I figured by the time this goes up, you will have been inundated with Standard strategy in the wake of Pro Tour: San Diego and leading up to the next big StarCityGames.com Open this weekend, right here in my hometown of Richmond Virginia! Instead of adding my boots to ground well-trodden by guys far more knowledgeable and accomplished than myself, I figured I’d write about EDH again this week; next week I’ll have a bunch of Standard and Legacy stuff to talk about after playing in the Open.
When I finally got to see the decklists for the Phyrexia vs. The Coalition Duel Decks, it occurred to me that there was a good selection of EDH cards available, a pretty good starting point for making a deck. Elder Dragon Highlander can be a bit intimidating as a format, either just in the sheer time it takes to pick singleton cards one-by-one to add to your first deck, or the fact that there are a lot of older cards that people play that might not be all that easy to acquire. I thought it might be helpful for these folks if we show how you can start building your first EDH deck from a couple of the preconstructed decks Wizards puts out. For those veteran EDH players out there with plenty of deckbuilding stock, you can skip down to the bottom where I go over my latest EDH deck.
Let’s start first with the Phyrexia vs. The Coalition decklists:
Phyrexia
25 Swamp
1 Bone Shredder
1 Carrion Feeder
1 Order of Yawgmoth
1 Phyrexian Battleflies
1 Phyrexian Broodlings
1 Phyrexian Colossus
1 Phyrexian Debaser
1 Phyrexian Defiler
1 Phyrexian Denouncer
1 Phyrexian Gargantua
1 Phyrexian Ghoul
1 Phyrexian Hulk
1 Phyrexian Negator
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
2 Priest of Gix
1 Sanguine Guard
2 Dark Ritual
1 Hideous End
1 Hornet Cannon
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Living Death
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Phyrexian Vault
2 Puppet Strings
1 Slay
2 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Voltaic Key
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Worn Powerstone
The Coalition
1 Elfhame Palace
10 Forest
1 Island
4 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Swamp
3 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Charging Troll
1 Darigaaz, the Igniter
1 Gerrard Capashen
2 Nomadic Elf
1 Quirion Elves
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Sunscape Battlemage
2 Thornscape Apprentice
2 Thornscape Battlemage
1 Thunderscape Battlemage
1 Treva, the Renewer
1 Verduran Emissary
2 Yavimaya Elder
1 Allied Strategies
2 Armadillo Cloak
1 Coalition Relic
1 Darigaaz’s Charm
1 Evasive Action
1 Exotic Curse
2 Fertile Ground
1 Gerrard’s Command
2 Harrow
1 Narrow Escape
1 Power Armor
1 Rith’s Charm
1 Treva’s Charm
1 Tribal Flames
1 Urza’s Rage
Alright, now I’m going to make note of the cards that will generally be decent or better in an EDH deck. A lot of the other cards won’t be bad to fill out an EDH decklist, especially if you build upon the themes within each duel deck (domain in The Coalition, and sacrificing/Living Death in the Phyrexia deck), but for now these are the cards I’d use as the basis for your first EDH “toolbox.”
LEGENDS (GENERALS)
Darigaaz, the Igniter; Gerrard Capashen; Rith, the Awakener; Treva, the Renewer
Getting three dragon legends is an incredibly nice start to building your EDH general collection, and Gerrard is a great EDH card whether he’s your general or not.
LANDS
Elfhame Palace, Shivan Oasis, Terramorphic Expanse
Not a bad start to your mana fixing needs, especially if you want to build a Rith/Naya deck right off the bat.
ARTIFACTS
Voltaic Key, Coalition Relic, Whispersilk Cloak, Phyrexian Totem, Puppet Strings, Worn Powerstone, Lightning Greaves
The Key is a bit specialized for your first EDH deck, but tuck it away and keep it in mind once you build your artifact collection. On the other hand, Coalition Relic is a fantastic EDH mana-fixer; when it was Standard legal, I had collected a playset that I never ended up playing, but since I started playing EDH all my Relics have migrated into different EDH decks. Equipment is nearly always valuable; Whispersilk Cloak is a great way to go aggro with your general or any other fat creature you’ve got on the board, and Lightning Greaves two abilities are quite handy in making sure your creature (general) can be played and used right away, and protected from pinpoint removal or other annoyances like Maze of Ith.
GOLD
Charging Troll, Armadillo Cloak, Darigaaz’s Charm, Rith’s Charm, Treva’s Charm
Armadillo Cloak is fantastic, and though the recently reprinted Behemoth Sledge is better as a piece of equipment, the Cloak is a great spell for making sure a creature punches through and/or hooks you up with a significant life boost. Charging Troll is a solid creature with two highly valuable abilities in EDH. The Charms are always welcome, flexible spells that often come in quite handy.
