Response to
Armada Games owner Aaron Fortino’s Teneb, the Harvester deck
was positive, so I thought we’d go back to that well again with a feature I’d intended to run eventually anyway. Thanks to everyone who shipped decks; we’ll see what we can do about featuring some of them. Today we also feature a Teneb deck; this one belonging to friend of the show, Scott Larabee.
It was actually my intention to do the original article as a compare and contrast, but as I started getting toward the 3,000-word mark, I realized that I was going to have to split them up. Most of what we’ll focus on is the difference between the two and their somewhat different paths to victory.
Let’s first cover the cards they have in common:
Creatures (16): Academy Rector, Acidic Slime, Angel of Despair, Avenger of Zendikar, Eternal Witness, Filth, Karmic Guide, Oracle of Mul Daya, Primeval Titan, Puppeteer Clique, Reveillark, Saffi Eriksdotter, Solemn Simulacrum, Sun Titan, Woodfall Primus, Yavimaya Elder.
It’s clear from the get-go that they both want to do the same thing with their utility creatures, what with the now tried-and-true Reveillark, Karmic Guide, and Eternal Witness shenanigans. I’m willing to bet the sixteen creatures they have in common are common also to a majority of Teneb decks, since they’re such an easy fit and quite common in many lists which have W/G. Some of them, like Primeval Titan, are great single-card strategies. If you’re playing green and $40, it’s a no-brainer.
Enchantments (4): Awakening Zone, Lurking Predators, Survival of the Fittest, Wild Pair.
If you’re playing green (hrm… seems like there’s a lot of “if you’re playing green…” here) and not playing Lurking Predators and Survival, you probably don’t own any copies. Wild Pair is a hot new card in EDH circles, and both these guys have gotten on the train. In a format like this, cards that get you stuff without making you invest more mana (Phyrexian Arena is a great example) leave you with the resources to cast the goodies in your hand/activate your abilities while still getting significant value.
Spells (3): Beacon of Unrest, Demonic Tutor, Wrath of God.
The major departure between the two decks is Scott’s use of enchantments vs. Aaron’s use of spells.
Artifacts (6): Cloudstone Curio, Lightning Greaves, Mimic Vat, Sensei’s Divining Top, Sol Ring.
The artifact lists are identical save for Aaron’s one local metagame addition: Pithing Needle. I suspect that now the Sasaya players have gone away, that’s coming out.
Lands (11): Fetid Heath, Godless Shrine, Maze of Ith, Overgrown Tomb, Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author], Temple Garden, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Volrath’s Stronghold, Windswept Heath, Wooded Bastion, Wooded Foothills.
In fact, I think that Scott’s entire deck could be called “classic” Teneb strategy, taking a greater advantage of the creatures in graveyards and being more aggressive. Where Aaron’s departs from Scott’s use of enchantments is the use of instants and sorceries, moving his deck to a more reactive strategy, while Scott’s, especially as you’ll see from the choices below, is far more proactive.
Creatures
Archon of Justice: Scott started playing this guy right after Eventide first came out. It’s an obvious fit with the regeneration strategy to get rid of nasty permanents and is a great rattlesnake.
Baneslayer Angel: Its stock might have dropped in Standard, where it’s now the guy you run out there to eat up the removal spell, so that you can cast your really good guy, but there are enough Dragons running around the format that slaying banes is always worth it.
Big Game Hunter: There are fatties that need to be killed, and there are cards to be pitched to Greater Good. That’s called “convergence.”
Bone Shredder: When a creature has Echo, it’s easier to reanimate. I wonder if all the foil Bone Shredders in the world are already in EDH decks.
Butcher of Malakir: There are too many otherwise-unkillable creatures in the format to go without the Grave Pact on a stick. The downside is when an opponent also has one.
Commander Eesha: As far as I’ve seen, this is a unique-to-Scott guy. It’s one that he’s been playing since almost day one of getting into the format, just for the protection it provides. Sure, it doesn’t do much against trample creatures, but it’s enough to keep someone off your back for a while.
Divinity of Pride: Along with Debtor’s Knell and Angel of Despair, sufficient reason to play B/W.
Doomed Necromancer: More recursion. And recur-able recursion.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Drana has made a splash as a MBC General, and I like the choice here, more for the creature control than the big, swingy damage she might do.
