The Locust God
Introduction and Personal Philosophy
Thank you for taking the time to look at my version of The Locust God EDH deck. The Locust God (TLG for short) is an Izzet commander that is similar to some of the other UR commanders in that it wants to draw many cards and generate value from doing so (see Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Arjun, the Shifting Flame). What is unique about the The Locust God in regards to other Izzet commanders is its ability to generate tokens. Rather than pinging creatures or players for 1 per draw, it creates a 1/1 hasty flier. This opens up a new design space in Blue + Red, which was exciting to me.
I discovered this commander while looking for and designing a deck around the card Opposition. Anyone who plays or has watched Legacy and Holiday Cube on MTGO being played knows how sweet Opposition can be. I feel it is an extremely underrated and underplayed card. Prior to my building this deck, I was utilizing Opposition in a Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck. It ended up pulling the deck in two different directions, reanimator and token generation, and felt like both strategies were hampered by the inclusion of the other.
An aside regarding competitive commander: I feel that cEDH is paradoxical bordering on oxymoronic. If you are looking for a competitive list you will likely find better lists elsewhere. I am of the opinion that commander is for sitting around, having fun, making big plays and utilizing design space that isn't found in tournament magic. Not to say my decks aren't Spikey, they often are. Wanting to win every game is fine. It is wanting to win every game on turn 4 with the same cards as my previous 5 games that becomes repetitive and the format loses its appeal for me. To each their own.
With that it mind, I wanted to build this deck (as with all of my EDH decks) to minimize tutors and infinite combos. I feel that commander's appeal, philosophically speaking, is that each game is a different experience. I learned very quickly that in EDH when you build a deck with tutors and infinite combos, games start playing out in the same sequence, and stop feeling unique and epic. That being said, there are some combinations in this deck that result in infinite loops (Ashnod's Altar + Skullclamp with Locust God and Insect token in play for example). I do not have Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, or similar cards to fetch these pieces. Should I manage to assemble the combo in game I try to subdue the Spike in me enough to go big without going infinite. I will go into more detail into some notable exceptions in the sections below.
Card Selection
Core Cards and Win Conditions
The goal of this deck is to cast The Locust God and start generating tokens, which will in turn generate value that compounds on itself. The deck started as a vehicle in which to take advantage of Opposition but evolved to a point where that is only one of the many facets of the deck.
Purphoros, God of the Forge,Impact Tremors - Having one of these enchantments on the battlefield amplifies the lethality of the deck tremendously. What may appear to be incidental amounts of damage adds up quickly when you start playing wheel and windfall type effects, and this damage is independent of combat damage, in case your opponent has a Propaganda/Ghostly Prison type effect prohibiting attacking with the swarm. Purphoros has the added pump ability, which can create lethal swings in short order.
In regards to the tokens themselves: Our insectile overlord would be fine and perfectly playable if the tokens generated were 1/1s with Flying and stopped there. But they have haste, which elevates their value substantially. The deck is modal; sometimes you want to amass a large number of tokens and snowball them into a bigger and bigger swarm. Other times you want to send them at your opponent's face....
Coastal Piracy,Bident of Thassa- ....These are the cards that reward face mode. Attack at will, draw more cards, make more bugs, profit. Throne of the God-Pharaoh also falls in this category.
Distant Melody,Shared Animosity- ....These are cards that reward snowball mode. Build a critical mass of locusts and take advantage of the exponential value.
Mana rocks - Chrome Mox,Commander's Sphere,Mana Vault,Sol Ring,Thought Vessel,Izzet Signet,Thran Dynamo, etc. The deck is heavily reliant on having our commander in play, and at 6 mana, we want to be able to cast it early and often.
Large Draw and Wheel of Fortune effects - Blue Sun's Zenith,Stroke of Genius,Winds of Change,Time Reversal,Magus of the Wheel,Windfall,Mindmoil,Arjun, the Shifting Flame,Whirlpool Warrior,Runehorn Hellkite,Jace's Archivist,Pull from Tomorrow,Forgotten Creation,Fateful Showdown - These cards are our bread and butter. They are the engine that gets the deck to where it is going. Chaining these spells together with Ashnod's Altar and Dream Halls is where the power of the deck is unleashed.
Other Common Inclusions
Incremental Draw - Fevered Visions,Rhystic Study,Jori En, Ruin Diver,Arcanis the Omnipotent. These cards generate cards and tokens over time.
