Bruna. Win.

Commander / EDH* GeminiSpartanX

SCORE: 5 | 18 COMMENTS | 3049 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS


Countertop says... #1

i would suggest some self-mill if you want to make your deck super degenerate, like Mirror-Mad Phantasm , Basalt Monolith +Mesmeric Orb , Traumatize targeting self, etc

i would also run Steelshaper's Gift , as a hasty Bruna, Light of Alabaster is probably one of the scariest things around, so gift almost always ensures that I have boots somewhere

in my bruna deck, i run the turbo-draw package, as you dont really care if everyone else has cards, because if bruna is hexproofindestructableprocreaturesprocolorsunblockable, they can't do much, so consider running Howling Mine , Font of Mythos , Dictate of Kruphix , Temple Bell , Memory Jar

other things that are nice are Thirst for Knowledge , Compulsive Research , Terminus , Condemn , Swords to Plowshares , Suppression Field , Overburden , Smokestack , Banishing Stroke , Oblation , Blue Sun's Zenith , Sun Titan , Archeomancer, Gilded Lotus , Basalt Monolith , Mana Vault , Fellwar Stone , Tezzeret the Seeker , Venser, the Sojourner

to make space, I would suggest dropping some of the creatures, as in my deck, I have 4 total, bruna, sun titan, mirror-mad, and archeomancer

October 8, 2014 2:41 p.m.

GeminiSpartanX says... #2

I guess that's an idea. I don't think I'll run the full draw package like you do since all of those cards are in my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck lol. Not running creatures seems like a risky play. There's always the chance you don't get the haste-ifacts or get screwed when trying to cast her it seems. Would you consider your Bruna deck competitve? and could you give me a link? Sorry for all the ?s, and Thanks!

October 8, 2014 3:33 p.m.

LT says... #3

Not bad. You've for the basics. I think you are lacking in a couple of areas though. You need either more draw, or more control. It's a blue deck, at least partially, so take advantage of it. There are a lot of good counter spells out there for cheap. Dissolve Dissipate and Dismiss are easy to get. Draw power in creature form, try Consecrated Sphinx. Great in EDH. I'd also consider Battlewise Hoplite for the scry, Daxos of Meletis for his ability and I love Azorius Guildmage for the don't factor. For that matter Meddling Mage has been great in my Bruna's Big Deck of Don't. For a really nasty aura think about Corrupted Conscience. It's a Control Magic with infect.

November 21, 2014 8:41 a.m.

LT says... #4

Forgot Mystical Tutor. Tutor at instant speed for your next draw.

November 21, 2014 8:43 a.m.

GeminiSpartanX says... #5

I like some of your suggestions. I've been trying to get ahold of a Consecrated Sphinx for a while now, but nobody seems to want to trade theirs away lol. I also like the Corrupted Conscience as a way to kill more easily in 1 hit with Bruna or steal their commander. Battlewise Hoplite used to be in the list, but I found it to be too low-impact compared to cards like Meletis Astronomer, Jace's Archivist, or even Triton Fortune Hunter (<- who is now cut as well). Mystical Tutor is a good card and I'm sure it does a lot of work in your controlling build, but I don't think I have enough targets for it in my deck so far. My biggest problem is figuring out what to cut. Even without all your good suggestions I'm at 104 cards, so I'd like to get some suggestions of what to cut and why if you could oblige.

November 21, 2014 10:01 a.m.

Tingettley says... #6

So your major problem is PW Control decks. Well one big thing I see you have in your list is Azorius Guildmage. That right there shuts down PW decks, however her younger brother New Prahv Guildmage is also something that shuts them down as well. Something else you could consider running is Phyrexian Revoker and Pithing Needle.They hit PW like no one else's business. As for counter magic, you need a Hinder, since you already have the spell crumple. I would also suggest Delay/Memory Lapse/Remand/Lapse of Certainty. These all have very good disruption abilities that slow down your opponents PW and answers of their own.

