And The Wurms Ate Into His Brain (Atla)
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 81 | 44 COMMENTS | 7896 VIEWS | IN 17 FOLDERS
bushido_man96 says... #2
Heck, I'll pitch in. I really enjoy this stuff...
Point 1: Argothian Wurm could probably be cut, unless you feel it's worth experimenting with. A 6/6 trample for 4 CMC is a good deal. If you find he doesn't perform, ditch him.
Point 2: Life gain doesn't seem to be the theme of the deck, so I wouldn't look to keep those cards around for incidental life gain. I'd say 90% of the time, Voracious Wurm is going to be a 2/2 do-nothing for you. Mana dork would be better, or another mana rock. Pelakka Wurm is still a fatty, though, and you could probably keep it. Mayael's Aria is a nice alternate win-con, and if you like having alternate win-cons, then it's worth keeping. If it gets blown off the board all the time, then at least you're sucking resources. Cut at your own discretion.
Point 3: Saltskitter . I don't see an issue with keeping it. It's cute, but not useless, and you need something in the 4 drop slots.
Point 4: Naya Charm . Modal spells are always nice, and although one of the modes might not be as useful, you never know when you might have to trip up a token army. Clearing a path for combat is always good, and Regrowth or or Eternal Witness are always good cards; this one is at instant speed. Worth running, I think. What I would consider is replacing Swords to Plowshares with Generous Gift . More flexibility.
Point 5: Lurking Predators could probably be cut and not be missed. Helps with your commander isn't on the field, but is replaceable.
Point 6: Mayael's Aria - see above.
Point 7: The Planeswalkers: I'm mixed on the inclusion of Planeswalkers. What I do is evaluate the + and - abilities. You've done that pretty well with Garruk. He can at least protect himself with beasts, and at worst, he's another copy of Rishkar's Expertise for you, which isn't bad. He's worth keeping. I'm not as sold on Vivien. First turn, she either gets you a land (because you usually want to keep the creatures in the library), or is a Beast Within for 5 CMC. Not a good trade in my mind. Her ultimate is great, but if your group let's you ultimate her, then they're a bunch of idiots.
Point 8: The creature droppers. Like you mentioned earlier, you're going to end up with creatures in your hand, whether you want to or not. These will help you drop them at the end of an opponent's turn, providing pseudo-haste, which is not bad, and gets around counter spells for the most part. The Piper is the best of the bunch as far as cost goes, but fragile because it's a creature. If I was going to cut one, I'd probably cut Quicksilver Amulet in this deck.
Hope that all helps, and I look forward to seeing other opinions, too.
September 4, 2019 6:37 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #3
More changed inspired by comments.
Argothian Wurm --> Saltskitter : Trying out this bit of fun.
Voracious Wurm --> Whisperer of the Wilds : Want to try this out before going for a 1cmc dork, see how well it works. The ferocious shouldn't be hard to turn on.
Swords to Plowshares --> Generous Gift : Exile is nice, but versatility is better.
Lurking Predators --> Fanatical Devotion : Sac outlet for eggs and saving critters from destruction.
Quicksilver Amulet --> Birthing Boughs : More eggs for more creatures.
If you see anything else that's a good switch let me know, or if you don't agree with something or have a better idea, feel free to comment. Thanks all for the help so far, much appreciated. We'll see how these test out, there is still more I'd like to try in the maybe board
September 4, 2019 8:05 p.m.
I love how streamlined and focused this is becoming. Hugely good. I might even suggest Avacyn, Angel of Hope -- I know she's not a wurm, but that protection is so worth it. Spearbreaker Behemoth is a good budget alternative. I also think there are some cool low cmc cost cards that suit your strategy that can come in, maybe Eladamri's Call, Dromoka's Command and Atarka's Command are very flexible spells, and I feel can replace: Belbe's Portal (bit slow, not egg-related) Naya Charm, and Congregation at Dawn respectively.
