Bottle Grotto (Círdan EDH)

Commander / EDH Enchantment Group Hug GU (Simic) Join forces Primer Scry Venture Into the Dungeon

Jokulmorder1

Creature (34)

• 1x Aarakocra Sneak
• 1x Avenging Hunter
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blossom Prancer
• 1x Borderland Explorer
• 1x Braids, Conjurer Adept
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Colossal Skyturtle
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Eidolon of Blossoms
• 1x Faerie Seer
• 1x Feywild Caretaker
• 1x Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist
• 1x Heartwood Storyteller
• 1x Herald of the Pantheon
• 1x Hunted Troll
• 1x Imoen, Mystic Trickster
• 1x Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
• 1x Kibo, Uktabi Prince
• 1x Magus of the Vineyard
• 1x Maraleaf Pixie
• 1x Nullmage Advocate
• 1x Nylea's Colossus
• 1x Poison Dart Frog
• 1x Pursued Whale
• 1x Sailmonger
• 1x Scrapshooter
• 1x Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
• 1x Sigiled Starfish
• 1x Tidal Barracuda
• 1x Trickster's Elk
• 1x Troublemaker Ouphe
• 1x Undermountain Adventurer
• 1x Veteran Explorer

Enchantment (15)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1x Fecundity
• 1x Heartbeat of Spring
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Kitnap
• 1x Omen of the Sea
• 1x Rites of Flourishing
• 1x Root Maze
• 1x Seal of Primordium
• 1x Soothsaying
• 1x Stratus Walk
• 1x Upwelling
• 1x Wolfcaller's Howl

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Barroom Brawl
• 1x Collective Voyage
• 1x Dubious Challenge
• 1x Explore the Underdark
• 1x Minds Aglow
• 1x New Frontiers
• 1x Preordain

Instant (6)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Mystic Reflection
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Setessan Tactics
• 1x Smuggler's Surprise

Commander (1)

Land (32)

• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dreamroot Cascade
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 12x Forest
• 8x Island
• 1x Quandrix Campus
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rivendell
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Vineglimmer Snarl

Artifact (4)

• 1x Anvil of Bogardan
• 1x Dungeoneer's Pack
• 1x Ghirapur Orrery
• 1x Sol Ring

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• Archetype: Group hug
• Subthemes: Initiative, Enchantments, Politics
• Planar Flavor: The Forgotten Realms, Eldraine, Middle-earth
• Basic Land Art: Lush, glowing, sultry

You Take the Initiative

Initiative is a dense mechanic from the second Commander Legends set. It's a value-accumulation designation like The Monarch, but the reward is room triggers from a special bonus dungeon.

Notably, while "you become the monarch" effects are redundant if you're already monarch, additional "take the initiative" effects let you venture again, even if you already have the initiative.

Also, because taking the initiative starts you off on the Undercity dungeon or into the next room of whatever dungeon you're already in, you can play AFR venture cards together with initiative cards. If your goal is to get into the Undercity specifically, timing venture effects with initiative can be a little awkward.

The "optimal" initiative strategy calls for abusing initiative triggers and denying your opponents access to the Undercity's value. This could entail some mix of the following:

• "Take the initiative" in the command zone

• Deterring or preventing attacks against you with rattlesnake and pillowfort cards

• Evasive attackers to snipe back the initiative when you do lose it

• Blink effects to reuse ETB "take the initiative" triggers

• Narrow support cards to double your venture triggers

Or, ideally,

• An engine to infinitely loop venture triggers and get all the life loss, mana, cards, and creatures you need to seal the deal

That's how Sefris usually does it, anyway.

But the "optimal" approach left me cold. This is a neat social dynamic to introduce into a multiplayer game, let's approach it as such!

Undercity Meets Group Hug

The goal is to bring about a gamestate where each player is amply supplied with cards, mana, and the ability to take the initiative each turn from the previous player.

To land one of the dozen-ish initiative cards early, you can mulligan aggressively OR make use of our bevy of scry and card draw options to find one.

Círdan rules, btw. The real result of our first secret council vote was unanimous enjoyment. The minigame is this: everyone is incentivized to vote for the player who least benefits from getting fueled up with cards but also shows the greatest danger of plopping down a scary permanent, OR to vote for themselves and draw a card (but not play a permanent). What you choose can vary based on the other decks at the table, and the dynamics of the current turn and game. Sometimes three people all vote for one person to keep them from Show and Telling a threat, and end up Ancestral Recalling them instead. It's fun as heck.

Neat Moves

Dubious Challenge is terrible, but it’s a fun political card and can dig for an initiative creature (so long as you're okay with the possibility of your opponent starting with it).

Rule Zero Corner

This deck does utilize a card that breaks color identity rules: Kibo, Uktabi Prince. I couldn't resist including him for the banana group hug, and in this Simic deck the red pip may as well be colorless to me.

If the pod objects I can swap Kibo out for a land or something, but no one has ever objected.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	1 month
Exclude colors	WBR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.82
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Banana, Cat 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Dungeon: Undercity, Faerie 1/1 U, Faerie Dragon 1/1 U, Foretell, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Human 2/2 G, Pirate 1/1 R, Salamander Warrior 4/3 U, Skeleton 4/1 B, The Initiative, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	EDH current decks