And The Wurms Ate Into His Brain (Atla)

Commander / EDH JANKYARD_DOG

SCORE: 81 | 44 COMMENTS | 7896 VIEWS | IN 17 FOLDERS


Free_Iona says... #1

Hi! Love your deck. I love the wurm sub-theme. Don't fret about losing coolness over using Mayael -- she may be popular, but she is that way for a reason. She's a terrific person to have at the head of the deck, and her builds can always vary, and are always fun and challenging to pilot; which is amazing for creature-based builds.

I love seeing new ideas with Mayael :) +1. I was curious about how Wild Pair would work, but looking at the creature list closely, I can see that there are actually (almost) pairs for each creature. I also thing Cindervines would suit this deck as well, as an improved form of enchantment/artifact removal. Also, Sunbird's Invocation is a one of the newer "Cheat-Creatures-Into-Play cards.

How do you find you go getting your creatures through for those alpha strikes to end the game? With all that mana you ramp, would something like Twinflame be a big finisher? to clone a few massive worms and punch through for victory? Xenagos, God of Revels may not fit the theme, but can help haste/ deal big damage. Or even Thud or Fling which will gel instantly with Worldspine Wurm .

If you want some more inspiration, here's my Mayael the Anima deck + Primer:


Chapter 1: The Safari Zone {Primer}

Commander / EDH Chhris

SCORE: 10 | 28 COMMENTS | 2523 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS


All in all, a terrific deck and idea, and I wish you the best with it!

May 2, 2019 7:13 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #2

Chhris Thanks for the comment/+1. I thought of the fling/thud route but feels it requires more dedication. Also, the sacrifice being part of the cost sucks when its countered. I still may explore it in the future. I have Warstorm Surge , and am debating adding Where Ancients Tread though its limited, it acts the same in a way without the sacrifice. Twinflame could be good, esp. with some like Armada Wurm and Penumbra Wurm leaving tokens in their wake. Definitely love Xenagos though, gotta find a spot for it.

May 2, 2019 7:50 p.m.

MSully_17 says... #3

Love the wurm tribal maybe throw a coat of arms in there? it never hurts to make your big men bigger

May 5, 2019 3:07 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #4

MSully_17 I did try to fit some tribal stuff in but after cutting a pile of 200 down to 100 not much remained because of space issues. Also I felt the wurms were big enough on their own. Could change though, in time with more testing.

May 5, 2019 5:20 p.m.

randazanda says... #5

What a great deck!

May 8, 2019 10:52 p.m.

eatmygender says... #6

Sorry for not commenting before, I was focusing on the person who didn't get a comment at all and omitted to put a comment on here as well. So, I think you're missing out on two top-notch wurmbos, and those are Grothama, All-Devouring and Enlisted Wurm . Grothama is a bit funky, and kinda clunky, but it's kinda surprisingly good when you are sure what you're planning on using it for. Enlisted Wurm is already in the maybeboard, but I can't reccommend it enough for your gameplan. Hypergenesis is a bit crazy, but the payoff might be big enough to justify the advantage it gives everyone else. I don't have too much else to add.

May 13, 2019 3:44 p.m.

Free_Iona says... #7

I think Grothama, All-Devouring needs to be built around to properly work, just throwing it in here because it's a wurm and has 10 power I don't think it meshes with the battle plan of the deck.

May 13, 2019 4:12 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #8

I spent alot of time debating the inclusion of Grothama, but in the end it needed more devotion to it than I wanted to fit. Enlisted Wurm was in, but I found the one instance of Cascade in the entire deck just wasn't worth it.

Hypergenesis does seem fun. Especially if I have say Elemental Bond down, or a Rishkar's Expertise waiting to refill the hand with. I'll try to fit it in somewhere and test it out.

May 13, 2019 6:20 p.m.

alechodgin23 says... #9

Pink Floyd. YES!

May 13, 2019 7:42 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #10

alechodgin23 I was waiting for someone to catch on to that. Lol also 'Mayael has Wurms' just sounded gross.

May 13, 2019 8:41 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #11

Since spoilers I have been considering Atla Palani, Nest Tender as a replacement to Mayael. Not only is the ability cheaper but it is kind of thematic given giant Wurms probably come from eggs. Thoughts?

August 10, 2019 10:30 p.m.

Free_Iona says... #12

I agree that wurms likely hatch from eggs haha :P who knows! I also think Atla fits wurm tribal better as she interacts better with token (There are lots for wurms) and can interact with wurms under 5 power like the Delirium Wurm I can remember right now. I think she would do good things as the commander. worth a shot!

August 11, 2019 12:37 a.m.

bushido_man96 says... #13

There's a combo going around with Mirror Entity as well.

I think the switch to Atla from Mayael is a great idea. I've found Mayael to be too slow to be very good.

You'd do well to add in some sac outlets to really make it go. The combo mentioned by TypicalTimmy is a great one, and should be considered. If your play group doesn't roll that way, or you don't like combos like that, there are other options. Evolutionary Leap would be solid, as it would net you two creatures when you sac an egg (one to your hand). Goblin Bombardment is solid, letting your eggs do damage and then become creatures. Other budget options include Spawning Pit , Altar of Dementia , Fanatical Devotion (which could serve double duty in regenerating a creature in a pinch), and the less-budget option of Birthing Pod . I'm sure there are others I'm missing, but I tried to offer more budget-friendly options.

I think the token doublers are nice cards, but I'm not sure how much you'd really need to run them in this build to really make it take off. $80 for three cards is way out of my budget range, but if you can afford it, go for it (or if you already have them).