I also think Witherscale Wurm is better than Pathbreaker Wurm, and Autochthon Wurm can be an amazing on-theme beater to cheat out.
September 7, 2019 11:45 p.m.
maxmcnugget says... #6
I love the flavor of this deck. Atla's bad of gummy wurms.
I would prolly run more land based ramp over mana dorks like running Nature's Lore. The only mana dork I would run is good old Birds of Paradise. Since land-bases ramp is more resilient and you will have a smaller chance of pulling a little mana dork from an egg trigger from Atla.
Also, Austere Command could be a nice include, possibly over Wrath or Cleansing. And Aura Shards is sweet with Atla.
September 17, 2019 11:08 a.m.
bushido_man96 says... #7
maxmcnugget, you make a good point for not running mana dorks in a build like this. I'd probably run more mana rocks than the land-searching spells, as there are plenty of decent 2-drop rocks out there now with all the Talismans and Signets (although I don't like the Signets as much now). With most of the rocks, you can drop and then use the mana right away if you are able to. You do have to worry more about artifact wipes with that approach, though. I guess it just depends on meta and preference. Perhaps a healthy balance of each.
And Aura Shards is a great suggestion. Good catch there!
September 17, 2019 12:18 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #8
Seems legit. Now just to make the choices. Besides Nature's Lore and what I already have, what would you consider the best options to fill the slots? There are 3(4?) spaces to fill: Elvish Mystic , Druid of the Anima , Whisperer of the Wilds , and idk if y'all consider Sakura-Tribe Elder a dork or not.
September 17, 2019 9:47 p.m. Edited.
maxmcnugget says... #9
Hmmm, you can try Primal Growth it could be interesting, since you can sac an egg with the kicker which can be useful if you do not have a sac outlet. Rampant Growth isnt bad. There are also the talisman style mana rocks like Talisman of Conviction which I kinda like more than the signets. There is also Three Visits but its expensive in paper. In this case I would consider Sakura-Tribe Elder as a dork since off an Atla trigger he kinda works like a dork, idk.
Also I would suggest adding more sac outlets like Goblin Bombardment or Altar of Dementia.
September 18, 2019 9:29 a.m.
Wheel of Sun and Moon might be a good include. It allows for some graveyard disruption which is offensive and can also pair really well with mass/target removal as it puts all of your creature spells on the bottom of your library, fresh for Egg triggers to run into them.
October 2, 2019 5:53 p.m.
BioProfDude says... #11
I don't know anything about Commander, but I love the Pink Floyd reference in the name of the deck! +1 from me!
November 21, 2019 7:38 p.m.
But it was only fantasy The wall was too high As you can see No matter how he tried He could not break free And the worms ate into his brain
January 16, 2020 7:50 p.m.
I wish I could give more than one +1 because I see a wacky tribal (wurms) that I have always wanted to work but they just didn't. I see Atla, who is just one of my favourite Naya Commanders. I see an enormous amount of creativity, which I believe makes or breaks a deck. I do think you need Zendikar Resurgent and Cindervines in there.
Raven Rose
April 4, 2020 11:28 a.m.
Mirenheart says... #14
You could replace the Naya Charm with Boros Charm. For a Green mana less, you get a slightly bigger ping that also hits planeswalkers, a mass board wipe protection, or doublestrike on a single, powerful target.
April 27, 2020 6:56 a.m.
Mirenheart says... #15
Oops, forgot my second suggestion. After it comes out next month, if it doesnt end up being $20+ after a few weeks to a month, Luminous Broodmoth could be a good replacement for Sandwurm Convergence. Whenever a wurm dies to something, such as your own board wipe, it gains flying semi permanently, thus helping some with the flying issue, and providing cheap grave recursion.
April 27, 2020 7:02 a.m.
casual_competitive says... #16
wurm tribal? you madlad you actually did it. if youd like some thicker big boy worms you could add Coat of Arms and for dum instant win cards you could play Craterhoof Behemoth, Overwhelming Stampede, Triumph of the Hordes.
