Kruphix, eldest and all-seeing god of Theros has looked into the abyss between the stars and seen what is to come. The Eldrazi, in their perfection, will consume all worlds, including the gluttonous polises of Theros. He now opens a planar portal to welcome them...
Deck Basics - How and why to play this general
This deck is a semi-competitive UG combo deck. PLEASE NOTE: the win-condition for this deck utilizes Eldrazi from outside the game. Make sure that your playgroup is OK with this before playing this deck. This also means that it will likely not work in a tournament invironment.
Kruphix is great at holding onto tons of mana, adding to the efficiency of your resources greatly while not ramping per se. Plus he's in two very powerful colors. This deck plays as an interactive control/combo deck with tons of counters and card draw waiting for (near)infinite mana for game-ending 1-card combos. The heavy green ramp, fast mana rocks, and ability of Kruphix add a very reliable redundancy from the command zone, meaning that you will not need to find infinite mana to get your win-cons on the table.
Ramp hard on turns 1-3, casting Kruphix as early as turn 2 (but more likely by turn 3). Once he's on the board he is hard for anyone to deal with - and generally won't garner spot removal anyways. Once you have the god out save up mana, draw a ton of cards, and counterspell anything around the table that might win somebody the game. There are loads of counterspells and even one with buyback (Spell Burst), so you should always have access to one in hand, if not multiples.
Isochron Scepter with a Dramatic Reversal will generate infinite mana with 2-3 dorks/rocks out. This scepter combo also makes Aetherflux Reservoir a win-con using infinite cast triggers. If mana is the path to victory, the deck has redundant paths to Spawnsire of Ulamog, a quite fair and slow way to utilize infinite mana. Fierce Empath, Green Sun's Zenith (for the aforementioned elf first), and Planar Bridge act as additional copies in the deck as they will all fetch the eldrazi. If you want to spice up the deck, go the Trasios, Triton Hero route, but this seems more interesting.
Changelog
5/23/16 Deck Created
5/24/16 -Curse of the Swine +Devastation Tide
Leaving your opponents with creatures is sub-optimal, and the miracle cost on Devastation Tide could feasibly be paid on someone else’s turn
-Staff of Nin +Planar Portal
If you have 6 mana, recurrable tutor is waaaay more awesome than drawing 1 card/turn
5/31/16 -Upwelling +Fierce Empath
Getting Kruphix out was easy, and I have yet to see him get answered. Upwelling was not only
unnecessary, but it gave my opponents the advantage I wanted for myself, and I found myself
never wanting to cast it (or ever actually casting it).
Empath can get many of our best creatures like Progenitor Mimic and Deadeye Navigator and also pairs perfectly well with the latter to fetch a timely Terastodon. Eventually he will tutor up
our Spawnsire of Ulamog and finish out games.
6/1/16 - Whelming Wave + AEtherspouts
Instant-speed casting, and hitting every creature seem like good enough points to justify the
addition of 1 cmc.
- Silklash Spider + Mystic Snake
Silklash is already represented on Hurricane, and has yet to be ‘needed,’ whereas Mystic Snake has crazy potential with Deadeye Navigator, and lets us tutor a counterspell with Green Sun's Zenith.
- Bramblecrush + Helix Pinnacle
I have enough mass removal and spot removal recursion already. Win-cons like Pinnacle,
however, are always great to have.
6/3/16 - Fellwar Stone + Voidslime
I felt like the deck needed one more counter (and [Voidslime] is a doozey), and it certainly didn’t
need an odd 2-cmc rock.
- Planar Portal + Praetor's Counsel
This is to prevent mill strategies from beating me out. I have enough card draw that hopefully the
loss of such a good tutor won’t break my back.
- Genesis Hydra + Spawnsire of Ulamog
Trading in a possible whiff for a definite game-win seems good.
- AEtherspouts + Evacuation
Evacuation is strictly better
- Kiora, Master of the Depths + Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Ramp, card draw, and fogging seem way better than simple untapping.
- Basalt Monolith + Doubling Cube
Cuz mana
1/5/18
- Skyscribing + Stroke of Genius , Stroke can double as a win-con a bit easier and I almost never forecast the scribing.
- Simic Cluestone + Simic Signet
- Hydra Broodmaster + Altered Ego , just wanted to see how this clone worked. +1/+1 counters might matter on a creature, too
- Genesis Wave + Fact or Fiction , unless I take the deck into a more Eldrazi-heavy build, my permanents aren't really that game-winning to cheat in, even en mas. FoF is a solid card draw choice
- Praetor's Council + Rapid Hybridization , as above, this card didn't win games on the spot and I need more answers for generals that kill me.
In general I think I need to make this deck more efficient in getting 2 or 3 win-cons onto the table by turn 5 or 6. Will have to re-think ramp options and lower the curve a bit...
