This past Sunday I had the pleasure of playing in a 9-man Elder Dragon Highlander game at Richmond Comix, and as tradition has it I’m going to present the deck I played and a recap of the how the game played out.
I’d been wanting to build an EDH deck focusing on the Persist mechanic for a while; as any multiplayer Magic veteran knows, mass removal runs rampant and creatures are lucky to stay in play for a couple of turns. Creatures with Persist give you resistance to mass removal, indeed even makes it easier to run mass removal yourself.
The very best Persist creatures — and Persist-complementary cards – are found across Green, White, and Black, so for my general I needed to pick either Doran or Teneb. Doran is a very aggressive general to pick for EDH, and aggressiveness is definitely not my multiplayer style; Doran also has the annoying habit of occasionally making someone else’s creature randomly awesome if it has a super-high toughness. So I decided on Teneb the Harvester (which incidentally is the general I used in my Commander deck on MTGO back before the new MTGO version rolled out and laughed at my relatively old computer system).
1 Teneb, the Harvester (general)
1 Maze of Ith
1 Diamond Valley
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Berserk
1 Worthy Cause
1 Devoted Druid
1 Invulnerability
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sylvan Library
1 Epochrasite
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Kavu Predator
1 Golgari Guildmage
1 Batwing Brume
1 Cauldron Haze
1 Sun Droplet
1 Mind Stone
1 Eternal Witness
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Rendclaw Trow
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Thunderstaff
1 Unspeakable Symbol
1 Spike Feeder
1 Necroskitter
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Devout Witness
1 Raking Canopy
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Nantuko Husk
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Quillspike
1 Masked Admirers
1 Harmonize
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Heartmender
1 Ajani Goldmane
1 Filth
1 Brawn
1 Harbinger of Night
1 Cytoblast Root-Kin
1 Spike Weaver
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Cradle of Vitality
1 Damnation
1 Wrath of God
1 Route
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Muck Drubb
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Flourishing Defenses
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Archon of Justice
1 Spirit of the Hearth
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Triskelion
1 Mephidross Vampire
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Mishra’s Factory
1 Urza’s Factory
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
1 Deserted Temple
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Krosan Verge
1 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Windswept Heath
3 Plains
1 Forbidding Watchtower
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Spawning Pool
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Treetop Village
3 Forest
Combos & Synergies of Note
Most of the deck revolves around Persist creatures, boosting them or taking advantage of them, with Cauldron of Souls potentially giving all my creatures – and other players’ creatures – persist.
Unspeakable Symbol – This nifty enchantment is an upgrade to both Ajani and Heartmender when it comes to making Persist guys perpetually persistent, though with a hefty price. Still, starting at 40 life and having means to gain life help fuel this enchantment – and heck, you can always make a gigantic Spike Feeder if needs be and recoup two-thirds of the life, or Fog for three life with a Spike Weaver.
Harbinger of Night, Flourishing Defenses, Necroskitter – With so many Persist dudes Flourishing Defenses seemed like a no-brainer, and I thought it would combo nicely with Harbinger of Night. Even though Harbinger would kill off the Defenses tokens during the next upkeep, they’d effectively replace themselves. My ideal set-up would be to have Harbinger out with Heartmender, stack their upkeep triggers to put the -1/-1 counters on everything, and then wipe them off my creatures with Heartmender. If I can keep this up then all my opponent’s creatures will eventually shrink to death, in which case they can come work for me thanks to Sgt. Necroskitter.
Devoted Druid + Quillspike – Why not? Infinitely large, maybe swampwalking with Filth + Urborg, sac to Diamond Valley… good times!
Juniper Order Ranger + Nantuko Husk + Kitchen Finks (or any persist guy) – Infinitely large Ranger and Husk, weeee!
Muck Drubb – So you’ve got an infinitely large creature… somebody’s going to try to take it out before it can kill them. Muck Drubb steps in to take the hit himself; what a team player!
Karn + Cauldron of Souls – This lets Cauldron save itself one time.
Karmic Guide + Reveillark – Two peas in a pod, saving each other again and again…
Triskelion + Mephidross Vampire – These two together pretty much clear the board of any creatures you want out of the way that can be targeted and killed by colorless damage.
So here were the other generals around the table:
Travis Hilton played Dromar.
Jason F. played Scion of the Ur-Dragon.
Ian Smith played Cromat.
Joe West played Horde of Notions.
Michael Rooks played Ghost Council.
Shane Stoots played Child of Alara.
Emerson Physioc played Sharuum.
And Chris Griffin rocked the PT-foily Treva.
Things kicked off quickly with someone playing a turn 2 Howling Mine, and Shane adding a turn 3 Heartwood Storyteller to the mix, letting us all stuff our hands full of cards before Jason slowed it down by playing a Fleshbag Marauder that got the Storyteller sacrificed.
With full hands, everyone started playing out a bunch of cards, so naturally someone had to spoil the fun with an Akroma’s Vengeance. Griff tried to protect his board presence with a Mana Drain, but Joe countered back with a Bant Charm so the mass exodus to the graveyard ensued. When it was Griff’s turn he played the first general of the game by putting Treva in to play, though he kept her back on defense.
