Derevi Flicker Experience

Commander / EDH* Flash GWU (Bant)

darkkirby4

Creature (34)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Brago, King Eternal
• 1x Captain Sisay
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Hornet Queen
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Knight-Captain of Eos
• 1x Lavinia of the Tenth
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Naban, Dean of Iteration
• 1x Palinchron
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Reflector Mage
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Roon of the Hidden Realm
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Stonecloaker
• 1x Tishana, Voice of Thunder
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Trostani's Summoner
• 1x Vigor
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Wood Elves

Land (32)

• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 4x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 3x Island
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 3x Plains
• 1x Port Town
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 1x Soldevi Excavations
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Tower of the Magistrate

Artifact (6)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Crystal Shard
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Panharmonicon

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Karmic Justice
• 1x Unquestioned Authority

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Essence Flux
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Plasm Capture
• 1x Render Silent
• 1x Voidslime
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Beck / Call
• 1x Broken Bond
• 1x Flicker
• 1x Genesis Wave
• 1x Harvest Season
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Tragic Arrogance
• 1x Wargate

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Venser, the Sojourner

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Sideboard

Creature (12)

• 1x Angel of Finality
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Cryptic Annelid
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Phyrexian Ingester
• 1x Shanna, Sisay's Legacy
• 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 1x Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Cream of the Crop
• 1x Nature's Will
• 1x Rest in Peace

Artifact (1)

• 1x Mimic Vat

Land (2)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Gaea's Cradle

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Sleep
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes

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Maybeboard

Creature (31)

• 1x Altered Ego
• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Deadwood Treefolk
• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Dragonlord Ojutai
• 1x Elvish Piper
• 1x Emmara Tandris
• 1x Geist-Honored Monk
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Magus of the Unseen
• 1x Messenger Falcons
• 1x Mistmeadow Witch
• 1x Naban, Dean of Iteration
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Oreskos Explorer
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Planar Guide
• 1x Rootwater Thief
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Skittering Surveyor
• 1x Skyward Eye Prophets
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
• 1x Twilight Shepherd
• 1x Vedalken Aethermage
• 1x Voidmage Husher
• 1x War Priest of Thune
• 1x Willbreaker
• 1x Woodland Bellower

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Dawn's Reflection
• 1x Flickerform
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Infinite Reflection
• 1x Lurking Predators
• 1x Treachery

Instant (7)

• 1x Acrobatic Maneuver
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Hindering Light
• 1x Mirrorweave
• 1x Nature's Claim

Artifact (11)

• 1x Aether Vial
• 1x Aligned Hedron Network
• 1x Barl's Cage
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 4x Citanul Flute
• 1x Crystal Ball
• 1x Tawnos's Wand
• 1x Unwinding Clock

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Borrowing 100,000 Arrows
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Piracy
• 1x Sylvan Tutor

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It is one of my goals over the summer to update this.

The objective of this deck is to abuse the flicker mechanic to achieve either A) Abuse ETB effect. B) Use Derevi's ability to untap own things or tap opponents scaries. Main targets: Untap your Monoliths, Gaea, Sisay, Arcanis, Roon. Other players Monoliths, Rocks, Staffs, Mayael, whatever.

Overview

Why Derevi?

"Why not just play Roon of the Hidden Realm if you want to do Bant flicker?" Show

Roon is too expensive, you can only flicker with him once (unless you have haste and can flicker him, or untap him, you are done with him for the turn), and though he is a 4/4 he doesnt have a safe way to attack and attacking with him decreases your value.

"You should just play Brago, King Eternal." Show

WELL, as far as Brago goes, my group has bad memories with a deck at our LGS some guy played, so hes usually an instant target. I personally find some of the things Brago does to be a little gross. I thought he would just be a good addition to the deck rather than the master of it. And finally, Green is just so important here.

What makes Derevi good? Show

Derevi is very cheap coming in at {G}{W}{U}, and gets past the Commander death rule by having another ability that lets you put Derevi into play for just {G}{W}{U} + {1}.

