolves in a pinch. It can also shut down an opposing storm or combo deck from winning for a turn if need be.

    Sylvan Safekeeper, Eladamri, Lord of Leaves:
    These creatures protect Edric from targeted removal. Nothing throws a wrench in your plans like Edric being killed during combat. Sylvan Safekeeper is great because it can easily come down before Edric and is itself difficult to remove. Sacrificing a land is a steep cost, but losing Edric is even worse. Eladamri, Lord of Leaves has the added bonus of making Edric and your mana dorks unblockable against green players. Note that in Eladamri's Oracle text he is an elf, but does not give himself shroud and forestwalk.

    Phantasmal Image, Sakashima's Student:
    Phantasmal Image is at worst a slightly overcosted evasive creature. At best, it's a big nasty creature thanks to your opponents or a copy of Eternal Witness to keep the extra turn chain going. Sakashima's Student is basically the same thing, but you can use ninjutsu to copy Llawan, Cephalid Empress. Note that you can use ninjutsu after damage if you need to deal combat damage with a rogue for prowl.

    It's also really funny to copy your Edric when an opponent steals it. When that happens, you win so hard it hurts.

    Reclamation Sage:
    Sometimes you have to blow up an artifact or enchantment. Stranglehold, Defense of the Heart, Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge are some of her favorite targets.

    Eternal Witness:
    She's the salt of the earth. She usually returns an extra turn card to your hand and then attacks every turn to draw you even more cards. Often cloned, searched out and bounced for great value. Allows you to take infinite extra turns with Rite of Replication and an extra turn card, but this usually isn't necessary.

    Mental Misstep:
    Protects Edric from common spot removal like Swords to Plowshares and Pyroblast without needing to leave mana open. The look on your opponent's face is priceless when you counter his turn one Sol Ring or Mana Vault. When Mental Misstep is in your opening hand, it's generally best to counter the first powerful one mana spell like the aforementioned mana rocks or a topdeck tutor like Mystical Tutor. If your opponents get too far ahead of you, it won't matter that you can counter their removal for Edric as he won't have time to win you the game.

    Swan Song, Spell Pierce, Flusterstorm:
    These are the best one mana counterspells this deck can run. Swan Song is not without risk as giving an opponent a 2/2 flier when you're running lots of 1/1 fliers can be a problem. However, being able to stop removal, counterspells or sweepers played against you is important enough to risk it. Note that if you're trying to chain extra turns and your opponents aren't interrupting you, you could use Swan Song to counter one of your own spells to get another attacker.

    Delay, Negate, Daze, Arcane Denial, Unified Will, Counterspell, Mana Drain:
    These are the best two mana counterspells this deck can run. Mana Drain is not at its best here due to the lack of colorless mana in the deck's casting costs, but it's still a two mana counterspell. The mana it generates is often crucial for casting Edric after he's died or for casting extra turns. Three mana is too much to pay for a counterspell in this deck. Mana is really tight until the late game where you should be chaining extra turns anyway.

    Force of Will:
    The best free countermagic Edric can run. The loss of a card is easily made up for by Edric's card drawing.

    Muddle the Mixture:
    The deck's Swiss army knife. It's great for countering the nasty sweepers, removal and counterspells that threaten Edric. When chaining extra turns, it can be transmuted for Regrowth to keep the chain going. Need to answer a problem permanent or permanents? Search for Cyclonic Rift. Want to proactively protect Edric? Muddle the Mixture becomes Eladamri, Lord of Leaves or Spellskite. Jealous of your opponent's awesome creature? Get your own with Phantasmal Image. If only every card in the deck did this much work.

    Unsubstantiate:
    The deck's other Swiss army knife. It bounces a problematic creature so you can attack or delays a big spell for a turn. Note that it can also be used to bounce your Eternal Witness to get a card out of your graveyard.