Meanwhile, Ian revealed the snake theme of his deck with several snaky cards, but the one that got everyone excited was Serpent Generator. Ian made a Snake token with poison, and since Emerson was the only one with no blockers, Ian attacked him and gave him a poison counter.
(Speaking of poison, one of my Magic friends Jessica went to the StarCityGames.com PTQ last Saturday armed with a Sliver deck, and during her run she faced off against Evan Erwin and beat him one game by poisoning him to death. I’m hoping he’ll mention that in his Magic Show, but in case he doesn’t, you heard it here first!)
Once Emerson got a poison counter, nearly the entire table decided they wanted to help Ian poison him to death, and so began Emerson’s long struggle to keep from losing the game that way. Emerson’s Sharuum deck was chock full of counterspells and removal, so he put up a heckuva fight.
At one point Rooks made a heckuva nice play. He’d put out a Reveillark and attacked Shane. Of course, you hate to block and kill Reveillark, so Shane declared no blockers. Rooks responded by playing Ink-Eyes with the ninjitsu ability, bouncing the Reveillark to his hand and getting the leaves play triggered ability to fetch out Solemn Simulacrum and Duplicant out of his graveyard. For good measure, Ink-Eyes reanimated Shane’s Duplicant from his graveyard, and two good creatures were removed from the game (one of which I believe was Emerson’s Akroma, Angel of Wrath).
Soon thereafter an Austere Command was played to sweep away all creatures. A few people played out some small creatures, so another Austere Command came down to sweep away three mana or less creatures and nuking enchantments too (several Sylvan Libraries went to the bin). A few people played some more creatures, and then Decree of Pain hit. All the while I’d only dug up a Rendclaw Trow among my Persist crew and no way to keep his Persist going.
Travis drops a Winter Orb, which gets near universal groans around the table, but thankfully Jason has a counter for it – the very aptly named for this occasion, Punish Ignorance. Travis follows up a turn or two later with a Kismet, which makes us all very happy indeed that the Winter Orb is not in play. Unfortunately for Travis, he has to keep reminding everyone whenever they play a permanent it comes into play tapped, a constant nuisance, and so any “random” attacks around the board end up headed his way. Mise well attack the dude with the Kismet!
Somewhere soon after I get both Cauldron of Souls in play along with Unspeakable Symbol. The Symbol gets kudos around the board as a “cool” card, and everyone sees it’s combo-rific potential with my persist dudes, but since it’s not a game-ending combo I don’t immediately draw everyone’s direct attention.
All of a sudden Joe, who’s played a very low key game so far with few permanents, no creatures and weighing in with just a counterspell or two along the way, announces Enduring Ideal, played off Boseiju, Who Shelters All so it can’t be countered. He fetches up Dovescape, which certainly shakes up the table. I’ve got a fistful of creatures and my Cauldron/Symbol combo on the board so I’m feeling just fine.
Emerson takes advantage of the Dovescape by playing a big spell and making lots of 1/1 blockers to stop the snake poison madness. Rooks plays Engineered Plague and calls Doves, which lets Ian snake in and ratchet the poison count up to six.
Shane’s been doing some interesting things under the Dovescape with Thicket Elemental, using Volrath’s Stronghold to set up the Elemental’s kicker, or if the Elemental dies using the Stronghold to put the Elemental on top of his deck to draw and replay with kicker. He ends up kicking a Heartless Hidesetgu into play… and then uses Illusionary Mask to play a creature face down for five when we know he’s had a Seedborn Muse in his hand. Once Heartless gets un-summoning sick, pairing it with Seedborn Muse is a pretty nasty combination!
Meanwhile, back in Ideal country, Joe fetches up Privileged Position. Before he can go get his Copy Enchantment, Shane swings in with Trygon Predator to blow up the Position and, next turn, the Dovescape.
With the Dovescape gone, and life totals getting south of 20 from Kismet-annoyed players, Travis pulls off an incredibly gutsy play – Demonic Consultation naming Wrath of God. If you’re not familiar with this harsh tutor from Ice Age, I suggest to click the link and take a look; it is certainly appropriately named, since when you traffic with demons you will sometimes get burned. Demonic Consultation carried some risk in 60 card decks back in the day when you were shooting for a card with multiple copies – so imagine my surprise at seeing someone play it in a 100 card Highlander deck. Removing the top 6 cards from the game, Travis was grateful not to see Wrath in that stack, and runs across his Wrath about 20 cards in. The demon was kind this time around, and Travis Wraths, getting rid of Shane’s Heartless Hidegetsu and the face-down five-drop – which actually turns out to be Tradewind Rider – yikes! However, Rooks turns his sights on Travis, blinking out his Ghost Council, and starts sucking life off Travis, attacks him a couple times, and finishes things with Leechridden Swamp. Travis is the first player down.
Back in Ideal country, Joe fetches up Shared Fate, which has all of us kind of freaking out on the logistics. Thankfully Jason (two players from Joe’s left) goes ahead and plops down Austere Command (the third of the game), this time hitting enchantments and artifacts, which kinda hoses my Unspeakable Symbol and Cauldron of Souls setup. At least I’ve got Twilight Shepherd and Golgari Guildmage at this point.
On the poison front, Emerson has accumulated nine poison counters when he’s forced to blow up his Oblivion Stone. Ian’s got no further poison action so Emerson’s bought some time at least.
Griffin plays a Mirari’s Wake. Now, anybody knows that anyone playing green and blue in their deck, if they get a mana engine on the board everyone is in big, big trouble, so someone throws a Disenchant at it. Griff responds with a counterspell, someone counters back, and Griff just throws down a Venser to pick up his Wake. Next turn Griff replays the Wake but nobody’s got anything for him. Luckily Griff doesn’t make a move after that for a few turns, when he does an end-of-turn Chord of Calling for seven mana. Can you say Palinchron? Jason’s got a Sneak Attack in play, but for some reason hard casts it instead, allowing Griff to play Draining Whelk in response. Jason’s got an Absorb to counter back, saving us all from infinite mana shenanigans.
Meanwhile, Rooks has decided to take the role of the table’s executioner, so he leans hard on the next most vulnerable player, Joe, attacking him down to 4 life. Joe fetches out Form of the Dragon to stop his ground pounders and constantly reset his life back to five, overcoming Rook’s small life draining measures.
Rooks has also been a surgeon in taking precision moves to stop my fun. He removed my Harbinger of Night from the game before I could get back around to my upkeep with a Flourishing Defenses in play. He removed Quillspike from the game, and then he played Engineered Plague again, this time calling Ouphes to prevent me from doing infinite life shenanigans with my shiny FNM alt-art Kitchen Finks. Since it doesn’t appear I’m any threat to “go-off” and have a fairly high life total, and lots of creature defenses, Rooks moves on to Emerson, taking Emerson down to zero life in two attacks. Shane’s morph reveals itself to be Nantuko Vigilante, which kills Emerson’s Platinum Angel and crushes the dream of a death by poison. Soon afterwards Ian drops out since the game has gone on very long and it’s time for him to go.
While Rooks has been gunning for Emerson, I’ve not forgotten about Griff, who’s biding his time to find that Palinchron. I attack him a few times with my Vigilant Shepherd, and an astute Shane Stoots counts Griff’s graveyard and attacks with a Feared Guiltfeeder, which drains the last 20 life points on the nose.
Jason makes a move, casting a Squall Line for five, which is enough to take down Joe in Dragon Form. He then Mystical Tutors for Death Grasp, draws it for his turn, and taps completely out to deal just enough damage to take out Shane. He then drops from the game, saying he needs to leave.
Ouch.
So it’s just me and Rooks left standing. Rooks tries to end things quickly with Puppeteer Clique and Phyrexian Plaguelord, looking to steal my Juniper Order Ranger out the graveyard and then basically reanimate everything from my graveyard and attack me with them. Thankfully I’ve got Mistveil Plains and Deserted Temple to untap it, putting whatever he tries to target on the bottom of my library (with Juniper the first to go).
For protection, I’ve got a Maze of Ith stopping his Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and my Invulnerability to prevent the next largest attacker from dealing damage. Still, he’s got a pretty large force and starts knocking me down 7-8 points of life at a pop with all out attacks, while preventing any effective counter attack with Knight-Captain of Eos along with Cenn’s Enlistment to keep a steady supply of Soldiers to fog on.
I’ve got Sensei’s Divining Top and a Knight of the Reliquary on the board shuffling things up (with the Mistveil Plains tossing critical cards back into the deck), desperately digging for something. I finally draw my Spike Weaver, which combines with Golgari Guildmage for my own infinite fogs. We’re at a stalemate, one that either of us should be able to break eventually, but considering we’ve been playing for seven hours now and it’s getting late, in the interest of time we decide to draw.
Whew, seven hours! Kudos to Michael Rooks, who used his general a ton to apply constant pressure, gain/drain bits of life, and to smack down. Emerson also used his general to get back Platinum Angel somewhere in the vicinity of 4 or 5 times.
Bonus — The Sliver Deck that Poisoned Evan Erwin!
For those of you who’re still hitting the few remaining Extended PTQs, I got ahold of the Sliver decklist that Jessica Miller took to the Star City PTQ over the weekend. If you like Slivers — and who doesn’t? — check this out:
Ziggy Slivers
Jessica Miller and Michael Rooks
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Windswept Heath
3 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Steam Vents
1 Polluted Delta
1 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Virulent Sliver
4 Gemhide Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Two-Headed Sliver
4 Firewake Sliver
4 Frenetic Sliver
4 Dormant Sliver
2 Mystic Snake
2 Might Sliver
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Sliver Legion
4 Delay
Sideboard:
4 Riftsweeper
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Path to Exile
3 Harmonic Sliver
I daresay Ancient Ziggurat and Slivers go together like a Hattori Hanzo sword and a pissed-off bride. I remember a couple State Champs back watching my buddy Dave Williams run to Top 8 with his Sliver deck, it is certainly something to behold.
Okay, that’s it for this week. Y’all have a great weekend!
Take care!
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com