BLACK
Bone Shredder, Phyrexian Gargantua, Phyrexian Plaguelord, Hideous End, Living Death, Phyrexian Arena, Tendrils of Corruption
Not surprising, the Mono-Bblack Phyrexian deck would have a solid core of Black EDH spells, with lots of good removal and an excellent draw spell in Phyrexian Arena.
RED
Urza’s Rage
Urza’s Rage kicked is a pretty good late-game threat against an opponent whose life totals have dipped down towards single digits.
BLUE & WHITE
Nothing
GREEN
Quirion Elves, Thornscape Battlemage, Verduran Emissary, Yavimaya Elder, Fertile Ground, Harrow
Green offers some great mana-fixing, mana-acceleration, and utility creatures that will nearly always come in handy. I’m particularly excited to see Yavimaya Elder here, one of the all-time great green creatures. When are we getting him back in Magic’s base set?
Okay, so eyeballing our initial EDH cardpool, it looks to me like we got a solid start for a Rith, the Awakener (Naya) deck, and a solid start on a Mono-Black deck that we can work on later once we acquire a Black general (Chainer, Dementia Master strikes me as a good one with the sacrifice themes that you can easily pick up for a dollar or less).
Let’s see what we can cook up for Rith:
Rith, the Awakener
Thornscape Apprentice
Quirion Elves
Fertile Ground
Narrow Escape
Yavimaya Elder
Harrow
Coalition Relic
Whispersilk Cloak
Puppet Strings
Urza’s Rage
Armadillo Cloak
Rith’s Charm
Thornscape Battlemage
Verduran Emissary
Charging Troll
Power Armor
Gerrard Capashen
And the lands:
Elfhame Palace
Shivan Oasis
Terramorphic Expanse
Not a bad start! So how can we quickly round out the deck? Since Rith is in the Naya colors, let’s take a look at the Naya preconstructed deck from Shards of Alara – still available for purchase from StarCityGames.com for a very reasonable 8 bucks.
1 Bull Cerodon
1 Cavern Thoctar
2 Cylian Elf
2 Druid of the Anima
1 Mosstodon
1 Naya Battlemage
2 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
2 Wild Nacatl
2 Woolly Thoctar
1 Blaze
2 Giant Growth
2 Gift of the Gargantuan
1 Naturalize
2 Rampant Growth
1 Titanic Ultimatum
7 Forest
2 Jungle Shrine
3 Mountain
2 Naya Panorama
3 Plains
The rares in here — Spearbreaker Behemoth and Titanic Ultimatum — are exactly the sort of exciting haymaker cards you want in your EDH deck, and there are a lot of decent creatures to fill things out too, along with some better mana fixing. Here’s where we are now:
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Thornscape Apprentice
1 Quirion Elves
1 Druid of the Anima
1 Nomadic Elf
1 Fertile Ground
1 Rampant Growth
1 Naturalize
1 Narrow Escape
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Harrow
1 Puppet Strings
1 Coalition Relic
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Urza’s Rage
1 Armadillo Cloak
1 Rith’s Charm
1 Woolly Thoctar
1 Naya Battlemage
1 Thornscape Battlemage
1 Verduran Emissary
1 Bull Cerodon
1 Charging Troll
1 Power Armor
1 Cavern Thoctar
1 Mosstodon
1 Gerrard Capashen
1 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Titanic Ultimatum
1 Blaze
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Naya Panorama
1 Elfhame Palace
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Terramorphic Expanse
Now, from here you could go a couple directions. One would be to nab another precon deck to plunder and then finally fill the list out with some singles at your local store. Garruk vs. Liliana has some great Green cards for your Rith deck (Garruk, Rude Awakening, Ravenous Baloth, Rancor, Harmonize!), while providing additional cards for your future Mono-Black deck. Elemental Thunder from Planechase has some superb Rith additions too (Tornado Elemental, Taurean Mauler, Rumbling Slum, Fires of Yavimaya) and is very reasonably priced for what you’re getting, not to mention Planechase is a blast to play in EDH!
