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Memnarch - The Combo Piece

Commander / EDH*

ThatGuyKarth

Commander (1)

Commander: Memnarch

Draw Spell (3)

Nonbasic Land (3)

Tutor (3)

Como Piece (1)

Sweeper (1)


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Memnarch


Why Memnarch?

  • He is mono blue.

  • His victory condition is very clean.

  • He enables combos that otherwise require a third card.

Why Not Memnarch?


He is Mono Blue

Budget is a real issue with commander, legacy and commander share a long list of cards that they want to run, this often leads to cards being very expensive and commander price tags adding up quickly. If you have a $1,000 budget for commander, it very much helps that it's not a requirement to have all kinds of expensive lands and fixing in order to have it run successfully with as few mana problems as possible. For instance if I wanted to run Sharuum the Hegemon or Derevi, Empyrial Tactician. I would firstly need three dual lands, and at that point there are two blue ones so you've almost hit your budget ceiling, not to mention shocklands, fetchlands and the rest of the lot. Of course I run fetch lands but this is not a requirement to build the deck; fetchs simply add outs and efficiency with certain cards, mainly Sensei's Diving Top . I would much rather be spending my budget on powerful cards like Timetwister, Mana Drain, Mana Crypt, Force of Will and Transmute Artifact which add a considerable amount of power to the deck. Also High Tide.

His Victory Condition is Very Clean

What benefits Memnarch is how clean of a victory which transpires. A combo piece is cast, infinite mana is produced and all permanents become owned by you while also carrying a fresh coat of metallic paint. While other decks often must conduct the primitive ritual which is turning "creature" cards 90 degrees and connected with one's opponent. Or perhaps drawing their entire deck and being weak to disruption from a variety of effects.

He Enables Combos that Otherwise Require a Third Card

Infinite mana combos often suffer from the problem that you require something to do after you produce the mana, which can often make them sub-par in certain decks. Memnarch does not have this problem as he is the combo piece, and is a definitive victory when cast.


Artifacts are Weak to Hate

They are brittle, fragile and pretty things that sadly get Smash ed or Shatter ed. This is something you will need to be concerned about constantly. you are a mere Shatterstorm , Vandalblast or Merciless Eviction away from your hopes and dreams being Crush ed.

Memnarch Telegraphs Power, and Forfeits Possible Politics

A very large concern for me as a Memnarch player sitting at a table, is my telegraphed power. Anyone who has played against Memnarch before knows what he is capable of and may or may not prioritize killing me quickly. This really hurts any ability I have to play politics with the other members of the pod. You can't try to paint other people as targets, as that can imply you may try to divert aggro so you may win. This can be difficult at a table that has any other combo deck that if given the correct money put into it can be much better than Memnarch. Basically in summary, the table hates you, sometimes more than Narset, The Enlightened Master which is problematic.

Alternative Commanders

There are quite a few blue commanders in magic that are options other than Memnarch, and adding another color adds swaths of new potential for the deck's power. This is defiantly most likely the main reason people do not run Memnarch. However one must play to it's strengths, and Memnarch does indeed have things that other commanders can't quite do even if it is color restrictive.

Ending The Game

It seems like this is almost a dreaded part of EDH. Getting around to tallying up the points, who is actually winning and who got a dick layed across their face. Memnarch takes you as your are and turns you into a pretty rock and takes you home. In fact he takes all your base with him, all shiny and chrome.

Most EDH lists simply just don't know how to end the game. The most often complaint from people is that "why not X as a commander instead?" and this is a valid stance when talking in the context of those lists. However my Memnarch list is not those lists. I have given the deck a reason to run Memnarch. This is an important concept often skipped over by a majority of deckbuilders. Give your deck a reason to abuse and use your commander; becuase if not you might as well be just running Orolo, Ageless Ascetic, as he's great even when you don't cast him.

So yes, there is a reason why I do not run Azami, Lady of Scrolls instead; It is because I have given my list a reason to run Memnarch. With infinite Mana combos I am able to win the game quickly, efficiently and often with the upside that second place may be played out amongst the remaining players. Which usually boosts the mood of the remaining individuals as they get to continue playing the greatest format in magic: EDH.

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Fabricate

This can tutor up any artifact, seeing as how most your combos require artifacts this is great! or it can be used to tutor up hate/stax pieces, an all around great card in a deck that wants this effect.

Drift of Phantasms

A seemingly bad card in the list if one is not looking at the bigger picture. This is an uncounterable tutor for any three costing card in your deck. Which can go and get anywhere from a combo piece like Rings of Brighthearth, to a draw spell like Stroke of Genius. A very powerful card in the deck.

