Commander Collection: Vapour Trail

Commander / EDH GWU (Bant)

Jurrane

Creature (33)

• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Displacer Kitten
• 1x Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Gilraen, Dunedain Protector
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Loyal Warhound
• 1x Moonshaker Cavalry
• 1x Mystic Snake
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Reflector Mage
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 1x Snapcaster Mage
• 1x Soulherder
• 1x Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Tempest Caller
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wood Elves

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Curse of the Swine

Land (35)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 3x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 4x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 6x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Talisman of Unity

Commander (1)

Instant (17)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Essence Flux
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Momentary Blink
• 1x Parting Gust
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Teleportation Circle

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{W}{U}{G} Introduction: Belinda Blinked {W}{U}{G}

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'Vapour Trail' is a Bant flicker deck, generating incremental value through flickering creatures that have enter the battlefield (ETB) effects. The goal of the deck is to get multiple uses from creatures who have a triggered ability when they enter play by flickering or blinking them (ie. momentarily removing them from play and returning them, thus allowing their ETB trigger to happen again). This can be a very powerful thing to do as, in this deck, creatures have been selected for the strength of their ETB effects, so when those effects happen multiple times they can often be game-breaking (and sometimes game-winning).

The fundamental principle of the deck is to out-value our opponents. We gain value from creature ETBs happening multiple times through blink effects, which will often allow us to operate more efficiently than our enemies. It is this efficiency that enables us to be successful as generating incremental value over the course of the game will lead to board states that benefit us and disrupt our opponents.

It's worth further defining what we mean by value in the context of this deck. Typically, when we play a creature with an ETB effect, that will happen just the once, when the creature enters play. By flickering or blinking that creature (I use the terms interchangably in this primer), we get to use their ETB over and over again. We can often do this at instant speed with cards like Cloudshift or Ephemerate, or activated abilities from Gilraen, Dunedain Protector, thus allowing choose the right moment for these ETBs to happen, which will generally be advantageous to us and/or disruptive to our opponents.

Generating value in this way can often be very mana efficient too. Casting Craterhoof Behemoth gets us a very powerful ETB (all our creatures get trample and +X/+X until end of turn, with X being the number of creatures we control), but it has a hefty cost of {5}{G}{G}{G} to play. However, once Craterhoof is in play, we can flicker it for just {W} with Ephemerate or Cloudshift and have that huge ETB trigger again for a fraction of Craterhoof's original casting cost. It's efficiency like that can allows us to outgrind our opponents and pull ahead on various axis, whether that's ramping for lands, drawing cards or boosting our creatures. Plus, any time a creature ETBs, one of Galadriel, Light of Valinor's three modes will trigger (until they're all used up for the turn). The result? Even more value.

If that wasn't enough, things really get going when cards like Panharmonicon and/or Teleportation Circle are in play, as their effects make our ETBs even more explosive, either by triggering twice with Panharmonicon or are regular sources of blink effects, like Displacer Kitten or Teleportation Circle.

Like what you see? Read the rest of this primer to find out more about how I built the deck, the card choices I've made and how it plays out in practise.

Commander Choice

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Early iterations of this deck had Roon of the Hidden Realm as Commander but unfortunately he's starting to show his age and has been outclassed by newer cards. Although she doesn't blink creatures herself, Galadriel, Light of Valinor has replaced Roon for this list and has added some important new dimensions to the deck. Her main benefit is the sheer amount of value she provides across the three modes of her triggered ability, giving us the option of setting up our draws and drawing a card; ramping with {G}{G}{G} or putting +1/+1 counters on each of our creatures, including herself.

