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Derevi Would Tap That - Bant Artifacts [Primer]

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Control GWU (Bant) Infinite Combo Multiplayer

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Enchantment (7)

Land (34)

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Commander: foil Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Instant (17)

Sorcery (4)

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Derevi's Infinite / Tactics

This is an artifact-based, infinite combo deck for Derevi, Empyrial Tactician. I would say it is semi-competitive in the sense that it aims to win, but may not be fast enough for a super-competitive meta. This deck is skill intensive; the pilot must know what to play or tutor at all times especially after having one of the pieces to the first combo engine you removed. Only technical players that enjoy playing combo decks would be capable of piloting the deck for the first time. It can also perform a turn 3 win but it needs a god hand, which almost never happens, so don't depend on that but it's fun.

I don't recommend you play this in super-casual playgroups, but then again, super-casual playgroups probably wouldn't want to play against combo decks anyway. If you must, you can remove some of the tutors to put the power level of the deck on par with a casual meta.

This deck has infinite combos that work like a well oiled machine, and when you remove one of the gears, it can still run. If an opponent removes one of your combo pieces, you can use the remaining pieces to move on the the next best combo. It's very resilient, has graveyard shenanigans yet graveyard hate won't ruin it, and can generally win despite pressure from opponents. This deck likes to keep a demure field while slowly building your pieces then it just goes:

Reasons to play this deck

1. You enjoy combo decks.
2. You want to have a major artifact sub-theme without it being broken as hell like Breya or Sharuum unless you make it that way
3. You like wins that may come out of nowhere if your opponents aren't careful.
4. You like to use/your meta allows infinite combos.
5. You like resilience, where having a combo piece removed means you can still use the remaining pieces for another combo.
6. You like blue.
7. You like decks that require skill, where constantly observing the boardstate is important in order to make the next best possible play based on the combo pieces in your hand and field. This deck requires you to memorize what cards are in the deck at all times.
8. You want to weaponize harmless ramp such as Sol Ring or Mana Vault and lands such as Lotus Vale or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx .
9. You love ETB effects.

Reasons NOT to play this deck

1. You don't like combo or tutoring at all.
2. "Why use artifacts in Bant when you can use Sharuum in Esper or mono red with Daretti? They're more effective that way."
3. Your meta does not allow infinite combos.
4. You hate to search your deck often (this deck has fetches, ramp spells, and combo tutors).
5. You want continuous control of the board from the start, not out of nowhere by mid- to late-game.
6. You hate blue.
7. You don't want to be bothered with having to look at the boardstate or what other people are playing and just want to turn creatures sideways.
8. You think weaponizing mana ramp is stupid for some reason.
9. You're not ETB-happy.

Derevi at the Helm

Derevi is one of the best commanders out there due to a combination of her etb ability and her activated ability, which is what makes her shine: being able to bypass the command tax by always being 4cmc to "cast" at 1GWU. Her ability allows you to play politically by protecting an opponent from attacks, preventing an opponents from attacking, or protecting yourself from two attacks (activate her ability and on etb, tap a creature, then use her as a blocker; repeat if you have enough mana for the following turns). Her resilience as a commander makes her tough to deal deal with, but that doesn't mean she's unstoppable. People have this idea that she's too overpowered without realizing that you can easily wreck her if you actually tried to figure out ways to deal with her. She is not uninteractive like Narset. Her ETB effect, activated ability, and any other shenanigans involving her can always be responded to on the first iteration. It's your job as a Derevi pilot to realize this and to take extra care with smart players who have figured her out. Or read this primer to use against you, lol.

Weaknesses of the deck

These cards in particular make your wins more challenging:

So what do you do when these are on the field? Try to get rid of them ASAP. This deck has lots of artifact/enchantment removal but removing Elesh Norn or Containment Priest will be a bit more challenging since there are only a couple creature removal cards in the deck. Elesh Norn kills almost all of your important combo creatures. Most of the combos in the deck require Derevi as your third combo piece; if an opponent takes control of Derevi or turns here into a tree/bug/giant rock, then you're going to have a bad time.

Torpor Orb prevents your etb's from happening and Containment Priest straight up just nullifies your commander, Deadeye Navigator, and tutors that bring creatures directly onto the field. Of all these, I find Containment Priest to be the biggest threat.

Lastly, this deck folds to aggro strategies. Adding pillowforts in the deck would make it inconsistent as the card slots in the deck are very tight, but you may want to modify the deck accordingly depending on your meta.

Why bother with infinite tap/untap?

For absolute, total board control.

Unless someone else has a Leyline of Anticipation to screw with your combo, of course. During each player's upkeep, you can tap all their permanents, causing a stasis lock to your opponents. However, this does not automatically mean you win. There are instances I've lost despite my infinite tapping/untapping (such as an opponent topdecking instant removal or Niv Mizzet on the field pinging your Bloom Tender). Having said that, the ability to have this total control of the board will undoubtedly make your win more likely to happen.

Remember: "Infinite tap/untap means infinite mana."

Goals when upgrading the deck:

The deck is to be focused on artifacts as much as possible since most of the combo pieces that work between each other are artifacts. Having said that, replacements must either allow for the deck to perform any of the infinite combos easier, allow for more protection for your combo pieces, or to increase the speed at which pieces can be acquired or cast.

Reducing the average CMC of the deck is also important so that spells can be cast as efficently as possible.

If I ever get a chance to get Gaea's Cradle , I will automatically put it in the deck. There are some cards I don't have in the deck but this primer is made to make the best possible version of the deck.

This deck has more than one way of generating infinite mana in order to have access to the infinite tap/untapping ability of our general, which is the main strategy of the deck.

