Dear Azami: Going Bananas

Before we get into the deck of the week, let me just say that the Shadows over Innistrad spoilers look amazing. Archangel Avacyn gives us another Angel commander for Boros decks, but personally I’m most excited about Tamiyo’s Journal and the invention of Clue tokens. That’s probably more a sign of how weird I am than anything else, but regardless of where you look, this set is dripping with flavor.

In light of the previews, what deck will I be working on this week? Some classic throwback to the original Innistrad or a super-early submission about the latest reincarnation of Avacyn?

Not so much.

It’s easy for me to fall into the trap of looking at Commander exclusively through the lens of how to break specific legendary creatures, so when I saw this list, I decided to work from the opposite end of things and try tuning a deck that had a theme all its own and a Commander that’s there to support the deck instead of vice versa.

Now, let’s see what we can do here:

The Creatures

Out

One of your chief complaints about the deck was a lack of focus, and something that I noticed pretty quickly about the list was that it was very top-heavy with a fairly expensive curve and almost no ways to accelerate into the mana it needs to function.

These cuts are the first step to addressing those problems. Civic Wayfinder and Borderland Ranger aren’t actually ramp spells, and without ways to blink them I’d rather have any kind of mana rock, which is precisely what they’re being replaced with. Deep-Sea Kraken is actually fairly cheap considering how quickly those time counters will fly off of it, but once it’s on the battlefield it’s just an average-sized piece of evasive beef, and you aren’t really planning to win in combat. It’s worth considering as a finisher, but I don’t think you need it.

The rest of these creatures are simply too mana-hungry for where you want them to be, and several of them are also off-theme. Great Oak Guardian is a combat trick, but since you don’t really care about the pump, it’s just an overcosted Vitalize. Sultai Soothsayer has an effect that you don’t really want (more on that later) on a weak body at five mana, not an interesting package.

Wraths are important, but paying seven for Deathbringer Regent is way too slow for an emergency switch, and that’s pretty much the only situation you want a Wrath in, since you’re a creature-based combo deck.

As for Soul of New Phyrexia, I’ve been very disappointed with it. Even in one of my decks that routinely makes hundreds of mana, I was never able to hold up five every turn without significantly stunting my ability to actually play the game.

In

Farhaven Elf is the Borderland Ranger you want, since it actually puts the land onto the battlefield. I’m adding Pain Seer because it’s literally an on-theme Dark Confidant, and I cut some of the higher-cost stuff so it won’t be as painful now (although Dread Cacodemon will still hurt a lot). Skirsdag High Priest and Tradewind Rider are both tap outlets to get more value out of your inspired creatures without attacking, which was always the hardest part of using the mechanic, given that most inspired creatures are pretty flimsy.

And finally we come to Seedborn Muse, which lets you do all the game-breaking stuff you want but clocks in with a price tag that’s roughly equivalent to the rest of the edits I made combined. If you don’t want to spring for one, that’s totally understandable, and I’d recommend slotting in either Topan Ascetic or Llawnowar Behemoth to have another tap outlet.

The Planeswalkers

Out

Yes, both of these planeswalkers have untap abilities. That doesn’t mean they’re good enough to deserve slots in the deck. Teferi, Temporal Archmage has the potential to do some horrendously broken things in the right deck, but you don’t really have the pieces to enable those shenanigans, and even though untapping four permanents is great, his plus ability is mediocre and you don’t have much use for his plus or any for his ultimate. On top of that, he draws hate because he’s usually a combo engine. Kiora, Master of Waves, on the other hand, can only untap one of your creatures and that’s kind of… it. At least as far as her utility here goes. Considering how fragile planeswalkers are, that’s not enough.

The Spells

Out

One of things about Tasigur, the Golden Fang is that you can’t build around his ability. Sure, you can increase your odds by thinning out your graveyard, but because he mills cards as part of the activation, you’ll never be able to fully control it. That means devoting more than one or two slots to building a graveyard theme is just a waste of space, and without another recursion engine, you don’t need all the card selection spells that find something out of the top five cards and then bin the rest. As a result, I’m cutting them all, as well as the pseudo-delve of Skeletal Scrying and Shred Memory. Use Tasigur to get incidental value when there’s nothing else to do with the mana, but don’t try to break it.

