Crafty Token Explosions

Commander / EDH Combo Four Color Multiplayer RGWU Storm Tokens

Monti_Jones

Land (30)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flood Plain
• 2x Forest
• 1x Grasslands
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Holdout Settlement
• 4x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Mountain Valley
• 3x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Survivors' Encampment

Draw (7)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Symbiotic Deployment
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Finisher (4)

• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Haze of Rage
• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Kyren Negotiations

Recursion (3)

• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Seasons Past

Goodstuff (1)

• 1x Isochron Scepter

Token (15)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Benevolent Offering
• 1x Decree of Justice
• 1x Khalni Garden
• 1x Kher Keep
• 1x Kykar, Wind's Fury
• 1x March of the Multitudes
• 1x Parallel Lives
• 1x Raise the Alarm
• 1x Rith's Charm
• 1x Secure the Wastes
• 1x Sprout Swarm
• 1x Sram's Expertise
• 1x Tempt with Vengeance
• 1x Young Pyromancer

Ramp (13)

• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Harvest Season
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Magus of the Candelabra
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Skyshroud Elf
• 1x Xenagos, the Reveler
• 1x Zhur-Taa Druid

Untap (7)

• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Intellectual Offering
• 1x Intruder Alarm
• 1x Jeskai Ascendancy
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x To Arms!

Tutor (3)

• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Supply / Demand
• 1x Wargate

Commanders (2)

Removal (11)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Artifact Mutation
• 1x Aura Mutation
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Martial Coup
• 1x Negate
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Sylvan Reclamation

Powerup (4)

• 1x Citanul Hierophants
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Song of Freyalise

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Earthcraft is a hell of a card. No wonder it is banned in Legacy, the thing is totally broken! So broken, it needs to have a deck built around it. Get ready for an unusual mix of tokens, spell slinging and a lot of tapping.

How the deck started out: Show

A few years back I managed to pick up a cheap Earthcraft. Unfortunately I never found the right place for it. When Paradox Engine was printed I immediately thought about Earthcraft again. From there it was only a small step towards Jeskai Ascendancy but the challenges began right there. Is it even possible to build a spell based deck that can abuse Earthcraft? I think I found a way.

How the Deck is built: Show

Abusing Earthcraft should be the main goal of the deck. The dream setup for this involves enough creatures in play, a way to generate mana with them and a way to untap all of them. From there on out finding the win is only a matter of card draw. Tokens are the way to go if you want the most creatures per mana invested. To generate mana Earthcraft is, of course, the easiest way but Cryptolith Rite is comparable. Untapping is the tricky part. Paradox Engine is good, Jeskai Ascendancy is better, Intruder Alarm is busted but all of them trigger slightly differently. Only non-creature spells that create tokens fit all three of them. I went with instant speed tokens where I could, not only to give them pseudo haste but also to dodge some board wipes. In combination with a bit of instant speed interaction the deck plays a nice draw-go game until it explodes.

What the deck is trying to do: Show

The deck is a spell based combo deck using tokens as a way to generate mana or as a win condition. Watch your opponents trying to figure out what you are doing just to realize it's too late to stop you. With a confusing but powerful engine (pun very much intended) this deck will win out of nowhere with a bang! I consider this deck highly optimized for what it is trying to achieve. A soldid 8/10 on a scale of power level.

How the deck plays out: Show

To start out we need to get the mana situation handled. Dorks like Avacyn's Pilgrim not only generate more mana but also help with the colour fixing. The commander follows the same principle while generating card advantage too. Come mid game holding back and helping the table with removal can be a good way to distract them from your true goal. If you need a blocker use a small token spell to hide your full potential. You are ready to go off if you can start the turn with about 5 dorks and have a way to either untap them or draw a lot of cards like Skullclamp.

How the deck wins: Show

As a combo deck you rely on that one explosive turn that makes all the pieces fall into their places and you puzzle out your win. All the winning combinations involve tokens - the more, the better. Every card giving a tap ability to creatures can be a win condition. Untapping all your creatures means unlocking your win. The single parts are pretty much interchangeable and the following combos stand as an example for what you could do with them:

• Intruder Alarm + Kyren Negotiations + Sprout Swarm : Intruder Alarm is just absurd in this deck. Mostly does what you want times the amount of tokens you make.

