Teneb, the Harvester: This one is pretty easy. Out of the currently only 2 commanders in these colors, he's the only one that gives me any sort of useful utility. To be fair, I rarely play him (I'm working on that), but he provides a solid effect for the deck.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: For the same cost as Rampant Growth, I get a 1/1 body attached to my acceleration. While he tends not to stay in play long, have a p/t makes him much easier to recur than the aformentioned sorcery.
Withered Wretch: He provides me with cheap graveyard hate on a cheap body. I prefer him to Nezumi Graverobber because his ability costs half as much, doesn't require B, and doesn't threaten to flip into a much scarier problem.
Fierce Empath: This guy is basically the perfect creature tutor. He has 1 power, so he's 'larkable. He costs 3 mana, so Sun Titan gets him back too. He finds me lands, recursion, removal, and winconditions. He even finds my general if he gets tucked. What's not to love?
Knight of the Reliquary: One of the less obvious additions to the deck, yet also one of my favorite creatures. He tutors out all of my utility lands, ramps me, and grows into a respectable threat fairly quickly. He's why I run more Forests and Plains than Swamps. My mana is solid enough that it's never really an issue, and ensuring I can use his ability often is well worth the very slight imbalance. Also works nicely with Crucible of Worlds.
Yavimaya Elder: Fairly slow, but he grabs me multiple basics and nets me a card, so he's definitely worth the inclusion.
Academy Rector: I run a good number of powerful enchantments, and being able to tutor one directly onto the battlefield is extremely strong. I've used it to tutor out every single enchantment I run in different circumstances, but the main targets I go for are Survival of the Fittest and Mirari's Wake.
Dimir House Guard: While I dislike infinite combos, sometimes going infinite with Reveillark and Karmic Guide is my only out, in which case this guy is the best means to run that engine. He provides me an unlimited sacrifice outlet, which is generally useful to have available. Also, I can Transmute him to find Wrath of God (or Damnation), Harmonize (or Ambition's Cost/Ancient Craving), or any other 4 cmc card I need.
Oracle of Mul Daya: It is literally the first card I add to any EDH deck with green in it. It can double your land drops, lets you draw gas by clearing lands off the top of your library, allows you to dig one card deeper if you need lands, and is a non-threatening 2/2 with a "drawback" (the revealing) that makes your opponents unlikely to single it out. Awesome.
Solemn Simulacrum: Grabs me a land and nets me card. Not spectacular, but still very solid.
Archon of Justice: A respectable flying body that no one wants to kill. Coupled with a sacrifice outlet, he's solid spot removal for anything.
Genesis: A very strong source of repeating recursion.
Karmic Guide: Pretty much every effect gets better with a body attached, and Resurrection is no exception. Also part of the infinite Reveillark loop.
Reveillark: One of the all-stars of the deck, he couples powerful recursion with a nice flying body. If you can recur him multiple times, it can be absolutely devasting. One of the main reasons why I run so many 1- and 2-power creatures with EtB abilities is this guy.
Seedborn Muse: Always having mana open during opponents' turns is extremely useful, and when combined with Vedalken Orrery it's simply unfair.
Duplicant: Exile removal on a creature is amazing, especially when it can turn your own guy into a sizeable threat as well.
Geth, Lord of the Vault: Random graveyard theft is fun, and he gives you a bit more flexibility about targets and timing than Teneb does. Combined with a mana doubler or two, he makes for a solid finisher, reanimating entire armies and milling away anyone not packing Eldrazi.
Primeval Titan: Not only does he ramp quite heavily, he searches out all of my utility lands.
Sun Titan: Being able to recur a permanent for free each turn just for playing a fatty and then going to smack someone with it for 6 is awesome, even with the 3 cmc restriction.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: Confers considerable protection upon most of my gamebreaking bombs for a low cost, including my commander, and is handy on defence on its own.
Terastodon: The ability to destroy up to 3 bothersome artifacts/enchantments/lands/planeswalkers is insane, and no less so when it comes with a 9/9 body. A few 3/3s around the table tend not to be much of a problem.
Woodfall Primus: Not quite as big as Terastodon, but the trample is nice. He may not destroy as many permanents either, but surviving a sweeper and hitting another is a very solid effect. Also, sometimes you just don't want to give your opponent another guy.
Liliana Vess: She provides at least one tutor, and sometimes a second. She also provides some discard in a pinch, and her ultimate is definitely no joke.
Phyrexian Reclamation: The lifeloss hurts when you use it too much, but that's a fair trade for instant-speed recursion. It can protect my creatures from graveyard removal, and can provide absurd amounts of value in a long game.
Sterling Grove: Protects my other enchantments, combos very well with Privileged Position, and can tutor up another enchantment in response to anyone aiming removal at it.
Survival of the Fittest: One of the main engines in the deck, this card can tutor up pretty much any effect I need, thanks to them all being attached to creatures.
Aura Shards: Probably the best artifact and enchantment removal in its colors, next to Fracturing Gust, with a lot more control over what gets killed. It can do irreparable damage to multiple players' boards if left unchecked for a few turns.
Phyrexian Arena: An extra card each turn for the cost of a single life per card is very nice.
