It’s Commander week at Hipsters of the Coast which means I get to take a break from Modern to write about EDH. Rather than discuss the recently spoiled Commander pre-cons, I decided to take some time to update some of my own oft-neglected 100 card concoctions. The last time I added anything to an EDH deck was last January, after the release of Fate Reforged, so we’re looking at the better part of a year with no movement in and out of my Commander decks. While I’ve played Commander in the last few months, and even traded for some new cards I wanted to try out, I kept putting off the task of adding and cutting cards. It’s not that I don’t care about EDH, or that I dislike the format, I just tend to focus most of my energy on competitive formats. EDH is something I play casually with my brother and his roommates, usually while something else is on in the background. EDH for me has always been about drinking a few beers and jamming our not-quite optimized lists at each other. The games are long, infinite combos are mostly discouraged, and politics is often more important that playskill.

With that in mind, here is the first EDH deck I ever built. Last updated sometime in January or February—

IMG_0936

Hanna, Ship's Navigator Enchantment Prison

Land (35)
Academy Ruins
Adarkar Wastes
Azorius Chancery
Celestial Colonnade
Command Tower
Flooded Strand
Ghost Quarter
Glacial Fortress
Hallowed Fountain
Kor Haven
Lonely Sandbar
Maze of Ith
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
Mouth of Ronom
Mystic Gate
Mystifying Maze
Nimbus Maze
Prahv, Spires of Order
Reliquary Tower
Seachrome Coast
Secluded Steppe
Serra’s Sanctum
Skycloud Expanse
Snow-Covered Island
Snow-Covered Plains
Strip Mine
Tundra

Instant (6)
Desertion
Enlightened Tutor
Fact or Fiction
Intuition
Sphinx’s Revelation
Swords to Plowshares

Enchantment (25)
Aura of Silence
Copy Enchantment
Detention Sphere
Future Sight
Ghostly Prison
Greater Auramancy
Honden of Seeing Winds
Humility
Karmic Justice
Land Tax
Luminarch Ascension
Moat
Monastery Siege
Oblivion Ring
Omniscience
Opalescence
Parallax Wave
Planar Collapse
Propaganda
Rhystic Study
Seal of Cleansing
Solitary Confinement
Soothsaying
Sphere of Safety
Treachery

Creature (8)
Academy Rector
Clever Impersonator
Consecrated Sphinx
Draining Whelk
Duplicant
Solemn Simulacrum
Sun Titan
Trinket Mage

General (1)
Hanna, Ship’s Navigator

Artifact (14)
Azorius Signet
Coalition Relic
Darksteel Ingot
Ensnaring Bridge
Gilded Lotus
Grim Monolith
Mana Vault
Mind’s Eye
Mindslaver
Scroll Rack
Sensei’s Divining Top
Sol Ring
Staff of Nin
Tormod’s Crypt

Sorcery (10)
Austere Command
Bribery
Hallowed Burial
Idyllic Tutor
Plea for Guidance
Replenish
Rout
Terminus
Time Stretch
Wrath of God

Planeswalker (1)
Tezzeret the Seeker

This is everything I like about Magic rolled into a 100 card deck; It builds up a pillowfort, contains the Humility+Opalescence rules nightmare, controls the board, and generally wins with Mindslaver+Hanna/Academy Ruins. There’s something sadistically satisfying about sitting back with a full hand and Solitary Confinement, Greater Auramancy, and Karmic Justice in play and watching opponents kind of shrug their shoulders as they focus their attention on killing one another.

Having established that I’m a bad person who likes doing terrible things, there are a few things I don’t like about the deck. One, I’d like to cut some of the pure “good stuff” for more enchantments. I’ve established an “enchantments matter” theme with the deck and want to cut cards that don’t fit with that theme or  don’t keep me alive long enough to see the enchantment pillowfort manifest itself. Two, I want to cut cards that are bothersome to my group. While Humility won’t be going anywhere (sorry Nik), I’m not sure Sensei’s Divining Top is necessary in my deck, especially when I already have a Land Tax/Scroll Rack Engine going. The top mostly just takes up time which is annoying, especially since the deck is inherently slow as molasses. Three, I’d like to up the land count just a bit. I have a lot of mana rocks but at this point I’d prefer to just play more lands.