While the best use of each of these modes will be situation dependent, I've found they have different levels of usefulness. The +1/+1 counters mode is generally the least beneficial as we're often flickering our creatures so any counters they've gained will disappear. However, the counters can still be helpful, especially if we need to beef up our team to deal with bigger attackers, or punch through for extra points of damage. Galadriel's ramp mode is excellent: it helps us pull away in the resources race and allows us to play our larger creatures much earlier. But the real value is her scry/draw ability, as having access to regular card draw from the coomand zone is exactly what this deck needed. As a result, this is usually the mode I choose first when Galadriel triggers.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

I classify this as one of my Tier 2 decks. It's pretty well tuned and over time I've optimised many of the card sections, including powerful finishers like Moonshaker Cavalry and Craterhoof Behemoth and building in a couple of infinite combos (see Winning the Game below). It's a highly efficient deck for casual tables and probably sits at the upper level of most casual pods. But it's a fun and interactive deck to play, it generally creates fun and dynamic game states and won't overpower most games in the first few turns. I'm usually happy to play it again unknown opponents but would have a Rule 0 conversation to let them know it runs infinite combos that are searchable with tutors.

Budget

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The value and efficiency this deck offers has come at a financial cost. The combination of a three-colour mana base, strong game-ending cards, combo pieces and the most powerful tutors in Bant colours means the average price for this deck is upwards of $650-$700 on Card Kingdom. It's definitely a high budget choice but, that said, like many of my decks it can be built more cheaply with budget cards replacing the more expensive ones. Here's a list of budget Roon options on EDHrec, which serves as a useful go-to for how to build a blink deck on a budget: https://edhrec.com/commanders/roon-of-the-hidden-realm/blink/budget

Winning the Game

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The perennial challenge with flicker or blink decks is that they often lack the tools to close out games, durdling around and incrementally gaining value but lacking a bit of punch. I've deliberately designed this deck to avoid this as, without strong game-ending conditions, it can be a bit directionless to play.

We have two main ways to win and both can be very effective. The first is to use Craterhoof Behemoth and Moonshaker Cavalry to punch through opposing defences. Each of these has a powerful ETB as a way of forcing through damage: Craterhoof gives all our creatures trample and Moonshaker gives our team playing. Both pump up our attackers, increasing the damage they inflict. Sometimes just playing them (and triggering their ETB once) will be enough. Other times we might have to flicker them to get the job done, either multiple times a turn or for consecutive turns. Either way, they're our main to break through board stalemates.

If Craterhoof or Moonshaker aren't going to do the trick (either we haven't drawn into them or we don't control enough creatures for them to be effective, we have access to the Heliod, Sun-Crowned // Walking Ballista (or Triskelion) infinite damage combo to win the game outright. There's the option of tutoring for various creatures with Worldly Tutor, Eladamri's Call, Enlightened Tutor, Recruiter of the Guard and Defense of the Heart, the latter of which can grab both Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Triskelion to go for the instant win if we can then activate Heliod's ability with {1}{W}. Tolaria West acts as a pseudo-tutor for Walking Ballista too.

It's also worth mentioning Defense of the Heart as a combo enabler. This absurdly powerful enchantment will trigger on our upkeep if one of our opponents has three or more creatures, allowing us to tutor for Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Triskelion for the instant win. All we need to have is {1}{W} available to active Heliod's lifelink ability and we're off to the races. Put simply, Defense of the Heart is a kill-on-sight card for our opponents as, if we play it and it sticks for a turn cycle, we're probably going to win the game.

Riding the Value Train

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Repeatedly flickering our creatures allows us to benefit from their ETB abiliies to create beneficial board states for us. There are too many different sources of blink or flicker effects to list them all, but they generally fit into two categories: either (1) single use instants or sorceries (Eerie Interlude, Ghostly Flicker, Cloudshift etc); or (2) multi-use permanents (Teleportation Circle, Displacer Kitten, Soulherder etc).

Regardless of the source, our blink and flicker effects enable us to gain advantages from ETBs in the following ways:

- Ramp: We are a resource-hungry deck as we generally need quite a lot of mana to power our combos and to help us come out of the blocks quickly in the early game. Although we run ten mana dorks and artifacts that are either mana rocks or provide other ramp options, some of our creatures also put lands into play when they enter the battlefield. These are Loyal Warhound, Knight of the White Orchid, Wood Elves and Coiling Oracle.

- Removal: Alongside some of the best removal spells in Bant colours (Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Generous Gift, Curse of the Swine, Pongify, Beast Within), a number of our creatures also double as removal when they hit the battlefield. Terastodon is the gold standard because of its versatility but it costs a lot of mana. Knight of Autumn and Reclamation Sage take care of enchantments and artifacts, as do any of our creatures if Aura Shards is in play.

