Earth Benders of the Multiverse (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Earth Benders of the Multiverse

Commander / EDH Amulet Titan Infinite Combo Primer RG (Gruul)

Mennenth

CoreLandfall (5)

CoreLands (7)

Cowbell (11)

EarthBender (7)

Explore (3)

Lands (15)

Meta (14)

Nectar (7)

ProtectionRecursion (4)

Tutors (15)

UtilityLands (11)

Commander (1)

Sideboard

Other (9)

Maybeboard

Other (10)

Welcome, to the lands combo deck that I describe as "Brago, if Brago was the Gruul love child of eggs and amulet bloom".

I've been brewing Mina since they were spoiled, and she has become my absolute favorite deck. For those that have kept up with this tapped out list since day 1, you'll notice I've changed it over time. Its gone from being heavy on landfall to being much more combo centric to as powerful as I can make. I call said combo the "Earth Bender" combo, due to the nature of manipulating Sunscorched Desert for the win. Mina is basically MtG's Toph.

Since this is a primer of sorts, there is a ton of information. I've tried to break it down into sections for easy reading.

Intro/History Show

My MtG history; Getting into EDH

A little more than 2 years ago I started playing EDH as the only format I played. I had played MtG in the past and had dabbled in a lot of the other formats, but I had stopped playing for a while. My brother got me back into the game by introducing me to edh.

My first few decks sucked, as was to be expected for a new edh player. But during my first year back I fell in love with the landfall mechanic; one that I had missed out on during my hiatus from the game.

So I wanted a landfall deck! Around this time Battle For Zendikar was out, so it was a perfect time to make one. However, Omnath, Locus of Rage wasnt very inspiring to me. Creating large tokens on landfall wasnt new, and while the bolts for death triggers were cool it just felt... too linear for my liking (though to be fair I recognize his deck is also quite powerful). Luckily spoiler season for Oath of the Gatewatch was right around the corner, and Mina and Denn were unveiled. Being able to bounce lands was something that intrigued me about Patron of the Moon, but I've always been a green player at heart.

It was a perfect match! As has been mentioned, the deck started off as landfall tribal and turnign the value up to 10 by making sure I get all possible triggers every turn, but has since evolved into an all in combo deck centered around lands.

Why Mina and Denn, not another Gruul or lands matter commander?

Every other gruul commander tends to be pretty beat face with their strategy. I had fun with that back in the day, but wanted something different in similar colors moving forward. You can build Mina and Denn as a gruul stompy deck as you get some of that with Denn's trample side of the effect; my very first iteration and recommended extreme budget build is just that, ammassing all the landfall beaters and trampling over everything. However, Mina brings the ability to bounce lands to gruul; something that was only in blue previously as mentioned with Patron. This opens up a ton of potential for some crazy shenanigans. Ultimately I feel Mina and Denn are much more of a Johnny commander instead of Timmy, and my brother has called it the bluest non-blue deck he has seen.

As for other lands commanders... Honestly none of them appeal to me that much. Sure The Gitrog Monster is much more competitive being faster in the combo as well as its combo is much harder to stop, but thats where playstyle is also important. That damn frog pitches lands to fuel its engine. I don't necessarily like that. I like playing lands. And playing lands. And replaying lands. The other side of the coin is the meta. Mine is high powered, but not full on cedh. Mina and Denn's combo build does reasonably well here. Its neither the strongest nor the weakest deck at the table, and has claimed more tables than might be expected.

Other lands matter commanders in more colors are also alluring; I like the idea in particular of being in bant for access to Knight of the Reliquary and some of the powerful combo enabling landfall effects in blue like Retreat to Coralhelm. However, no Bant commander does quite what Mina does. The same is true for any other commander in multiple color combinations. There are interesting options to be sure, but ultimately I don't like the idea of losing the all important land bounce in the command zone.

Who is this deck for?

You should play this deck if:

You like lands!

You like involved combo's!

You like non traditional paths to victory!

You like a lot of moving parts/stack interactions!

You like a deck to have a lot of synergy!

You are willing to practice with the deck a lot to avoid 20 minute turn misplays...

You shouldnt play this deck if

Combo's are not your thing, especially ones that take some thought.