    Time Warp, Temporal Manipulation, Capture of Jingzhou, Walk the Aeons:
    These are your bread and butter extra turn cards. Don't neglect Walk the Aeons's buyback, as this will often let you continue an extra turn chain that would otherwise be forced to stop. It's also why if you don't particularly need one kind of mana over another you should fetch an Island over a Forest. If you need a five mana extra turn because you don't have Notorious Throng mana, it's also better to tutor for Temporal Manipulation or Capture of Jingzhou instead of Time Warp to play around Misdirection and the like.

    Part the Waterveil:
    The exile clause is annoying, but it's still an extra turn card. Ideally, you'll want to cast it with Awaken to get another attacker on your extra turn and, if you have enough mana, your current turn. The 6/6 it makes is a nice backup plan for finishing people off if something goes wrong with Notorious Throng.

    Temporal Mastery:
    This is a card that many people don't run in their Edric lists because it's much more likely to be drawn when you can't cast it for its miracle cost. It also costs more mana than the previously mentioned extra turns and doesn't play nice with Regrowth effects. That said, it's still an extra turn card and there's nothing this deck wants to draw more in the mid and late game. When you do get to miracle this it's absolutely absurd, but that's more of a bonus. A common trap is to tutor for this with Personal Tutor or Mystical Tutor so you can cast it for 1U. Rarely is this correct. Remember that you need to cast lots of extra turns to win and exiling stops the crucial Regrowth effects. Generally, you're going to want Notorious Throng, or if your desperate and short on mana, Knowledge Exploitaton or one of the five mana extra turns.

    Notorious Throng:
    Hands down the best card in the deck. Edric is a rogue, which means we always have the creature type for prowl. Can't get through with Edric or another rogue? Just cast it to create enough rogues to prowl it on a future turn. Not only does it take an extra turn, it also produces a large number of attackers to draw you more cards. Regrowing Notorious Throng feels so good it should be illegal. Every time you cast this, you're effectively doubling the number of card drawing attackers you have. Casting this 2-3 times can give you almost 40 power of creatures. This is how you actually kill people. I wish I could run twenty of this card.

    Knowledge Exploitation:
    This is very metagame dependent. If your opponents aren't running extra turn cards, it's going to under perform. It can still help by finding you tutors or Regrowth effects, but it generally won't be worth it if that's what it's doing. If someone runs Time Stretch, start with that. The next best target is Temporal Mastery as it's the best one for them to top deck and they can't get it out of their graveyard later. Knowledge Exploitation is especially good when you're light on mana as it can let you start your extra turn chain from only four mana.

    Personal Tutor, Mystical Tutor:
    These are basically additional extra turn cards. You're going to want to get Notorious Throng if you can prowl it. The important thing when playing this deck is to get the extra turn chain started as soon as possible. If you don't have seven mana to tutor for and prowl Notorious Throng, don't be afraid to tutor for Temporal Manipulation or Capture of Jingzhou (requires six mana) or Knowledge Exploitation (requires five mana). Note that each creature you deal combat damage with creates a separate Edric trigger that can be responded to. If you're drawing four cards and don't have an extra turn, you can use your first three triggers to try to draw one. If you don't find an extra turn, you can cast Mystical Tutor in response to the fourth draw trigger.

    Long-Term Plans:
    Long-Term Plans functions like the other instant speed tutors in the deck except that it costs three mana and you need to cast it when you have three draw triggers remaining to get the tutored card immediately. It's not the best at what it does, but it's definitely worth running.

    Green Sun's Zenith:
    The deck's other Swiss army knife along with Muddle the Mixture. Green Sun's Zenith can find Dryad Arbor on turn one to enable a turn two Edric while being a more immediate, but limited Worldly Tutor later on.

    Crop Rotation, Sylvan Scrying:
    These are effectively Gaea's Cradle number two and three. The large number of inexpensive creatures in the deck allows these cards to often function as a more permanent green Dark Ritual. Wait until your second main phase to play your land for the turn if possible so that if you draw Sylvan Scrying you can find and play Gaea's Cradle. If you already have Gaea's Cradle, the next best targets are usually Dryad Arbor, Flooded Grove, Pendelhaven in that order.

