Hello comrades, and welcome to the EDH deck list for the Orthodox 'Monk' and royal 'adviser' Grigori Rasputin 'Dreamweaver'.
(Not the prettiest of legendaries sure...)
**
"He is a super human force of evil, in the heart of the monarchy."
"It is widely believed in the upper reaches of society, that this man is really the source of all of Russia's problems."
"To his enemies, Grigori Rasputin was the incarnation of evil, he destroyed anyone who dared to cross his path to power. Implicated in murder, corruption, and the eventual destruction and execution of the Romanov royal family. Rasputin was instrumental in wiping out the 300 year old dynasty, and changing the history of Russia forever."
The music is a bit misleading, but this is the man you are playing, so this is going to be fun! This deck is in progress and in the middle of testing. If you have any contribution please feel free to share. I am always up to considering improvements within budget.
The deck has a really slow start, so instead of revealing the criminal mastermind you are, it may be your best benefit to play the grandfather with dementia, as the first few turns, you will probably be just land dropping and passing.
Just remember, that after you finally play Rasputin, you will be having all of the fun. For; "There is a finite amount of fun in Magic, and I plan on having ALL of it." If you don't think this will fly at your table, I suggest you swap some cards out. I will offer some power level reducing alternatives later on.
Synergy and Deck Goals
(This (cute?) little buger is your key to success.)
Eldrazi Displacer is what the great fupa lord DJ Khalid would call a 'Key to Success' He... she... it is what takes this deck from 'hey that's pretty good' to 'it's time to stop!' The combo is so great because it only requires two cards, your commander... which doesn't need to be found out of the deck, and a creature, which as we will find out isn't too hard to tutor out.
I'm going to break this combo down so that the simplest of person can understand it. Just so it is understood. I know this isn't rocket science, and the majority of you already see it, but I'm going to make it crystal clear.
When Rasputin Dreamweaver enters play, he gets dream counters put on him. They can be spent in two ways (although, realistically, you will only be using the first way.) Either to generate one mana for each dream counter spent, or to reduce damage dealt to him by one.
Eldrazi Displacer's ability to exile a creature, and then bring it back into play tapped costs . Meaning if you spend all of your dream counters to float colorless mana, and you spend three of it to exile Rasputin, he will come back into play with seven more dream counters. Repeat this process, and you will always gain a net mana. Essentially generating colorless mana.
CONGRATULATIONS, IF YOU WERE FOLLOWING ALONG, YOU DISCOVERED OUR ENGINE!
This allows us to abuse a lot of cards that otherwise would be mediocre. For example cards with costs, which now can be as high of a number as you can think of, and ones with activated abilities.
"But Tomiix, your totally elegant and complicated combo is cool and all, but in a deck with 99 cards in it... well heck, how am I supposed to garsh darn find it?"
Don't worry Timmy! I will show you the way, through the wonderful land of tutors! Mind you, only one card in this deck can tutor for Displacer directly, but that card in question is very easy to get to. The card in question is Eye of Ugin. I am fairly certain Rasputin is working for the Eldrazi, cause he has just the right amount of dream counters to make the fetch ability of Eye of Ugin work. Your first target should be Displacer.
(Note: Those observant in your group will know right away what you are up to, the gig will be up. Usually it is better to wait a turn to do this fetching, or to even reveal you play Eye of Ugin until you are able to do the combo the turn you play it.)
But Tomiix, now we are only at two car...
SHUSHUP. Here are the cards that can fetch Eye of Ugin, with reference to cards that can fetch those cards!
Thalia's Lancers can fetch a Legendary CARD. Not Creature, CARD! This is a great flicker target in general, and it enables the combo. Weathered Wayfarer can just fetch any land. Tolaria West can transmute for a cost card... like a land.
Mystical Tutor can grab Enlightened Tutor, which can grab Expedition Map, which can then get us the Eye. Tezzeret the Seeker and Trinket Mage also grab us our Map. In desperate times, you can also Planar Portal. Like if your map is somehow taken from you. So there you go Timmy, two cards weren't good enough for you? HOW ABOUT 11 CARDS. THAT'S 1/9th OF THE MAIN DECK.