Mirari's Wake: Doubling your mana is extremely powerful, and the Anthem effect is a nice bonus.
Pivileged Position: Troll-shroud for your board is very useful, especially when combined with Sterling Grove for total protection from spot-removal.
Mana Reflection: Mirari's Wake is so incredibly useful that I really feel that having a backup doubler is necessary.
True Conviction: I wanted one card dedicated to lifegain, since this deck is fairly good at running down its life total. This one seemed like the best, as it has a huge impact on the game and is a powerful gamebreaker in addition to a strong lifegain card. It also plays well with Teneb, netting me two reanimation triggers per attack (and half a commander kill to boot).
Mox Diamond: A bit unconventional, but I prefer it to Mana Crypt. You don't take damage, and while it doesn't give you 2 mana, it does give you colored mana, which is very important. The drawback isn't too bad, since it generally produces more colors than the discarded land, and usually at least a turn sooner than you'd have the land anyway. Also works nicely with Crucible of Worlds and Knight of the Reliquary.
Sensei's Diving Top: Absurdly good. If used right it doesn't slow down the game, and being able to cherry pick from the top few cards of your library is incredibly stong.
Lightning Greaves: Haste is nice, but the real deal is in the shroud. For 0, you can protect whichever guy you want, and if it dies you can just equip to something else.
Mimic Vat: This is almost as much a staple of EDH as Sol Ring, though for different reasons. Almost everyone plays creatures, and this lets you cherry-pick the best to copy each turn, as well as denying the chance of recurring it to whoever owns it. Even if no one else has anything good, practically every creature in this deck alone will provide absurd value when you can throw a copy onto the 'field each turn.
Birthing Pod: Currently just an experiment, but my deck has enough good EtB abilities at each cmc that it seems like it could be very strong.
Vedalken Orrery: Being able to do everything at instant-speed is insanely good, especially with Seedborn Muse out.
Mind's Eye: Even in just a few turns you can draw a ton of cards.
Path to Exile: Having some spot-removal that exiles creatures is always good, and the drawback is well outweighed by the cheapness and versatility. Also can grab you a land in a pinch. Just remember that if you use it on a general in the early game, the extra land means that they can probably recast it next turn if they hit their land-drop.
Demonic Tutor: The best tutor in the game, grabs you whatever you need.
Maelstrom Pulse: Gives you the option of killing anything besides lands, and can decimate a token horde.
Vindicate: Gives you the option of killing anything including lands.
Damnation: For when you need to kill every creature.
Living Death: Can function as a Wrath of God, but more often is used to flood the battlefield with a ton of guys while hopefully killing off whatever scary stuff my opponents have. Especially good after a turn or two to set it up with Bojuka Bog and/or Withered Wretch.
Tooth and Nail: Tutoring any 2 creatures from my deck or hand into play is extremely powerful.
Decree of Pain: Can usually draw me quite a few cards to make up for the high cost. Also provides an uncounterable instant-speed Infest in an emergency.
Praetor's Counsel: For 8 mana, you can "draw" dozens of cards, and never need to worry about discarding them. It may be a one-shot deal, but you probably don't need to worry about reusing it again if you can just resolve it once. Works especially nicely with Survival of the Fittest.
Green Sun's Zenith: A reusable creature tutor is very strong, especially since it just costs 1 more than whatever you want to tutor into play. Need early mana? Sakura-Tribe Elder. Need more ramp in the late-game? Primeval Titan. Need to destroy a pesky artifact or enchantment? Acidic Slime. Need a wincon? Avenger of Zendikar. This card can get you whatever you need, at any point in the game.
Genesis Wave: With only 12 other nonpermanent cards in the deck, you'll rarely miss on more than a few cards at most, and as long as X is at least 8 you can get any permanent in the deck. Usually a game-ender unless someone has a Planar Cleansing or something similar.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Being able to make my tutors and removal uncounterable is pretty sweet, and the life cost can be offset by a Miren activation or two.
High Market: A sacrifice outlet that's not liable to be targeted by a nefarious opponent. The small bit of lifegain is also nice.
Horizon Canopy: Manafixes for a bit of pain, but more importantly it can cycle if I need another card. Very good with Crucible of Worlds.
Maze of Ith: While it doesn't actually produce mana, it does end up saving me more mana than Kor Haven would provide me in the long run. Losing the ability to produce 1 is outweighed by not having to leave an extra 1W open each turn.
Miren, the Moaning Well: Another sacrifice outlet, but this one can gain me enough life to actually matter in a long game.
Vesuva: Copies a dual if I need mana, copies an opponent's legendary land that needs to die, copies a utility land for more ...utility, and provides a second copy of Bojuka Bog.
Volrath's Stronghold: Probably the best land in the deck, it can get back a key creature each turn to replace the random card I'd otherwise draw. Also can save a creature in my graveyard from targeted removal.
Life Chisel looks pretty sweet. I'm surprised I've never seen it mentioned before, although the upkeep-only restriction probably has something to do with it. I think I'll try to pick one up to try out.
Buried Alive is one of the greatest tutors in a recursion deck. Plus, it's not required you choose exactly three, so you can just stick a Genesis and Glory, and wreck the game.