Long-Term Plans

Seemingly poor since it does not put it even close to in your hand; although this card is actually very powerful with any kind of cantrip, or Sensei's Divining Top, and draw spells. Gets your the combo piece you need in an actual fair amount of time.

Counterspell

"Counter Target Spell" The three most powerful words in magic besides "Sacrifice Black Lotus".

Force of Will

Sometimes you have to tap out to complete your combo, this card allows you to force through your combo piece by countering a key piece of interaction. Which when you're winning the game a blue card from your hand is not really that much of a problem. Honestly the best counterspell in the game.

Blue Sun's Zenith

An mana draw spell in mono blue, just about the greatest thing you can get for card advantage in a blue deck that wants to be making lots of mana very quickly and taking advantage of that. It has the added benefit of shuffling into your deck after resolution so that you may prevent yourself from getting decked by casting it for or drawing it later if you are drawing quite the number of cards.

Brainstorm

One of the first and best cantrips from the set that featured the idea. This paired with shuffling effects from your variety of tutors and fetchlands essentially reads: draw three at the cost of the two worst cards in your hand, which are cards you may not want like extra lands.

Consecrated Sphinx

This may be a creature, however this is a very powerful effect and it might as well be a 0/1 for what this card does. This card draws you two cards every time your opponent draws a card. This effect if left unanswered easily steals games right from under other people. This cardc should be banned in edh and should be included in every blue EDH deck.

Basalt Monolith

Basalt Monolith is more of a mana storage card than I mana rock. It enables you to save and spend three colorless mana in increments of three and once at a time. This is valuable as you can accerlate actually fairly quickly if you are able to cast it on turn two or three and cast a six drop on turn three or four for instance.

Chrome Mox

Free ramp is excellent expecially in the case where all you must do is exile a card from your hand. The better your list is, the more you want this card. Casting a two drop rock on turn one, a four drop on turn two is very powerful and this card enables that.

Coldsteel Heart

Two mana rocks are great, ones that enter tapped are still good. This is interchangeable with Sky Diamond

Everflowing Chalice

This is a two mana untapped mana rock that produces colorless, which is great. However you can spend more mana in increments of two to increase it's mana production incrementally by one. This is powerful as if you have a turn with six mana suddenly you have a psuedo Thran Dynamo.

Etherium Sculptor

This is probably the loosest definition of a mana rock you can get, but it serves the same purpose all the same by costing two, and providing one. However the up-side to Etherium Scluptor is that it is easily a combo piece that can go under the radar (although it'll probably just die to a variety of things) it can also provide explosive turns where it provides two to three mana.

Fellwar Stone

Where the term mana rock probably came from, one of the best an easy inclusion in any commander deck.

Gilded Lotus

Soime might say that gilded lotus belongs in every commander deck, this is a good indicator of bad players. The reasons that It is ran in Memnarch, are that given the ammount of cheap early ramp this deck can produce, producing three blue mana cymbols off five colorless is very powerful. Most commander decks don't want to ramp into cards that cost more than eight, Memnarch does.

Grim Monolith

Essentially a colorless cabal ritual that can be saved and recharged. This effect can be very potent with X mana draw spells or high impact cards cast early. A very powerful card in a deck that wants to cast expensive powerful spells.

Academy Ruins

Given that artifacts are extremely weak they will indeed be blown up at least once in some handful of games. This card is incredibly important and strait-forward when considering that you can only run one of each card. Basic strait-forward combo peice recussion on a land.

Ancient Tomb

Mana Crypt is an excellent card, this is pretty much that but at the close of a land drop. This probably belongs in every commander deck.

Buried Ruin

The other colorless version of Academy Ruins that puts it strait into your hand, which contextually can be better. However this comes at the cost of sacrificng it but redundency is good in a highlander format.

All Is Dust

Frequently there will be lots of colored permanents that are quite nasty and looking to either kill you or be problematic. As it turns out this card is everything you need in on package. With little downside seeing as how you run so few colored permanents.

Cyclonic Rift

One of the most powerful spells you can cast in EDH for seven mana. This resets the board, except for yours, how nice. Your opponents usually are not too happy with this so it would be beneficial to have some kind of game plan in mind upon resolution. It is an insant so setting up a game plan is usually not too difficult.

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Date added 8 years
Last updated 5 years
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

11 - 0 Mythic Rares

31 - 0 Rares

21 - 0 Uncommons

9 - 0 Commons

Cards 98
Avg. CMC 3.16
Tokens Bird 2/2 U
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