- Card Draw: We have lots of useful repeatable ways of drawing cards, mostly generated by flickering creatures with card ETBs. Cloudblazer, Coiling Oracle, Elvish Visionary, Nadu, Winged Wisdom and Rumor Gatherer are all included for this purpose. Snapcaster Mage acts as pseudo card draw as it helps us get extra use from instants or sorceries in our graveyard.

- Stompy: If we want to win the game through combat, flickering Craterhoof Behemoth or Moonshaker Cavalry is our best option as multiple activations usually make our team unstoppable.

- Restricting Opponents: Several of our permanents are able to thwart our opponents’ plans due to the effects they generate when they enter play. We can use Tempest Caller or Stonehorn Dignitary to prevent enemy creatures attacking; and (Tempest Caller can also be used for offensive purposes to the clear the way of blockers, allowing our own creatures to attack unimpeded). Mystic Snake, Venser, Shaper Savant and Glen Elendra Archmage offer repeatable ways of countering our opponents’ spells. Agent of Treachery steals enemy permanents and can be a source of card draw too.

- Recursion: Snapcaster Mage, Sun Titan and Eternal Witness are great for getting multiple uses from key cards. Depending on the situation, they each become useful toolbox elements that help us answer different threats, or return key cards to the battlefield.

Playing the Deck

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I’m finding this a tricky deck to master as its combo lines can be quite complicated and it often leads to some challenging board states. More than any other of my decks, it needs a lot of practice and patience to play properly. While its great advantage is its flexibility, and its ability to control the board to cope with both offensive and defensive situations, this comes at a complexity cost and definitely takes some brain power. Finding the right tools for the right moment are absolutely key and can be easy to get wrong.

Our goal when piloting the deck is to control the board as much as possible, ramping in the early game to build up our resources and then managing play to generate game states that are beneficial to our plans. I would define its play style as somewhere between aggro, tempo and combo: we’re rarely an out-and-out aggressive deck, but we’re steadily gaining value over the course of the game, removing or mitigating our opponents’ threats and incrementally improving our board state until we’re ready to execute on one or more of our win conditions. As mentioned above: these win conditions are usually creature combat, involving either Craterhoof Behemoth or Moonshaker Cavalry, or tutoring for our infinite damage/lifegain combo at the right time.

Our main weakness is against fast aggressive decks, as aggressive opponents can often overwhelm us in the early game. We don’t run any boardwipes because our strategy is based so strongly around creatures. We tend to take over the board slowly and incrementally, which means very quick opposing decks can sometimes put us in an irretrievable position that we’re not capable of coming back from. We’re also vulnerable to mass removal, although this is less of a weakness as we run enough counterspells and blink effects that we can usually dodge enemy removal spells. However, if we don’t have an answer for opposing board wipes (Eerie Interlude, counterspells etc), then we’re well and truly stuck. Because of this, we have to be wary of overextending and it’s always worth keeping resources back in reserve, unless we have enough defensive measures to consolidate our board presence.

Upcoming Changes

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I've got this list to a stage where I'm pretty happy with it, so I don't forsee making any major changes unless new cards are released to upgrade my current choices. That said, I'd like to add Thassa, Deep-Dwelling as a repeatable blink source that's more difficult to remove than Teleportation Circle.

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Goodstuff

{B} Syr Konrad, the Grim {B}
Black Hole: Mono-Black Sacrifice/Aristocrats

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IV {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Hallar, the Firefletcher {R}{G}
Trailblazer: Gruul Kicker

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Heron's Grace {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Prime Speaker Zegana {U}{G}
Wicked Twister: Simic +1/+1 Counters

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Kess, Dissident Mage {U}{B}{R}
Mindbender: Grixis Discard

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Spirits Tribal

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

Date added	4 years
Last updated	6 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 1/1 W, Boar 2/2 G, Elephant 3-3 G, Fish 1/1 U
Folders	Galadriel Inspo