Another thought is just to order cheap but good EDH-style singles from StarCityGames.com to round out the deck, which is what I’m going to show here. I got all these for under 20 bucks total:
Enlisted Wurm, Mage Slayer, Mycoid Shepherd, Qasali Pridemage, Meglonoth, Paleoloth, Soul’s Majesty, Indrik Stomphowler, Archon of Justice, Jester’s Mask, Brawn, Galepowder Mage, Hamletback Goliath, Masked Admirers, Wild Ricochet, Acidic Slime, Devout Witness, Spidersilk Armor, Volcanic Wind, Krosan Tusker, Deadwood Treefolk, Stonecloaker, Cauldron of Souls, Invincible Hymn, Naya Charm, Obelisk of Naya, Where Ancients Tread, Invulnerability, Word of Seizing, River Boa, World Queller, Rupture Spire, Graypelt Refuge, Kazandu Refuge, Boros Garrison, Selesnya Sanctuary, Gruul Turf.
All of these are cheap cards that should be great in an EDH game. I picked some large monsters to play upon the “5 toughness matters” that we’ve got going on from the Naya deck, some good utility cards, and some more “haymaker” splashy cards — Volcanic Wind, Invincible Hymn, Word of Seizing, Wild Ricochet, Soul’s Majesty. I also got some more cheap mana-fixing lands from Ravnica block and Zendikar.
Altogether, it ends up looking like this:
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Thornscape Apprentice
1 Blaze
1 Quirion Elves
1 Druid of the Anima
1 Nomadic Elf
1 Fertile Ground
1 Rampant Growth
1 Naturalize
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Invulnerability
1 River Boa
1 Narrow Escape
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Harrow
1 Puppet Strings
1 Coalition Relic
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Urza’s Rage
1 Armadillo Cloak
1 Rith’s Charm
1 Woolly Thoctar
1 Naya Battlemage
1 Thornscape Battlemage
1 Verduran Emissary
1 Mage Slayer
1 Devout Witness
1 Spidersilk Armor
1 Stonecloaker
1 Naya Charm
1 Obelisk of Naya
1 Charging Troll
1 Power Armor
1 Mycoid Shepherd
1 Brawn
1 Galepowder Mage
1 Masked Admirers
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Mosstodon
1 Gerrard Capashen
1 Rakeclaw Gargantuan
1 Soul’s Majesty
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Archon of Justice
1 Jester’s Mask
1 Acidic Slime
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Where Ancients Tread
1 Word of Seizing
1 World Queller
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Bull Cerodon
1 Cavern Thoctar
1 Enlisted Wurm
1 Meglonoth
1 Paleoloth
1 Volcanic Wind
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Titanic Ultimatum
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Invincible Hymn
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Naya Panorama
1 Elfhame Palace
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Rupture Spire
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Boros Garrison
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Gruul Turf
5 Mountain
7 Plains
14 Forest
Some might notice I’ve got a lot of mana fixing & ramping in here—that’s because there are a lot of large creatures here we’re using from the decks that are more costed for Limited than Constructed. As you acquire more efficient rare creatures to swap into the deck, your mana requirements will go down somewhat and you can squeeze in some other cards.
If you have any other questions about my selections hit me up in the forums, and I’d definitely be interested in hearing any other budget options for the deck that you’d recommend. My ultimate goal here is to show that EDH doesn’t have to be difficult to get into in terms of time and money, and I hope we saw that here.
Okay, so this past Friday I got to play an EDH game after what seems to have been a long time! Four of us got together, this is what we played:
Jacques le Vert (Bennie)
Savra, Queen of the Golgari (Tommy)
Treva, the Renewer (Griff)
Child of Alara (Shane)
Before I go on, allow me a little good-natured ribbing on my opponents—they’ve been playing the same EDH general for months and months and months now. C’mon guys—you’ve got a pretty deep collection, mix it up a little!
Alright, so here’s my Jacques deck updated with some Worldwake goodies. Basically, it’s a goodstuff deck, and I’ve tried to stuff in a lot of cool old cards and legends that I’ve had forever. Some of them might not be the best or efficient cards, but they look incredibly cool and feel awesome to play (Pixie Queen, here’s looking at you kid).
I also added some cards to take advantage of Hazezon and Avenger of Zendikar’s horde-makers (with Marton Stromgald and Beastmaster Ascension). Eldrazi Monument probably deserves a spot but I keep using them in my Standard decks so I haven’t made the move here.
