Kadena Morph U

Commander / EDH* BUG (Sultai) Counterspell Flash Morph

JoeShmotheMagico

Creature (34)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Aphetto Alchemist
• 1x Bane of the Living
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Brine Elemental SL
• 1x Chromeshell Crab
• 1x Deathmist Raptor
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hooded Hydra
• 1x Icefeather Aven
• 1x Kadena's Silencer
• 1x Kheru Spellsnatcher
• 1x Master of the Veil SL
• 1x Mischievous Quanar SL
• 1x Nantuko Vigilante
• 1x Qarsi Deceiver
• 1x Sagu Mauler
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Silumgar Assassin
• 1x Skinthinner
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Thelonite Hermit
• 1x Thieving Amalgam
• 1x Tidal Barracuda
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Voidmage Apprentice SL
• 1x Weaver of Lies SL
• 1x Willbender
• 1x Ixidor, Reality Sculptor
• 1x Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir SL
• 1x Nylea, Keen-Eyed

Land (32)

• 3x Forest
• 5x Island
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Drowned Catacomb SL
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Yavimaya Coast
• 1x Zagoth Triome
• 1x Zoetic Cavern SL

Artifact (6)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mystic Forge SL
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity SL
• 1x Zagoth Crystal

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1x Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

Commander (1)

Instant (12)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Avoid Fate
• 1x Backslide
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Leadership Vacuum
• 1x Remove Soul
• 1x Sultai Charm
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Robe of Mirrors
• 1x Secret Plans
• 1x Trail of Mystery

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Demonic Tutor SL
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Ghastly Conscription
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Road of Return
• 1x Skyshroud Claim

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Sideboard

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Spreading Algae
• 1x Words of Wind

Land (1)

• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Commune with Nature
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Explore
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Hex
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Primal Command
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Tempt with Discovery
• 1x Time Warp
• 1x Urban Evolution

Land (4)

• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber

Instant (11)

• 1x Biomass Mutation
• 1x Echoing Truth
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Golgari Charm
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Equilibrium
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Obscuring Aether
• 1x Rhystic Study

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Creature (9)

• 1x Aphetto Runecaster
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Dulcet Sirens
• 1x Hullbreacher
• 1x Ixidron
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Riptide Entrancer
• 1x Thousand Winds
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

Artifact (8)

• 1x Dream Chisel SL
• 1x Scroll of Fate
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x The Great Henge

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Here's a little deck primer for ya. So, I recently set out to modify the Faceless Menace precon and quickly fell very far down the deck building hole. Here is my fully optimized build as it exists in my print collection. See far below for the discussion of inclusion/substitution regarding our maybe board, and subsequently my acquire board.

General Win Conditions/Combos

The Pickle Lock
The most important combo in any morph deck is the "Pickle Lock." Given its name by the first half of the combo, here's all it is: Brine Elemental + Vesuvan Shapeshifter . In tandem, this allows you to keep all of your opponents' permanents tapped and buys you game winning tempo. Vesuvan Shapeshifter will instantly draw hard removal, which clears the way for other useful combos we may want to utilize. Otherwise, the tempo gain from the unanswered Pickle Lock is generally too much for your opponents to overcome.

Ghastly Conscription Win Condition
As the header states, Ghastly Conscription is an absurdly powerful spell for this deck. If you draw into Ghastly Conscription early in the game, it allows you to trade your morphs aggressively, and deplete your hand. You can do so while preparing a massive reversal off of the Ghastly Conscription + Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer interaction.

Overrun Win Conditions
Did we really put green in the deck if we didn't get the chance to win just by running our opponents over with creatures en masse? Running Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse and Finale of Devastation gives us the opportunity to do just that. Each while providing its own unique utility for added value. Combine either of these cards with a board full of morphs that you played for free, and you're looking at quite the potent army.