Other things that dog on PW are Faith's Fetters/Archon of the Triumvirate/Lavinia of the Tenth/Lyev Skyknight/Rimewind Cryomancer(only if you want to play a little bit of snow, IE Lands)/Squelch/Stifle/Mycosynth Lattice + Stony Silence (does make it to where lands can not be used for mana as well)/Suppression Field/Trickbind/Voidmage Husher/Voidstone Gargoyle. Each of these cards hate on permanents with activated abilities, not just creatures. I suggest looking through them, and seeing for yourself what you enjoy the most.

As for your answers on dodging the . Command. With Bruna, you have Flicker Form, but I would also suggest Vanishing.Both effects do the same thing, dodge board wipe effects.And with Vanishing, when she phases back in, that is before your untap step, so anything you have on your upkeep does trigger!

February 3, 2015 9:44 a.m.

Countertop says... #7

Bruna, Light of Alabaster fetches enchantments from the grave too, so getting them destroyed should not be a huge problem. What I recommend for the deck would be to be less reliant on the enchantments, and instead, put in a few more mana rocks and counterspells or even just more dudes, like Consecrated Sphinx and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. If you hate it when the sweepers get all your enchantments, then diversify your threats.

If walkers are a huge issue, Disdainful Stroke goes a long way, as most walkers are 4+

My list runs 10 auras and 1 enchantment, and the rest is ramp and control though my version is the kind that makes no friends.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/1-shot-angel/

it can kill a person turn 5 pretty consistently, and with rocks, as early as turn 3

February 3, 2015 12:13 p.m.

GeminiSpartanX says... #8

Tingettley- Thanks for all the ideas! I don't think I realized that Faith's Fetters could hit PWs, and I didn't know that Voidstone Gargoyle was a card. Suppression Field also fits the theme of this deck, although it might hit a few of my things as well. I'll also try out Vanishing, once I learn exactly how phasing works (that mechanic was before my magic-playing time, so I don't know things like weather that enchantment would fall off if I activate it).

Countertop- I think that Disdainful Stroke is a great counterspell in edh! I'm surprised I didn't make the connection before you mentioned it. I also took a look at your deck and I like the idea of using the now-mostly-banned blue delve spells in the deck to search up all the things. I don't think I want to go with the all-in-cantrip idea that your deck is using since my meta isn't as competitive plus it wouldn't be as fun for me to play I think. I'm still trying to find someone to trade a Consecrated Sphinx to me, as I think it's the next creature I need to get for the added draw.

Both of you- What do you think about using Rhystic Study and Soothsaying? Should I bother using either of them? And still the big question- What to cut?

February 3, 2015 3:45 p.m.

Tingettley says... #9

Things I would consider removing:

Angelic Renewal - As nice as that form of recursion is, you could just run Emeria, The Sky Ruin in place of a plains and get it every turn.

Compulsion - Because there are better card draw engines

Phantom Wings - Yes it can save Bruna, but so can Vanishing

Traumatize - Because as fun as it is to go "HA! Mill 40(ish)!" its not the base of your deck, even if it is major disruption.

Winds of Rath, Personally just swap this for End Hostilities. Even if they regen their creatures, they lose everything on them, and you just get yours back with Bruna.

Things to put in -

Soothsaying because its great, and now that I have seen it, I am going to put it into my Roon of the Hidden Realm Manifest/Morph/Cycle commander deck.

Rhystic Study because there is your better card draw engine

Faith's Fetters because no activated abilities is nice

Hero of Iroas because Ramp, Or if you feel that he is not the right fit, Pearl Medallion/Sapphire Medallion are good choices as well

Voidstone Gargoyle - Because that changes Derevi, Empyrial Tactician from unfair to cannot be played no matter what... also works great with just anything that hurts you in general... but that was my first thought. Also works against Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury decks, or anything that has an alternative casting cost as a commander... I need this card now... brb

February 7, 2015 11:31 p.m.

