...Beautiful? Absolutely. Harmless? Definitely not." -Fyndhorn elder
This was my first EDH deck and is my pride and joy. Some cards are Portugese and Itialian because I am Portugese, Italian, and Irish. The deck is personal to me and my taste. Enjoy!
The deck uses landfall by utilizing Karametra's ability. This deck will make your opponents fear land! And when land is 40% of your deck, every card is a threat!
So here's the breakdown!
Landfall
"When the land is angry, so are they." -Nissa Revane
Admonition Angel: This card is a huge asset to this deck, I'm not running a whole lot of spot removal so this card can help with that. Admonition Angel + Boundless Realms or Collective Voyage is the equivalent of a board wipe. This creature is going to have a huge target on it so be sure to exile some of your own stuff too so that when it dies, if it dies, you can get value out of it as well. There have been times where I have exiled Eternal Witness or Avenger of Zendikar to make my opponents think twice about getting rid of it. Try to also keep a fetch land at the ready to respond with.
Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar, Emeria Angel, Retreat to Emeria: TOKENS TOKENS TOKENS! Combine with Parallel Lives and Boundless Realms or Collective Voyage for a huge board presence. Follow up with a Craterhoof Behemoth to finish your opponents off.
Lotus Cobra, Courser of Kruphix: life gain and mana ramp
Emeria Shepherd: With a fetch land at the ready this card can become instant speed recursion for free.
Tireless Tracker:This card allows you to draw an insane amount of cards to late into the game.
Getting Land Out
So many ways to do this in this deck but here are a few!
Nature grows solutions to its problems.
Knight of the Reliquary: Able to pump itself up and also cycle basic lands for fetch lands. Sacrifice a Forest to get a Windswept Heath and then fetch+land for turn=three landfall triggers in one turn. Also works really well with Titania, Protector of Argoth
Courser of Kruphix, Oracle of Mul Daya, Rites of Flourishing, Burgeoning, and Exploration: Play additional lands on your turns either from your hand or from the top of your library.
Collective Voyage, Boundless Realms, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Hour of Promise: Cheat more land into play through spells and permanents!
Azusa, Lost but Seeking: Another way to play multiple lands in one turn. Azusa, Lost but Seeking + Crucible of Worlds + Titania, Protector of Argoth
is a pretty nice combination.
Karametra, God of Harvests: Remember that her ability is a casting ability so if you cast a landfall creature you wont get the landfall trigger with Karametra. I know that doesn't seem as good but trust me, she pays off. It should also be pointed out that her text does not say basic forest or plains which means she can get
Temple Garden
, Dryad Arbor, Canopy Vista, and Mistveil Plains.
Protection
Those who seek to disturb the harmony of life will see their instruments taken from them.
Like I said before there isn't a whole lot of spot removal so we cant afford to fall behind and need ways to protect your stuff. Cards like Leyline of Sanctity, Avacyn, Privileged Position, Sigarda, Host of Herons,
Yavimaya Hollow
, and Archetype of Endurance are good ways to do that. I know Archetype of Endurance has a high CMC in comparison to something like Asceticism but its important to point out that depending on what kind of tutor you have in your hand you can either get a creature or an enchantment that does the same thing; that's the advantage of running a card like Archetype of Endurance.
Tutoring
"I can call an army to my side in the blink of an eye. Best not blink."
There are only a handful of Landfall creatures here so you need ways to get them out of the deck and onto the battlefield faster than drawing them out OR maybe you already have them out and you need to find answers to protect them.
Tooth and Nail: There are many combinations of cards you can get with this card to include a game winning Avenger+Craterhoof.
Enlightened Tutor, Chord of Calling, Green Sun's Zenith, and Fierce Empath: Find the answer you need! But remember that Green Sun's Zenith can only get green creatures, no Avacyn or Admonition Angel.
Removal
The smallest seed of regret can bloom into redemption
The Removal package here is small but efficient.
Wrath of God and End Hostilities: These are our two sweepers. Since this is a creature reliant deck we'll probably only be firing these off if we're really far behind or have Avacyn on the battlefield. If you're wondering why I play End Hostilities over the 4CMC Day of Judgment, it's because of the extra utility I get from End Hostilities to break up voltron decks by destroying swords, auras ect..