Stack interactions? JUST BEAT THEM IN THE FACE!!!

Non traditional doesnt excite you as much as the tried and true.

You don't want to spend time play testing to learn the ins and outs of the deck.

Gruul lands? why not the other options?

Explaining most of the deck Show

The Thesis of the Deck

This deck wants to use the cream of the crop landfall effects to get value, then use Mina to bounce cream of the crop lands and replay them to get even more value. Essentially, take a linear progression curve, make it exponential with landfall, make it super nova with lands that also do things. By constantly bouncing and replaying, it is possible to out value your opponents or get to a position where combo-ing off is possible. Its a highly synergistic deck with runaway effects that sometimes crosses the line into eggs territory, being a puzzle to solve every game and ends in a glorious cardboard rube goldberg machine.

Core Landfall

This deck is light on landfall effects as the focus is honestly more on the lands being bounced. However, the "cream of the crop" of landfall are present. These do not worry about simple p/t buffs or evasion that vanishes into nothing at the end of the turn, barely leaving a mark on the game. These effects either generate mana, draw cards, or threaten to win the game. They do the job every deck needs (mana, draw, threats), and they do that job well.

Lotus Cobra is good landfall based ramp, especially with an exploration effect in the command zone. With the ability to come down early, snek gets it done.

Tireless Tracker is really good. While the goal isn't for her to go tall, she gives us a ton of clue tokens. This is a potent draw engine, as well as providing artifacts to turn on Inventors' Fair.

Nissa, Vital Force is not landfall herself, but since we really only care about her emblem she basically is. Not having to pay any mana at all and being a may clause is a cut above both the tracker in the draw engine. Also she can untap a land on the turn she comes in, so overall this version of Nissa is my favorite.

Avenger of Zendikar is an obvious landfall monster. Coming down, generating 10+ plant tokens, and then buffing them up to absurdity is so good. The plant tokens can also be used for Skullclamp prior to being buffed for another draw engine, or Natural Order to get a needed creature.

Omnath, Locus of Rage can snowball out of control quickly. Some say he deserves to be the commander of the deck, and I agree with the stipulation that the deck he leads is vastly different than the deck Mina leads. Still, he is a monster of a threat and easily finds inclusion in this deck.

It is worth it to note at this point that I've actually been considering pulling Avenger and/or Omnath out of the deck. By themselves they dont add anything to the combo, and are a huge mana investment that paints a target on my head. Unless I need a creature to clamp or order away for something better, they just dont do enough for the deck overall. Yes, they can win the game if the army somehow manages to get large enough, but if you want to talk win conditions... the lands have you covered. As I see it they are two slots for potential maybeboard testing (covered later).

Core Lands

These lands want to be bounced for additional value, above and beyond most other lands. There are not a lot of them, but they do some serious work.

Khalni Garden is rather simple; it gives us plant tokens. And even more if we bounce and replay. It may seem cute, but as mentioned with the Avenger gives fodder for skullclamp and natural order. Biggest downside is etb tapped, but imo its fine. This deck takes a moment to get going anyway, so the early game problem isnt actually that bad. And by mid to late game this decks mana cup overfloweth, making the etb tapped clause not a huge issue (effectively pay a G for a landfall trigger + token, which is fine by me!)

Mosswort Bridge. I am absolutely stunned that only slightly less than 30% of Mina and Denn decks on edhrec have this land. Perhaps people are all "but it etb's tapped, and there is a hoop to jump through to get it to turn on so clearly it isnt good!" Bollocks. Straight up bollocks. I'll go into more detail later as to why in order to keep this section a bit shorter.

Gaea's Cradle. I don't think I need to speak on how good Cradle is. It can infinite mana combo with some other cards, but barring that as long as it generates 2 or more + you have land plays + mountains available for the red to bounce = it can ramp you pretty significantly. It wins games.

Sunscorched Desert is the primary wincon of the deck, as the payoff for the "Earth Bender" combo. Basically, by bouncing and replaying it over and over you can kill the table. It sounds slow, but the other half of the "Earth Bender" combo is infinite landfall. 1 damage per trigger sound weak, but when you have infinite triggers it wins the game.

