Something about Rise of the Eldrazi has really got ideas churning in my brain for Standard decks. Maybe it’s because Standard has felt so stagnant for so long, or maybe Brian Tinsman and company just really juiced this set with tons of intriguing cards and synergies. Whatever the reason, I’ve got tons of decklists I’m throwing against the wall to see what sticks, and a lot of them involve casting gigantic nightmare world-eaters.
I’m in the midst of trying a lot of these decks out, first and foremost against the Jund menace, which I expect will keep on being the deck to beat, despite the new resurgence of U/W Control. A lot of the decks will fail to cut the mustard in my testing, but I still want to share them with you to see if perhaps some idea I’ve got hear might spark something with you and perhaps that might lead to something great.
First and foremost, I want to hard cast legendary Eldrazi. Cheating them into play with Polymorph, quite frankly, is for sissies too lazy to do the heavy lifting. Do you honestly think Wizards would publish a set with Eldrazi in the title without making sure the tools were available to play these monsters in Standard?
Plan A looks something like this:
Creatures (23)
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- 4 Overgrown Battlement
- 3 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- 4 Wall of Omens
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
Basically, nearly every non-Eldrazi card in the deck helps you get to the point of casting Eldrazi, while still being good in the early game; in my initial testing, the Overgrown Battlements have been surprisingly good at generating some sick amount of mana and blocking annoying things like Sprouting Thrinax. Awakening Zone is just what the doctor ordered for blocking Putrid Leech, since that problematic card just laughs at 4 toughness walls. The Knights aren’t quite as good here as in other decks, where you can afford some utility lands, but her job here is to trade in Plains or Forests for Eldrazi Temples. Garruk is just a good planeswalker overall, but if he can untap one or two Eldrazi Temples, you are well on your way to casting big monsters.
My initial impression with Kozilek is a bit disappointing; I suppose having him taken out by a two mana Terminate just feels wrong somehow. Ulamog’s indestructibility certainly helps, though both of them just roll over to Path to Exile. Still, it’s great fun to cast these monsters and have the dramatic tension shoot through the roof – does my opponent have one of the few answers available? Or is he going to have to deal with the devastating Annihilator ability?
Here’s a Bant spin on Fortress of the Eye, making use of Wargate as another land-tutor for Eldrazi Temples; in fact, Knight of the Reliquary dies so quickly in testing, before it gets a chance to untap, I’m considering swapping them out for the Wargates, but right now I’m trying both here:
Creatures (23)
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 4 Lotus Cobra
- 4 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- 3 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- 4 Wall of Omens
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
There’s another way to hard-cast Eldrazi, but it involves going out on a pretty big limb, playing a card that I’m sure most players dismiss as pure garbage. Check this out:
Creatures (19)
- 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
- 4 Abyssal Persecutor
- 4 Arrogant Bloodlord
- 3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- 4 Hellcarver Demon
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (25)
- 25 Swamp
Spells (12)
Hellcarver Demon is one scary card; when he connects you’re pretty much going all-in with him and whatever non-land cards you find on the top of your deck. Liliana Vess helps makes things a little less scary by making sure the top of your deck is exactly what you need. Ideally, Liliana puts an Emrakul on top of your deck before you attack through clear skies with Hellcarver Demon; yes, you sacrifice all your other permanents and discard your hand, but then you get to cast Emrakul, take its Time Walk ability, and cast 3-5 other cards.
I will not claim this deck is the greatest thing since sliced bread; initial testing has proven it very inconsistent against Jund, though the games where you survive long enough to cast and attack with Rico Suave (Hellcarver Demon) are impressive enough that I want to figure out how to make it happen more often – even swinging blind with no Liliana set-up, the advantage swing is usually game-ending. Last night I tried adding Green for Walls, Putrid Leech, Maelstrom Pulse, and Momentus Fall, but that did not seem to help the deck with Jund, so right now I’m not sure which way to take the deck.
There’s one other way I’ve found to cast huge Eldrazi spells, but it also involves cheating one particular one into play. It utilizes the funky infinite mana combo Training Grounds, Filigree Sages, and Khalni Gem, along with a few other synergies:
Creatures (24)
- 4 Merfolk Looter
- 4 Filigree Sages
- 4 Sphinx of Lost Truths
- 4 Calcite Snapper
- 4 Enclave Cryptologist
- 4 Spawnsire of Ulamog
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
The lynchpin card is Spawnsire of Ulamog – once you get infinite mana, you can easily cast him and then use his 20-mana ability to start casting Eldrazi spells from your sideboard. Plan B is Looting Spawnsire into the graveyard and then reanimating him with Rise from the Grave with two Training Grounds in play, which lets you use his other ability to make infinite mana and then use the 20 mana ability.