Sensei’s Divining Top
Rhystic Study
Tezzeret the Seeker
Duplicant
Draining Whelk
Trinket Mage
Grim Monolith
Intuition
Staff of Nin
Soothsaying
+Prairie Stream
+Scrying Sheets
+Starfield of Nyx
+Spreading Seas
+Swan Song
+Sigil of the Empty Throne
+Stasis Snare
+Quarantine Field
+Grasp of Fate
+Crystal Chimes

Draining Whelk, Grim Monolith, Intuition, Trinket Mage, Tezzeret, Duplicant, and Staff of Nin get the cut because of the first reason identified above. They are all good cards but don’t fit the central theme of the deck. Trinket Mage finding Sol Ring every game is boring, Duplicant is fine but unnecessary in a deck with so many sweepers and enchantment based removal, Grim Monolith ramps and all but I’d rather just . . . not. Top and Study leave the deck because they are annoying or time intensive. Study certainly fits the theme of the deck but constantly asking “Can I draw?” can be obnoxious. Also, I forget the trigger all the time. Of the additions, I am most unsure of Starfield of Nyx, Spreading Seas, and Scrying Sheets. Starfield is weird in that you want it to recur your enchantments but the Opalescence effect is annoying as it makes your sweepers awkward and your enchantments more susceptible to removal. Still, recurring enchantments is sweet, so…YOLO? Spreading Seas seems a little underpowered, but being able to turn off a problematic land while also cantripping is relevant to my interests. Lastly, I’m not sure I play enough snow-covered lands to justify Scrying Sheets. My rationale for inclusion is that I have a foil one and it would look really sweet in the deck.

IMG_0937

Karona, False God Turbo Fog

Land (41)
Azorius Guildgate
Blood Crypt
Boros Guildgate
Breeding Pool
Clifftop Retreat
Command Tower
Dimir Guildgate
Dragonskull Summit
Drowned Catacomb
Forest
Glacial Fortress
Godless Shrine
Golgari Guildgate
Gruul Guildgate
Hallowed Fountain
Hinterland Harbor
Island
Isolated Chapel
Izzet Guildgate
Maze’s End
Mountain
Orzhov Guildgate
Overgrown Tomb
Plains
Rakdos Guildgate
Reliquary Tower
Rootbound Crag
Sacred Foundry
Selesnya Guildgate
Simic Guildgate
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Sulfur Falls
Sunpetal Grove
Swamp
Temple Garden
Watery Grave
Woodland Cemetery

Sorcery (13)
All Suns’ Dawn
Collective Voyage
Conflux
Day of Judgment
Farseek
Insurrection
Last Stand
Life from the Loam
Martial Coup
Reap and Sow
Rout
Skyshroud Claim
Sylvan Scrying

Artifact (12)
Amulet of Vigor
Chromatic Lantern
Crucible of Worlds
Darksteel Ingot
Dispeller’s Capsule
Door to Nothingness
Elixir of Immortality
Expedition Map
Howling Mine
Otherworld Atlas
Sol Ring
Temple Bell

Instant (8)
Arcane Denial
Constant Mists
Dream Fracture
Moment’s Peace
Oblation
Path to Exile
Vision Skeins
Wild Ricochet

General (1)
Karona, False God

Creature (13)
Arbiter of Knollridge
Braids, Conjurer Adept
Diluvian Primordial
Eternal Witness
Gatecreeper Vine
Hunted Wumpus
Phelddagrif
Rune-Scarred Demon
Solemn Simulacrum
Trinket Mage
Veteran Explorer
Walking Archive
Windborn Muse

Enchantment (11)
Burgeoning
Collective Restraint
Copy Artifact
Dictate of Kruphix
Eladamri’s Vineyard
Exploration
Heartbeat of Spring
Mana Flare
Propaganda
Rites of Flourishing
Solitary Confinement

Planeswalker (1)
Jace Beleren

This deck is a hot mess. I really wanted to build a five-color deck with Maze’s End as the primary win condition and threw this together one day. The main idea was that Karona would be a group hug/turbo fog deck that would allow opponents to do really cool stuff while I quietly protected myself and worked my way to a 10 guildgate victory. In practice though the manabase is terrible, the group hug nature of the deck ends up getting me killed pretty often, and I find myself never casting Karona. She just sits there in the Command Zone, looking despondently at my stupid check lands continually coming into play tapped. Recently I was reading about a “Pinball” version of the deck where you cast Karona with one of the commander “vow” cards. She then bounces around attacking everyone, well everyone except for you. The problem with this deck is that it was basically a pillowfort/prison type deck and since I already have one of those, I want to try something different. My plan is to cut some of the group hug effects, add more fogs, fix the manabase, add some pinball fun and then call it a day. Oh yeah and I’d like to do this with cards I already have or relatively cheap cards.

+Vow of Duty
+Vow of Malice
+Vow of Flight
+Vow of Lightning
+Vow of Wildness
+Wild Research
+Enchantress’ Presence
+Three Dreams
+Faith’s Fetters
+Heliod’s Pilgrim
+Auramancer
+Totem Guide Hartebeast
+Maelstrom Nexus
+Song of the Dryads
+Leyline of the Void
+Well of Ideas
+Sphere of Safety
+Protective Sphere
+Sphinx’s Revelation
+Fog
+Pollen Lullaby
+Angelsong
+Respite
+Riot Control
+Tangle
+Eidolon of Blossoms
+1 Reflecting Pool
+5 Khans Fetches
+5 Khans Tri-Land
Collective Voyage
Day of Judgment
Last Stand
Martial Coup
Rout
Door to Nothingness
Elixir of Immortality
Oblation
Path to Exile
Vision Skeins
Arbiter of Knollridge
Braids, Conjurer Adept
Diluvian Primordial
Hunted Wumpus
Gatecreeper Vine
Phelddagrif
Veteran Explorer
Wild Ricochet
Walking Archive
Windborn Muse
Burgeoning
Copy Artifact
Eladamri’s Vineyard
Mana Flare
-1 Swamp
-1 Island
-1 Plains
-10 Check Lands