In

Three actual actual ramp spells move this deck in the direction of being able to function properly and consistently, and I’ve chosen ones that fall low on the curve so that they aren’t competing with most of your action. Mind Spring comes in to replace Skeletal Scrying, as it loses the exile cost but costs one more. On the whole it should be a lot more consistent.

Breaking Wave plays havoc with combat and will let you net inspired triggers while buying a turn against an aggressive opponent. Bonus points if you ever shut down a Craterhoof Behemoth-fueled massacre with it. However, Breaking Wave can’t quite compare to the hilarity that Reins of Power can produce. Because you still control the creatures when they untap, you technically own the resulting inspired triggers, and you net all the value while still making two of your opponents’ armies fight each pother to the death. Or you can just borrow the creatures attacking you and blank the attack entirely.

The Enchantments

Out

In almost every deck I love Bow of Nylea, but this isn’t almost every deck. The most powerful part of the card is granting your team deathtouch, and that’s just not relevant here since you can’t use it defensively. Of the remaining modes, I’m fairly sure you included this for the ability to recycle cards back into your deck so Tasigur has a higher chance to hit good cards, but we just went over why that’s not a winning plan, and the other three options aren’t all that amazing either.

In

Instead I’m bringing in a pair of Auras that act as consistent untap engines. Crab Umbra doubles as protection for the creature involved, while Aura of Dominion lets you tap creatures to pay for the untap, which is actually an upside in this list. Also note that you can tap the enchanted creature to pay for the cost, so regardless of the battlefield state, it will net you an inspired trigger for every spare mana you have access to.

The Artifacts

In

The Signets come in to complete the ramp package and are some of the best color-fixing spells you can get. Hair-Strung Koto comes in as a way to tap as many creatures as you need each turn cycle, and while it’s outclassed by the Opposition you’re already running, it’s still an outlet you need.

Finally, Strionic Resonator will let you copy any triggered ability, which happens to include all of the inspired abilities. This is far from the most powerful thing the Resonator can do, but it’s entirely on-theme here.

The Lands

Out

In

I’ve always held that this cycle of dual lands are the best for Commander after the original duals, and they’re rather easy to acquire. It isn’t exactly necessary to make this upgrade, but it will make hitting your color requirements that much easier to hit.

Putting it all together, we get this:

Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Levi Byrne

Test deck on 03-08-2016

Commander

Creatures (32)

• 1 Tradewind Rider
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Citanul Hierophants
• 1 Nullmage Shepherd
• 1 Big Game Hunter
• 1 Riftsweeper
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Mossbridge Troll
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Fatestitcher
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Bramblesnap
• 1 Dread Cacodemon
• 1 Skirsdag High Priest
• 1 Tidal Force
• 1 Pain Seer
• 1 Kiora's Follower
• 1 Arbiter of the Ideal
• 1 Aerie Worshippers
• 1 Forlorn Pseudamma
• 1 Pheres-Band Raiders
• 1 Phenax, God of Deception
• 1 Servant of Tymaret
• 1 Satyr Wayfinder
• 1 Sphinx's Disciple
• 1 Siren of the Silent Song
• 1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
• 1 King Macar, the Gold-Cursed
• 1 Daring Thief
• 1 Disciple of Deceit
• 1 Torrent Elemental

Lands (38)

• 6 Forest
• 8 Swamp
• 8 Island
• 1 Terminal Moraine
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Temple of Malady

Spells (29)

• 1 Intruder Alarm
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Hair-Strung Koto
• 1 Aura of Dominion
• 1 Turnabout
• 1 Opposition
• 1 Scrabbling Claws
• 1 Vitalize
• 1 Puppet Strings
• 1 Reins of Power
• 1 Awakening
• 1 Symbiotic Deployment
• 1 Breaking Wave
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Springleaf Drum
• 1 Mind Spring
• 1 Quest for Renewal
• 1 Crab Umbra
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Endless Obedience
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Intellectual Offering
• 1 Frontier Siege
• 1 Sudden Reclamation

And the additions, sorted by price:

The changes come out to just over $50, but the vast majority of that price tag is concentrated in the lands I added and Seedborn Muse. Cutting either of those would bring the total down to just $10 over the $20 in StarCityGames.com store credit that Olive will receive for having her deck featured this week.

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this installment of Dear Azami; as always, please send us your submissions to DearAzami [at] gmail [dot] com, and I hoped you enjoyed me coming at a deck that’s so different from my different from my normal approach.

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? Only one deck submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to StarCityGames.com!

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