Rafiq of the Many plays like a combo deck. Having the capability to set up and execute a victory in a single turn allows you to play the table and wait for an opening. These colors also give us enough political control to prevent someone else from taking over. My deck is LITERALLY a combo deck, but the 5-card combo to cast infinite sorceries/instants, control infinite copies of every permanent, and generate infinite mana is at the end of the post!
I believe Rafiq of the Many is preferable over Jenara, Asura of War, even without building a Voltron-style deck. A few evasion equipments and some enchants are all you need.
The colors also allow for several combos. Combos aren't everyone's spice, but Bant's ability to ramp, tutor, and protect itself means you have plenty of opportunity to be creative.
ETB stands for "Enters the Battlefield," and most of the creatures in the deck either follow the attack trigger theme or the ETB theme. Getting multiple uses provides virtual and literal card advantage, removal, and resilience. This allows you to generate an ever-increasing lead over opponents who merely play bombs, good stuff, or a single combo.
My Wingman: Rafiq of the Many: Rafiq is the core of the deck. Most of the creatures are designed to use him like a pump spell, granting double strike and +1/+1, so that other effects like auras and equipment are compounded. Additionally, this deck has a turn 4 kill in Rafiq.
Serra Ascendant: Dropping one early puts you in a highly profitable position, but it's very easy to just keep recurring and cloning this card in the late game to develop quickly. This is one of my favorite cards to flash in or equip with Lightning Greaves for achieving those "surprise" kills with Rafiq.
Saffi Eriksdotter: Saffi Eriksdotter grants extra ETB Effects when creatures die, and provides an infinite loop with Sun Titan, Reveillark, and Karmic Guide. She also protects key creatures from removal.
Phyrexian Metamorph: THis is a combo piece in a 5-card combo, and is the best clone in the format.
Mangara of Corondor: Rattlesnakes read like fog effects. Knowing their creature could die makes people think twice about attacking you, and this concept of deterrence is used in several creatures in the deck. Mangara is interesting because bouncing her with either Ghostway, Cryptic Command, Equilibrium, or Venser, Shaper Savant in response to her ability will return her to your hand, but her ability still resolves, exiling your opponent's permanent... permanently. Sacrificing her does the same thing, with High Market, and this synergy might warrant the addition of Claws of Gix.
Eternal Witness: Combo Piece, and everything else you could want in an ETB effect.
Cold-Eyed Selkie: A turn 3 Cold-Eyed Selkie into a Rafiq means you're drawing 4 cards. This quickly gets out of control, filling your hand in a single swing. And who doesn't have a Blue player at the table for unblockability?
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Edric's ability means your opponents draw cards only if they attack someone besides yourself. Providing incentive to attack elsewhere (the rattlesnake effect) is exactly what we want to do, and drawing cards off attacks is icing.
Twilight Shepherd: Regrowth on a Stick. Recurring this with Ghostway and Venser lets you reuse sorceries and instants, and it provides wrath protection.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This has inherent use against control players by preventing instants, which is valuable since the deck revolves around setting up a critical turn. Playing at instant speed is also especially valuable for giving your creatures "Haste," playing them at the end of your opponent's turn and then swinging.
Karmic Guide: Recurrence that can be bounced and reused.
Sun Titan: Brings back half the deck, including lands.
Primeval Titan: Easily the strongest ETB creature ever printed.
Planeswalkers (2):
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Library manipulation, creature recurrence, and a lockout against an opponent. JTMS is still king.
Venser, the Sojourner: Creature recurrence and unblockability means the deck looks to be built more around this planeswalker than any other card.
Sorceries (4):
Wargate: Ramps by fetching lands, easily fetches mana creatures and equipment, and finds bombs in the late game. I use it most often to find game-winning enchantments like Aura Shards.
Aura Shards: Simply unmatchable artifact and enchantment control.
Angelic Destiny: This is +10/+10 while Rafiq is out, and provides evasion in flying.
Finest Hour: Rafiq's ability, on an enchantment. And it stacks beautifully. The second attack phase will trigger Exalted a second time, so if you have two exalted creatures out, your attacker gets +2/+2 on the first swing and +4/+4 on the second.
Future Sight: This enchantment is one of the most powerful cards ever printed. using Jace or Sensei's Divining Top lets you play mana off the top, essentially equivalent to drawing cards. The more you play off the top, the more card advantage you get.
Mirari's Wake: Doubles mana and pumps creatures. What's not to love?
Bant Charm: Tucks generals, destroys artifacts, and counters spells.
Ghostway: Not only does this recur ETB creatures, it also makes your Evacuation one-sided. It's one of few spells that allows you to avoid other people's evacuations, which are rampant in my meta.