Alright heres where it gets fun. Derevi's first ability lets you tap or untap any permanent in play (yes even Planeswalkers, though I wouldnt recommend tapping them). This means you can tap your opponents creatures/rocks/lands/artifacts to prevent them from messing with you. You can untap your lands and play Derevi and a 1cost like Weathered Wayfarer on the same turn. You can attack with a couple creatures, untap a Plains and Weathered Wayfarer and search for another land. You can use Derevi's ability to untap Roon of the Hidden Realm. You can get past the cost for Basalt Monolith and Grim Monolith and get {6} turn 3. Additionally, the token subtheme (If you can call it 'sub' since there are as many or more token cards as there are flicker) will allow you to untap just about everything on your board. And finally, if it comes to it, you can untap your creatures that attacked for a pseudo-vigilance.

Due to the second ability of Derevi, you can put Derevi into play at any time in the game, allowing you to mess with other players on their turns. If someone is playing Mayael the Anima or any other tap-ability creature, you have a {1}{G}{W}{U} Counter-Ability spell on hand. Derevi's ability is also a mana-ability, so its harder to counter. It also puts Deveri into play, avoiding any 'cast' counter spell.

Why Flicker?

The Flicker mechanic has always interested me due to its value, versatility, and... well honestly its just a really cool mechanic.

How Flicker works Show

There are some different way things can flicker things, but the essential idea around it is: Remove card from play, put card back into play. This makes the card enter in as a new version of the target card as if it was newly cast. It makes the original target an illegal target.

How its useful Show

If you havent looked at the creatures yet, you will notice that near every creature in this deck has an 'Enter the Battlefield' effect. Since a flickered creature re-enters play, it is essentially just amunition to abuse the ETB mechanic.

You can use it to avoid damage and avoid spot-removal.

You can return your tapped creatures to an untapped status.

You can flicker your monoliths (and maybe even lands) to have them come back into play untapped.

You can flicker opponents stuff to remove counters from creatures, give summoning sickness, or remove their blockers until after your combat step.

Flicker and Combat or avoiding being targeted Show

Since flickering a target makes it an illegal target, there are a lot of cheesy things you can do.

When going into combat you can use a card like Flickerwisp to exile their blocker allowing you to attack before they come back.

As the defender: you can declare blockers and then flicker your creatures before damage is assigned, yet the attacking creature still has its attack on a now-illegal target.

Finally that brings us to the last point: when being the target of a spell/ability, you can flicker your permanent to make it an illegal target and dodge the spell/ability.

The Downsides Show

Flickered creatures come back in with Summoning sickness and cant attack nor use tap-abilities.

Some flicker cards only return your stuff on end-step. Be sure to read if your card flickers immediately or until end step, and adjust your strategy to that.

Thats about all I got

Cards

Artifacts

Rocks Show

I use Grim Monolith and Basalt Monolith for lots of mana and the ability for Derevi to untap them for free. If you have both out and can untap them with Derevi, thats a clean {12}.

Basalt can also be found with Trophy Mage

And Grim also has a cheaper ($5) 1999 Tokyo Championships edition.

Copy Ability Show

Illusionist's Bracers will allow you to copy Derevi's attack ability. You cant really use it for ETB or flicker, so Derevi, Sissay, and Roon are kind of the only ones that benefit from it.

Isochron Scepter will allow you to repeatedly cast your instants, preferably a flicker one.

Panharmonicon breaks this deck. You get to double any ETB effect.

Other Show

Crystal Shard will make other players rethink how they spend their mana. You can cast it on yourself to get more ETB value. You can abuse it with Derevi to bounce multiple creatures.

Lands

Why bounce-lands? Show

Bounce-lands are infamously annoying, but the turn you play them you can tap a land for mana before you bounce that land, and with Derevi's untap ability, you are able to untap the land and give yourself an extra 2 mana. Its a cost-effective strategy that brings you in well to the later game.

Scry-lands Show

Scry is a really great ability early game. Its up to you if you want to make the sacrifice for something faster, but Derevi's untap ability will let you untap it if you go to combat before playing anything else.

Gaea's Cradle Show

This land is very good.

This land is very expensive.

This land caused a lot of problems in my group, but they let me get away with playing a 1999 Tokyo Championship edition that cost $50 instead of $250.

This land will get targeted for destruction, so keep your Eternal Witness safe and ready.

This card is the backbone of this deck due to the tokens and Derevi's ability to untap.

You can flicker some token droppers, get some guys out, tap it for floating mana, attack with or flicker Derevi, untap Gaea's, tap it for more, play Genesis wave for a siesmic heck-ton.