Flickerwisp: Flickering things is starting to come into vogue even more these days, what with your planeswalkers and things with piles of counters on them. This is a cheap solution to getting rid of creature enchantments (except on Uril!) or a big, fat Kresh.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence: I’m surprised that a) more white decks don’t play Linvala, and b) for the most part, she’s seen as far less of a threat than she actually is. Most reactions I’ve seen to her have been in the “that’s annoying but not terrible for me” category, and I think most of those reactions underestimate the actual annoyance of not being able to activate your guys and their abilities. While there are certainly more “enters the battlefield” abilities on EDH creatures than activated, Linvala can be a nearly complete shutdown for some decks. She sure gives the finger to Niv-Mizzet and Sasaya.
Lord of Extinction: Boom Tube! Last week, I dropped this guy early in the game, and people were surprised because he was “only” 9/9. One of my all-time favorite creatures in the format.
Pristine Angel: See Commander Eesha. Pristine Angel is one of those forgotten gems that used to get played all the time and has gotten pushed aside for newer, shinier things.
Sunblast Angel: What I’ve so far heard about this one getting played is that it’s a complete beating. I’ve yet to see it in action, but I suspect it’s only really good in your environment if there are lots more aggressive decks. It’s no Plague Wind, for sure, but it’s also cheaper. Full of laughs when someone attacks you with this and a bunch of other dudes and doesn’t remember that you have Mystifying Maze.
Wall of Blossoms: Here’s a choice that I’m not over the moon about. Sure, drawing cards is great and all, but there are choices that draw cards
and
can attack. For a deck built on aggression, Scott makes a few more passive choices.
Wall of Omens: See Wall of Blossoms. Upside of this card is calling it Wall of Wessel Oomans (pronounced the same), an occasional PT player.
Withered Wretch: There are a number of cards, this being the first on the list, that demonstrate Scott’s healthy respect for other strategies. Other people’s graveyards are to be feared.
Wurmcoil Engine: The “It Girl” in both Standard and EDH right now, you can’t argue with a 6/6 lifelink and deathtouch guy for six. That you get twelve power for your six-mana investment is approaching obscene.
Enchantments
Aura Shards: Other people’s enchantments are also to be feared. Machine-gunning down everyone else’s artifacts and enchantments when you resolve Avenger of Zendikar is sauce.
Bear Umbra: I’d predicted that Umbras would see a good deal of play in the format, and I’m disappointed to see that only a few have actually made it. This is by far the most popular, in part because it’s fuel for an infinite combo. Even when used in non-combo fashion, it’s kind of nice to be able to have your mana untapped. I wonder if I could make reasonable use of this in Intet.
Grave Pact: Other people’s creatures are only going to be mean to you, so it’s only right to want them to go away.
Greater Good: Arguably one of the ten best cards in the history of the format. As I keep saying, people are going to destroy or steal your creatures. Getting some benefit to sacrificing them—even if that benefit is simply them not getting them—is worthwhile.
Karmic Justice: This is one I originally showed Scott back in earlier iterations of my Phelddagrif deck. It’s a rattlesnake the size of a 747. It triggers on destroying non-creatures, but you can murder dudes with it.
Phyrexian Arena: Drawing cards is good. Drawing cards without having to spend mana is even better.
Sylvan Library: Speaking of drawing cards for the low, low investment of zero mana and some life, Sylvan Library becomes a wonky card when you’ve already drawn cards before your draw step, like with Phyrexian Arena (if I had a graphics program, I’d draw a big yellow arrow from here to the previous paragraph). If you find yourself in an ‘untrustworthy’ game, and someone has Sylvan Library, make sure that they clearly identify which cards they’ve drawn this turn so that it doesn’t turn into a cheaper Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Spells
Beseech the Queen: It’s a tutor. It’s got prospects. It’s bona fide. Although for one mana more, isn’t Diabolic Tutor just better, since you don’t have to reveal the card, and it has no restrictions? I get playing Demonic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, and Diabolic Tutor. I don’t get playing this and not Diabolic.
Decree of Pain: With the combination of Greater Good and Decree of Pain, there has been more than one occasion where I’ve had to count my library to make sure I wasn’t going to deck myself. And he has no Reliquary Tower!
Genesis Wave: The tales of Genesis Wave are only going to grow larger and larger. A few weeks back, I saw one for 28 and another for nine on the same turn. The good news is that it’s a ‘may,’ so if someone responds with Gather Specimens, you won’t get completely blown out. With Genesis Wave getting popular, you’d better believe I’m keeping Reins of Power handy. And Spore Cloud.
Living Death: Given my own love for the graveyard, I’m rarely sad to see this card played, unless, of course, I’ve been on the wrong end of a Withered Wretch.
Replenish: Scott’s commitment to enchantments is underscored by this way to get them back, and knowing that some of them are quite immediate threats that get dealt with immediately, Replenish isn’t only a combo card, it’s an effective X-for-1.
Sadistic Sacrament: There are dirty combo decks out there, and they need to be eviscerated. Turn 3, turn 10, either way is okay by me.
Lands of Note
Bojuka Bog: Should be in every black EDH deck. I note that Scott isn’t taking advantage of bounce lands, so it’s likely that he can only get one graveyard. I think he might actually not be running enough graveyard hate, especially if Living Death is a major part of the plan.
Cabal Coffers: Mostly a feature of combo decks or just looking for the big, game-ending Profane Command, Scott uses the Coffers for some acceleration on turns after six or so. As I’m fond of saying, someone’s always playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, so this is a good choice, even without his own.
Gaea’s Cradle: Another land that seems relegated to the ‘big splash’ kind of decks, all you need to get value out of this over a Forest is two creatures, which I consider pretty easy.
Serra’s Sanctum: With eleven enchantments, this is worthwhile. Problem is that some of those enchantments, like Lurking Predators and Survival of the Fittest, have short life expectancies. Still, the Sanctum should provide more consistent value than the Cradle, though the Cradle has a more explosive possible upside.
Where Aaron’s Teneb deck is more about control and continuous reuse of the graveyard, Scott’s is about getting a second use out of the fat, and that being enough. Despite the fact that they have forty cards in common, not counting basic land, there’s a distinctly different feel to them. Scott’s version is more likely to be running Teneb out there and letting him be fuel for the recursion, then falling back on the other tricks if that somehow doesn’t work. It’s definitely more my style than the recursive control.
Armada Games EDH League Update
After a few weeks of this iteration of the League, I’ll confess that I’m enjoying the open-play style, being able to choose who I play/socialize with. During one of those pretty friendly games, it was Armada employee (and sometimes Dirty Combo Player) Jon Sweet who pointed out that my Necrotic Ooze on the battlefield with Eater of the Dead and Bloodshot Cyclops in the graveyard was a pretty saucy combo (Fling a dude, eat a dude, untap Eater of the Dead).
In one of my games with Aaron, shop employee Ryan Dowdy, and all-around good guy Shea Rutenbender, Genesis Wave got played by three players on consecutive turns for 21, 10, and 7. The 21 ended up winning (duh). That Genesis Wave is approaching ridiculous. I heard that on a previous table, Aaron had cast it four turns in a row, which led me to ask, “Why didn’t you win after, I dunno, the second one?”
At another table, where Aaron’s brother Michael was playing his Warp World/Allies deck, with the aforementioned Jon Sweet, Brennan De Candio, and Jake “Peaches” Howell, Peaches (playing some kind of Layer 1/Layer 2 deck), had stolen Michael’s Sea Gate Loremaster. I overheard this:
Michael: “Rite of Replication, kicked, targeting Loremaster.”
Peaches: “Okay, um… Gather Specimens?”
Rest of shop: “LOLZ!”
I do need to replace Emrakul in Intet for when I’m playing with people I like. Last week, “Take turns” and “Annihilate 14” just seemed downright unfriendly. Kozilek and Ulamog can stay, but cheating out Emrakul with either Djinn of Wishes or Intet is bound to have the kind of karmic retribution I’m not looking forward to. I’ll say that in one game I was in such a position that I got Emrakul stolen for a turn by Jon Sweet’s Bringer of the Red Dawn, and I didn’t much care (although I was silly enough to forget to Maze it when he attacked me). If you play Emrakul, you deserve to be on the wrong end of it as well. For now, I have Darksteel Colossus, but Wurmcoil Engine seems better. Your opinions are welcome.
Speaking of opinions, I need M11 and Scars cards to go into the Cromat “card from every expansion” deck. That means basic lands will have
to come out and perhaps cards from other expansions jiggered around, but it’s eminently doable. If you missed the original contest winner,
here’s the link.
Eventually, we’ll get to too many expansions, and the deck will be unplayable, but I think we’re still a couple of years away. Until then, let’s keep Embracing the Chaos!