Sol Ring: I'm against banning this card. It makes games interesting, politically, when one player has a faster start. The dynamics of EDH, the up games and down games, make it spicy.
Umezawa's Jitte: The first swing gives two counters. Using those counters to pump on the next swing, with Rafiq, provides +8/+8. If you're feeling ambitious, you can save up several counters and use this to go all-in. Just three saved swings gives +24/+24 with Rafiq out.
Cloudstone Curio: Key component in the deck. Provides ETB loops. Especially valuable with Flash from Teferi.
The lands provide mana fixing for the somewhat difficult costs of cards like Future Sight and Twilight Shepherd. Cards like Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Hall of the Bandit Lord trade life for utility. Haste is devastatingly good when you're trying to set up a 1-turn kill.
Old Duals, Old Fetches: a financial consideration. I saved manabases from old standard decks to make my EDH Decks. Someday, I might invest.
Other Swords: See the description of Sword of Fire and Ice for my reasoning, and bear in mind that my decklist, like many decklists, is slightly fluid and will often include 2, or even 3 swords. I included the most diverse list I could.
Might of Oaks: This card is a 1-card combo with Rafiq for general damage kills, but that felt slightly cheap.
Tooth and Nail: I like this card for setting up combos, but I'm not sure I want to try and fit 2-3 unsynergistic cards to resolve something most people see as "cheap."
Nostalgic Dreams / Praetor's Counsel / Regrowth: This deck is kind of hurting for one big graveyard recursion spell. I'll continue to test and add it if I need it. I wish there was a multicolored one besides the unexciting Reborn Hope.
The Combo
There are several "combos" and other synergies in the deck, but one in particular is very difficult to obtain and is the only true "infinite" combo. I have Genesis Wave, several tutors, and pure luck to accomplish it and it should only happen once in a blue moon, but when it does, it's awesome.
Cast Phyrexian Metamorph targeting nothing. It enters the field as a 1/1 with no abilities named Phyrexian Metamorph.
Cast Rite of Replication Kicked on Phyrexian Metamorph. Use the copies to make 4x Lotus Bloom, 1x Eternal Witness. Bring back Rite of Replication. Sacrifice the original Lotus Bloom to make 3 mana of any color (you have 4 copies left).
Sacrifice 3x Lotus Blooms to make 9 blue mana. Cast Rite of Replication kicked on Phyrexian Metamorph again, and copy the remaining Lotus Bloom and make 4x Lotus Bloom, 1x Eternal Witness. Rinse and repeat!
Each time, you're making 3 extra mana, so you have infinite mana. If you choose to make no mana, you can make 1 less copy of Lotus Bloom. That means you can use one of your copies of Phyrexian Metamorph to:
-Copy every artifact/creature on the board infinite times and kill all legends
-Make extra Eternal Witnesses to get back every card in your graveyard and cast every card in your hand
-Play ANY instants/sorceries from your hand and graveyard infinite times using extra copies of Eternal Witness using your infinite mana.
It's infinite in so many ways, different every single time.
Eternal Witness can be replaced with Mnemonic Wall, and Lotus Bloom can be replaced with Gilded Lotus for more combo pieces. I don't use all that I have available.
Some things that were suggested to me: Dueling Grounds and similar effects will work wonders if you're playing an exalted deck, since it makes everyone else play by your rules.
What I did from there is add a lot of "ith" effects for defense and tutors for Swords of X & Y.
Your post does point out the flaw of having Knight of the Reliquary though. I need to consider that.
I like your deck. I considered using all the exalted triggers, but I found the cost of running creatures that don't impact the board as heavily to be too steep. it seems, if I get the opportunity to actually swing with something, the loss of 2-4 damage in extra triggers is irrelevant.
I also agree with your decision to play casually. It's pretty obvious by some of my card choices that I like interesting interactions, and I have little interests in a "Win at all costs" game. I like Ardent Plea, though, and I'll consider adding that pretty strongly. My deck cascades pretty predictably, I have only 1 X-cost spell.
Knight of the Reliquary was such a staple in standard and extended, so I was surprised by his lackluster performance in EDH. The issue was, getting a manland just doesn't have the same impact across formats. I'd either draw him and have a 2/2 that doesn't do anything, or I'd have an equally useless 5/5 and a few more nonbasics. Neither seemed as good as any of the other cards I ended up choosing.
Yeah I've been mulling over the idea of using all the exalted card or cutting some of them for some more useful stuff. I'll have to peruse your deck to do some comparisons. I think I like the idea of taking the exalted theme and just running with it though.
Definitely look into stuff like Dueling Grounds and Crawlspace. I love the interaction those cards have with exalted as a mechanic. Then again I'm a johnny-control player at heart.