Tutors - Long-Term Plans,Gamble. I know I said I try to avoid tutors. These are the exceptions, and both have drawbacks that make them fair. Gamble gets sided out a lot.
Cantrips/Looting - Treasure Cruise,Frantic Search,Faithless Looting,Desperate Ravings,Deep Analysis. These cards allow you to smooth out draws, dig for answers, and generate tokens when TLG is on the board. It should be noted that many of these cards fit into another category, which is 'Discard Synergy'. This deck cycles through hands often, and in alot of cases entire hands can be discarded at once. Its beneficial to have flashback cards that don't mind being discarded. Past in Flames also falls in this category, allowing for explosive turns and the ability to play cards that would have otherwise been relegated to the GY. Runehorn Hellkite is another.
Dream Halls - Makes TLG free for the cost of discarding a card, but commander tax still has to be paid. Also worth noting it is a symmetrical effect, so it's really only worth playing if you are planning on going off that turn. I don't like the combo-y feel of this card, but it's worth putting in the guide.
Personal Touches
Below are some cards that don't appear on EDH rec, or appear in a lower % of decks than I would expect, and feel warrant explanation and discussion. I am not trying to indicate that I am the first to utilize these cards in a Locust God deck.
Scroll Rack - As of this writing, only 14 of the 951 TLG decks on EDHrec include the card. I feel like Scroll Rack is a great tool for being able to "save" cards in your hand that would otherwise be discarded to Windfall/Wheel effects. It is worth pointing out that Scroll Rack doesn't do much to protect your hand against any wheel effect that shuffles your hand into your library, but I think it still warrants a spot in the 99.
Body Double - In a deck that pitches a lot of cards to the bin, it is nice to have a "reanimate" effect. There is also a lot of GY based decks in my (everyone's) meta. It's rare to have Body Double in hand and not have a useful target.
Swarm Intelligence - Its effect is better suited for most other Izzet spellslinger type decks, but the artwork and flavor text are just too much to ignore. Copying a huge Stroke of Genius or BSZ is also the bee's knees.
Control Magic - This is a result of a lack of enchantment removal in my meta, and in my opinion, in EDH in general. Look how few people run Back to Nature,Tranquility type effects. Seems like people play Krosan Grip and call it a day. Let's punish them. This deck runs a bunch of enchantments that are "must answer", so the more I can pack in, the higher the likelihood that one of them sticks. If I had a quarter for everytime I have cast Control Magic on an opposing commander, and for its owner to not get it back until the end of the game, I would have about a buck twenty-five. Plus Terese Nielsen is the best artist in the history of the game. /discussion
Rite of Replication - A kicked RoR can just wins games. It's fun to play and is always a splashy effect.
Earthquake vs Blasphemous Act. I prefer to run Earthquake, as we don't have to worry about killing our swarm. Blasphemous Act is great too, and its likely that running both is correct.
Tips and Strategy
The ability of The Locust God to return from our graveyard to hand at EoT is not to be undervalued, TLG gets a target on its head, and avoiding commander tax is crucial. (Savvy blue playing opponents will use Stifle or Disallow to counter the return to hand trigger while it is on the stack, which will imprison our bug god in the GY until we can cause a replacement effect to get it back into the command zone, typically with Time Reversal or similar effect).
Don't forget to sac TLG to Ashnod's Altar when it is targeted or will otherwise be exiled. Commander Tax adds up and if we can avoid paying it, we should.
Mindwrack Liege shuts off Skullclamp. Other builds that run Niv Mizzet and big sphinxes can utilize the ability to cheat creatures into play. Keep this in mind on determining Liege's value and inclusion.
The free spells - Force of Will,Misdirection,Snapback - are all gems in this kind of deck. The innate card disadvantage is negligible with the amount of "draw 7" type effects. Foil is likely playable. Snapback in particular is vital to break up a Kindred Discovery loop.
Speaking of Kindred Discovery, In a TLG deck that doesn't run Laboratory Maniac, Kindred Discovery can be a "I lose" card. Neither TLG or KD are "may" abilities. Once that loop starts, you need instant speed interaction to break it up (I prefer Snapback). Due to that interaction and because it feels like a cheese "I win" card, it moves to the maybeboard often. Tread with caution.
Please comment with suggestions, especially with cards that are under utilized/hidden gems and or cards that increase the fun factor. I am typically a Golgari,Sultai kind of guy, so hit me up with Izzet funstuff.
I am willing to discuss my decisions and or look at decks and offer input, hit me up! Thanks
ELting44