This may be just personal preference, but I really like using Necrotic Sliver.
At first glance, it's just an expensive Vindicate, but the fact that it's a creature means it's a great recursion target if there's some card on the field that's giving you trouble.
Two power means it's another Reveillark target as well.
As far as a sac-outlet goes, why do you need more? I think most of your creatures are big enough that they should stick to the board and give beatings.
Buried Alive is one of the best tutors you can ask for in this deck. Just drop it turn 3 and fetch Genesis, Stinkweed Imp and Eternal Witness. Next turn you return the Witness to your hand with Genesis, dredge Stinkweed Imp, and you suddenly have a Genesis in the grave, 5 extra cards thanks to dredge, and you can even Eternal Witness back Buried Alive for even MORE shenanigans. Trust me when I say it's one of the more powerful plays in your deck.
Also, Stinkweed Imp stocks your graveyard, prevents fatties from attacking you mostly, and has Synergy with both Survival of the Fittest and Tortured Existance, as it gives you a constant creature to discard. All while filling your graveyard.
Also, while Genesis, Oversold Cemetary and Debtor's Knell are all VERY powerful recursion tools, Tortured Existance and Phyrexian Reclamation have one powerful advantage over all of them - They are instant speed and scalable, meaning they can be used, at least in part, to combat graveyard removal, especially the reclamation.
I still dislike the idea of possibly dredging my spells along with my creatures, but that's from a purely academic point of view. I'm willing to test the Imp and see how well Dredge actually works for the deck in practice. Same with Buried Alive. Since I'm testing those cards, would Glory also be worth adding to the deck as well? I know it's very strong, but I'm just not sure what to cut for it, or for the other two cards for that matter.
I'm still not completely sold on Tortured Existance and Phyrexian Reclamation, since one requires trading creatures 1-for-1 between my 'yard and hand, and the other could potentially cost a lot of life over time, but if I can get them I'll try those too.
I've played that card for a while, and I haven't been very impressed. It's a poor reanimation target as i'd prefer something with either haste, or cip abilities. You may have much better experiences with it in your playgroup, but it's been pretty terrible in mine.
Does anyone have any suggestions for what to cut for Stinkweed Imp and Buried Alive? I can't decide what's worth taking out for them to replace. I'm thinking possibly Vulturous Zombie or Spiritmonger for the Stinkweed Imp, since those are both basically vanilla beaters and I'm really heavy on 5-drops, but otherwise I have no idea.
I apologize if I'm intruding in your thread Molten Shark, but I have a Teneb Deck, and I love this idea of Genesis and Buried Alive. I'm also posting my deck, for a little critique, as I'm going to a tournament this Saturday ,and just want to see how the deck would fare.
So, I can take down the list if you mind, but any advice on making it better and/or making room for Genesis and Buried Alive would be appreciated.
It's not that I don't approve of Restock or Loxodon Warhammer, you just already have cards that perform those functions, but better. All Sun's Dawn already does what Restock does, but should net you one extra card. Behemoth Sledge already does what Loxodon Warhammer does, but gives the creature more survivability with 2 toughness.
I'm not saying your choices are bad, just the redundancy of these cards I believe makes them easier to cut for cards such as Mirari's Wake which doubles your mana, and makes all your creatures stronger. Rather than just making one creature larger and stronger.
You already have Eternal Witness and Genesis and Survival to constantly be bringing cards back to your hands, I feel like equipment just to "power up" creatures (aka, not giving them shroud, but more abilities) is cost prohibitive, unless it's something like Jitte which retains its power wether it's equipped or not.
I've honestly never used Arashi, so it could very well be powerful, I just think these cards could be cut for improvements.
I still dislike the idea of possibly dredging my spells along with my creatures, but that's from a purely academic point of view. I'm willing to test the Imp and see how well Dredge actually works for the deck in practice. Same with Buried Alive. Since I'm testing those cards, would Glory also be worth adding to the deck as well? I know it's very strong, but I'm just not sure what to cut for it, or for the other two cards for that matter.
Dredge can be a powerful mechanic in Highlander. The deck below is what I run in (non-EDH) highlander. It is a dedicated dredge deck. The idea of throwing cards into the grave seemed reckless to me at first, but with all the recursion available, my graveyard turned into a huge asset. The deck recovers well from mass removal, so most of my non-graveyard oriented cards are sweepers.
Perhaps the list can spark some ideas. As an aside, I wouldn't mind trying to convert this to EDH (Teneb is a natural general for this deck) but I'd have to shed 12 cards (probably 7 spells and 5 land). Any suggestions?
I've updated the first post to include card explanations for every card in the deck besides lands that only produce colored mana.
Also, I'm considering Identity Crisis for the deck. I know it's typically considered a DB card, but I have reasons for it besides randomly screwing over players. First, it's grave hate, which is always useful. Secondly, it's hand hate, which I've found myself wishing I had occasionally because outside of Lili V I don't have any. This is mostly for use on the guy packing a bunch of counters that foolishly taps out before my mainphase, but it's also good when I know an opponent has a card in hand that can win them the game if unchecked. It's also good for ensuring the guy I'm about to swing at for the kill doesn't have any tricks for me. Finally, I have a foil one and it's really, really shiny.
