Grimsnecrosis2, So once we have Protean Hulk we sac it and tutor Carrion Feeder, Disciple of the Vault, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, and Lesser Masticore onto the battlefield. Lesser Masticore can't die sense persist means he comes back with a -1/-1 counter and Melira, Sylvok Outcast says he cant have -1/-1 counters. So now we cant sac him to Carrion Feeder an infinite number of times. Hes an artifact meaning that every time he dies Disciple of the Vault will trigger and our opponents will each take a damage making them eventually take infinite damage. Its a very resilient combo because the only way to stop it is to exile Protean Hulk or counter his trigger. Once his ability resolves and all the creatures hit the battlefield, they can cast removal but in response you can just start the combo.

ThatWeirdPerson thank you so much for explaining it to me!!!

I love your deck! It looks really cool and fun to play, and you certainly do a better job of explaining how your deck works than I do with mine.

As for sugggestions, Blood Artist could be used instead of Disciple of the vault, and then use Kitchen Finks although I can't think of any disinct advantage that has over your current combo.

Citanul Flute could work, but Protean Hulk costs seven mana, so it'd take longer than other tutors. Corpse Connoisseur is another possibility, but again, Protean hulk costs seven mana so it'd be difficult to get with your commander. Primal Command could work well, as well as Traverse the Ulvenwald. Morbid Curiosity, Smothering Abomination, Grim Backwoods, and Burnished Hart all might work.

Now for cards to remove. I will say that Rhystic Tutor is a staggeringly bad card, and if your opponent knows how your deck works, they will almost always pay the. Wishclaw Talisman allows you to search for your combo pieces, but could also allow opponents to search for just the right card to counter your combo. I haven't really playtested your deck much, so I can't really see any other weak cards just by looking at the decklist.

I'll also say that I'm not as experinced a Magic player as I made myself sound, so be careful when taking my advice. And you know your deck much better than I do, so you probably know that some of the cards I sugggested won't work.

Good luck!:)

Hello ILuvMtg

The problem with Blood Artist and Kitchen Finks is that protean hulk has a cost limit of 6 and with the other cards they just cant fit into gap. I ruled out Smothering Abomination a while ago because I don't always have something that I want to sac to sac at my upkeep. Rhystic Tutor has always been filler for another tutor, I think Traverse the Ulvenwald could fit well here, because even if we already have the hulk, we can still tutor up a land to make sure we hit our drops. Wishclaw Talisman has always been interesting. You could target whoever has the least interaction, use a different tutor if you can find one, or really just pray to god that your opponents are too selfish to want removal and rely on one of the many backup win-cons. As for the first two tutors you mentioned, too slow for a turn 7 win or earlier. Primal Command is a good suggestion but I have tried to cut back on 5+ tutors cuz I don't wanna have my tutor countered right before turn 6 (The most important turn ). Only reason Final Partings in here is because it tutors up the infinite turn combo very nicely. Grim Backwoods costs 4 mana and a creature to draw a single card so I don't think it'll be included here. Burnished Hart is just more ramp that I don't exactly depend on and Morbid Curiosity is an intriguing card that ill continue to consider. Does the protean hulk trigger go on top of the stack or does the morbid go first?

ThatWeirdPerson, I had to think about this one, but I think that if you sacrifice Protean Hulk to Morbid Curiosity, then they can still use a Disallow or Tale's End to counter Protean Hulks trigger, but if they counter Morbid Curiosity then protean hulk gets the trigger. But don't take my word for it.

I also just realized I'm dumb because I misread Protean Hulk and thought that you get to put ALL creatures with mana cost of 6 or less on the battlefield, which just seemed ubsurd. But no, there was one word that I missed.

ILuvMtg, The reason I asked about the stack is cuz If the morbid curiosity goes first, then you may draw a combo piece before sacrificing the hulk.

I think that Protean Hulk goes first, but I'm not sure.

Hey, well done on a low budget. Phyrexian Delver or Body Snatcher reanimate Hulk to give you a second Hulk trigger.

First Hulk trigger get Delver and Viscera Seer. Delver reanimates Hulk for 7 life and Seer sacs Hulk. Second Hulk trigger you get Zulaport Cutthroat, Lesser Masticore and Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Using the first Hulk trigger to get a reanimation effect for Hulk and a sac outlet lets you skip having to get Disciple of the Vault as wincon which is subpar outside of the combos.

Viscera Seer as the main sac outlet for the combo lets you scry into protection for the combo as you are doing the combo. Since Seer can sac at instant speed this means you can do scrying to find instant protection in response to removal from opponent. Protection helps such as Tamiyo's Safekeeping and Golgari Charm if you're trying to combo win.

One drop instants that can return a creature who died right away, Feign Death and Undying Malice can also be protection for the combo and are good outside of combo with the overall strategy of sacing creatures. Riftsweeper is helpful since it can put a creature exiled by opponent back into your library. Also works on your own creature you exile such as Body Snatcher.

Other than Primal Growth since it's a sac for Meren, all the other land ramp spells here are not needed. They would be better as mana rocks if you want more ramp or not ramp at all instead instant interaction especially protection if you're trying to combo win. Eternal Witness and other green any card recursion is very good with Meren.

Good luck with your deck.

I love this little $100 dollar death machine!

Thanks Dangerwillrobinson79! I tried to build it to provide a midrange-optimized deck that fits within people's budget range. I find $100 is a good price point if people are looking to get into EDH or more expensive and optimized formats.

ThatWeirdPerson +1

70th upvote, so long 69.

Solid deck, good budget.

hey i love this deck! my only question is on the win con. how does Carrion Feeder, Disciple of the Vault, Melira, Sylvok Outcast, and Lesser Masticore win the game. im still relatively new to the game so im pretty confused lol.

Hey Juniordrc! Thanks for the comment, I should probably have been more clear over how the combo works in case people haven't seen it before. Basically, you sacrifice Lesser Masticore to Carrion Feeder, which triggers Disciple of the Vault and pings each opponent. When Lesser Masticore dies, persist triggers, returning it to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter, however, Melira, Sylvok Outcast does not allow the -1/-1 counter to be placed on Lesser Masticore and so persist is free to trigger again some other time. This allows you to repeat it from the beginning and keep pinging each opponent for one, all the way up to infinite damage. Here is a commander spellbook link to the same Protean Hulk combo just using Viscera Seer over Carrion Feeder. Hope that helps!

woooooaaaah thank you i get it now this is crazy lol