I like the idea of Dueling Grounds. In my meta, the control deck is king, so it's just not as prevalent to reduce swarms. Here's a mini-breakdown of decks I'm likely to face:
B/G Creature Control
U/R Nivmizzet Permission
U Artifacts
UW Enchantments/Artifacts
UR Jhoira Boardsweeps
R/G Token Conspire
B/W Graveyard
R Kiki-Jiki Combo
So only one of those decks is seriously hindered by Dueling Grounds, and when R/G clogs the board it's usually on the heels of a combo.
I might look into re-adding Stoic Angel, i can't decide. With the control players, creatures are usually handled by someone else, and I'm content to combo with Cloudstone Curio and equipments with singleton threats.
Timbermare seems quite good. It goes high on my list. Unfortunately, my meta is goofy... there's Niv-Mizzet, Arcanus the Omnipotent, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, and Jhoira, with one G/R creature deck that runs less creatures than I do because of a Wort, the Raidmother conspire theme.
That means, essentially, most creature removal is much less valuable. I have two boardsweeps and that's really it. Any secret tech against artifacts or counterspells would be loved. let me know!
And just because I have an extra tutor for them, bonus points if it's a multicolored spell, whatever idea you can think of. It's this reason I chose Glare of Subdual over Opposition.
What do you guys think of Angel's Herald? It seems a little roundabout when I have other tutors to use for Imperial Archangel, but with Ranger of Eos he's easy to find if I want to turn my board into one big dude.
Glare can't tap down lands though. Against people with counters, you can tap down all of their blue land, announce attack's if they float mana, and then cast what you want.
Not a bad idea. I'll have to test it. I haven't ran this version in the EDH gauntlet yet, it remains to be seen whether Momir Vig and Lurking Predators can keep me with a table of 5-6 creatures. I suspect enough boardsweeps exist that i'll rarely get there, which adds some instability to the blue enchant.
I like creatures; I like them a lot. That being said, i'm much more of a Johnny than a Timmy. I vastly prefer to combo. The nice thing about this deck is, having 1-2 creatures on the board is rarely a bad thing. I have a lot of great combo opportunities with small combinations of creatures rather than relying on a super-large alpha strike.
Anyone have any ideas on comboing a creature or artifact or enchantment to do something interesting, something I've missed? I thought about Cloud Cover as having some potential.
Have you considered any of the Swords? (Fire and Ice, Light and Shadow, Body and Mind, Feast and Famine)
The fact that you have double strike means you'll trigger the ability twice, which can be vastly powerful. They also add +2/+2 and useful protections. Obviously the Darksteel ones are a bit better due to better color combinations of protections (green doesn't have a ton of targeted creature removal) and better abilities, but any of them could work.
Tooth and Nail should probably be under consideration here, as it is very good. Especially in Bant colors, you can pull off an instant win if you cast it with an extra 2 mana open: find Eternal Witness and Palinchron, get it back, untap 7 lands, cast it again for Clone and Keeper of Progenitus, cloning Palinchron, and go infinite by repeatedly playing and bouncing the Palinclone, and then eventually play it as Witness, getting back TnN again, at which point you can win with Selesnya Guildmage and Treasure Mage for Akroma's Memorial. It's maybe more deck slots than you want to allocate, but it's pretty crazy how one card can singlehandedly win the game like that.
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That's an interesting combo: I'm digging it I am going to have to pick up some of that stuff so I can test it out.
I'd be down with running Fire and ice, and maybe Light and Shadow, but I don't own them yet. I wasn't all over equipments originally because the higher creature count was consistent with my enchantments, but I might try to re-fit them.
That's an interesting combo: I'm digging it I am going to have to pick up some of that stuff so I can test it out.
I'd be down with running Fire and ice, and maybe Light and Shadow, but I don't own them yet. I wasn't all over equipments originally because the higher creature count was consistent with my enchantments, but I might try to re-fit them.
Additionally, you could get a Primeval Titan (which you should probably be running if you can afford it) in place of the Keeper, getting any two lands that produce 2 or more mana (Gaea's Cradle, Simic Growth Chamber or other Karoos, Temple of the False God, etc). Since Clone + the Palinchron bounce only costs 5UUU (as opposed to playing and bouncing the regular Palinchron, which costs 7UUUU), producing 9 mana from 7 lands gets you infinite.
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Just finished up another game. Was stomping around with a 9/9 Overbeing of Myth and I cast Sower of Temptation, which he avoided with a sacrifice.
After taking 8, he boardsweeps. My next turn I primal command for Reveillark and mystical tutor for Planar Cleansing backup, and I evoke back my Sower of Temptation on his Malfegor and I get a 7/7 Overbeing of Myth. SICK!!!
