CEDH Fblthp the Contender

Commander / EDH Competitive Control Infinite Combo Mono-Blue

WalkerWaits

Mana (38)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x High Tide
• 15x Island
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Sol Ring

Tutor (10)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Reshape
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Whir of Invention

Draw (19)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Echo of Eons
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Gush
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Steal Enchantment
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x Teferi, Master of Time
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Verity Circle
• 1x Windfall

Stax/Removal (10)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Blink of an Eye
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Kasmina's Transmutation
• 1x Legacy's Allure
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Vedalken Shackles
• 1x Winds of Rebuke

Recursion (3)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary

Commander (1)

Counterspell (13)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song

Combo (6)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Goblin Cannon
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Proteus Staff
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth

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Sideboard

Other (22)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Daze
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Frogify
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Miscast
• 1x Monastery Siege
• 1x Mystical Dispute
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Stifle
• 1x Stoic Rebuttal
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Voltaic Key

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cEDH FBLTHP, THE CONTENDER

COMBOS

Fblthp, the Lost + Proteus Staff : in a deck with no creatures except fblthp, this combo allows you to reorder your entire deck and then draw the top two cards, starting any number of piles.
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth is the most likely pile, further utilized by either of two cards:
Basalt Monolith + Goblin Cannon + Rings of Brighthearth (infinite damage)
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top (draws your entire deck)
3+ mana rocks + Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter : Infinite mana for Goblin Cannon
Narset, Parter of Veils + Timetwister or any other wheel

Strategy

Our basic strategy is to assemble a win condition with Fblthp, the Lost + Proteus Staff . That said, if you have enough pieces that you can skip Fblthp's trademark Doomsday-esque combo, do so! What combo you pursue depends on what's in hand, mana on the board, and opponents' decks. If you have combo cards in hand or on the board, it frees you to retrieve more defensive interaction. After the two free cards from Fblthp entering play with the staff, Frantic Search and Gush will help you draw one extra card each, getting you 4 cards to victory. Gitaxian Probe is a tricky one -- it's very useful if you have it in hand before activating the staff, but is dangerous if you're relying on it not being countered to continue a combo. Generally, if you're fairly confident of a win, Pact of Negation, Frantic Search, Isochron Scepter, Gush, Dramatic Reversal, 0 cost mana rock/Force of Will should be the ideal top of your library, since once Dramatic Scepter with infinite mana is live, you can fblthp/staff as many times as you want. In a 1v1 competitive game, you might be better served fetching Trickbind than anything else, depending on the matchup. The point is that Fblthp and Staff make for a terrific tutor combo, and the rest of the plan is yours. It's not a deck with only one route, which is why I find it so fun. The turn you know you can get Fblthp/Staff off, you count your sources and figure out what line works best for your situation.
Generally, your end game when everything is drawn and played is:
Tap basalt monolith, adding 3 to your mana pool. Use that three to pay its activated ability 3: untap basalt monolith. Then pay 2 to double that activated ability with rings. Between untap triggers, you tap basalt an additional time. You're now gaining 1 colorless mana each untap. Let your opponent know you repeat the loop....10 million times. Then you can draw the deck by tapping divining top, using 2 mana to copy the ability with rings. 2 copies of top's ability go on the stack, drawing you the top card of your library, then putting top on top of the library...then drawing top itself. Replay top with your 10 million mana and let your opponent know you repeat the loop as many times as there are cards in your library. You now have access to all your combos and interaction, so you can bounce the entire board with cyclonic rift, hold up a full 14 counterspells for defense, and drop cannon for the win. Equally good is dramatic scepter for infinite blue mana, which, if you searched for it with staff+fblthp, also means infinite draw due to using staff as many times as you want. You end the game with Goblin Cannon, using Karn/wheels/academy ruins/buried ruin to retrieve it from wherever it's run off to.

IF YOU'RE NOT USING PROXIES OR RICH

The biggest penalty is less tutors. We really, really need as many tutors as possible in this deck, as without our combo on the board, it just kinda flops around. Drawn from Dreams, Fact or Fiction, etc, can work as budget versions of tutors, but know you'll see a significant drop in power level. If you're picking where to spend money, spend it on tutors so the deck can still work as intended. Fancier counterspells and wheels are great, but always play to the level of your table. Time Reversal is just as good as Timetwister if that's your table's power level.

