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Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant   (or more accurately Rune-Tail's Essence) deck which aims to have its creatures never die. Uses a (hopefully) automatic Rune-Tail's Essence to protect all its creatures from combat damage, Palisade Giant-type creatures to divert damage to themselves, Palace Guard-type creatures to block all incoming damage, token generators to go wide, counters to make creatures stronger, and lifegain to maintain control a flipped Rune-Tail's Essence.

Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant   can be cast for next to nothing and provide pseudo-indestructable in the form of instantly flipping to Rune-Tail's Essence. Also, his flip side is an enchantment, making it harder to remove, meaning your white weenies will likely be staying on the board a while longer than normal. As well as this, we can use a number of cards to ensure that we never receive damage, letting us focus on developing our board while other things go on around us. Because he is fairly innocuous, he can fly under the radar of many games until a key moment.
So, all being well, all damage that would be dealt to my creatures is prevented. So, the next focus is to prevent all damage to me. A core group of 'Guards' help protect me, either by redirecting the damage I would be taking or by being able to block more than they should.

Redirecting Damage

At the head of these effects we have Palisade Giant and Protector of the Crown, who absorb all damage done to me and, because of Rune-Tail's Essence, take no damage. That puts a soft lock on the board. However, they are very mana intensive. Slightly cheaper is Kjeldoran Royal Guard, but this only prevents combat damage and needs to be tapped to activate, so is less impactful. Similarly, Weathered Bodyguards prevents only combat damage, but can be brought out on earlier turns using its morph ability. This core contingent of guards helps to make combat less of a threat, but 4 cards is not enough.

Additionally, we have Pariah running the same effect in enchantment form, to target the other creatures in the deck. With the protection from Rune-Tail's Essence, the same effect is achieved and on an enchantment, which is a little harder to remove. For redundancy, we have Pariah's Shield, although to have the effect is very costly.

Wide Blockers

The second tier are blockers that can block any number of creatures. First out of the gate is Palace Guard who, for a very efficient 3 mana can block all incoming combat damage without fear of death. Backing them up is the more expensive but far more impactful Guardian of the Gateless, that actually has a chance of killing the thing it blocks!

Similarly, Brave the Sands allows any army we develop to be able to block in a similar, if limited fashion, and squeeze out the efficiency of each creature on the board.

Sometimes, preventing damage doesn't cut it. Great against creatures and the colour red, but not much help against the other colours, so there are a few spells to keep my figures on the board.

Flawless Maneuver and Akroma's Will offer solid indestructability for either free or a butt-load of secondary abilities to help my board. Akroma's Will also has the added advantage of being a finisher in some instances, which white desperately needs, so very welcome all round.

However, due to the presence of the colour blue, there are some other things to think about when it comes to abilities getting around indestructability. For that, we have Lapse of Certainty in the first instance, to save us in an important turn, but even better Teferi's Protection and Guardian of Faith to treat our army like it doesn't exist for a turn. Gets around Cyclonic Rift and maintains the beautiful +1/+1 counters we've been adding to creatures.

Since our army is indestructable, it makes sense to go wide and always have a blocker on-hand. When we can't get hold of the Protector of the Crown, we call on the nameless masses: tokens.

The hydra of the deck, Secure the Wastes allows me to go wide always at the perfect moment, dumping every bit of mana into either a huge growth in defence during an enemy attack or a huge growth in offence after all opponents have expended their full force. Apart from the , there is nothing that goes to waste on this card, and it's the best token generator of the deck. Significantly more disappointing is Decree of Justice. Can it create a big dumb blow out of 4/4 flyers? Yes. Will it ever actually happen? No. This is not a selesyna deck. Almost always used for the cycling, this is a more expensive Secure the Wastes where I get a card for the low, low price of 2 mana. Probably worth it, but it never feels punchy. This is my tinder card: the second it is replaced with something stronger, I'll be tapping right.

Smaller, but free is the token effect of Keeper of the Accord, which allows me to grow purely by my opponents untapping. Far less likely to happen, in really, because I'm the token deck, so this is more a ramp card than a token card, but having the triggar there is a nice freebee.

More reliable but more costly are the lands that create a single token. Adanto, the First Fort is the best at 3 mana - not a great rate, but the lifelink goes some way to allowing Rune-Tail's Essence to be a reality. Far more expensive is Castle Ardenvale which just produces a measly 1/1, but is a good option to have available and doesn't require any hoops to be jumped through to bring online. However, the true powerhouse is Field of the Deadthat turns every land drop into a body at the low, low price of playing Magic. The sole reason for Snow-Covered Plains, Evolving Wilds, Forbidding Watchtower, and others, this is arguable the best single token creator in the deck.

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92% Casual

Competitive

Revision 135 See all

(1 year ago)

+1 Loran of the Third Path maybe
Top Ranked
Date added 10 years
Last updated 1 year
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

56 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

11 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.30
Tokens */* W Creature Avatar, Citizen 1/1 GW, Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Basri Ket, Human 1/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Soldier 1/1 W, The Monarch, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders look at, work on buiding, EDH idea, Edh, Commander Decks, junk, EDH Deck Ideas, EDH (ELITE), Good EDH, Cool Cheaper EDH Decks
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