This is my work in progress of Rafiq. It's very much control-oriented. I'm trying to lean toward the blinking in and out of play, so I'd love to hear about combos/cards that play nicely with that! Along with that theme, the deck is supposed to control the board effectively enough that I can get some steam rollin for Rafiq to bash away by tutoring up equipments. The main problem I'm running into right now is that I can control the board effectively enough, but find trouble getting Rafiq out for the win. He comes out, I can throw something on him and then he doesn't have haste. Ends up getting stolen, destroyed, etc before his summoning sickness wears off. I guess I should get Lightnin Boots back in there?
"I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent."
I like your build. I find in EDH, I want all my spells to have a large board impact when they table, which makes cards like Flicker and Momentary Blink seem less than stellar. I would cut those for a little more power; try Kederekt Leviathan, Evacuation, Cloudstone Curio, and Woodfall Primus.
I like your build. I find in EDH, I want all my spells to have a large board impact when they table, which makes cards like Flicker and Momentary Blink seem less than stellar. I would cut those for a little more power; try Kederekt Leviathan, Evacuation, Cloudstone Curio, and Woodfall Primus.
Those are some good card suggestions. The main problem is that Flicker and Momentary Blink are essentially my only tech to get my creatures on and off the board. If I drop both of them, I essentially can't really do any effective blinking. With Evacuation and Cloudstone, I have to pay the mana to re-cast them. I will take your suggestions, though! I re-worked the deck a bit, and added all 3 of those cards to give em a shot. Also, I added Man-o'-War and AEther Adept. Also, I think I may add Fauna Shaman to try out some tricks with Reveilark/Karmic Guide, but the interactions may not be worth it. But the best combo is when Palinchron is in the graveyard, and I can cast Karmic Guide targetting Palinchron. And then I untap, and I can bounce Karmic Guide again if I've got the land, and grab something else from the graveyard, and still have land left over to play something else out of my hand. It's very nice. Last night I got Palinchron, Karmic Guide, Tidespout Tyrant and a Coiling Oracle all down on the same turn with only 7 mana.
"I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent."
yet? I like that card a lot, and in EDH you get to threshold pretty fast. Man lands are great if somebody board wipes, then on your turn you could recast your general and swing for 10 off the Monastery alone.
That is nice. I've been really pleased with Celestial Colonnade and Stirring Wildwood. Having that activate for 2 means playing my general as well is a reality. Getting one!
That is nice. I've been really pleased with Celestial Colonnade and Stirring Wildwood. Having that activate for 2 means playing my general as well is a reality. Getting one!
I found the strongest card in the deck to be Woodfall Primus. Getting him in play with Venser was unreasonable. After much deliberation, I've made some intense changes to the deck.
-The Ranger of Eos package was removed
-The Sovereigns of Lost Alara package was removed
Rafiq of the Many plays like a combo deck. Having the capability to set up and execute a victory in a single turn allows you to play the table and wait for an opening. These colors also give us enough political control to prevent someone else from taking over. My deck is LITERALLY a combo deck, but the 5-card combo to cast infinite sorceries/instants, control infinite copies of every permanent, and generate infinite mana is at the end of the post!
I believe Rafiq of the Many is preferable over Jenara, Asura of War, even without building a Voltron-style deck. A few evasion equipments and some enchants are all you need.
The colors also allow for several combos. Combos aren't everyone's spice, but Bant's ability to ramp, tutor, and protect itself means you have plenty of opportunity to be creative.
ETB stands for "Enters the Battlefield," and most of the creatures in the deck either follow the attack trigger theme or the ETB theme. Getting multiple uses provides virtual and literal card advantage, removal, and resilience. This allows you to generate an ever-increasing lead over opponents who merely play bombs, good stuff, or a single combo.
The Deck
01 Rafiq of the Many
Creatures (22):
1 Serra Ascendant
2 Saffi Eriksdotter
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Gilded Drake
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Mangara of Corondor
3 Eternal Witness
3 Cold-Eyed Selkie
3 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
4 Academy Rector
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Reveillark
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
5 Karmic Guide
6 Twilight Shepherd
6 Sun Titan
6 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
7 Gaea's Revenge
8 Empyrial Archangel
Mana Creatures (7):
1 Noble Heirarch
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Bloom Tender
3 Farhaven Elf
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
6 Primeval Titan
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5 Venser, the Sojourner
Sorceries (6):
3 Wargate
3 Supply // Demand
3 Genesis Wave
4 Rite of Replication
6 Austere Command
Enchantments (6):
3 Aura Shards
4 Angelic Destiny
5 Finest Hour
5 Future Sight
5 Mirari's Wake
8 Eldrazi Conscription
Instants (9):
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Noxious Revival
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 Bant Charm
3 Ghostway
3 Voidslime
3 Krosan Grip
4 Cryptic Command
5 Evacuation
5 Fracturing Gust
Artifacts (8):
0 Lotus Bloom
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Cloudstone Curio
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 High Market
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Bant Panorama
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Mystic Gate
1 Flooded Grove
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
4 Island
5 Forest
3 Plains
My Wingman:
Rafiq of the Many: Rafiq is the core of the deck. Most of the creatures are designed to use him like a pump spell, granting double strike and +1/+1, so that other effects like auras and equipment are compounded. Additionally, this deck has a turn 4 kill in Rafiq.