Again, I think Atla will work great in this build; much better than Mayael.

August 24, 2019 10:31 p.m.

skoobysnackz says... #14

Hey you, beautiful deck name, +1 for the wacky tribal.

August 24, 2019 10:53 p.m.

Poly_raptor says... #15

Nice list! I love the wurms, reminds me of the film “Tremors”.

I built an Atla list fairly recently and can echo the above recommendation of Ashnod's Altar + Thornbite Staff - this paired with Purphoros, God of the Forge will win instantly. (I appreciate this if off wurm theme)

Gruul Ragebeast is also great because it’ll make all of your s fight everything and provides an immediate trigger for the eggs to die too.

I’d also recommend some top deck manipulation with cards like

- Congregation at Dawn - Sensei's Divining Top - Mirri's Guile

I’d also recommend Greater Good as you could draw some massive amounts by saccing your wurms.

I’m terms of sac outlets I’d say go for the ones that don’t eat into your mana.

- Phyrexian Altar - Culling Dais - Greater Good - Fanatical Devotion

Allow you to do this for free.

August 25, 2019 11:17 a.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #16

skoobysnackz - Thanks for the upvote, and for getting the reference.

TypicalTimmy, bushido_man96 & Poly_raptor - Thanks for the suggestions, I like them all, my wallet... not so much XD. That being said I'd like to keep it as budget as possible. It took me a long time to come to terms with adding Wurmcoil Engine because of the price tag... So the ones I'd like to see in the deck include: Mirror Entity , Nesting Dragon , Thornbite Staff , Birthing Boughs , Evolutionary Leap , Fanatical Devotion , Growing Ranks , Gruul Ragebeast , & Culling Dais . Ones I'm unsure of are: Second Harvest because I wonder if there'd be enough tokens to matter, Ashnod's Altar because not sure combo is something I want, Song of the Worldsoul because once we get eggs rolling we aren't exactly casting alot, & Helm of the Host for the investment. The others are pretty pricey or just seem off theme.

With all these new additions though comes subtractions... which I can never do easily so if anyone has any ideas in that department its appreciated.

Also... I'll likely be watching a Tremors marathon again now so... thanks for that. :P

August 26, 2019 9:41 p.m.

bushido_man96 says... #17

I think you could cut Advent of the Wurm and Crush of Wurms . Yeah, they're on theme, and yeah, they make big tokens, but I think you've got more than enough wurms in the deck, and Atla can't get them out for you. I'd rather have two more removal spells in those slots, or in your case, Evolutionary Leap and Fanatical Devotion . If you don't want to run Ashnod's Altar because you don't want to go combo, then you may not want to run Thornbite Staff , either; that will save you about $13 right there. Combos can be a good time, but they aren't always welcome in some groups.

I'd cut Sakura-Tribe Scout for either another mana dork like Llanowar Elves , or a mana rock, or something like Zendikar Resurgent . I'm on the fence about Burnished Hart ; you might be able to do with cutting that one, too. If you think about it, it'll cost you 6 mana to two land cards; better off running something like Skyshroud Claim since you're in green. Or, plug in Mirror Entity there.

Now, I'm at a tough spot; the rest of what you got seems good to me; fresh eyes will help with this. But, I'm on the fence about Urza's Incubator . If you're deck is doing it's job right, you should be casting your wurms very often, and therefore, it could be dead card a lot of the time. But, if she get's blown out for a while, making fat wurms 2 cheaper is boon. Tough call on that one, but I thought I'd throw it out there for your consideration. Kind of the same with Elvish Piper , Quicksilver Amulet , and Belbe's Portal ; all good back-up plans, but how often will they be needed?

I hope this helped out some. I look forward to seeing the suggestions of others.

August 26, 2019 10:37 p.m.

alechodgin23 says... #18

Hey man if you're running Atla, PLEASE PUT IN AEther Flash

Incredible card that will control your opponents as well as kill your eggs immediately! Great card especially since it won't kill Atla because of her toughness or any creatures in your deck that'd you'd reveal to assuming you hit the ones you want.

August 27, 2019 5:56 p.m.

bushido_man96 says... #19

That's great synergy. Insta-kill the token and get immediate value. Also decent with Thornbite Staff , as you could run it without going infinite.

August 27, 2019 6:07 p.m.

Gattison says... #20

Awesome deck name! =D

August 27, 2019 6:16 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #21

alechodgin23 Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take it into consideration with the rest. I'm still trying to figure out things to remove. Hardest thing ever XD.

August 27, 2019 6:21 p.m.

JANKYARD_DOG says... #22

Speaking of changes I've been thinking of something. If we are now going to be relying more on Eggs to pop creatures onto the field from the deck rather than cheating them out with abilities, how then do we return a hand laden with critters to the deck for future spawning? I don't know of any Brainstorm ing effects in Naya.

August 27, 2019 6:47 p.m.

bushido_man96 says... #23

Scroll Rack is the nearest way I can think of, and that's pricey. Library of Leng offers a replacement effect for discarding cards back to the top of your library, if you can figure out a way to abuse that. Gurzigost is an interesting creature that can funnel fatties back onto the bottom of your library from your graveyard.

August 27, 2019 7:05 p.m.

Poly_raptor says... #24

Greater Good + Library of Leng would let you sac an egg to greater good, draw 0 cards and put 3 on top?

August 31, 2019 11:01 a.m.

bushido_man96 says... #25

Poly_raptor, that's pretty solid, and looks legal to me! Nice catch!

August 31, 2019 11:45 p.m.

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