    Noxious Revival, Regrowth:
    These are the most efficient ways to keep an extra turn chain going. It's best to use these on Notorious Throng to maximize your ability to actually kill your opponents, but don't stop an extra turn chain because you don't have Notorious Throng yet. Noxious Revival can also put cards on top of an opponent's deck, but I've only used that functionality once. It's something to consider if you're working with other players to stop the biggest threat at the table and one of them has an answer in their graveyard.

    Snapcaster Mage:
    Can keep an extra turn chain going in a pinch, but it's best to avoid this if possible since flashback exiles the extra turn. Again, don't break an extra turn chain because you don't want to exile your extra turn. The exception to this is possibly not wanting to exile Notorious Throng if you can't prowl it for a large enough number to kill the entire table, but it hasn't come up for me yet. It's best to use Snapcaster Mage to flashback a Noxious Revival, etc. if possible to keep extra turn cards in your graveyard. Snapcaster Mage also often functions as Mystic Snake when you need a counterspell.

    Cyclonic Rift:
    Secret extra turn #1. If you overload this, your opponents basically have to skip their turns to rebuild their board positions. Keep that in mind when you're chaining extra turns. Cyclonic Rift also functions as a catch-all for problem permanents.

    Treachery:
    Sometimes everyone has a blocker and you can't get through with a significant chunk of your army. Treachery can clear the way without costing you mana. If you have Gaea's Cradle, Treachery can even create mana! Not to mention you get an extra attacker going forward. You could just randomly steal the best creature on the board as well.

    The Manabase:
    There's not much to say here. All lands should be run that make blue and green mana while coming in untapped most of the time. Be careful with your fetchlands. It's often best to use a non-green one first so that when you're mana flooded you can turn a green fetchland draw into extra attacker via Dryad Arbor.




    Talent of the Telepath:
    These are very metagame dependent. If your opponents aren't running extra turn cards, they're going to under perform. They can still help by finding you tutors or Regrowth effects, but they generally won't be worth it if that's what they're doing. If someone runs Time Stretch, start with that. The next best target is Temporal Mastery as it's the best one for them to top deck and they can't get it out of their graveyard later. Knowledge Exploitation is especially good when you're light on mana as it can let you start your extra turn chain from only four mana.

    Disdainful Stroke

    Spellskite
    Spellskite is the worst here as it can't draw you cards. It does do some nice things for you though like ruin Arcum Dagsson's day and make Power Artifact combo decks very sad.

    Tangle Wire:
    Secret extra turn #2. Due to the large number of inexpensive permanents and the way triggers stack, this will slow down your opponents much more than yourself. You'll want to stack the Tangle Wire triggers so that you remove a counter before you tap your permanents. Remember, Tangle Wire is a permanent you can tap for its trigger. Often you'll get effectively two extra turns out of Tangle Wire, but there are many board states where it's worthless as well. Be careful when casting it. This card also makes people rage more than most. I will not be responsible for hurt feelings and damaged friendships. Wink

    Galerider Sliver, Cloud Sprite, Flying Men, Zephyr Sprite

    Skullwinder:You have to be careful with Skullwinder as giving your opponents cards back can be problematic, but he has a much better body than Eternal Witness.

    Dispel

    Misdirection: Note that Misdirection can counter counterspells by changing their target to Misdirection. The Misdirection finishes resolving and since the counterspell has no legal target it is countered by the game. But Misdirection has a better use: You can redirect an extra turn spell that targets a player to yourself. These are Time Warp, Walk the Aeons, Beacon of Tomorrows and Time Stretch.

    Bribery

    Reclaim

    Worldly Tutor:
    This one isn't quite as good as Personal Tutor and Mystical Tutor, but it can still help keep the extra turn chain going by finding Eternal Witness or a clone to copy it. Worldly Tutor also finds your utility creatures like Eladamri, Lord of Leaves and Reclamation Sage. It's also gets you out from under Llawan, Cephalid Empress by finding Sakashima's Student.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Oona (Cut throat competitive)
    I made major changes to my Oona list here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23284-EDH-Oona-Queen-of-the-Fae&p=690901#post690901

    Thought you guys might want to check it out.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
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