T1 Noble Heirarch
T2 Whatever
T3 Rafiq of the Many
T4 Finest Hour, swing for 22 General Damage
Creatures (22):
Serra Ascendant: Dropping one early puts you in a highly profitable position, but it's very easy to just keep recurring and cloning this card in the late game to develop quickly. This is one of my favorite cards to flash in or equip with Lightning Greaves for achieving those "surprise" kills with Rafiq.
Saffi Eriksdotter: Saffi Eriksdotter grants extra ETB Effects when creatures die, and provides an infinite loop with Sun Titan, Reveillark, and Karmic Guide. She also protects key creatures from removal.
Qasali Pridemage: Exalted trigger plus removal.
Gilded Drake: This single card is an engine, taking opponent's creatures permanently and returning to your hand with bounce effects.
Snapcaster Mage: Recurrence for instants/sorceries.
Stoneforge Mystic: Tutor for equipments, plus counter protection.
Phantasmal Image: This clone effect provides additional ETB Triggers, and is especially potent with Cloudstone Curio.
Phyrexian Metamorph: THis is a combo piece in a 5-card combo, and is the best clone in the format.
Mangara of Corondor: Rattlesnakes read like fog effects. Knowing their creature could die makes people think twice about attacking you, and this concept of deterrence is used in several creatures in the deck. Mangara is interesting because bouncing her with either Ghostway, Cryptic Command, Equilibrium, or Venser, Shaper Savant in response to her ability will return her to your hand, but her ability still resolves, exiling your opponent's permanent... permanently. Sacrificing her does the same thing, with High Market, and this synergy might warrant the addition of Claws of Gix.
Eternal Witness: Combo Piece, and everything else you could want in an ETB effect.
Cold-Eyed Selkie: A turn 3 Cold-Eyed Selkie into a Rafiq means you're drawing 4 cards. This quickly gets out of control, filling your hand in a single swing. And who doesn't have a Blue player at the table for unblockability?
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Edric's ability means your opponents draw cards only if they attack someone besides yourself. Providing incentive to attack elsewhere (the rattlesnake effect) is exactly what we want to do, and drawing cards off attacks is icing.
Academy Rector: The original rattlesnake. Tutors up Future Sight, Mirari's Wake, Eldrazi Conscription... the list goes on.
Venser, Shaper Savant: This card bounces spells and permanents, and it's instant speed means you can use it to play with triggers
Reveillark: One of the strongest recurrence engines in the format, this goes infinite with Karmic Guide and Saffi Eriskdotter.
Twilight Shepherd: Regrowth on a Stick. Recurring this with Ghostway and Venser lets you reuse sorceries and instants, and it provides wrath protection.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir: This has inherent use against control players by preventing instants, which is valuable since the deck revolves around setting up a critical turn. Playing at instant speed is also especially valuable for giving your creatures "Haste," playing them at the end of your opponent's turn and then swinging.
Karmic Guide: Recurrence that can be bounced and reused.
Sun Titan: Brings back half the deck, including lands.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara: A swing with Rafiq while this is out will kill an opponent with Eldrazi Conscription.
Gaea's Revenge: Rafiq alone provides 16 damage with this card. Rafiq + Finest Hour means he drops, uncounterable, and swings for 40 damage.
Empyrial Archangel: This creature is especially valuable with Clone effects, and negates a lot of damage.
Mana Creatures (7):
Noble Heirarch: Provides exalted plus all three colors. A staple.
Coiling Oracle: Card draw and mana thaw. Routinely re-enters 5-7 times per game.
Lotus Cobra: 8 fetchlands plus Primeval Titan, Farhaven Elf, and Genesis Wave means he's always filling my pool.
Bloom Tender: Tapping for 3 mana means he's severely undercosted for his effect once you cast a few creatures or enchantments.
Farhaven Elf: This card is surprisingly hard to find.
Oracle of Mul Daya: Extra land, good stuff!
Primeval Titan: Easily the strongest ETB creature ever printed.
Planeswalkers (2):
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Library manipulation, creature recurrence, and a lockout against an opponent. JTMS is still king.