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle serves a dual purpose. It can hit creatures where the desert cannot, making it good removal if you can bring it online in a timely manner. It also serves as a back up win condition to the desert, allowing any mountain to be bounced and replayed ad infinitum for the victory.

Glacial Chasm isn't an all-star by any means, but it does want to be bounced. Being able to drop it end of your turn then bounce before your turn begins so you can still attack is definitely a thing that can be done, and so earns an honorary spot on the list.

Gruul Turf. Usually the ravnica bounces aren't considered for higher end play, but in Mina the Turf finds a home. It can bounce itself, taps for more than 1 mana, can enter untapped with the Hierophant or Amulet for absurd ramping, and mana fixes. As such it earns an honorary spot on the list. The original Karoo's have nothing on the ravnica bounces.

Other Notable/Utility lands

Kessig Wolf Run as a 3rd win condition. Makes wereplants, which I find the visual of that kinda funny. Or just 'tron out with Mina and Denn themselves.

Dark Depths I used to not run it. But Rishkar's Expertise is a thing, and I love "draw 20". Marit Lage can also be a 4th win condition.

Thespian's Stage included in place of Vesuva once I brought in the Depths for the easy Marit Lage.

Deserted Temple was mentioned earlier. A land that untaps lands?! Another yes please!

Dryad Arbor is clamp, order, and cradle food. Can also be GSZ for turn 1 ramp, but that has been known for a while.

Great Furnace/Tree of Tales... look like vanilla lands, but because they are artifacts they contribute to...

Inventors' Fair. Artifact tutor in non blue?! YES PLEASE!

Hanweir Battlements is the only source of haste in the deck. I'd like that to change, but almost all the cheap sources of haste are symetrical which I don't like.

Strip Mine, because strip mine. I'm playing a lands deck. I know just how much shenanigans can happen with powerful lands. I'll shut my opponents shenanigans off, or get really brutal and starve them out by hitting all their lands thanks to the Crucible of Worlds synergy.

Thawing Glaciers can synergize with some other cards to empty the library of basics.

Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse are place holders for the actual good fetches, when I work on optimizing the deck more.

Fire-Lit Thicket as a place holder for an eventual Taiga

The Earth Benders

These are the creatures that manipulate lands.

Mina and Denn as the masters, since they lead the deck. Land bouncers.

Sakura-Tribe Scout and Budoka Gardener as the land droppers.

Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Oracle of Mul Daya as the Explorers.

Krosan Restorer, Magus of the Candelabra, and Stone-Seeder Hierophant as the land untappers. The Hierophant may be a cut above the cobra (essentially reading "landfall: untap target land" with proper trigger stacking), but imo she belongs here.

The Rest of the Deck

The remaining cards are broken down into these categories. I've tried to distill the categories into as few as possible, which is difficult considering how much of a tangled web this deck actually is. Again, its like a combination of eggs and amulet bloom.

Utility Lands - Lands that do things, but are better off left on the battlefield.

Lands - These are the mana generating lands only. Basics, duals, filter, etc.

Tutors - Exactly whats on the tin. Searches the library for stuff!

Explore - Easy enough to understand. Once we've got our Core Lands, lets get them into play or play them multiple times! These cards allow us to drop more lands per turn.

Cowbell - Things every deck wants. Mana and card draw.

Meta - cards that are in as meta considerations. Lumping in most of the removal here too since I face a lot of artifacts and you may not.

Protection/Recursion - keep our stuff alive

Nectar - These cards aid in combo's, synergize with other cards in the deck, and help things go smoothly. That sweet sweet juice.

How Does the deck Play?

As mentioned, its like a Gruul Brago eggs meets amulet bloom cardboard rube goldberg machine.

Expect the early game to be slow, up until around turns 4 or 5. Once there, things will pick up... and fast. Turn 6 wins are average... ish. It is more reliable on turns 7 and 8, but I've also seen it win on turn 5 plenty of times. With some more tuning and swaps that I am interested in, 6 could be the "more reliable" with 5 becoming somewhat normal.