The only problem is that I don't know what to take out, since the deck's gotten to the point where every single card in it feels too valuable to remove. Any ideas?
Edit: Over 200 new views, and not one new comment?
Personally, I'm a big fan of Sorin Markov. Yeah, the "brings them to 10" ability is frowned at, but it combats infinite life and can completely turn the tide of a game for just 6 mana. Bit heavy on black though.
Identity Crisis has always been amazing for me, but I play 1v1 with my Teneb list. Persecute is another good one to look at.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss is legit. You should check it out. Deals with problem lands and goes and gets you some lands of your own.
Bitterblossom is amazing in and of itself, and if you combine it with Contamination you have a great soft lock.
You also need a Scroll Rack. It's a super divining top, and you can use it in response to a discard effect to hide cards on top of your library. Very potent.
Also, if you're in the market for mass removal, I recommend Rout. The instant speed is amazing.
As a final note, you could run more fetchlands. Things like Misty Rainforest are perfectly legal in your deck even though you're not running blue, and will go and fetch the typed forests, like Murmuring Bosk and Temple Garden.
Counter spells stop everything. It's the condom Trojan dreams of making. But like condoms, if you don't have one, you still keep on playing and take the risk. Most of us wouldn't be here if this wasn't a fact.
Mwonvuli Acid Moss - I already run some land-based LD, and if I want to ramp myself by one land I'm not going to spend 4 mana on it.
Bitterblossom - Really not great in multiplayer, since netting yourself 1 1/1 flyer per cycle of turns is pretty useless. Contamination is also not worth running, since I don't want to lock people like that and also don't have enough fuel for to make it good.
Scroll Rack - I run it in other decks, and it's nice, but imo wouldn't do enough to warrent a slot here. I tend not to have dead cards to shuffle away.
Rout - I ran it for a while, but rarely played it at instant-speed, so it became Living Death.
Off-color fetchlands - I already tend to pull out everything in my deck with a basic subtype over the course of a typical game, these aren't needed.
Pernicious Deed - I run a large number of artifacts and enchantments that I'd really rather not kill. I run plenty of spot removal for permanents, so I'm fine with just creature Wraths.
Vampiric Tutor - It's card disadvantage. I chose to run Liliana Vess over it, because while she's slower, I get more utility out of her, and possibly even 2 or more tutors.
Eladamri's Call - I already have plenty of ways to find creatures I need.
Gilded Lotus - I could see myself running this over Coalition Relic, but I like having the cheaper acceleration. I might give it a try, though. Seems fun with Mana Reflection.
My current quandry is whether to run Mimic Vat or Nim Deathmantle over Oversold Cemetery. I'm definitely going with one or the other, I just can't decide which. The Deathmantle seems like it could get really dirty with any of my EtB creatures and a mana doubler in the late game with a sacrifice outlet, but the Vat is cheaper and can abuse my opponents' creatures as well as my own. However, if the Vat dies while I have one of my creatures imprinted, I'll lose the creature forever. It's probably going to come down to which one I get a foil of first, lol.
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1 Teneb, the Harvester
Creatures (30)
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Withered Wretch
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fierce Empath
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Wood Elves
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Academy Rector
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spike Weaver
1 Archon of Justice
1 Genesis
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Duplicant
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Primeval Titan
1 Sun Titan
1 Angel of Despair
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Terastodon
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Liliana Vess
Enchantments (9)
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Sterling Grove
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Aura Shards
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Privileged Position
1 Mana Reflection
1 True Conviction
Artifacts (10)
1 Mox Diamond
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Mimic Vat
1 Birthing Pod
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Mind's Eye
Instants (1)
1 Path to Exile
Sorceries (11)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Vindicate
1 Damnation
1 Living Death
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Decree of Pain
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Genesis Wave
1 Bayou
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 High Market
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Krosan Verge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexian Tower
4 Plains
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
4 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Twilight Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vesuva
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
Pimp factor: 47 foils
Teneb, the Harvester: This one is pretty easy. Out of the currently only 2 commanders in these colors, he's the only one that gives me any sort of useful utility. To be fair, I rarely play him (I'm working on that), but he provides a solid effect for the deck.
Qasali Pridemage: One of the cheapest Disenchants you can get on a body. He pumps up Teneb to a 3-turn clock, and plays nicely with Reveillark and Sun Titan.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: For the same cost as Rampant Growth, I get a 1/1 body attached to my acceleration. While he tends not to stay in play long, have a p/t makes him much easier to recur than the aformentioned sorcery.
Withered Wretch: He provides me with cheap graveyard hate on a cheap body. I prefer him to Nezumi Graverobber because his ability costs half as much, doesn't require B, and doesn't threaten to flip into a much scarier problem.
Eternal Witness: One of the best creatures in the deck, he's a Regrowth stuck on a body that makes it easy to abuse each turn with cards like Genesis and Debtors' Knell.
Fierce Empath: This guy is basically the perfect creature tutor. He has 1 power, so he's 'larkable. He costs 3 mana, so Sun Titan gets him back too. He finds me lands, recursion, removal, and win conditions. He even finds my general if he gets tucked. What's not to love?