WHY GOBLIN CANNON? and other questionable choices/possible questions addressed

Well, the same reason you play Fblthp in the first place: because you can and it's hilarious. But also: it does seem to be the most efficient card to profit off either scepter or rings. Cannon works off either easily, whereas Jace or Reservoir don't necessarily. Cannon is the only card that works off everything, can be recurred from graveyard or exile with ease, and is also, as mentioned, hilarious. The tough thing with combo decks is being both streamlined in your focus and also having the fewest dead cards. Many Fblthp builds use a lot of subpar in slot cards like reality shift, capsize, or codex shredder, hoping to have one of these cards in hand when they combo, and can be used up until that point as needed. But in 100 card doomsday, it doesn't make sense to hold poor versions of cards, rather than lose 1/99 for something truly useless until the combo turn. Fblthp struggles with its restrictions -- no creatures and mono-blue is a difficult build-around. We basically can't afford to take the additional hit of poor card quality. So, even if you're skeptical, give it a try -- you might be surprised.

That said, there's some other wackadoodle choices in this list. Teferi, Master of Time, Teferi's Ageless Insight and Mirrormade are, basically, insane, as anyone will tell you. They're tests is all I can say. The format has slowed down massively with the banning of flash and the addition of more free and one cost hard hitting counterspells. Enchantment-heavy draw engines are everywhere, and Fblthp wants a cut. Remains to be seen if any of them are acceptable in the current meta.

Other stupid things I'm doing: Narset, Parter of Veils is...questionable. We have no defenders, and she's flimmmsy. We're running a few wheels, hoping for profit, but it's a long shot in a deck that needs consistency. While many people do run Narset in Fblthp, it's a dangerous play. If you're in a creature-heavy meta, or notice her being too expensive for her return, don't hesitate to cut. If you cut Narset, consider cutting Windfall -- we're rarely the fastest deck to empty our hands, preferring a slow control buildup. Especially if you have decks like Najeela or Kinnan in your pod, you may find you're drawing your opponents more cards than yourself...CUT IT!

Darksteel Citadel and Seat of the Synod are highly questionable choices for the sake of Mox Opal and sacrifice targets for our artifact tutors. If you see Null Rod/Karn, the Great Creator in your pod frequently, swap 'em for plain old islands immediately.

Kasmina's Transmutation and Legacy's Allure are tough calls. Legacy has the hope of adding serious value to your board, but it's dreadfully slow. Has the format slowed down enough to accommodate it? Probably not, but it's worth a try. Transmutation (or Frogify), on the other hand, is totally worth it in this slower world. Really ruining najeela, gitrog, emry, edric, and other commander-first decks' day, it buys much more time than a Pongify. That said, if it ain't workin for you, it ain't working. I recommend adding more bounce spells like Into the Roil and Cyclonic Rift before you add creatures-only removal like Pongify. Remember, we care more about winning than hazing opponents on the way to winning, and stax pieces can really ruin Thp's big day out.

And remember -- this deck IS built with a particular meta in mind. If you bring this to an 8 person casual commander table where everyone plays Good Stuff with no theme, you could legitimately lose despite having the most competitive deck, because you're playing outside of what the deck is supposed to do. Against a table of top tier cEDH decks, Fblthp can win it all.

There are several Fblthp decks on Tapped Out. Very few seem to really have much faith in the blue dude, so let me say clearly that this deck can hold its own. Maybe that's obvious from the quality of cards in the deck, but even a budget version is a huge powerhouse. Mono-blue, regardless of the helm, can perform well, and fblthp is a unique commander. His synergy with mono-blue's rock-heavy build and pile combos makes him a surprise heavy hitter.

The world needs more Fblthps, so build yours today. Hope my list helped you!

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter Fblthp, the Lost + Proteus Staff Narset, Parter of Veils + Timetwister Basalt Monolith + Goblin Cannon + Rings of Brighthearth
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 9 Rares 20 - 11 Uncommons 25 - 2 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.04
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G
Folders	Deck Idears