The kill cards reside in the Sideboard: 2 All Is Dust, 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, 1 Not of this World, 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. I figure you lead with All Is Dust, and a second one if that gets countered, and then start dropping Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek. Not of this World is your 20-mana counterspell to make sure one of your Eldrazi gets to live long enough to swing in for the win.
I probably need to work some number of Deprives or Negates into the maindeck to protect myself and the combo. Another option is to work Deathgreeters into the deck to turn the infinite mana via Spawn tokens into the actual kill method. I have to admit the deck feels like it should have no shot at being competitive, but I’m very intrigued to try it out anyway.
Now, I’m not solely interested in casting Eldrazi monsters in the new Standard – Rise has given me plenty of other cards I want to try. One of them, of course, is Vengevine and it has been particularly frustrating for me that this card is a mythic. I’ve opened four and a half boxes of ROE and I’ve only gotten one Vengevine (and one Gideon, and no Kozilek). So I have no idea whether I’ll actually be able to build this deck anytime soon, but I’m eager to try it out:
Creatures (23)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Ranger of Eos
- 2 Corpse Connoisseur
- 1 Elvish Visionary
- 1 Noble Hierarch
- 3 Kor Skyfisher
- 1 Scute Mob
- 4 Vengevine
- 4 Wall of Omens
Lands (24)
Spells (13)
By now most everyone is aware of how nicely Kor Skyfisher plays with Vengevine, along with Ranger of Eos, but I wanted to push Vengevine even further. Corpse Connoisseur is a card I’ve wanted to be good since it was made, and while it didn’t seem worth the effort to abuse Bloodghast, Vengevine is another story! Assuming you draw one Vengevine by the time you draw the Connoisseur, that’s potentially 3 recurring 4/3 hasty beaters.
Like many decks, an early Putrid Leech beatdown is problematic, which is why I added Awakening Zones to the deck, which then naturally led to Eldrazi Monuments to amp the power level and finishing power. I’m a little hesitant to proxy this deck up because if I like it as much as I think I will, I’ll need to go on the hunt for three more copies of the elusive and expensive Green Mythic.
Speaking of Awakening Zone, a card I positively love – another thing struck me as interesting with Rise of the Eldrazi. There are some really good Eldrazi permanents that make these token creatures that so nicely provide chump blocking bodies or mana, depending on your needs. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect ingredient for… Warp World?
Creatures (23)
- 2 Siege-Gang Commander
- 3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
- 2 Avenger of Zendikar
- 4 Kozilek's Predator
- 4 Nest Invader
- 4 Ondu Giant
- 4 Overgrown Battlement
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
Dave Meeson, this one’s for you! Initial testing for this is promising – Jund hates having to wade through a ton of chump blockers, especially when they can’t clean them all up with a single Maelstrom Pulse – score one for Spawn tokens’ self-sacrificial ability! I hate having to stretch the mana to accommodate Ob Nixilis, but he makes Warp World an instant kill… still, he may not prove necessary since the permanent advantage you get from a single Warp World is impressive.
Last up are a couple takes on the nice Sovereigns of Lost Alara/Eldrazi Conscription combo that a lot of other people are talking about.
Creatures (18)
- 3 Uril, the Miststalker
- 3 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
- 4 Dauntless Escort
- 4 Kor Spiritdancer
- 4 Wall of Omens
Lands (23)
Spells (18)
First off, I wanted to tap into the awesome draw power of Kor Spiritdancer, so I went hog wild on the Auras, not just the Umbras but Pacifism and Trace of Abundance as well. Since the Spiritdancer is so sexy, she needs a bodyguard, and Dauntless Escort is certainly up to any challenge outside of Path to Exile or that dastardly Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Uril, of course, is the ideal recipient of Umbras or Eldrazi Conscription, and despite the mana back flips you must make to accommodate him, I think it’s totally worth the effort. See Beyond is there to shuffle back in the Eldrazi Conscription that I’m sure I’ll end up drawing before my Sovereigns.
There’s also a more “mythic” approach:
Creatures (30)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Rafiq of the Many
- 4 Rhox War Monk
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 4 Knight of the Reliquary
- 3 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
- 4 Baneslayer Angel
- 4 Lotus Cobra
Lands (25)
Spells (5)
It’s nice to see Patrick Dickmann got first place at the Nationals Qualifier tournament in Köln, Germany this past weekend with a very similar build to this one, only he had a couple hundred dollars worth of Planeswalkers added to the mix.
That wraps things up for this week! The Nationals Qualifier in Richmond is in just two weeks, and I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to see if any of these ideas can cut the mustard in a world where Jund and U/W Tap Out control dominate. Have you had any success with anything like these decks? Hit me up in the forums or drop me an email, I’d love to hear about it!
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)
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund (DRAGONS, RAHRRR!!)
Halfdane (Clone ‘n’ Kaldra)
Reki, the History of Kamigawa (more legends than you can shake a stick at)