  1. Mycosynth Lattice + Ashnod's Altar + ANY 3-mana producer + Derevi = infinite mana (color is irrelevant)

  2. Gilded Lotus or any triple-mana producer that produces xUU + Deadeye Navigator + Derevi = infinite any color mana

  3. Bloom Tender + Ashnod's Altar + Derevi = infinite colorless mana

  4. Bloom Tender + Deadeye Navigator + Derevi = infinite green mana

  5. Eldrazi Displacer + Panharmonicon + Derevi + triple mana producer (colorless) = infinite mana (triple mana producer is fed into Displacer, your second Derevi ETB target would be your lands for infinite mana)

  6. Eldrazi Displacer + Training Grounds + Sol Ring = infinite colorless mana (Sol Ring is weaponized!)

  7. Eldrazi Displacer + Palinchron = infinite mana as long as one of the lands produce 1 colorless mana and isn't Boseiju

This deck has multiples ways to generate triple mana on any one permanent in the following ways:

  1. Single-card producers: Lotus Vale /Gilded Lotus/~~Thran Dynamo~~/Mana Vault/Basalt Monolith/Bloom Tender

  2. Producers with at least 2 blue in it: ~~ Mana Reflection + Simic Growth Chamber ~~ (too slow) OR Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx (with at least UUUUU devotion)

With the inclusion of Kuldotha Forgemaster , you can now perform this possible chain to get your infinite tap/untap combo as follows without worrying about being countered except with a Stifle . I have removed this combo as it's a bit slow but you may use this if you want to power down the deck for more casual metas:

  1. Assuming you have enough artifacts on board, tap the Forgemaster to bring out Mycosynth Lattice .

  2. Cast Derevi to untap Forgemaster, sac any 3 permanents on your field (since they're all artifacts), bring out Ashnod's Altar .

  3. Combat phase, attack with a creature on board, if it connects, untap Forgemaster.

  4. Sac 3 artifacts (you can include Forgemaster this time), bring out Gilded Lotus , Thran Dynamo , Basalt Monolith / Grim Monolith , or any card that produces 3 mana (if you don't have those out already).

  5. Now sac Derevi with Ashnod's Altar, floating 2 colorless mana.

  6. Tap Thran Dynamo/Basalt Monolith/Grim Monolith/Gilded Lotus, float 5 colorless.

  7. Since Lattice makes everything colorless and allows you to spend mana of any color to activate abilities, use 4 of your floating mana to use Derevi's abililty, targeting Basalt or Lotus to untap. You have one floating.

  8. Repeat for infinite tap/untapping and infinite colorless mana.

  9. If you still have Kuldotha Forgemaster (you can probably safely start saccing lands since you will be having infinite mana anyway), you can bring out Blasting Station for infinite ping, if you don't have any mana sinks in your hand or Azami on field to draw your deck.

I have yet to add this combo yet but I will definitely be adding it in. I am only missing Glen Elendra Archmage . This combo allows you to bring out the Karmic Guide/Reveillark combo faster

  1. Sac Derevi to Birthing Pod , bring out Glen Elendra Archmage from your deck.

  2. Use Derevi's activated ability, Voltaic Key , or attack with your creatures to have Birthing Pod untap. Sac Glen Elendra to bring out Reveillark. Glen Elendra's persist will trigger so it will ETB with a -1/-1 counter.

  3. Untap Birthing Pod again via Derevi, Voltaic Key, or by attacking with Derevi on the field.

  4. Sac Glen Elendra again and tutor for Karmic Guide.

  5. If you don't already have a sac outlet in hand or on the field, do so. Mirror Entity can be your sac outlet by using its activated ability to loop Karmic Guide and Reveillark.

  6. The loop will send Karmic Guide and Reveillark to the GY. Reveillark's effect goes on the stack, bringing back Karmic Guide and one other creature with 2 power or less. Karmic Guide ETB's, bringing back Reveillark. Repeat.

  7. This loop will allow you to abuse a creature's ETB effect and is the only way you can pull off Derevi's infinite tap/untap combo without using any triple mana producer.

1. Leyline of Anticipation could be replaced with Vedalken Orrery but the blue devotion is relevant for the Nykthos Combo and can be cast for free on turn 0, but the latter can be cast for infinite colorless and contributes to Inspiring Statuary .

  1. Is Kuldotha Chain worth keeping in the deck? Removal of Kuldotha will not cause other cards to be useless or less effective.

  2. Add Food Chain + Eternal Scourge / Misthollow Griffin combo? Makes the deck more competitive.

  3. Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond on the day I can finally shit money out of my ass.

If you like the deck, then give me an Upvote!

Feedback and suggestions are highly welcome! I'd like to make this deck faster/more competitive while keeping the theme. :)

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Not many major changes — Feb. 2, 2019
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The deck hasn't changed much in the past year. The only changes I've done is cutting [Staff of Nin] for Edric, Spymaster of Trest and adding Azami, Lady of Scrolls back in by cutting Cataclysmic Gearhulk.. Staff was only in my deck as a mana sink, nothing else. When I draw it early game, it always felt bad esp when I had no card draw engines online. Edric would help me get things rolling, is only half the cmc meaning the average cmc of the deck also goes down. I put Azami back in because I forgot she existed when I cut her years ago. A bad idea to do in the first place, tbh. The card draw I've been missing can be filled in by her.

Drastic Changes Since Last Posted Update — March 24, 2017
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Edits — May 17, 2015
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Casual

95% Competitive

Date added 10 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

3 - 0 Mythic Rares

51 - 0 Rares

22 - 0 Uncommons

10 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.53
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U
Folders niceee
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