Tag: artifacts

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The Great EDH Challenge: Yore-Tiller – Breya, Mud Shaper

Decklist: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/breya-mud-shaper/

Power Level: 7.3

Breya is a powerful artifact commander that serves as interaction in the command zone, in addition to being an excellent outlet for infinite mana. This deck can’t produce infinite mana, but it does enjoy generating plenty of artifact tokens to use in sacrifice shenanigans.

I’ve always preferred the “mud” border of the old artifacts, so I decided to make a deck themed around them. The release of the Brother’s War commander precons made this deck idea far more viable, and much of this deck uses cards from those. I could have increased the power and budget of this deck by including numerous other powerful “retro” artifacts, but I limited myself to only a few of those, such as Metalworker. Despite the deckbuilding limitation, the deck still has plenty of synergy, mainly revolving around artifact token generation and sacrifice.

Cards like Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer and Urza, Chief Artificer provide excellent free token generation on each of our turns. Other cards like Sai, Master Thopterist and Sharding Sphinx make us work a bit harder for our tokens, but not too hard. We use these artifact creature tokens to attack our opponents and to interact with them thanks to Breya and other cards like Oni-Cult Anvil. There is also a large amount of draw engines available in this deck. Bident of Thassa draws a card for each crature that deals combat damage, and is perhaps the best way to draw a large amount of cards in the deck. Value engines such as Thopter Shop and Thopter Spy Network are far more gradual and consistent ways to draw cards.

This deck is a more traditional EDH deck, where the playstyle tends to be a mix of battlecruiser and tinkering. Once we have a large amount of artifacts on the battlefield, we typically can do all sorts of things to both generate more value and expand our board presence. This deck wins with combat damage at least half of the time, usually with large constructs created by Urza, Lord High Artificer and Digsite Engineer. The other half of wins are attained through combos involving Ashnod’s Altar, Marionette Master, Sharuum the Hegemon, and Sculpting Steel. It always helps to have a way to close out a game using a combo that can be interacted with by casual, less-powerful decks.

I have plenty of artifact decks, as it is my favorite archetype in Magic. This deck does the usual tinker-y things that those decks tend to do, with a specialization in token generation. If you like having a lot of artifacts, then this is a fun deck to play.

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The Great EDH Challenge: Blue – Memnarch Control Combo

Memnarch
Memnarch

Decklist: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/memnarched/?cb=1607710253

Power Level: 11.75

This is my pride and joy, the deck that best represents my passion for Magic the Gathering. Memnarch was the first foil legendary creature I drew, and remains my favorite character in the lore.

What’s easier than having an awesome mana sink that’s always available to you? Just make infinite mana and take all their stuff. Control, Card Draw, and Tutoring helps you get there, since you have to get your combo pieces and survive along the way. Counterspells are notoriously difficult to play in a game consisting of 3+ people, especially in a format as threat-rich as EDH. It is vitally important for me to keep my counterspells to either protect my own combo, or prevent other people from making a game-winning play. The sheer density of tutors that this deck possesses allows it to assemble combos with ease. The density of fast mana accelerates my gameplan, letting me do a lot of things early in the game.

This deck is a significant threat at all stages of the game, and most people who sit down with me realize how toxic Memnarch can be once they realize that he can permanently gain control of any permanent. I usually only cast Memnarch under two circumstances; when I have infinite mana, or when I need to put pressure on the board while I work on getting my combo together. Memnarch is a “Kill-on-sight” commander, and it is normal for people to hold up removal just to kill him when I play him. This deck is very rough to play when I’m not in the mood to get focused down, but it can be very rewarding when I unleash an easy two-card combo to make infinite mana and win the game. It is also fun when I set up a toxic board-state that allows me to steal multiple permanents each turn, such as having Unwinding Clock and Memnarch out with plenty of rocks. My opponents will usually scoop when they hear “On your upkeep, I’ll take two of your lands” multiple times. Fewer things bring me as much joy as taking my opponents’ lands!

This deck has quite a few number of game-winning combos. Here are the most relevant:

Chromatic Orrery + Filigree Sages = Infinite Mana and Unlimited Draw

Grand Architect + Pili-Pala = Infinite Mana

Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith + Power Artifact + Walking Ballista = Infinite Colorless Mana and Infinite Damage

Etherium Sculptor + Sensei’s Divining Top + Mystic Forge = Unlimited Draw

Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal + Gilded Lotus/Rocks that Produce 3+ Mana = Infinite Mana

I seldom play this deck, mainly because my friends refer to this as a toxic deck. Many of my friends refused to get what they call “Memnarched”, as no one likes having their permanents (especially their lands) stolen. I do tend to win relatively easy against low-interaction, slow decks, which are the majority of commander decks out there it seems. It may seem powerful, but having minimal access to boardwipes and permanent removal makes this deck very vulnerable to aggro and go-wide strategies. Also, mono-green really has fun crapping all over this deck, as a well-timed Bane of Progress usually destroys my entire board. Despite all of that, I love playing this deck, even if it is a constant struggle just to stay alive during a game! 😀

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The Great EDH Challenge: Colorless – Ulamog Ramp

Decklist: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/17-11-20-ulamog-ramp/

Power Level: 5

This deck has a simple gameplan; Ramp up to cast Ulamog. Ulamog is quite powerful, being able to exile 2 permanents when you cast him, as well as kill in three hits on average. And if he wasn’t bad enough, making an opponent exile 20 cards from their deck is brutal and demoralizing. There are a few other pay offs to the ramp, such as It That Betrays and Walking Ballista, and there is a small equipment package to make your smaller creatures into threats in case you stall out before reaching 10 mana.

There have been plenty of times when I have put Assault Suit on Ulamog, and passed him around the table. Opponents are oftentimes giddy to swing him at their declared enemy, and sometimes even gang up on one problem player to eliminate them completely. I have put Worldslayer on Ulamog a few times, and watched as my opponents look helplessly as I destroy all permanents other than Ulamog and his sword. Fond memories!

My friends constantly keep an eye on me when I play this deck, constantly asking “How much mana do you have?” each turn. They know that when I get to 10 mana, I’m going to exile two problematic permanents. There is a lot of pressure put on me when I play this deck, even though it is inherently weaker than others at the table, but I understand the dread of having your board state disrupted in an almost uncounterable way.

Many games have been spent having my artifacts picked off to prevent me from reaching 10 mana before turn 10, which is annoying. But most of the time, I can recover quickly and get Ulamog down. Him being indestructible really helps him stay on the table. Despite knowing that, it is always a surprise for me when he sticks around for more than one turn.

If all else fails, just voltron up a Plague Myr and kill them with infect!