This deck takes serious practice and forethought during the game to avoid a 20 minute turn that wind up as a giant misplay. It isnt always obvious what land you should go for next, or which creature you need to continue the combo. Sometimes its tempting to go one way, but another way is better. Because its non-deterministic until the game winning combo itself is online, you must strike a really fine balance between trying to blitz the combo out asap versus doing some set up while surviving. Its a difficult skill to learn, and you'll get better at it the more you pilot it. Play test it over and over again, don't just build it and take it to the lgs.

Become the Earth Bender Show

Combos

Infinite Mana

Primary goal is infinite mana. It may accomplish that by manipulating lands, but because no landfall is involved none of these combo's I consider them seperate.

Gaea's Cradle+Deserted Temple+Rings of Brighthearth+ 4 creatures. Add in Sensei's Divining Top to draw the deck and win on the spot.

Gaea's Cradle+Krosan Restorer/Magus of the Candelabra/Stone-Seeder Hierophant+Umbral Mantle+3 more creatures

Krosan Restorer+threshold+Umbral Mantle+Gruul Turf+2 other lands, turf doesnt bounce itself

And obviously there are a bunch of variations on those last two so I'm not gonna list them all. Basically, one of the land untappers + the mantle + lands that add up to more mana than it takes to untap the land untapper. Also worth to note; some of the Earth Bending combo's can accomplish infinite mana as well, but they are listed seperately as their primary goal isnt mana.

Infinite Landfall

Variation A: Mina and Denn+infinite mana+Sakura-Tribe Scout/Budoka Gardener+Umbral Mantle. Bounce and replay ANY land, this is the most versatile and game winning variation. Sunscorched Desert as the pay off wins on the spot (provided no player hexproof) as does Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and a mountain provided you have enough other mountains in play.

Variation B: Mina and Denn+Sakura-Tribe Scout/Budoka Gardener+Umbral Mantle+Gaea's Cradle+Lotus Cobra+1 other creature. Infinite Landfall.

Variation C: Sakura-Tribe Scout/Budoka Gardener+Umbral Mantle+Gruul Turf+Amulet of Vigor/Stone-Seeder Hierophant+Lotus Cobra: Infinite landfall.

Variation D: Sakura-Tribe Scout/Budoka Gardener+Umbral Mantle+Gruul Turf+Amulet of Vigor+Stone-Seeder Hierophant: Because of trigger stacking, you can untap the turf twice before it bounces itself, grossing 4 mana, 3 of which gets used to untap the land dropper, netting 1 mana per cycle.

Variations B, C, and D used to be game winning when I ran Tunneling Geopede as the pay off, but I swapped the geopede out for other meta related considerations because the Desert takes the spot of the primary win con these days.

Variation E: ... see "The Godly Turn 1 win" under "sample hands". Its a lot to explain as its the most involved of the variations, and I have a play-by-play explanation of it there already.

As with infinite mana, there are some other ways to achieve the goal of infinite landfall as well as other ways to assemble all of the above pieces. Surprise surprise, I myself may not be fully aware of some of them present in this deck (thats what happens when the synergy density is so high), so to cut things "short" I'll stop here.

Why do I preach Mosswort Bridge so hard?

Okay. Finally getting into the nitty gritty here. Lets start with the downsides, and end with an observation.

Downsides

ETB tapped. Stone-Seeder Hierophant or Amulet of Vigor. Done.

Requires 10 power worth of creatures on the board. Mina and Denn is 4 already, just need 6 more. That can be achieved with a handful of the other creatures (weaker to board wipes) or a giant bomb of a creature (weaker to spot removal). My favorite is turning a plant token into Ulvenwald Hydra with Natural Order with at least 5 lands already in play and using the trigger to fetch the bridge. 10 power on 2 creatures. Anyway, done.

Yes, this means there are hoops to jump through. Its not a full on cEDH strategy, and in fact I never claimed it was. I think the best description in terms of power level for this deck is "high powered non cedh", because I try to optimize it a bit too much for it to fit into the 75% philosophy imo. But thats tangental. Hoops to jump through are not a bad thing. They are just a thing. The important part is, once I bring the synergy online, is it worth it?

In this case, Hell. Yes.