Path to Exile and
Swords to Plowshares
: These are our only instant speed answers to threats, again, we don't want to waste these on just any threat. Admonition Angel could also be considered instant speed removal if we have a way to get a land into play at instant speed with a fetch or something like Knight of the Reliquary. Not saying it's always going to be a good play but I've Pathed one of my own creatures before to keep it from being stolen and got a Landfall trigger out of it. The land from Path is relevant in our deck.
Last but not least we have Oblivion Ring, Cast Out, and Aura Shards: Oblivion Ring and Cast Out are kind of our catch all for tricky permanents like Darksteel Forge. Aura Shards does serious work against commanders like Sydri, Galvanic Genius, Daxos the Returned, and any voltron deck.
How To Play!
This section will go over what you're looking for in the early turns to make this deck effective.
Don't be afraid to keep a 4-5 land hand! Land doesn't last long in your hand with cards like Exploration and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. I also like having a solid two and three drop that can either ramp or draw cards like Sylvan Library, Lotus Cobra, and Courser of Kruphix. try not to keep anything over 5CMC, you want the top of your curve in your opening hand to be something like Mirari's Wake.
In groups you can more or less take your time getting set up by turn 5-8 but in one on one you really need to be set up and casting big spells by turn 4-5. You can do this by making sure you have an effect that allows you to play extra lands on your turn like Rites of Flourishing or attain extra mana for free like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Lotus Cobra. If you don't then at least have the tutors to find them otherwise you should really consider pitching the hand because whatever you do have in your hand will be too slow.
Optimally you want a turn 1 Exploration that can turn into a turn 2 Oracle of Mul Daya. Then on turn 3 you can cast something like Mirari's Wake and have access to up to 16 mana on turn 4. That's a pretty explosive start but this is more or less the line of play your looking for in a one on one situation. After a set up like this anything goes, Avenger of Zendikar into a Craterhoof Behemoth or Admonition Angel and Boundless Realms in the same turn, so on and so forth.
So remember, the best way to have a good start is to have ways to ramp fast, draw cards, and tutor. Get set up by turn 4-5 and then have fun! This deck is very interactive and can play any number of ways depending on what your opponent is doing so don't be afraid to take a unique path. Sure I could Defense of the Heart for Avacyn, Angel of Hope and Archetype of Endurance every time but why not have some fun and mix it up with something like Knight of the Reliquary and Titania, Protector of Argoth instead. There are lots of fun ways to win with this deck so experimenting with other combinations can be fun and rewarding as a player and for the group your playing with.
Some other fun interesting combinations:
Amulet of Vigor + Karametra, God of Harvests
-Use that land immediately!
Undiscovered Paradise
-Landfall trigger on each turn guaranteed!
Avacyn, Angel of Hope + board wipe ie Wrath of God, End Hostilities
Evolutionary Leap + Tokens -Sacrifice small tokens to get bigger better stuff out of your deck.
Crucible of Worlds + Titania, Protector of Argoth
Amulet of Vigor + Thawing Glaciers
Knight of the Reliquary + Titania, Protector of Argoth
Emeria Shepherd + Sakura-Tribe Elder
- This a fun way to get every plains out of your deck in one turn. Sacrifice Sakura-Tribe Elder to get a plains and then return it to the battlefield with Emeria Shepherd, rinse, repeat.
I'm against any real land destruction cards like Armageddon in commander but having a single Ghost Quarter isn't too bad to take out lands like Gaea's Cradle or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.The real funny part is when you Ghost Quarter yourself to get a landfall trigger, no one will see that coming.
Cloudstone Curio can produce all sorts of fun combos as simple as bouncing lands to get more landfall triggers or bouncing Oblivion Ring, Eternal Witness, Avenger of Zendikar, Craterhoof Behemoth, Sun Titan, and Fierce Empath. With a 'play an extra land' effect in play you could tap Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for devotion, play a land to bounce Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, play it and tap for devotion again.
This deck is ever growing and changing so comments, suggestions, and +1 support are always appreciated!
Thanks!