2/27/18
-Volition Reins, Witchbane Orb, Jace Beleren, Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Iceberg, +Conduit of Ruin, +Courser of Kruphix, +Nature's Lore, +Rampant Growth, +Star Compass
This is my major ramp-revamp. I want more 2cmc ramp and rocks, and 4 cmc ramp and rocks (for turn 3) to ensure a turn 4 Kruphix at the latest. He is hard enough to answer that getting him out early will simply win you games off the mana savings alone. Also, taking out spot removal to focus more on the win-cons and racing towards them
5/3/2018 -Devastation Tide +Cyclonic Rift
-Stream of Life +Leyline of Anticipation
-Jace's Ingenuity +Blue Sun's Zenith
-Ghostly Flicker +Sword of Feast and Famine
-Hedron Archive +Basalt Monolith
-Darksteel Ingot +Mana Vault
-Simic Growth Chamber +Mind Stone
-Acquire +Cryptic Command
-Gilded Lotus +Sakura-Tribe Elder
-Trygon Predator +Laboratory Maniac
-Harrow +Fellwar Stone
-Birds of Paradise +Glacial Chasm
-Plagiarize +Brainstorm
More revamping to make this deck a mana pumping machine. Lots of smaller rocks to ensure early turns that can set up for a game-winning Blue Sun's Zenith or Stroke of Genuis
8/16/18 -Mana Vault +Coldsteel Heart
Needed for a new deck
28/8/18 The deck has be re-vamped to a large degree to get Kruphix out quicker. This means
more mana rocks (especially 2cmc ones), 2cmc ramp, and card-draw. Alternate win-cons
have been trimmed a bit, and most ‘cute ‘ X spells are now gone. The idea here is a
laser-focus on getting the Spawnsire of Ulamog win off quickly and reliably,, and more
ways to tutor the Eldrazi up have been included.
Removed the following cards:
Harrow, Boundless Realms, Green Sun's Zenith, Skyscribing, Jace Beleren, Plagiarize, Jace's Ingenuity, Planar Portal, Opportunity,
Ghostly Flicker, Reclamation Sage, Archaeomancer, AEthersnipe,
Negate, Dream Fracture, Stream of Life, Witchbane Orb, Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Acquire, Devastation Tide, AEtherspouts, Hydra Broodmaster, Genesis Wave, Kodoma’s Reach, Terastodon, Consign to Dust, Island, Forest
Added the follow cards:
+Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Simic Signet, Star Compass, Mind Stone,
Coldsteel Heart, Fellwar Stone, Rampant Growth, Nature's Lore, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Skyshroud Claim, Expedition Map, Brainstorm, Stroke of Genius,
Magus of the Future, Duplicant, Cryptic Command, Rapid Hybridization,
Vedalkan Orrery, Courser of Kruphix, Conduit of Ruin, Laboratory Maniac,
Chromatic Lantern, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn
11/21/18
Major revamp of the deck - taking out a lot of junk to make the deck blazingly fast. I've foregone the Deadeye Navigator package for a more streamlined elf mana package to ramp heavy and weather stax games better. I've also taken out some underperformers, esp. those costing 4 or more.
OUT:
Unwinding Clock
Maze of Ith
Expedition Map
Duplicant
Star Compass
Everflowing Chalice
3 x Forest
2 x Island
Skyshroud Claim
Explosive Vegetation
Magus of the Future
Conduit of Ruin
Mulldrifter
Mystic Snake
Plasm Capture
Cryptic Command
Urban Evolution
Solemn Simulacrum
Chromatic Lantern
Glacial Chasm
Progenitor Mimic
Deadeye Navigator
Acidic Slime
Helix Pinnacle
Reliquary Tower
Courser of Kruphix
IN:
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Mana Confluence
Mystical Tutor
Rhystic Study
Mental Misstep
Swan Song
Ponder Preordain
Isochron Scepter
High Tide
Carpet of Flowers
Nature's Claim
Frantic Search
Reality Shift
Dramatic Reversal
Mana Vault
Spell Pierce
Dispel
Negate Naturalize
Wild Growth
Fyndhorn Elves
Llanowar Elves
Elvish Mystic
Arbor Elf
Crop Rotation
Green Sun's Zenith
Priest of Titania
11/30/18
OUT:
Rewind,
Metal Misstep (I don't think my metagame is fast enough to warrant this card),
Mystical Tutor (trying to rely more on card draw and less on tutors),
Naturalize,
Eternal Witness (I will hardly ever be getting permanents with this and don't need a 2/1),
Rite of Replication (relying on my opponents for this is not reliable),
IN:
Deglamer,
Windfall,
Elvish Spirit Guide,
Dig Through Time,
Chain of Vapor,
Mission Briefing
2/2/19:
-Preordain +Sensei's Divining Top,
-Coldsteel Heart +Utopia Sprawl,
-High Tide +Planar Bridge
1/11/20:
+Preordain -Vedalken Orrery,
+Courser of Kruphix -Krosan Restorer
+Island -Crop Rotation
1/23/20: changing the deck by taking the superfluous Laboratory Maniac combo in all its parts out. The plan is Eldrazi, and that's what we'll focus on.
-Blue Sun's Zenith + Verity Circle
-Doubling Cube + Chrome Mox
-Laboratory Maniac + Aetherflux Reservoir
-Leyline of Anticipation + Force of Negation
-Stroke of Genius + Pact of Negation
-Spell Pierce + Delay