Venser, the Sojourner: Creature recurrence and unblockability means the deck looks to be built more around this planeswalker than any other card.
Sorceries (4):
Wargate: Ramps by fetching lands, easily fetches mana creatures and equipment, and finds bombs in the late game. I use it most often to find game-winning enchantments like Aura Shards.
Supply // Demand: I almost always use Demand, getting things like Voidslime, Fracturing Gust, or Venser, the Sojourner. However, occasionally I can use Supply when I have out a Skullclamp, Aura Shards, or Equilibrium.
Genesis Wave: Casting this off Mirari's Wake mana is almost always a win. Use Boseiju, Who Shelters All to help it resolve.
Rite of Replication: THis is a combo piece and a win condition in a single card.
Austere Command: Versatile mass removal. A staple.
Enchantments (7):
Aura Shards: Simply unmatchable artifact and enchantment control.
Angelic Destiny: This is +10/+10 while Rafiq is out, and provides evasion in flying.
Finest Hour: Rafiq's ability, on an enchantment. And it stacks beautifully. The second attack phase will trigger Exalted a second time, so if you have two exalted creatures out, your attacker gets +2/+2 on the first swing and +4/+4 on the second.
Future Sight: This enchantment is one of the most powerful cards ever printed. using Jace or Sensei's Divining Top lets you play mana off the top, essentially equivalent to drawing cards. The more you play off the top, the more card advantage you get.
Mirari's Wake: Doubles mana and pumps creatures. What's not to love?
Eldrazi Conscription: A nod to the Bant Mythic decks of 2010-2011. Great with Sovereigns of Lost Alara and a shrouded creature.
Instants (9):
Mystical Tutor: Tutor at instant speed.
Noxious Revival: I look at it as a Mirage tutor for the graveyard. A versatile spell that can also be used against Reanimator strategies.
Enlightened Tutor: Tutor at instant speed. Good for getting Finest Hour.
Bant Charm: Tucks generals, destroys artifacts, and counters spells.
Ghostway: Not only does this recur ETB creatures, it also makes your Evacuation one-sided. It's one of few spells that allows you to avoid other people's evacuations, which are rampant in my meta.
Voidslime: STOP!
Krosan Grip: STOP! Great anti-combo card.
Cryptic Command: As versatile as Austere Command. Don't be afraid to bounce your own creatures, like Gilded Drake.
Evacuation: Whoosh!
Artifacts (9):
Lotus Bloom: This goes infinite with the Rite of Replication combo (explained below), and it's tutorable with Tolaria West.
Sol Ring: I'm against banning this card. It makes games interesting, politically, when one player has a faster start. The dynamics of EDH, the up games and down games, make it spicy.
Skullclamp: There's a reason it was banned in standard back in the day. Beautiful with Supply // Demand, and Twilight Shepherd.
Sensei's Divining Top: Lots of draw with Future Sight. Library manipulation is excellent.
Lightning Greaves: A staple in this deck and others. Great after Genesis Wave.
Umezawa's Jitte: The first swing gives two counters. Using those counters to pump on the next swing, with Rafiq, provides +8/+8. If you're feeling ambitious, you can save up several counters and use this to go all-in. Just three saved swings gives +24/+24 with Rafiq out.
Cloudstone Curio: Key component in the deck. Provides ETB loops. Especially valuable with Flash from Teferi.
Crucible of Worlds: 8 fetches means this is a mana advantage engine. Combine with Oracle of Mul Daya to thin your deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice: Drawing cards, dealing damage, and protecting from relevant removal colors are all good things. Occasionally I'll include other swords, like Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of War and Peace, but the list is tight. Sword of Light and Shadow isn't as relevant as the others, and Sword of Body and Mind is not good enough.
Lands (38):
The lands provide mana fixing for the somewhat difficult costs of cards like Future Sight and Twilight Shepherd. Cards like Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Hall of the Bandit Lord trade life for utility. Haste is devastatingly good when you're trying to set up a 1-turn kill.
Old Duals, Old Fetches: a financial consideration. I saved manabases from old standard decks to make my EDH Decks. Someday, I might invest.
Other Swords: See the description of Sword of Fire and Ice for my reasoning, and bear in mind that my decklist, like many decklists, is slightly fluid and will often include 2, or even 3 swords. I included the most diverse list I could.
Might of Oaks: This card is a 1-card combo with Rafiq for general damage kills, but that felt slightly cheap.
Tooth and Nail: I like this card for setting up combos, but I'm not sure I want to try and fit 2-3 unsynergistic cards to resolve something most people see as "cheap."
Nostalgic Dreams / Praetor's Counsel / Regrowth: This deck is kind of hurting for one big graveyard recursion spell. I'll continue to test and add it if I need it. I wish there was a multicolored one besides the unexciting Reborn Hope.