May 25, 2020 10:43 p.m.
TheMeadiator says... #17
I have a wurm deck and noticed the huge weakness to fliers too. I threw in Raking Canopy and it's honestly a life-saver!! If You had to remove something, I'd say Eladamri's Call since you cheat your creatures out from topdeck anyway.
Love the deck!! Fun stuff. Wurms are my favorite tribe.
June 27, 2021 11:54 p.m.
irish_trunks says... #18
So how's it playing overall for you? This deck looks hella fun and I love the idea of a really viable wurm tribal!
April 16, 2022 8:16 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #19
irish_trunks thanks for your interest. Unfortunately it hasn't made it to paper yet. it's in the WIP stack of projects... In testing here it can get out of hand pretty quickly. One thing it may need is more protection for Atla, because it is a bit reliant on her being out. Also in need of an update XD.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #1
Made some changes based on your suggestions, let me know what you think. Longish read condensed.
Changes
Burnished Hart --> Skyshroud Claim : The point was made that 6cmc for 2 lands is not optimal, so we reduced it to 4cmc.
Sakura-Tribe Scout --> Elvish Mystic : The former was included in case of an overflow of lands in hand. However a dork is always useful.
Advent of the Wurm --> Mirror Entity : Eggs = Instant creatures, Making everything an egg during a wipe is almost equivalent to someone casting Cyclonic Rift in your favor.
Crush of Wurms --> Congregation at Dawn : 21 mana total for 6 tokens... while flavorful it can't be hatched.
Urza's Incubator --> Ashnod's Altar : both cost the same, produce the same basically, the latter offers a sac outlet for eggs. (Still debating Thornbite Staff )
Wurmcoil Engine --> Nesting Dragon : Mostly to reduce the budget, increase fliers, and better synergy
Panglacial Wurm --> Gruul Ragebeast : Never have I ever... been able to cast the P- Wurm from the deck. Ragebeast will be in testing.
Discuss
Argothian Wurm : Early game goodness, late game could slow us down facing certain decks that can abuse lands.
Voracious Wurm : Pelakka Wurm and Mayael's Aria are our only instances of lifegain in the deck now (thought there was more) it is however the cheapest wurm in the deck. Replace with dork, or keep?
Saltskitter : Triggers Gruul Ragebeast , Elemental Bond , and Warstorm Surge potentially every turn. Too cute?
Naya's Charm: I have mixed feelings about. 3dmg to creature only feels like a waste. Returning a card from the yard could prove useful if commander tax adds up. Lastly and most used is clearing a path to swing. Should this slot be filled with a better removal spell, or is there worth I'm missing here?
Lurking Predators : Our new commander has a similar ability that's less annoying. Also its not a 'May' trigger so we could potentially be forced into casting our deck into a wipe.
Mayael's Aria : There's no other counter synergy in the deck, but bigger is always better. Surprise wincon? Slot in something better?
Garruk, Primal Hunter vs Vivien Reid : One or both? Garruk protects himself on the ground, draws cards, and makes a mess of Wurms. Vivian finds critters, destroys flyers (glaring weakness in the deck), and an emblem to boost our field. Both technically have the same turn clock to go off except Garruk can be used as a 5cmc one shot draw spell, whereas vivian can minus and have points remaining.
Something else I've been mulling over is what to replace these last 2/3 with... as they are no longer as useful, at least not all of them. Piper may have a use to stay being: a) it's a creature that can be egged, and b) with a haste enabler out it can be 5cmc for 2 creatures.
Belbe's Portal : 8cmc(5/t:3) investment for 1 creature limited to type.
Quicksilver Amulet : 8cmc (4/t:4) investment for 1 creature
Elvish Piper : still may have it's uses. 5cmc (4/t:1) investment, haste enabler preferred prior to casting.
September 4, 2019 1:50 p.m. Edited.