• Haze of Rage + Jeskai Ascendancy : Draw your deck and pump your team with at least 4 dorks. While Haze of Rage isn't the best, it fits the theme an can even sneak a win on its own. Plus, it is the only card that has Buyback and Storm which is an inherently stupid combination in itself.

• Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter : Goes infinite with 3 dorks in play. It's a cEDH staple by now and fits well with the strategy, so no reason not to play it. Add a Zhur-Taa Druid and you have the fastest and funniest kill with this deck.

• Beast Within + Reality Shift + Seasons Past : Only works with infinite mana and card draw. You can Beast all the permanents on the table by recuring with Seasons if you can draw it again. After that you can Shift the all the libraries too. This is my "show me how you win" combo if my opponents don't give up on infinite mana and draw.

How the Deck loses: Show

Like every combo deck your whole game plan can get wrecked by one well timed Counterspell. The better your opponents know what you are trying to do, the better they can stop you. Don't give them the chance, try to be tricky and force those counterspells out. Cards like Gaddock Teeg or Arcane Laboratory are a pain to play around, but it can be done. However there are two creatures that fundamentally destroy our complete game plan: Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. The deck needs tokens and needs to cast multiple non-creature spells to win. Removing those should be always top priority

Tested Cards

Paradox Engine: started out the deck idea, banned (RIP)

Opposition: very slow, paints a target on your head

Glare of Subdual: very slow, taping artifacts is almost useless

Quest for Renewal: good card, became useless with the switch to full combo

Shared Discovery: tapping creatures is like tapping mana for this deck, 3 cards for 5 mana is not great

Mine Excavation: didn't have enough targets, never was the 2-for-1 I imagined

Faces of the Past: too narrow, too hard to trigger

Spawning Pit: don't need the sac, not often usefull

The Great Aurora: played it for the whole deck once, felt mediocre even then, been there - done that

Burn at the Stake: is a pain to cast, kills only 1 opponent

Fires of Yavimaya: thought I needed haste, I don't

Sky Hussar: slow, high CMC for the untap

Chord of Calling: only 1 good target

Fatestitcher: too high CMC for a dork, thought it would combo nicely with Isochron Scepter

Dictate of Heliod: wanted to play through Elesh Norn, just removing her is better

Natural Affinity: turning lands into creatures has too many downsides

Second Harvest: win more card

Unifying Theory: too risky, too fancy for its own good

Secrets of the Golden City: was ok, just not great

Increasing Devotion: good cost effectiveness, high mana cost nonetheless

Previous Version: Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

In its first stage this deck was a much slower and more fragile. Cards like Opposition and Glare of Subdual should give me time and board control. Quest for Renewal and Seedborn Muse kept the untaps going. I had to fool around, giving my opponents cards or ramp with my commander, until I found The Great Aurora or Burn at the Stake to finally finish them off, if pinging them with 1/1s wasn't enough. The idea of a token based lockdown deck sounds fancy, but is just too easily disrupted by removal of any kind. Imagine playing a control deck that doesn't want to play board wipes. The deck felt best, when I found a way to combo off with an untap effect like Paradox Engine. Tons of tokens, enough mana for any spell I would ever want to cast, but just not enough ways to use them because I ran out of cards too fast. The natural conclusion was to get rid of all the lockdown stuff and get a good mana sink. Switching to Thrasios, Triton Hero was a given, once I knew what the deck needed.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter Beast Within + Reality Shift + Seasons Past Intruder Alarm + Kyren Negotiations + Sprout Swarm Haze of Rage + Jeskai Ascendancy
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Beast 3/3 G, Elemental 1/1 R, Elemental 1/1 R w/ Haste, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Manifest 2/2 C, Plant 0/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Satyr 2/2 GR, Servo 1/1 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Spirit 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W
Folders	To play test, Interesting decks, Commander, Competitivo, Excellent Primer, WUBG, copy/paste, Idée, Other Decks I Like, Cool