There are several "combos" and other synergies in the deck, but one in particular is very difficult to obtain and is the only true "infinite" combo. I have Genesis Wave, several tutors, and pure luck to accomplish it and it should only happen once in a blue moon, but when it does, it's awesome.
Thanks to Killane's Bant deck for inspiring this!
Cards on Field:
Cards in Hand:
Cast Phyrexian Metamorph targeting nothing. It enters the field as a 1/1 with no abilities named Phyrexian Metamorph.
Cast Rite of Replication Kicked on Phyrexian Metamorph. Use the copies to make 4x Lotus Bloom, 1x Eternal Witness. Bring back Rite of Replication. Sacrifice the original Lotus Bloom to make 3 mana of any color (you have 4 copies left).
Sacrifice 3x Lotus Blooms to make 9 blue mana. Cast Rite of Replication kicked on Phyrexian Metamorph again, and copy the remaining Lotus Bloom and make 4x Lotus Bloom, 1x Eternal Witness. Rinse and repeat!
Each time, you're making 3 extra mana, so you have infinite mana. If you choose to make no mana, you can make 1 less copy of Lotus Bloom. That means you can use one of your copies of Phyrexian Metamorph to:
-Copy every artifact/creature on the board infinite times and kill all legends
-Make extra Eternal Witnesses to get back every card in your graveyard and cast every card in your hand
-Play ANY instants/sorceries from your hand and graveyard infinite times using extra copies of Eternal Witness using your infinite mana.
It's infinite in so many ways, different every single time.
Eternal Witness can be replaced with Mnemonic Wall, and Lotus Bloom can be replaced with Gilded Lotus for more combo pieces. I don't use all that I have available.
Thanks for commenting!
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=305220
Some things that were suggested to me: Dueling Grounds and similar effects will work wonders if you're playing an exalted deck, since it makes everyone else play by your rules.
What I did from there is add a lot of "ith" effects for defense and tutors for Swords of X & Y.
Your post does point out the flaw of having Knight of the Reliquary though. I need to consider that.
I also agree with your decision to play casually. It's pretty obvious by some of my card choices that I like interesting interactions, and I have little interests in a "Win at all costs" game. I like Ardent Plea, though, and I'll consider adding that pretty strongly. My deck cascades pretty predictably, I have only 1 X-cost spell.
Knight of the Reliquary was such a staple in standard and extended, so I was surprised by his lackluster performance in EDH. The issue was, getting a manland just doesn't have the same impact across formats. I'd either draw him and have a 2/2 that doesn't do anything, or I'd have an equally useless 5/5 and a few more nonbasics. Neither seemed as good as any of the other cards I ended up choosing.
Definitely look into stuff like Dueling Grounds and Crawlspace. I love the interaction those cards have with exalted as a mechanic. Then again I'm a johnny-control player at heart.
B/G Creature Control
U/R Nivmizzet Permission
U Artifacts
UW Enchantments/Artifacts
UR Jhoira Boardsweeps
R/G Token Conspire
B/W Graveyard
R Kiki-Jiki Combo
So only one of those decks is seriously hindered by Dueling Grounds, and when R/G clogs the board it's usually on the heels of a combo.
I might look into re-adding Stoic Angel, i can't decide. With the control players, creatures are usually handled by someone else, and I'm content to combo with Cloudstone Curio and equipments with singleton threats.
Gaze of Subdual
Priveledged Position
Runed Halo
Lurking Predators
Ranger of Eos
Protean Hydra
Elvish Hexhunter
Momir Vig
Tolsimir Wolfsblood
Jhessian Infiltrator
Knotvine Paladin
Sun Titan
Austere Command
Blue Sun's Zenith
also, Nullmage Shephard.
WSoul SistersW
Commander
WIsperia the InscrutableU
WGaddock TeegG
UTomorrow, Azami's FamiliarU
Archester
Custom Cube
Timbermare seems amazing, but to combo it with Sunblast Angel would kill your creatures too.
That means, essentially, most creature removal is much less valuable. I have two boardsweeps and that's really it. Any secret tech against artifacts or counterspells would be loved. let me know!
And just because I have an extra tutor for them, bonus points if it's a multicolored spell, whatever idea you can think of. It's this reason I chose Glare of Subdual over Opposition.
Thanks very much for the help so far!
I like creatures; I like them a lot. That being said, i'm much more of a Johnny than a Timmy. I vastly prefer to combo. The nice thing about this deck is, having 1-2 creatures on the board is rarely a bad thing. I have a lot of great combo opportunities with small combinations of creatures rather than relying on a super-large alpha strike.
Anyone have any ideas on comboing a creature or artifact or enchantment to do something interesting, something I've missed? I thought about Cloud Cover as having some potential.
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StaffThe fact that you have double strike means you'll trigger the ability twice, which can be vastly powerful. They also add +2/+2 and useful protections. Obviously the Darksteel ones are a bit better due to better color combinations of protections (green doesn't have a ton of targeted creature removal) and better abilities, but any of them could work.
Avenger of Zendikar seems good here, particularly if you have Glare of Subdual and/or Opposition.
Tooth and Nail should probably be under consideration here, as it is very good. Especially in Bant colors, you can pull off an instant win if you cast it with an extra 2 mana open: find Eternal Witness and Palinchron, get it back, untap 7 lands, cast it again for Clone and Keeper of Progenitus, cloning Palinchron, and go infinite by repeatedly playing and bouncing the Palinclone, and then eventually play it as Witness, getting back TnN again, at which point you can win with Selesnya Guildmage and Treasure Mage for Akroma's Memorial. It's maybe more deck slots than you want to allocate, but it's pretty crazy how one card can singlehandedly win the game like that.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
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Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
I'd be down with running Fire and ice, and maybe Light and Shadow, but I don't own them yet. I wasn't all over equipments originally because the higher creature count was consistent with my enchantments, but I might try to re-fit them.
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StaffAdditionally, you could get a Primeval Titan (which you should probably be running if you can afford it) in place of the Keeper, getting any two lands that produce 2 or more mana (Gaea's Cradle, Simic Growth Chamber or other Karoos, Temple of the False God, etc). Since Clone + the Palinchron bounce only costs 5UUU (as opposed to playing and bouncing the regular Palinchron, which costs 7UUUU), producing 9 mana from 7 lands gets you infinite.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
After taking 8, he boardsweeps. My next turn I primal command for Reveillark and mystical tutor for Planar Cleansing backup, and I evoke back my Sower of Temptation on his Malfegor and I get a 7/7 Overbeing of Myth. SICK!!!
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
1 Palinchron
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Flickerwisp
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
1 Nevermaker
1 Riftwing Cloudskate
1 Sun Titan
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Acidic Slime
1 Eternal Witness
1 Gilded Drake
1 Karmic Guide
1 Mulldrifter
1 Reveillark
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Trygon Predator
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Stonehewer Giant
Enchantments
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Equilibrium
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Privileged Position
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Steel of the Godhead
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Path to Exile
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Bant Charm
1 Boomerang
1 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Ghostway
1 Into The Roil
1 Momentary Blink
Artifacts
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Coalition Relic
1 Sol Ring
1 Spine of Ish Sah
Planeswalkers
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorceries
1 Day of Judgment
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Wrath of God
1 Regrowth
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Flicker
1 Reality Strobe
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Maze of Ith
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Strip Mine
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
4 Island
5 Plains
5 Forest
1 City of Brass
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Flooded Grove
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent."
BR B/r Vampires (Standard)
GWU Angus Mackenzie(EDH)
UW Venser Control (Legacy)
Those are some good card suggestions. The main problem is that Flicker and Momentary Blink are essentially my only tech to get my creatures on and off the board. If I drop both of them, I essentially can't really do any effective blinking. With Evacuation and Cloudstone, I have to pay the mana to re-cast them. I will take your suggestions, though! I re-worked the deck a bit, and added all 3 of those cards to give em a shot. Also, I added Man-o'-War and AEther Adept. Also, I think I may add Fauna Shaman to try out some tricks with Reveilark/Karmic Guide, but the interactions may not be worth it. But the best combo is when Palinchron is in the graveyard, and I can cast Karmic Guide targetting Palinchron. And then I untap, and I can bounce Karmic Guide again if I've got the land, and grab something else from the graveyard, and still have land left over to play something else out of my hand. It's very nice. Last night I got Palinchron, Karmic Guide, Tidespout Tyrant and a Coiling Oracle all down on the same turn with only 7 mana.
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent."
BR B/r Vampires (Standard)
GWU Angus Mackenzie(EDH)
UW Venser Control (Legacy)
Perhaps Treetop Village as well?
I found the strongest card in the deck to be Woodfall Primus. Getting him in play with Venser was unreasonable. After much deliberation, I've made some intense changes to the deck.
-The Ranger of Eos package was removed
-The Sovereigns of Lost Alara package was removed
The following was added:
River Kelpie
Glen Elendra Archmage
Flickerwisp
Kitchen Finks
Heartmender
Cauldron of Souls
Ghostway
And my new personal hero:
-Teferi's Veil
I'm also considering throwing in a Twilight Shepherd. If you guys want a new decklist, I can update it later this weekend.