Running the Value Engine

In the early turns of the game your primary goal is to build towards a turn 3 or 4 Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer summoning. Depending on your pod, you may need to delay playing your commander for some removal and control spells in order to not suffer from aggro decks. We are happiest if we get to tutor for lands or win condition pieces in the early game.

This deck really begins to shine in the midgame. Once you have Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer in play, you get down to morphin' right away. Her potent ability offers you valuable tempo by ignoring the morph casting cost, and huge utility in card draw. We rely heavily throughout the midgame on this card draw to find the tools we need in order to pull away wins.

Opening Variants for Commander Summoning:
1.)Land->Land + cost mana rock->Land + Summon Kadena (Turn 3 Summoning)

2.)Land-> Land + deck:Farseek-> Land + Summon Kadena (Turn 3 Summoning)

3.)Land->Land + Tutor->Land + Play out first morph->Land + Summon Kadena (Turn 4 Summoning)

Keep in mind these openings do not account for the colors of mana your lands can produce. That being said, the deck is well mana balanced so these scenarios play out often.

With some flash abuse you can play a free morph on each of your opponents' turns too! Thus we run Vivien, Champion of the Wilds , card:Teferi, Mage of Zhelfir, and Tidal Barracuda to cash out on this hilarious interaction. The addition of Vedalken Orrery would be very strong as well, however it is excluded here to reduce cost of the paper format.

Protecting your Commander

Being as integral to our deck's strategy as she is, Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer will likely draw some removal throughout the game.. As such this deck dabbles into some graveyard recursion with Road of Return holding a place on the list as well as Ghastly Conscription . We couple this with a pretty sweet suite of control spells (pardon my pun), and you'll have your opponents scrambling to catch up to your board. Additionally, we are running some protective enchantments in Gift of Doom and Robe of Mirrors , as well as the near mandatory inclusion of Lightning Greaves

Land Base and Color Fixing

With the fetch lands we run ( Misty Rainforest , Polluted Delta , and Verdant Catacombs ) we want to target a few lands most specifically. The shock lands we run in this deck ( Breeding Pool , Overgrown Tomb , and Watery Grave ) are all typed. This means we can grab them off of our fetchlands, Skyshroud Claim or even Farseek . This way we can grab the most vital dual lands to correct our mana base on the fly each game. We can also grab Zagoth Triome using this same mechanic, which is especially valuable given that Farseek stipulates the land enters tapped anyways. Overall, anytime you don't need your land for the turn to produce mana that turn, Zagoth Triome is an exceptionally valuable play.

Some of our artifacts also help out with our color correction. We utilize Arcane Signet , Talisman of Curiosity and Simic Signet to help provide us ramping options in a island/forest heavy BUG deck.

Lastly, the true heroes of color correction in this deck are: Command Tower , Exotic Orchard , and Cryptolith Rite . Each respectively giving us access to effectively mana of any color (note that Exotic Orchard is limited by the rest of your table, but pretty reliably provides blue or green). Cryptolith Rite turns all of our face down morphs into mana dorks for added efficiency as well.

Some notes about playstyle

This deck is about playing intelligently and patiently in order to anticipate the threats your opponents will use to beat you. Identifying which morphs and spells to use when in each game will maximize your success. Always look forward in terms of turn planning, you must allocate adequate mana to entrap your opponents for maximum value with morph triggered abilities or instant spells. Often times you may end your turn quite quickly leaving much of your mana available, as our play style is reactionary and flexible.

Maybe Board Discussion: Upgrades and Cost Breaks

Coming soon to this section is a detailed analysis of how to build this deck at many different budgets, and for slight tuning refinements. I like this iteration of the deck, but you may be looking for something slightly different! Here we talk about the viable (but not exhaustive) list of substitutions for the current decklist. A brief disclaimer that this list is based off of my actual paper copy, and some cards are included or excluded based on my collection alone.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 2 Rares 18 - 1 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.18
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, 2/2 G Token Creature Cat, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Saproling 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G, Spirit 2/2 C
Folders	My Builds