Fleshbag Marauder: Recurrable Innocent Blood is good. Extra fun with Sun Titan or Mimic Vat.
Knight of the Reliquary: One of the less obvious additions to the deck, yet also one of my favorite creatures. He tutors out all of my utility lands, ramps me, and grows into a respectable threat fairly quickly. He's why I run more Forests and Plains than Swamps. My mana is solid enough that it's never really an issue, and ensuring I can use his ability often is well worth the very slight imbalance. Also works nicely with Crucible of Worlds.
Wood Elves: Finds my dual lands and gives me another 1/1 body to work with.
Yavimaya Elder: Fairly slow, but he grabs me multiple basics and nets me a card, so he's definitely worth the inclusion.
Academy Rector: I run a good number of powerful enchantments, and being able to tutor one directly onto the battlefield is extremely strong. I've used it to tutor out every single enchantment I run in different circumstances, but the main targets I go for are Survival of the Fittest and Mirari's Wake.
Dimir House Guard: While I dislike infinite combos, sometimes going infinite with Reveillark and Karmic Guide is my only out, in which case this guy is the best means to run that engine. He provides me an unlimited sacrifice outlet, which is generally useful to have available. Also, I can Transmute him to find Wrath of God (or Damnation), Harmonize (or Ambition's Cost/Ancient Craving), or any other 4 cmc card I need.
Oracle of Mul Daya: It is literally the first card I add to any EDH deck with green in it. It can double your land drops, lets you draw gas by clearing lands off the top of your library, allows you to dig one card deeper if you need lands, and is a non-threatening 2/2 with a "drawback" (the revealing) that makes your opponents unlikely to single it out. Awesome.
Solemn Simulacrum: Grabs me a land and nets me card. Not spectacular, but still very solid.
Spike Weaver: Combined with Genesis/Oversold Cemetery/Debtors' Knell/Volrath's Stronghold, he can pretty much shield me from combat damage forever.
Archon of Justice: A respectable flying body that no one wants to kill. Coupled with a sacrifice outlet, he's solid spot removal for anything.
Genesis: A very strong source of repeating recursion.
Karmic Guide: Pretty much every effect gets better with a body attached, and Resurrection is no exception. Also part of the infinite Reveillark loop.
Reveillark: One of the all-stars of the deck, he couples powerful recursion with a nice flying body. If you can recur him multiple times, it can be absolutely devasting. One of the main reasons why I run so many 1- and 2-power creatures with EtB abilities is this guy.
Seedborn Muse: Always having mana open during opponents' turns is extremely useful, and when combined with Vedalken Orrery it's simply unfair.
Brutalizer Exarch: A 3/3 body that comes with a Sylvan Tutor or a noncreature killer that can answer planeswalkers and Darksteel Forge alike.
Duplicant: Exile removal on a creature is amazing, especially when it can turn your own guy into a sizeable threat as well.
Geth, Lord of the Vault: Random graveyard theft is fun, and he gives you a bit more flexibility about targets and timing than Teneb does. Combined with a mana doubler or two, he makes for a solid finisher, reanimating entire armies and milling away anyone not packing Eldrazi.
Primeval Titan: Not only does he ramp quite heavily, he searches out all of my utility lands.
Sun Titan: Being able to recur a permanent for free each turn just for playing a fatty and then going to smack someone with it for 6 is awesome, even with the 3 cmc restriction.
Angel of Despair: Vindicate on a dragon. Amazing.
Avenger of Zendikar: My favorite finisher in the deck. Between my fetchlands, land search, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Knight of the Reliquary, the tokens can get very big VERY quickly. I like Tooth and Nailing for him and Primal Titan.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: Reya Dawnbringer for me, The Abyss for my opponents. What more could you ask for?
Spearbreaker Behemoth: Confers considerable protection upon most of my gamebreaking bombs for a low cost, including my commander, and is handy on defence on its own.
Terastodon: The ability to destroy up to 3 bothersome artifacts/enchantments/lands/planeswalkers is insane, and no less so when it comes with a 9/9 body. A few 3/3s around the table tend not to be much of a problem.
Woodfall Primus: Not quite as big as Terastodon, but the trample is nice. He may not destroy as many permanents either, but surviving a sweeper and hitting another is a very solid effect. Also, sometimes you just don't want to give your opponent another guy.
Liliana Vess: She provides at least one tutor, and sometimes a second. She also provides some discard in a pinch, and her ultimate is definitely no joke.
Phyrexian Reclamation: The lifeloss hurts when you use it too much, but that's a fair trade for instant-speed recursion. It can protect my creatures from graveyard removal, and can provide absurd amounts of value in a long game.
Sterling Grove: Protects my other enchantments, combos very well with Privileged Position, and can tutor up another enchantment in response to anyone aiming removal at it.
Survival of the Fittest: One of the main engines in the deck, this card can tutor up pretty much any effect I need, thanks to them all being attached to creatures.
Aura Shards: Probably the best artifact and enchantment removal in its colors, next to Fracturing Gust, with a lot more control over what gets killed. It can do irreparable damage to multiple players' boards if left unchecked for a few turns.