Creatures

Flicker Creatures

Brago, King Eternal, Roon of the Hidden Realm, Deadeye Navigator, Eldrazi Displacer, Felidar Guardian, Flickerwisp, Restoration Angel.

Roon and Wisp flicker till end step, while Eldrazu enters them back tapped.

Eldrazman, Roon, and Navi are mana abilities.

Brago and Roon are Legendary.

Only flickerwisp is toughness 2 or less.

Token Droppers

Knight-Captain of Eos, Geist-Honored Monk, Trostani's Summoner, Hornet Queen, Captain of the Watch

Eos is one of the most valuable cards in the deck. You will be swinging with a lot of creatures to get Derevi's ability to work. You wont have blockers all the time. This is a good way to deal with saving yourself.

Ramp

Coiling Oracle, Wood Elves, Weathered Wayfarer

Protection

Knight-Captain of Eos, Lavinia of the Tenth, Stonehorn Dignitary, Flickerwisp, Reflector Mage, Selfless Squire.

Lavinia and Stonehorn will detain your opponents.

Reflector and Wisp can spot remove for the turn.

Squire can save your face and murder your opponents. Eos and Vigor can pump up Squire as well.

Recursion

Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Archaeomancer, Eternal Witness

Eternal Witness is maybe the most valuable card here.

Reveillark works great because most cards fit its requirement.

You can flicker Karmic Guide instead of pay the Echo fee if you want to keep her in play.

Pair any of these with Deadeye Navigator to just bring back everything and break the game.

Search

Trophy Mage, Recruiter of the Guard, Fierce Empath, Captain Sisay, Weathered Wayfarer

Wayfarer is great to use Derevi's ability on, get 2-3 land cards a turn.

Trophy Mage is only really useful for 2 cards in the deck, which is a shame in some rights but great that you only have to flicker her once to get everything.

Utility/Other

Acidic Slime for spot removal including land.

Angel of Finality and Stonecloaker for graveyard hate.

Champion of Lambholt is a nice way to make use Derevi's ability, smack people, kill people, and creep as heck.

Craterhoof Behemoth and company will stampede folks.

Palinchron is great and can bust your deck if used with Deadeye Navigator.

Willbreaker for stealing opponents creatures with Derevi's ability.

Diluvian Primordial will be fun and probably very valuable.

Enchantments

Enchantments arent crucial to this deck, theyre just here for flavor mostly. There are likely other ones that can be of good use.

Aura Shards is super nasty with this deck.

Unquestioned Authority lets you abuse Derevi and Brago's abilities. Draw is nice too if you can flicker the enchantment itself (note: Flickering the creature that its equiped to will place the enchantment in the graveyard). Protection from creatures is also super duper useful.

Anointed Procession is just for extra token drops.

Sorceries and Instants

Instants Show

Every instant is either a Flicker, Counterspell, or Tutor.

Sorceries

Beck / Call Beck will give you a lot of draw when you flicker, dump tokens, or both. Call is not too useful for the cost.

Harvest Season will let you get all your basic lands if you attack with all your tokens or tap creatures you control with Derevis ability.

Sleep isnt necessary but it will save you if you hold onto it.

Supreme Verdict and Tragic Arrogance are super great if you can flicker your boardstate.

Genesis Wave is pretty top-notch as well. If you can get Gaea's for 10 or so then its a good time since most everything in the deck is less than 5.

Chopping Block (Cards in-line for removal)

Angel of Finality and card:Stormcloaker are great to have, but not necessary to have both.

Diluvian Primordial seems really fun, but Ive never drawn it, its not an objective for the deck.

Willbreaker is not just fun, but very useful/powerful. Shes just very expensive and doesnt have multiple criteria to find her.

Geist-Honored Monk -> Trostani's Summoner -> Hornet Queen. Now let me clarify, not all of these are for cut, but any one or maybe 2 of them. Personally I like the deck with all 3.

Captain Sisay is very nice to getting out Gaea's Cradle or something like Brago, but the same can be done with other cards. Its just here to abuse Derevi's ability with and get a couple good things in my hand. I like her.

Voidmage Husher is just nifty for Prolif or preventing damage or something. Its costs a lot, but Ive never drawn it so I cant say.