Great Whale (AKA Your mom) + Eldrazi Displacer = Unlimited colored mana based on your land types. Also if you already have Rasputin live, unlimited Eye of Ugin fetches. Temple of Enligthenment for Unlimited scrying.
This is all just a small taste Timmy, and we haven't even covered the Eldrazi Titans and the infinite Minion combos with Myr Matrix and Decree of Justice. So sit down and let the adults wrap this up.
The big fellas
(Admit it, you really like the idea of getting her the turn you play the land. You aren't alone. You can join me in no longer having friends.)
By the time we have gotten here, the mood has changed from happy go lucky fun music... to something along the lines of this.
This is okay, that means you are doing it right!
Congrats! You have either caused the table to make an audible group groan, or played Rasputin, and somehow didn't run into Displacer. You are still okay, don't let a lack of Dispalcer ruin your Rasputin shenanigans. We still have independent flicker, and plenty of cards you can cast without being degenerate. (This section will also be relevant to you if you don't want to piss off your friends. I suggest you replace Displacer with another flicker. My personal suggestion is Vanish into Memory as it synergies with Rasputin's high power, low toughness. If you want, you can also replace cards focused on getting Displacer out with more 'fun' legendaries like Memnarch, Emrakul, the Promised End or Gisela, the Broken Blade and her counterpart.) Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and namesake of the important lands of this deck can get you a good amount of advantage. Helping you find the cards you need while controlling the board. Karn Liberated can be played immediately following a Rasputin play, and it wouldn't be a bad choice. However, think twice before resetting a game of EDH. This is how you actually lose friends.
If you did go off with Displacer, the titans in your deck get very easy to access. My first go to target for Eye of Ugin after Displacer is Kozilek, the Great Distortion, as when you go off, you usually want to drop your hand, and he will provide great value in giving you a full hand again, with which you can either drop as well or save for control. If Sanctum of Ugin is out, this is also your chance to get the other titan, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. (I'm still debating between him and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre Let me know what you think.)
If you run into other land tutors, or Thalia's Lancers go for Dark Depths, and get yourself the strongest creature in the game without variable power and toughness values. Use Staff of Domination to tap down their board, gain as much life as you please, and draw the cards you need. At this point, combat may not be necessary, as you can just give each opponent a Stroke of Genius if you can flicker Mnemonic Wall.
If you are at the point of winning, you can kind of choose how you want to win. Rasputin has succeeded, and you can laugh as you become a fun hoarder. You and your having turns that don't need to end (Time Warp) and the ability to wipe the board (Akroma's Vengeance,Wrath of God,Supreme Verdict,Cyclonic Rift) while saving your own (Eerie Interlude, Ghostway).
Final Thoughts
(A contemplative / Planeswalker, debating on whose fun to steal)
This deck is a very fun deck... for yourself... if it goes off. There are quite a few ways things can go wrong for you. Displacer hitting graveyard sucks... a lot. We only have Sun Titan and Defy Death to save our mans. The combo and cards following are still very weak to counter play, making cards like Boseiju, Who Shelters All critical. This deck relies on opponents not knowing your plans. So multiple plays with this deck will ruin the surprise factor, making the early game even more hell for you. Soon it won't be, 'oh grandpa suddenly took out the glock and wasted grandmom' as it will be more like 'oh look, it's that old meth addict again.' However, creative play and innovative side boarding can bring this deck a new life. Any help in this field will be greatly appreciated. Also, do note that this deck is being made within a budget, not including cards I already own. So cards like Tundra didn't make the cut. Feel free to add other broken cards that I couldn't afford to put in, and upgrade my budget picks as you see fit.
If you made it to the end, and you enjoyed my deck's description and the deck itself, please give this deck a +1, it is greatly appreciated, as it encourages me to keep building decks and putting effort towards these guides.
I hope you enjoy, and have fun ruining a Russia near you!
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