Phyrexian Arena: An extra card each turn for the cost of a single life per card is very nice.
Mirari's Wake: Doubling your mana is extremely powerful, and the Anthem effect is a nice bonus.
Pivileged Position: Troll-shroud for your board is very useful, especially when combined with Sterling Grove for total protection from spot-removal.
Mana Reflection: Mirari's Wake is so incredibly useful that I really feel that having a backup doubler is necessary.
True Conviction: I wanted one card dedicated to lifegain, since this deck is fairly good at running down its life total. This one seemed like the best, as it has a huge impact on the game and is a powerful gamebreaker in addition to a strong lifegain card. It also plays well with Teneb, netting me two reanimation triggers per attack (and half a commander kill to boot).
Mox Diamond: A bit unconventional, but I prefer it to Mana Crypt. You don't take damage, and while it doesn't give you 2 mana, it does give you colored mana, which is very important. The drawback isn't too bad, since it generally produces more colors than the discarded land, and usually at least a turn sooner than you'd have the land anyway. Also works nicely with Crucible of Worlds and Knight of the Reliquary.
Expedition Map: Finds whatever utility land I need.
Sensei's Diving Top: Absurdly good. If used right it doesn't slow down the game, and being able to cherry pick from the top few cards of your library is incredibly stong.
Sol Ring: For 1 you get 2. Need I say more?
Lightning Greaves: Haste is nice, but the real deal is in the shroud. For 0, you can protect whichever guy you want, and if it dies you can just equip to something else.
Darksteel Ingot: Colorfixes and accelerates much like Coalition Relic, but also just doesn't die.
Mimic Vat: This is almost as much a staple of EDH as Sol Ring, though for different reasons. Almost everyone plays creatures, and this lets you cherry-pick the best to copy each turn, as well as denying the chance of recurring it to whoever owns it. Even if no one else has anything good, practically every creature in this deck alone will provide absurd value when you can throw a copy onto the 'field each turn.
Birthing Pod: Currently just an experiment, but my deck has enough good EtB abilities at each cmc that it seems like it could be very strong.
Vedalken Orrery: Being able to do everything at instant-speed is insanely good, especially with Seedborn Muse out.
Mind's Eye: Even in just a few turns you can draw a ton of cards.
Path to Exile: Having some spot-removal that exiles creatures is always good, and the drawback is well outweighed by the cheapness and versatility. Also can grab you a land in a pinch. Just remember that if you use it on a general in the early game, the extra land means that they can probably recast it next turn if they hit their land-drop.
Demonic Tutor: The best tutor in the game, grabs you whatever you need.
Maelstrom Pulse: Gives you the option of killing anything besides lands, and can decimate a token horde.
Vindicate: Gives you the option of killing anything including lands.
Damnation: For when you need to kill every creature.
Living Death: Can function as a Wrath of God, but more often is used to flood the battlefield with a ton of guys while hopefully killing off whatever scary stuff my opponents have. Especially good after a turn or two to set it up with Bojuka Bog and/or Withered Wretch.
Tooth and Nail: Tutoring any 2 creatures from my deck or hand into play is extremely powerful.
Decree of Pain: Can usually draw me quite a few cards to make up for the high cost. Also provides an uncounterable instant-speed Infest in an emergency.
Praetor's Counsel: For 8 mana, you can "draw" dozens of cards, and never need to worry about discarding them. It may be a one-shot deal, but you probably don't need to worry about reusing it again if you can just resolve it once. Works especially nicely with Survival of the Fittest.
Green Sun's Zenith: A reusable creature tutor is very strong, especially since it just costs 1 more than whatever you want to tutor into play. Need early mana? Sakura-Tribe Elder. Need more ramp in the late-game? Primeval Titan. Need to destroy a pesky artifact or enchantment? Acidic Slime. Need a wincon? Avenger of Zendikar. This card can get you whatever you need, at any point in the game.
Genesis Wave: With only 12 other nonpermanent cards in the deck, you'll rarely miss on more than a few cards at most, and as long as X is at least 8 you can get any permanent in the deck. Usually a game-ender unless someone has a Planar Cleansing or something similar.
Bojuka Bog: Tormod's Crypt on a land is nice. Also uncounterable, and can be tutored by Knight of the Reliquary directly into play to catch an opponent off-guard.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Being able to make my tutors and removal uncounterable is pretty sweet, and the life cost can be offset by a Miren activation or two.
High Market: A sacrifice outlet that's not liable to be targeted by a nefarious opponent. The small bit of lifegain is also nice.
Horizon Canopy: Manafixes for a bit of pain, but more importantly it can cycle if I need another card. Very good with Crucible of Worlds.
Maze of Ith: While it doesn't actually produce mana, it does end up saving me more mana than Kor Haven would provide me in the long run. Losing the ability to produce 1 is outweighed by not having to leave an extra 1W open each turn.
Miren, the Moaning Well: Another sacrifice outlet, but this one can gain me enough life to actually matter in a long game.
Reliquary Tower: Having no maximum hand size can be useful, especially with Mind's Eye.