Those are a lot of changes! Here we go from Group Hug to Aura Toolbox. We’re still letting our opponents draw cards with us but we’re not letting them put creatures in play for free (Hunted Wumpus/Braids) or ramping them as hard (Veteran Explorer, Eladamri’s Vineyard, Mana Flare, Collective Voyage). Furthermore, we’re not looking to wrath the board but to control creatures with our vows and protect our life total with fogs. An optimized version of this deck would probably look a bit more like the Hanna deck I have built with additional ways to protect and recur our enchantments. But since I already have a deck like that, I’m okay with a slightly janky looking list for the sake of originality. With infinite money the manabase would start with 10 duals + 10 shock lands + 10 fetch lands but for right now I’ll just replace the check lands with five fetches from Khans (which I have in my binder) and the five wedge lands from Khans which I have approximately a million of. I also cut a few lands since 41 seems like a bit much. The mana will certainly continue to be a bit awkward but good enough for kitchen table magic.

The addition I’m most excited about is Wild Research, a card I’ve wanted to play since cracking one in an Apocalypse pack. Here it fetches up one of our many enchantments or Fogs with the discard at random slightly mitigated by the number of cards we’re drawing.

IMG_0938

Borborygmos Enraged Land Thrower

Land (42)
Dust Bowl
11 Forest
Forgotten Cave
Glacial Chasm
Kessig Wolf Run
Maze of Ith
12 Mountain
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Petrified Field
Rootbound Crag
Stomping Ground
Strip Mine
Taiga
Tectonic Edge
Temple of Abandon
Thawing Glaciers
Thespian’s Stage
Tranquil Thicket
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
Vesuva
Wooded Foothills

Instant (7)
Ancient Grudge
Chaos Warp
Comet Storm
Constant Mists
Harrow
Realms Uncharted
Volcanic Offering

Planeswalker (1)
Karn Liberated

Sorcery (18)
Blasphemous Act
Boundless Realms
Creeping Renaissance
Cultivate
Decimate
Far Wanderings
Frenzied Tilling
Gamble
Genesis Wave
Kodama’s Reach
Life from the Loam
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Praetor’s Counsel
Rampant Growth
Reap and Sow
Scapeshift
Skyshroud Claim
Tooth and Nail

Artifact (10)
Expedition Map
Gruul Signet
Hammer of Purphoros
Horn of Greed
Mind’s Eye
Planar Portal
Seer’s Sundial
Sol Ring
Staff of Nin
Storm Cauldron

General (1)
Borborygmos Enraged

Creature (16)
Acidic Slime
Avenger of Zendikar
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Deadwood Treefolk
Dualcaster Mage
Duplicant
Eternal Witness
Farhaven Elf
Fierce Empath
Oracle of Mul Daya
Rampaging Baloths
Solemn Simulacrum
Wood Elves
Woodfall Primus
Xenagos, God of Revels
Yavimaya Elder

Enchantment (5)
Exploration
Fires of Yavimaya
Keen Sense
Mana Reflection
Snake Umbra

Volcanic Offering
Farhaven Elf
Frenzied Tilling
Yavimaya Elder
Temple of Abandon
-2 Mountain
-1 Forest
+Omnath, Locus of Rage
+Centaur Vinecrasher
+Greenwarden of Murasa
+Titania, Protector of Argoth
+Cinder Glade
+Windswept Heath
+Bloodstained Mire
+Scalding Tarn

Titania, Omnath, and Vinecrasher seem perfect for this deck but to support them I want to add a few more fetches to really exploit their abilities. In order to make room for these cards and a Greenwarden of Murasa I cut Volcanic Offering which always seemed awkward in practice, Yavi Elder and Farhaven Elf which are fine but nothing to write home about, and Frenzied Tilling which is kind of mean (especially when Mwonvuli Acid Moss does it for cheaper).

That’s all I’ve got for today, I’m pretty much spent after typing out three 100 card decklists. Please let me know if you have any thoughts, cuts, or additions to these decks. As I said before, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about EDH so I’m sure there is some sweet tech I missed while updating my lists. Next week I’ll be back to writing about Modern but enjoy the rest of Commander Week here at Hipsters of the Coast.

In terms of Magic, Shawn Massak is a Modern enthusiast, with a penchant for tier two decks, counterspells, and pre Eighth Edition frames. In terms of life, Shawn lives in Brighton, MA where he works as an employment coordinator for people with disabilities, plays guitar in an indie-pop band, and spends his free time reading comics, complaining about pro-wrestling, and wishing his apartment allowed dogs as pets.

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