Tingettley- You have some good suggestions. I will be putting in Rhystic Study for sure (I just ordered cards and that was one of them!). I also like the look of Sapphire Medallion. However I think you're thinking of using certain cards differently than I indended in this list. Traumatize is actually in there to target myself, in order to dump loads of enchants into the GY to be used for Bruna's trigger. It's also on curve (mill myself T5, Bruna with haste hopefully T6 ftw). Angelic Renewal is there to save Bruna and only Bruna, since I'll never let her go to the GY otherwise making Emeria a subpar choice for my intentions. In a more creature-focused deck I'd run Emeria in a heartbeat. In an enchantment deck, Winds of Rath is just better since I (normally) don't kill my own Bruna like End Hostilities would. Since Bruna has no natural protection (hexproof, indestructable) the hardest part about her as a commander in my meta is just keeping her alive, so I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by killing her via boardwipe unless absolutely necessary. I do appreciate your input though! It gives me an opportunity to think of alternate possibilities.

February 8, 2015 10:30 p.m.

Tingettley says... #11

Not a problem, That is what this community is for _

February 11, 2015 12:47 a.m.

mcstang1986- I need to shave off 6 cards, but I can't decide! Each of these feel like they are way too good to get rid of. If it was your deck, which 6 would you get rid of?

April 20, 2015 3:12 p.m.

NarejED says... #13

Since Bruna has vigilance, and you really don't need much mana after she's been cast, you might consider adding the enchantment Stasis to create a soft lock while you pummel your opponents to death. It's a very valid and common strategy for enchantment-heavy decks such as Zur the Enchanter, as it all but guarantees the win while the commander is on the field.

There are a few creatures in your list that I'm not sure are worth running. Azorius Guildmage has always seemed very sub-par to me. She can keep a creature tapped down for (2)W, true. But if you're ramping correctly into Bruna, she'll never be needed.

Daxos of Meletis. He's a cute commander for Tiny Leaders, but in true edh he durdles too often. In testing, he only hit a useful topdeck roughly 40% of the time. That's only counting when he actually hada chance to swing. Too often he gets stonewalled by something like Courser of Kruphix or another creature with a big behind.

Invisible Stalker. Kinda terrible unless you're playing Bogles in modern. In EDH, he's a mosquito flick every turn until he invariably gets swatted as a byproduct of a board wipe, or has to chump-block a fatty.

Mirror-Mad Phantasm. The self-mill is pretty awesome with Bruna, the cost is a bit high.

CARDS TO CONSIDER:

Replenish essentially has Bruna's ability, only it hits non-auras in addition to other things. Almost strictly better than Retether.

Trinket Mage tutors up Sol Ring among other things. Extremely useful for ramping into Bruna faster.

Fabricate. See above.

Worn Powerstone. With Bruna serving as your main win condition, casting her is key. The faster you can throw her put, the faster you win. Bruna isn't quite competitive at high levels of play, but a great Bruna Voltron can still win on turn 4 with a good draw.

Basalt Monolith. See above.

Talisman of Progress. Another good, low-budget mana rock. You might also consider Fellwar Stone (better in larger playgroups), Chromatic Lantern, Coalition Relic, Sky Diamond, Marble Diamond, and Coldsteel Heart. The last three are a bit weaker and should only be considered last for addition.

Enlightened Tutor. One of the single best cards any white-splashed EDH deck can run. Early game it's Sol Ring. Late game it's Eldrazi Conscription. Truly brutal. I see you already have it in maybeboard. Definitely add it to main if you can.

finally, if you have the space, a lot of voltron decks like to run Divine Reckoning, for obvious trollish reasons. Since most of the time Bruna is the only creature you care about very much, this ends up being almost completely one-sided, almost like a slightly cheaper Winds of Rath.

September 17, 2015 11:56 a.m.

NarejED- Thank you for the suggestions! I really like the Talisman of Progress and Divine Reckoning ideas. Perhaps I could also explain the reasoning behind a few of my other card choices to you for your feedback?