Vesuva: Copies a dual if I need mana, copies an opponent's legendary land that needs to die, copies a utility land for more ...utility, and provides a second copy of Bojuka Bog.
Volrath's Stronghold: Probably the best land in the deck, it can get back a key creature each turn to replace the random card I'd otherwise draw. Also can save a creature in my graveyard from targeted removal.
Creatures
Karador, Ghost Chieftan (new commander)
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Planeswalkers
Karn Liberated
Enchantments
n/a
Artifacts
Crucible of Worlds
Sorceries
n/a
Instants
n/a
Lands
n/a
Not really.
Oh, and Kitchen Finks and Aven Riftwatcher.
Currently 62/265 cards.
Edit: I want one or two more sac-outlets. Which one(s) should I add?
*edit* forgot to mention one of my favorite all time cards Life Chisel
This may be just personal preference, but I really like using Necrotic Sliver.
At first glance, it's just an expensive Vindicate, but the fact that it's a creature means it's a great recursion target if there's some card on the field that's giving you trouble.
Two power means it's another Reveillark target as well.
In my Teneb deck, I also like Makeshift Mannequin (instant recursion) and Crime/Punishment (recursion/removal).
As far as a sac-outlet goes, why do you need more? I think most of your creatures are big enough that they should stick to the board and give beatings.
Also, Stinkweed Imp stocks your graveyard, prevents fatties from attacking you mostly, and has Synergy with both Survival of the Fittest and Tortured Existance, as it gives you a constant creature to discard. All while filling your graveyard.
Also, while Genesis, Oversold Cemetary and Debtor's Knell are all VERY powerful recursion tools, Tortured Existance and Phyrexian Reclamation have one powerful advantage over all of them - They are instant speed and scalable, meaning they can be used, at least in part, to combat graveyard removal, especially the reclamation.
Currently 62/265 cards.
I'm still not completely sold on Tortured Existance and Phyrexian Reclamation, since one requires trading creatures 1-for-1 between my 'yard and hand, and the other could potentially cost a lot of life over time, but if I can get them I'll try those too.
I've played that card for a while, and I haven't been very impressed. It's a poor reanimation target as i'd prefer something with either haste, or cip abilities. You may have much better experiences with it in your playgroup, but it's been pretty terrible in mine.
So, I can take down the list if you mind, but any advice on making it better and/or making room for Genesis and Buried Alive would be appreciated.
1 Teneb, the Harvester
Creatures (19):
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Acidic Slime
1 World Queller
1 Revillark
1 Archon of Justice
1 Karmic Guide
1 Spiritmonger
1 Dread
1 Angel of Despair
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Reya Dawnbringer
Sorceries (13):
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Profane Command
1 Vindicate
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Harmonize
1 Barter in Blood
1 Dread Return
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Crime//Punishment
1 Promise of Power
1 Identity Crisis
1 Condemn
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Allay
1 Mortify
1 Chord of Calling
1 Krosan Grip
Planeswalkers (3):
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Liliana Vess
1 Sorin Markhov
Enchantments (9):
1 Rancor
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Animate Dead
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Necropotence
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Privileged Position
1 Debtor's Knell
Wraths (7):
1 Martial Coup
1 Wrath of God
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Austere Command
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Decree of Pain
1 Plague Wind
Artificats (7):
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Uzemawa's Jitte
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mind's Eye
1 Gilded Lotus
Lands (35):
1 Savannah
1 Maze of Ith
1 Marsh Flats
1 Godless Shrine
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Fetid Heath
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Swamp
1 Swamp
1 Swamp
1 Swamp
Also, does anyone have any recommendations for what to cut for Stinkweed Imp, Buried Alive, and Eldrazi Monument and/or Mirari's Wake?
These are the cuts I would make for your deck:
I would cut Arashi for Stinkweed Imp.
I would cut Restock for Mirari's Wake.
I would cut Loxodon Warhammer for Eldrazi Monument.
And personally I would cut Ambition's Cost/Ancient Craving for Buried Alive.
It's not that I don't approve of Restock or Loxodon Warhammer, you just already have cards that perform those functions, but better. All Sun's Dawn already does what Restock does, but should net you one extra card. Behemoth Sledge already does what Loxodon Warhammer does, but gives the creature more survivability with 2 toughness.
I'm not saying your choices are bad, just the redundancy of these cards I believe makes them easier to cut for cards such as Mirari's Wake which doubles your mana, and makes all your creatures stronger. Rather than just making one creature larger and stronger.
You already have Eternal Witness and Genesis and Survival to constantly be bringing cards back to your hands, I feel like equipment just to "power up" creatures (aka, not giving them shroud, but more abilities) is cost prohibitive, unless it's something like Jitte which retains its power wether it's equipped or not.
I've honestly never used Arashi, so it could very well be powerful, I just think these cards could be cut for improvements.
Dredge can be a powerful mechanic in Highlander. The deck below is what I run in (non-EDH) highlander. It is a dedicated dredge deck. The idea of throwing cards into the grave seemed reckless to me at first, but with all the recursion available, my graveyard turned into a huge asset. The deck recovers well from mass removal, so most of my non-graveyard oriented cards are sweepers.