Stonehorn Dignitary seems pretty good, but Ive never drawn it and there are probably more useful cards, plus he also hasnt much criteria to search for.

Vigor is kind of BS. I havent gotten to try it in this deck yet but I have in others and my friends and I hate it. Makes me feel dirty.

Flickerwisp might be traded out for Restoration Angel. Its nice to have variety in flickering, but sometimes its more useful to be instant and allows for combos better.

Strategy

Tools and How To's:

Recruiter of the Guard will get you any creature 2 Toughness or less, which is 18 of the 35 creatures. Fierce Empath will get you any creature 6 CMC or greater, which is another 7 creatures. Captain Sisaywill get you any legendary card, Roon or Gaea or whatever. There are 8 outliers that do not fit these categories.

Trophy Mage will guarantee you Basalt Monolith and Crystal Shard.

Isochron Scepter + Cloudshift = Flicker on call. Or do a tutor and search your spells/creatures.

Beck / Call Use Beck and then drop and flicker your token dudes.

Knight-Captain of Eos's ability will let you creep counters on Vigor and Selfless Squire as well as each working for the other. Hold onto Selfless Squire as long as possible, it will save you. If you need to, go ahead and flicker her while shes already out.

Willbreaker + Derevi = Tap opponent creatures to gain control of them.

Panharmonicon will break things with two 'Flicker on ETB' creatures. Eternal Witness will gather your entire graveyard into your hand. Hornet Queen, Geist-Honored Monk, Trostani's Summoner, Captain of the Watch, and other creature dumps can get you infinite tokens. card:craterhoof bohemoth will pump your dudes to +infinite P/T. Recruiter of the Guard can rout out all creatures from your library with toughness 2 or less. Diluvian Primordial is just pure japes. And Altar of the Brood = Inf. Chip damage. If you want to be dirty.

Having Eternal Witness in play with Cloudshift and Ghostly Flicker will allow you to repeatedly flicker other creatures abilities turn after turn.

Win-con strats:

Token rundown (The classic) Show

Spam Tokens (drop in Hornet Queen, Trostani's Summoner, Knight-Captain of Eos, other token creatures. Flicker them.) Then get Craterhoof Behemoth via Worldly Tutor/Fierce Empath/Some BS like card:Genesis Wave. Flicker him a few times if needed. Kill.

Champion's Reign Show

Play Champion of Lambholt, drop some tokens, flicker some junk, pump up your dudes, go to town.

Total Board Control Show

Having Derevi, Empyrial Tactician out/come into play with Eldrazi Displacer, Basalt Monolith/Grim Monolith and Panharmonicon will give you the ability to instantly and infinitely tap or untap any permanent in play. As long as you have the mana then you can play any card in your hand. A lot of people might scoop, but youre incredibly safe and have near complete control over the game. Youll definitely have enough time to do whatever else you need to do.

The one where you break time and space to infinite and beyond. Show

Look at the previously listed 'Panharmonicon Infinites'.

No holds barred! Show

Having Palinchron and either Deadeye Navigator or Eldrazi Displacer is another infinite mana combo, so long as you have enough blue mana. If you have enough lands then you can play any card in your hand and spam any ETB infinitely.

Note: Due to the Soulbond nature of Deadeye, you would only really be able to play your hand, unless you can flicker Palinchron in between. Eldrazi lets you flicker 2 creatures before you need to flicker Palin again, or 1 if you flicker Palin with Eldrazi.

Start up to end game: There are many different strategies and consistencies in this deck, but you almost always want this start. Hope to start with Weathered Wayfarer, Worldly Tutor. Get some land and your Gaea's Cradle (either with Wayfarer or Tutor for Sisay (keep in mind Sisay is a 4-cost)). (Note: Gaea's Cradle wont tap for anything unless you have a creature on deck.) Try to get your Token creatures out so you can start ramping with Gaea. If you are lucky enough to have Gensis Wave, get enough mana to cast it for 10 or so. If you got Trostoni or Hornet Queen, maybe Eos and flickered him, then you'll get the mana easily. Otherwise, tap it, move to combat with Derevi, and untap it. The lands and ETB effects from your creatures should cause some havoc, and if you are lucky enough to get Palinchron in it then you pretty much win the game.

Otherwise, Craterhoof Behemoth is a pretty cool guy.