Firstly, I do agree that Replenish would be better to run than Retether, I frankly just don't own one, although if I did that would be an easy switch. Azorius Guildmage is in this deck more for the Stifle ability than the tapping down of an enemy creature. This may sound strange, but most of my EDH playgroup plays control-style or prison decks, aside from when I lend out my other voltron deck featuring Sigarda, Host of Herons. The short list of my meta is- Child of Alara superfriends, BW enchantment prison, Jelava grixis control, a spikey Tasigur BUG control (more of a 1v1 build), Monoblack goodstuff, Anafenza, the Foremost infect, Omnath, locust of mana ramp, nichol bolas grixis control, and Roon of the Hidden Realm blinky/goodstuff. Only a few of those decks are heavy creature-based agro, so most of my meta is gaming against control. For that reason, I have a few more creatures than normal since I almost always need some sort of backup plan against their removal. It's also why I run strange cards like Devout Witness. I've yet to play this list since I've added Tragic Arrogance, but between that and Azorius Guildmage I hope to be able to keep Planeswalkers in check amongst other activated abilities (like on Deadeye Navigator).

A few other creatures need to be there in order to make Retether/Replenish worth running, since they really aren't needed when Bruna is out.

I think I'd run Fabricate over Trinket Mage just because I only have 2 artifacts with cmc of 1, although both are very good. Perhaps I'll test them both out if I get ahold of any copies. I'm not a big fan of mana rocks that CIPT. As a Voltron deck, I find that people are quick to run overloaded Cyclonic Rifts against me when I start to get going. CIPT rocks make it tougher to recover. I've also tried out Basalt Monolith in my Sigarda commander deck, and I found it to be lacking. I never wanted to pay the 3 mana to untap it, but it may be that that deck is more mana hungry than this one, so I might try it out.

Aside from the few creatures you mentioned, what would you remove to add in another 3-5 cards?

September 17, 2015 1:59 p.m.

QKNARWHAL says... #15

Diplomatic Immunity- One of the best protection auras that I run, it can't be targeted and neither can she.

If there are a few other control decks Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Cavern of Souls help a lot.

I know they're expensive but Force of Will and Pact of Negation have won me more games than I can count. Free counters are pretttyy good.

Savor the Moment- Great extra turn spell for another combat phase

Chrome Mox- Semi cheap, good artifact ramp

Mirage Mirror- been really liking the versatility of it early game against aggro decks.

August 21, 2017 7:35 a.m.

QKNARWHAL- I used to run Alexi's Cloak as a pseudo-counter to targeted removal the turn I play Bruna. However, I didn't like how I couldn't equip Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots on the same turn if I used it and was then weak to sorcery-speed boardwipes. If I get to my attack phase, I've found Spectra Ward to be enough protection from targeted removal that also gives a nice p/t boost. I'm not sure that Diplomatic Immunity gives me anything more than the cloak would since most players target the bigger enchantments with their removal anyway in my experience, or they have mass bounce or permanent-wipes to hit all enchantments anyway.

Boseiju, Cavern, Fow, and Pact would all make the cut if I had any extras to spare (or any period for some of them!). Pact especially would be great in this deck since the turn I cast Bruna is usually the turn I have the least mana available to protect her. I have a set of Caverns that I swap between Modern elves and slivers, so I could swap a copy in here for certain if I come across another control deck.

I'm unsure if the card disadvantage from Chrome Mox would be worth the ramp in a multiplayer game. I know it's great 1v1, but it always seems like someone is good at destroying artifacts/enchants in the pods I play in. If you have experience otherwise, let me know and I'll consider it since I have a copy.

August 21, 2017 8:28 a.m.

QKNARWHAL says... #17

GeminiSpartanX-A lot of stuff is meta specific the more competitive the higher the likelihood someone is running spot removal and DI has won me a fair share of games because people couldn't do anything about it.
Yeah those are a bit pricey, but something to work towards.
I have always enjoyed chrome mox because early color ramp is really nice. Depending on game i'll usually exile a board wipe or a counter under it. Mox Diamond is my preferred ramp or Mana Crypt, but they are pricier.

August 21, 2017 8:35 a.m.

QKNARWHAL- Against spot removal though, wouldn't Alexi's Cloak be better than DI since it comes down at instant speed? I know DI can't be targeted once in play, but if someone has a path, plow, or other instant-speed removal, wouldn't they play it in response to you targeting Bruna with DI anyway?

August 21, 2017 8:41 a.m.

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