1 Jacques le Vert (General)
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Skullclamp
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Berserk
1 Expedition Map
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Skyshroud Elf
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Sylvan Library
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Aura Mutation
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Stonecloaker
1 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Opal-Eye, Konda’s Yojimbo
1 Aura Shards
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Eternal Witness
1 Magus of the Disk
1 Singing Tree
1 Marton Stromgald
1 Wrath of God
1 Willow Satyr
1 Seht’s Tiger
1 Anger
1 Brawn
1 Valor
1 Captain Sisay
1 Pixie Queen
1 Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Marshal’s Anthem
1 Harmonize
1 Reveillark
1 Jester’s Mask
1 Reflect Damage
1 Karmic Guide
1 Voidstone Gargoyle
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Rout
1 Gerrard Capashen
1 Livonya Silone
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
1 Akroma’s Vengeance
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Spirit of the Hearth
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Johan
1 Titanic Ultimatum
1 Hazezon Tamar
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Terastodon
1 Boros Garrison
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Gruul Turf
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Naya Panorama
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rith’s Grove
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Rupture Spire
1 Savannah
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Wooded Bastion
3 Plains
4 Forest
6 Mountain
Griff wins the die roll so he starts us off with the broken draw and play. Turn 1 is uneventful with everyone playing comes-into-play tapped lands. Turn 2 Griff starts off strong, playing a Reliquary Tower, Sol Ring, and Trinket Mage, fetching up an Ivory Tower. Shane plays a land, I play a Skyshroud Elf, and Tommy plays an Urborg, Tomb to Yawgmoth and Sakura-Tribe Elder.
Turn 3 Griff plays the Tower and attacks Shane with Trinket Mage beatdown. Shane plays a Sensei’s Divining Top. I play a Rune Tail, which immediately flips (woot!). Tommy plays Savra, the first general to hit the board (and boy, what a b*tch she is).
Turn 4, Griff keeps back the Trinket Mage. Shane plays Bloodbraid Elf, and cascades into Loxodon Warhammer (not too shabby). He sends the Bloodbraid Elf, who runs past his Skyshroud brother and pops me in the mouth. On my turn I play Jacques le Vert to bolster the defenses. Tommy thinks he’s in an Extended tournament, drops Dark Depths, taps it for Black mana and plays Hexmage, sacrificing it to remove the counters on Depths and paying two life for Savra’s ability (I sac off Jacques since I can replay him, and also to keep the mana acceleration and fixing from Skyshroud). Marit Lage is in the house, and of course Tommy has the shiny 20/20 flying, indestructible token to make sure nobody misses it.
Turn five I try and impress on everyone how ridiculous it is to be facing down a 20/20 on turn 4 of the game. Griff agrees but does nothing but play Holistic Wisdom. Shane plays a land but doesn’t have the right mix for Child of Alara. At the end of his turn I go ahead and burn my one-for-one Path to Exile on Marit Lage, taking up the Hero of the Table mantle. On my turn I play Skullclamp, tap the Elf to equip him, he dies, I draw two cards, play a land and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Tommy plays Rites of Flourishing and Demonic Tutor for a mystery card.
Turn 6 Griff kicks things off by playing his general Treva. At the end of his turn, Shane pops Krosan Verge and then Tops, showing bad form by not doing that earlier in the round. During his turn he plays the awesome Maelstrom Nexus. On my turn, I Skullclamp the Tribe Elder (figuring I’d likely draw a land anyway, and I do), play Singing Tree, get the expected oohs and aahs from the Arabian Nights classic, and equip it with the Skullclamp. Tommy plays a land, Crucible of Worlds, and Sword of Light and Shadow, suddenly threatening a return of the evil Marit Lage.
Turn 7, Griff plays Thawing Glaciers (not too shabby with Rites of Flourishing) and sends Treva at Tommy, gaining six life off her ability. Shane doubles-down on the Maelstrom with its Archangel, and cascades into Scroll Rack. I play Spirit of the Hearth and equip it with Skullclamp. On Tommy’s turn, he plays Dark Depths out of his graveyard, equips Savra with the Sword, and attacks Shane. I target Savra with Singing Tree (“he sings Fishbone mostly, but sometimes Pixies songs” I point out) to prevent Tommy from getting back his Hexmage, though I strongly considered letting him do it since I had the Tree out. Still, with Savra there who knows if I’d be able to keep the Tree in play?
Turn 8 Griff keeps Treva home. At the end of his turn, Tommy casts Krosan Grip on Shane’s Maelstrom Nexus. Shane Scroll Racks for six cards. He then sends Maelstrom Angel at Tommy, and plays Akroma’s Memorial for free. Then he plays Kavu Predator and Oversold Cemetery. On my turn I play Johan, black-bordered Legends-style, and then attack Tommy with a Vigilant Singing Tree. “Why?” asks Tommy. “C’mon,” I reply. “When’s the last time you were attacked by a Singing Tree?” Tommy pauses to consider; he’s been playing nearly as long as I have. “You’re right, I think that’s a first.” On his turn, he plays Garruk, untaps some lands, plays Primal Command to put Akroma’s Memorial on top of Shane’s library, and fetches up Magus of the Coffers.
Turn 9, Griff attacks Shane with Treva, then plays Austere Command to clear the board of creatures. Shane gets back his Bloodbraid Elf with Oversold Cemetery, plays it, cascades into Buried Alive and puts Anger, Glory, and Genesis in the graveyard (sick!). He then plays Expedition Map. On my turn I play Marshal’s Anthem kicked three times, putting back Singing Tree, Spirit of the Hearth, and Johan. On Tommy’s turn he casts Beacon of Unrest to animate Shane’s Maelstrom Archangel, then plays Vesuvius, targeting a Bojuka Bog he played early in the game, nuking Shane’s graveyard shenanigans. Shane flinches as the rest of us high-five Tommy. Tommy plays the Magus of the Coffers.
Turn 10 Griff says “I win.” He reveals Mirari’s Wake, Palinchron, and Stroke of Genius in his hand, and points to the Holistic Wisdom. As I mentioned, Griff’s played this deck a ton so we know the drill—infinite mana, Stroke himself to draw his deck, then pitch an instant to get it back and deck each of the rest of us. He flashes the Force of Will as backup and Blue card to pitch it in his hand. Tommy curses, showing us the Umbral Mantle in his hand to go infinite with Magus of the Coffers on his turn.
Okay sweet, Griff – you win; I propose the rest of us continue playing for second.
On his turn, Shane plays Duplicant, targeting Magus of the Coffers, of course! On my turn I play Tolsimir Wolfblood and Jester’s Mask. I attack Shane with my Spirit and Tommy with my Singing Tree for fun. On Tommy’s turn, he casts Profane Command to get back Vampire Hexmage, and targets the Tree for -3/-3. I say “okay…” but Shane points out that the Tree is actually bigger than that because of Tolsimir, and I shake my fist at Shane as Tommy adjusts the Command to kill the poor Tree. Tommy tells Shane thanks by equipping Maelstrom Angel with the Sword of Light and Shadow and attacks him with his own Angel!
Turn 11, Shane plays Ardent Plea and cascades into Soul Warden. He then plays Kalhni Heart Expedition. On my turn I crack Jester’s Mask and tell Shane to go find two cards that can deal with Tommy’s Depths/Hexmage combo. Shane has two cards in hand, so he fetches up Guiltfeeder and Warp World.
WARP WORLD!?!
I play Basilisk Collar, equip my Spirit and attack Tommy to gain some life. Tommy’s turn, he pops Garruk to give his guys +3/+3 and trample, and attacks me with a 10/10 Maelstrom Angel and Shane with 23/23 Marit Lage. I have Reflect Damage, and since Tommy is a bit above 23 life points, I Reflect the damage from the Angel back at him, dropping him into the mid-teens. Shane takes 23 and goes to 1 life.
Turn 12, Shane plays Warp World and when the dust settles he’s got a fair number of creatures, Madrush Cyclops, and Beastmaster Ascension. Me, I’m still pretty high in lifetotals (over 40), and I was fortunate enough to Warp back in Rune-Tail, who flipped and prevents any damage dealt to the fair number of creatures I got back into play. Shane’s eyeballing his Warp World and I’m guessing he’s got a way to get it back in his hand, so I play Stonecloaker from my hand to remove it from the game, returning Reveillark to my hand and getting back two creatures from my graveyard. Shane could attack me and hurt me bad, but he couldn’t kill me so he attacks Tommy for lethal damage.
I’d gotten Marton Stromgald into play from Warp World, so when I drew Beastmaster Ascension to go with the Titanic Ultimatum in my hand I knew I had overkill but let’s finish this in style. I play the Ascension, play the Ultimatum, and attack with Marton and seven creatures. Everyone gets +10/+10, trample and lifelink, with Marton giving the other seven guys an additional +7/+7. Pushing 200 points of trampling damage easily snuffs out Shane’s single point of life to finish off second place in much more EDH-style than Griff’s dirty combo!
That’s it for this week. I’ll be attending the StarCityGames.com Open on Saturday for Standard and hopefully doing the same for Legacy on Sunday, so if you happen to be coming to the tournament too, come by to say hello!
Take care…
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com
New to EDH? Be sure to check out my EDH Primer, part 1, part 2, and part 3.
My current EDH decks:
Jacques Le Vert (lots of legends, good stuff)
Tibor and Lumia (copy copy copy copy)
Baron Sengir (Evile Vampires!)
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (huge creatures, big mana spells)
Sharuum, the Hegemon (Kaldra Lives!)
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund (DRAGONS, RAHRRR!!)