Arixmethes, Vacation Paradise Primer

Commander / EDH* Combo Control GU (Simic) Infinite Combo Primer

beastofblades

Instant (22)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Worldly Tutor
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Telling Time
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Unwind
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Plasm Capture
• 1x Nexus of Fate
• 1x Dig Through Time

Artifact (9)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Urza's Bauble
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Creature (19)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Ice-Fang Coatl
• 1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip
• 1x Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Voyaging Satyr
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Shardless Agent
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Palinchron

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Temporal Manipulation
• 1x Time Warp
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Exploration
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Pemmin's Aura

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 7x Forest
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 9x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Wooded Foothills

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This primer is a discussion on my Arixmethes deck. The build presented here is not the most optimized competitive build. It is designed for a moderately competitive play group where games consistently tend to end around turn five or six. Many of the cards here can easily be upgraded or downgraded depending on the skill level of your playgroup.

Intro

I love Arixmethes. I think it is my favorite Simic commander. It’s not as explosive as other more traditional simic commanders such as Prime Speaker Vannifar, or Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Ezuri, Claw of Progress or Tatyova, Benthic Druid. However, what it lacks in explosiveness it makes up for in resilience and versatility.

Most commander decks want to have their commander on the field. Yes there are people reading this saying I can make my Breya combo deck work without Breya, but let’s be honest we build commanders for a reason and our decks work the best and run the smoothest with them on the field. (Shut up you person who built the Phage deck that combos on turn 2 or 3 consistently. No one likes you.) Most simic commanders are very strong oppressive decks so often times the game becomes arch enemy where the pod turns against the simic commander, either not letting it resolve, or the players all just save their removal for you.

This is where Arixmethes stands out from the other simic commanders. Arixmethes enters as a land with five counters on it. Land removal is a big faux pa in EDH. This means he is immune to most (not all) spot removal and board wipes you will run into in any playgroup. What land removal you do run into will be things that hit any permanent or something like Strip Mine or Wasteland. Though still vulnerable to some things you can pretty much not fear anything that will come out of most decks. The triggered ability to remove counters is key in this allowing you to time becoming active for when you are ready to deal with whatever your opponents can do to stop you.

What does this mean? Arixmethes is suited for control. You can sit back take a very non-threatening board position as more explosive decks do their thing while you time your win-con and come from nowhere.

Main win cons

Infinite Mana

Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle + Pemmin's Aura or Freed from the Reel dead eye navigator + peregrine drake

If you for whatever reason can’t turn Arixmethes active the Auras you would place on Arixmethes can be placed on Kiora's Follower or Voyaging Satyr and they can just tap and untap Arixmethes. That’s right Atraxa! If you don’t have access Arixmethes at all you can use Kiora's Follower + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx with enough devotion.

Now Arixmethes + Aura can be tricky when it comes to winning with it. It only nets green mana so be careful.

We have infinite mana. Next step draw your deck.

Pull from Tomorrow Stroke of Genius Thrasios, Triton Hero Ice-Fang Coatl + Deadeye combo.

Win. They can’t really stop you at this point as long as you have enough blue. Lab Maniac, Nexus of Fate

Other win-cons

Sometimes we just can’t combo out the first way and our opponent’s make it hard for us. It’s like people have issues with c-c-c-c-c-COMBO and target us. Yeah...like they think they win.

Triumph of the Hordes Hey look I didn’t combo. Am I still an asshole? BTW Arixmethes is a 12/12. If you aren’t running this. Run it. BTW you are dead.

Make ten mana. Have a Eternal Witness + Temur Sabertooth on the battlefield. Then abuse Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation. Enjoy infinite turns.

Pemmin's Aura Has nifty second ability that a lot of people over look. It give flying and +1/-1. So if worse comes to worse you can start one-shotting players. Don’t let it get this far. You probably aren’t winning at this point. But I can make sure you aren’t either.

There are more combos and wincons in the deck. Get creative.

Dropping Counters

Dropping counters on Arixmethes is surprisingly easy. Chrome Mox, gytaxian probe, Mishra's Bauble, Urza's Bauble are just a few that I included in this list. Force of Negation and Force of Vigor do a ton of work come from nowhere to disrupt your opponents and drop counters FOR FREE!!!!

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter and Shardless Agent give us free spells from the top of our deck.

Rishkar's Expertise does work in any Arixmethes build. If Arixmethes is active you draw twelve play a five drop for free. Or You draw to something else play a five drop for free. Two counters gone.

Temur Sabertooth let’s me recast my creatures. Coiling Oracle, Ice-Fang Coatl and the counter creatures are the typical targets here.

Any extra turn spell is when used correctly at least two counters.

No matter what you put in the deck we want to keep the cmc’s low. We want Arixmethes to be able to pay for his own counters. So value one drop and two drop ramp, removal and draw spells that often get over looked in other decks for not having enough synergy all can find a home in this deck.

Notable Exclusions

Noxious Revival I know, honestly it should be here. I don’t own one so I’ve never included it in any list. I’m bad at this game.

Mana Crypt I’m poor. I’m bad at this game.

Force of Will See above.

Tormod's Crypt I could absolutely make space for this. There are play groups where you need the graveyard and you will include this. I find that I usually just don’t need it for my meta.

Stifle You want stifle effects in more competitive play groups. I would probably drop Broken Bond. This is a super underrated card in our format. Anything that counters a triggered ability in EDH worth strong consideration especially in a control shell.

I will be adding more to this Primer in the coming days.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Eternal Witness + Temur Sabertooth Kiora's Follower + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle + Pemmin's Aura
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.61
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy