Derevi's Menagerie (A Casual EDH Deck)

Commander / EDH Casual GWU (Bant)

atomskprime

Land (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Brushland
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 5x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x High Market
• 5x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 4x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Removal (5)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Equipment (3)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice

Legendary (14)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1x Captain Sisay
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Rafiq of the Many
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte
• 1x Vendilion Clique
• 1x Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Tutor (12)

• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Steelshaper's Gift
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Worldly Tutor

BirthingPod (3)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya

Draw (2)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Skullclamp

Commander (1)

Ramp (12)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Utility (12)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Qasali Pridemage
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Sun Titan

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General Description

Derevi's Menagerie is a casual list that relies on two value engines:

1. Multiple untaps with Captain Sisay.
2. Repeat activations of Birthing Pod.

Derevi is a core component of these engines. Due to her activated ability, she is cheap repeatable sac fodder for Birthing Pod. With enough creatures on board, her team wide passive can help Sisay draw a large number of cards. Between these two value engines, the deck can tutor any effect that we need.

The list can win games, but this isn't the primary reason to play the deck. This deck is a warm introduction when playing with a new playgroup. Nothing feels worse than bringing an optimized list to a casual meta. Derevi's Menagerie toes the line of being decently powered while not overbearing.

I also envision this deck as a solid "loaner" to players new to EDH. The deck emphasizes the meaning of value. Since the deck heavily leans on Derevi, newer players will learn how valuable a Commander can be. The Sisay and Pod packages all synergize with our General and allows us to play with some fun effects.

If the deck wants to win, Commander damage is the game plan. The inclusion of powerful equipment such as Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Fire and Ice, and Umezawa's Jitte contribute towards 21 Commander damage. This gameplan speeds along even faster once Rafiq of the Many hits the board.

Players with a more competitive edge will find this list lacking. This is an intentional design choice since I primarily play combo EDH.

The Sisay Package

Captain Sisay is one of two primary tutor targets. Once Derevi is online, players should make an attempt to find Sisay or Birthing Pod. Below is a breakdown of why these Legendary targets are included:

1. Bident of Thassa - Card draw and politicking tool.
2. Brimaz, King of Oreskos - Aggression and rebuilding our board if necessary.
3. Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Card draw
4. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV - Tax effect and ramp
5. Hokori, Dust Drinker - Land hate
6. Kataki, War's Wage - Artifact hate
7. Rafiq of the Many - Aggression
8. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter - Card draw, ramp.
9. Selvala, Explorer Returned - Card draw, life gain, and ramp.
10. Thada Adel, Acquisitor - Artifact utility (mainly to steal ramp pieces or equipment)
11. Umezawa's Jitte - Aggression with added life gain bonus.
12. Vendilion Clique - Aggression and hating out opponent's tutor target.
13. Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - Repeat tutoring.
14. Academy Ruins - Recursion for Birthing Pod and our equipment.

With enough creatures on board, we can draw 2-4 cards through repeated untaps with Derevi.

Most of the time, Sisay will be our first engine to utilize. The only downside with Sisay is that she suffers from summoning sickness. If we need immediate tutors, Birthing Pod can suffice.

The Birthing Pod Package

Birthing Pod is the other tutor engine available to our deck. Incidentally, most of the Birthing Pod targets are also Legendary creatures. This allows either Birthing Pod and Sisay to be online if one of our engines is removed.

The primary sac target for Pod should be Derevi. Since Derevi can always flash in EOT for , we can reliably recycle Derevi for any of the creatures listed below. Although our 4 CMC list is shorter than the Sisay list, it has enough diversity to fit any situation we need.

Below is a breakdown of legal Derevi Pod targets:

1. Hokori, Dust Drinker
2. Clever Impersonator - Copy any permanent on the field.
3. Captain Sisay
4. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
5. Rafiq of the Many
6. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
7. Oracle of Mul Daya - Ramp

If we don't plan on sacrificing Derevi, the deck does run enough 1 CMC and 2 CMC utility creatures for fodder.

1 CMC creatures will chain into:

1. Snapcaster Mage
2. Stoneforge Mystic
3. Fauna Shaman
4. Kataki, War's Wage.

2 CMC eventually will chain into:

1. Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2. Edric, Spymaster of Trest
3. Selvala, Explorer Returned.

Once we reach 4 CMC as the sac targets, our chain progresses as:

1. 4 CMC chains into either Seedborn Muse or Reveillark
2. 5 CMC chains into either Consecrated Sphinx or Sun Titan.

Deck Weaknesses

This deck can quickly run out of gas due to Derevi's abilities untapping mana sources. In addition, the deck is fairly weak to board wipes. Since our value engines rely on creature based strategies, board wipes are huge tempo hits against us.

When piloting this deck, players should resist the temptation to completely spit out their hands. In addition, players should not have Captain Sisay and Birthing Pod on the field at the same time. The ideal situation is to have one engine active, then tutor the other engine to hand.

Lastly, this deck runs no counterspells. Without any way to interact with the stack, the deck will always lose against combo. Muddle the Mixture can counter a spell, but it is normally used to tutor for a powerful 2 drop.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.50
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Cat Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	Decks I Like to Play, Derevi Ideas