====Testing Notes==== Show

Torpor Orb can single-handedly ruin this deck, so I will be needing to put in some artifact removal like Dust to Dust, Return to Dust, Sylvan Reclamation, or Nevermore. Maybe even Trygon Predator

Heroic Intervention will be really nice to have.

Glory might come in handy.

Ground Seal would be good.

Tajuru Preserver or Sigarda, Host of Herons might be necessary

Eladamri's Call, Sylvan Tutor , Time of Need , Altar of Bone , Bring to Light , Congregation at Dawn (comboing with Arcanis the Omnipotent would be great, or choose 3 3CMC creatures and Genesis Wave for 3), Defense of the Heart (would be great for getting out removal creatures), Drift of Phantasms, Green Sun's Zenith

I really want to try Cream of the Crop and Lurking Predators

Highly considering Mentor of the Meek. Mulldrifter, Indentured Djinn, or Elvish Visionary or card draw could be nice.

Considering putting Rings of Brighthearth back in. It may be very strong with Gaea's and Genesis Wave. Plus Trophy Mage can search it. Either Karmic Guide or Deadwood Treefolk, going to try Karmic first Adding Voidslime, Angel of Finality again, Going to Try Genesis Wave, Trophy Mage, Arcanis, Aid from Cowl Getting rid of Conj Closet for now

Land:

UW - Port Town Nimbus Maze Hallowed Fountain Flooded Strand (with derevi Flood Plain ) Seachrome Coast Prairie Stream Port Town Hallowed Fountain Adarkar Wastes Brushland Talisman of Progress Skycloud Expanse Mystic Gate

GW - Canopy Vista Fortified Village (with derevi Grasslands ) Horizon Canopy Krosan Verge Riftstone Portal Sungrass Prairie Temple Garden Windswept Heath Razorverge Thicket Canopy Vista Fortified Village Temple Garden Talisman of Unity Yavimaya Coast Horizon Canopy Sungrass Prairie Wooded Bastion

UG - Breeding Pool Flooded Grove Hinterland Harbor Misty Rainforest Botanical Sanctum Breeding Pool Flooded Grove

Bouncelands - Azorius Chancery Selesnya Sanctuary Simic Growth Chamber

Skyline Cascade Riptide Laboratory Seaside Haven Tolaria West

Creature Cheat: Elvish Piper, Norwood Priestess, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, Chord of Calling, Lurking Predators, Tooth and Nail, Hunting Grounds, Selvala's Stampede, Myojin of Life's Web

Dawn's Reflection

Replacing Mystic Gate with Skycloud Expanse. Boreal Shelf for Port Town, Misty Rainforest for Hinterland Harbor, Tranquil Cove for Azorius Chancery, Sejiri Refuge for Selesnya Sanctuary,

√Wayfarer was great. Leyline wasnt very useful even though I got it in my opening hand. √Sisay is very nice. √√√Genesis Wave is busted Palinchron was great just as expected. Only got it once though. √√√Eternal Witness is wonderful. √√√Ghostly Flicker is pretty great, especially with Ewit

Taking out Cpt of Watch, Urban Ev, Rec Sage, Increasing Devotion, and Kalonian Twingrove

Nice combo I pulled off: Queen Hornet -> Gaeas -> Genesis Wave -> Palichron -> Gaeas -> Everything -> Bringing back Worldly Tutor -> Craterhoof

Apparently Derevi + Eldrazi Displacer + Panham + Basalt = Complete control over the game. You can tap any permanent others control and untap everything you have.

Replace Angel of Finality, Diluvian Primordial, Willbreaker, Maybe Geist-Honored Monk, Voidmage Husher, Roon of the Hidden Realm is too expensive and somewhat impractical even though the tapping effect is great. Bane of Progress. Stonehorn Dignitary Add Naban, Dean of Iteration, Broken Bond, Eladamri's Call, Mentor of the Meek, Ephara, God of the Polis, Bane of Progress, (Tishana, Voice of Thunder I dont know how I never knew about this card), Manglehorn

Just found out about Elvish Piper and want to try it out.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 4 Mythic Rares 52 - 8 Rares 20 - 8 Uncommons 11 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.56
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Centaur 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Knight 2/2 W w/ Vigilance, Rhino 4/4 G, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	46, interesting decks to try out
Based on	Derevi Flicker Experience Refined darkkirby4 EDH