Perhaps the list can spark some ideas. As an aside, I wouldn't mind trying to convert this to EDH (Teneb is a natural general for this deck) but I'd have to shed 12 cards (probably 7 spells and 5 land). Any suggestions?
1 Acidic Slime
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Brawn
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Eternal Witness
1 Filth
1 Genesis
1 Golgari Grave-Troll
1 Golgari Thug
1 Greater Mossdog
1 Hermit Druid
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Karmic Guide
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Necroplasm
1 Order of Whiteclay
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reveillark
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Shambling Shell
1 Shriekmaw
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Wall of Reverence
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Windborn Muse
1 Withered Wretch
Enchantment/Artifact (12):
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Land Tax
1 Moldervine Cloak
1 Night Soil
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Mesmeric Orb
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Condemn
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Entomb
1 Krosan Grip
1 Mortify
1 Path to Exile
1 Putrefy
1 Return to Dust
1 Shred Memory
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Damnation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dimir Machinations
1 Life from the Loam
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Martial Coup
1 Nightmare Void
1 Raven's Crime
1 Worm Harvest
1 Wrath of God
Planeswalker (1):
1 Liliana Vess
Land (46):
7 Forest
2 Plains
5 Swamp
1 Barren Moor
1 Bayou
1 Crypt of Agadeem
1 Fetid Heath
1 Godless Shrine
1 Krosan Verge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Quicksand
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Tainted Field
1 Tainted Wood
1 Temple Garden
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Twilight Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vesuva
1 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Teneb, the Harvester
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Kor Haven
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Yavimaya Hollow
Also, I'm considering Identity Crisis for the deck. I know it's typically considered a DB card, but I have reasons for it besides randomly screwing over players. First, it's grave hate, which is always useful. Secondly, it's hand hate, which I've found myself wishing I had occasionally because outside of Lili V I don't have any. This is mostly for use on the guy packing a bunch of counters that foolishly taps out before my mainphase, but it's also good when I know an opponent has a card in hand that can win them the game if unchecked. It's also good for ensuring the guy I'm about to swing at for the kill doesn't have any tricks for me. Finally, I have a foil one and it's really, really shiny.
The only problem is that I don't know what to take out, since the deck's gotten to the point where every single card in it feels too valuable to remove. Any ideas?
Edit: Over 200 new views, and not one new comment?
Identity Crisis has always been amazing for me, but I play 1v1 with my Teneb list. Persecute is another good one to look at.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss is legit. You should check it out. Deals with problem lands and goes and gets you some lands of your own.
Bitterblossom is amazing in and of itself, and if you combine it with Contamination you have a great soft lock.
You also need a Scroll Rack. It's a super divining top, and you can use it in response to a discard effect to hide cards on top of your library. Very potent.
Also, if you're in the market for mass removal, I recommend Rout. The instant speed is amazing.
As a final note, you could run more fetchlands. Things like Misty Rainforest are perfectly legal in your deck even though you're not running blue, and will go and fetch the typed forests, like Murmuring Bosk and Temple Garden.
My Trade Thread!
Standard
RogueDeckWins (mono-B aggro)
AngelDusk G/W/U control)
Land of Confusion (B/R/u Blightning Beatdown
Shore/Bind (G/U aggro w/ mistbind clique)
Casual
Hostile Takeover (U/B Tutor)
Stompy (Mono-G super aggro)
Ghost of Jimi Hendrix 4 president 2012!
Mwonvuli Acid Moss - I already run some land-based LD, and if I want to ramp myself by one land I'm not going to spend 4 mana on it.
Bitterblossom - Really not great in multiplayer, since netting yourself 1 1/1 flyer per cycle of turns is pretty useless. Contamination is also not worth running, since I don't want to lock people like that and also don't have enough fuel for to make it good.
Scroll Rack - I run it in other decks, and it's nice, but imo wouldn't do enough to warrent a slot here. I tend not to have dead cards to shuffle away.
Rout - I ran it for a while, but rarely played it at instant-speed, so it became Living Death.
Off-color fetchlands - I already tend to pull out everything in my deck with a basic subtype over the course of a typical game, these aren't needed.
Pernicious Deed - I run a large number of artifacts and enchantments that I'd really rather not kill. I run plenty of spot removal for permanents, so I'm fine with just creature Wraths.
Vampiric Tutor - It's card disadvantage. I chose to run Liliana Vess over it, because while she's slower, I get more utility out of her, and possibly even 2 or more tutors.
Eladamri's Call - I already have plenty of ways to find creatures I need.
Gilded Lotus - I could see myself running this over Coalition Relic, but I like having the cheaper acceleration. I might give it a try, though. Seems fun with Mana Reflection.
My current quandry is whether to run Mimic Vat or Nim Deathmantle over Oversold Cemetery. I'm definitely going with one or the other, I just can't decide which. The Deathmantle seems like it could get really dirty with any of my EtB creatures and a mana doubler in the late game with a sacrifice outlet, but the Vat is cheaper and can abuse my opponents' creatures as well as my own. However, if the Vat dies while I have one of my creatures imprinted, I'll lose the creature forever. It's probably going to come down to which one I get a foil of first, lol.