A Comparison

Lets examine a card that was recently spoiled to show why: Search for Azcanta /Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. Over on Reddit, blue players have shown interest in this card because its repeatable card advantage. Good for control players, which blue is known for. But is it really that good of a card? It costs mana to play the enchantment, then you have to get to threshold. Not terribly difficult, but thats a hoop to jump through. Finally you get the land side. Other than making mana, its effect is indeed repeatable card advantage. Its Impulse on a stick... sort of. It costs more, and is restricted. Hoops to jump through for a more expensive and restricted version of something that already exists, and blue players think its worth it.

Lets now go back and examine the Bridge synergy. Hoops to jump through (on par), filters top 4 (on par) 1 mana to activate, 2 mana to bounce to replay, 3 mana total (on par), can be activated more than once a turn as an effect of the synergy (upside), is not restricted on what card you chose (upside), because it casts the card on activation and activated abilities go at instant speed any card under the bridge is accelerated to instant speed (upside), it cheats the mana cost of the chosen card so now every card in your library is at most effectively 3cmc upside).

Four upsides over the new shiny toy blue got. FOUR. And, just consider what all the upsides together read as. Cheat stuff from your library onto the battlefield multiple times per turn at instant speed (sort of; to get another card it has to be your turn and the stack has to be clear so you can replay the Bridge, and while I run Exploration you can easily swap it out for Burgeoning to do it on other players turns). As a combo player, this is insane. It helps dig for combo pieces pretty rapidly, making the otherwise jank territory nature of my combos due to how many moving parts there are surprisingly easy to assemble.

Even in a non combo build, the ability to quickly flood the board is pure value.

It wins games.

Conclusion

This is why I honestly don't get why the bridge is in less than 30% of Mina and Denn decks on edhrec. Its less than half a usd, and the Hierophant is even cheaper. Its not expensive to get this synergy going, in fact I'd say its very budget friendly. Running gruul stompy would also make the 10 power hoop easier to jump through. The Amulet is the most expensive part of the synergy for redundancy, but even it is doable for a budget build depending on how you flex it.

Now, to close on an observation. And its one you'll see too with the sample hands. As much as I praise the Bridge and wish every Mina and Denn deck ran it because its just that much of a perfect fit for the deck, it has slowly taken a back seat for me during play.

Once I finally upgraded the deck and included Gaea's Cradle with things to combo with it, thats been the more consistent avenue to victory. Big mana is powerful enough to win games too because you eventually get so much you don't even need to cheat mana costs.

That said, the Bridge has still saved my ass a few times. Even if I didnt use it as a path to victory because maybe I didnt have the full synergy online, it has helped me dig for a needed answer on occasion. It is always worth it to include in a Mina and Denn deck.

Other Synergies

Thawing Glaciers+Stone-Seeder Hierophant+Lotus Cobra/Amulet of Vigor = Fetch all basics from your library onto the battlefield. All of them for ramp. ...

Surprise Rant!

This is why I cant stand people who say "add the basic clause to Primeval Titan" in those "fix a banned card to unban it" threads that pop up on the subreddit from time to time. No. The non basic tutor is the point, green already has tons of ways to flood the board with basic lands. At prime time's cmc (well, plus one)? Boundless Realms, which if played from land mana only will probably fetch 7 basics... more than thrice the power of a single basic-ed prime time. If basic-ed prime time dies before attacking and therefore you only get one trigger? Congrats on over paying for an Explosive Vegetation. Same effective cmc again, with only one trigger? Journey of Discovery, and the basics would come in untapped so its actually a net 4 cost instead of 6. I hope I've proved my point.

Think a basic-ed prime time could still be etb abused to fetch all your basics? Well, I just showed a synergy that accomplishes the same thing.

Adding Basic to prime time would indeed strip him of enough power to warrant an unban, but... At best he'd fill a role that is already filled. At worst he'd be eclipsed by a lot of stuff green already has at its disposal.

I would "fix" prime time by simply cutting the number of lands fetched per trigger to 1. Literally half his power.

Afraid that fix is too strong, because its etb could then be abused? Ulvenwald Hydra would fill the exact same role in such abuse, and is not banned. In fact, I'm about to mention a synergy there.

In fact imo the Hydra is already the fixed version of prime time, so I wouldnt even implement my own hypothetical fix for prime time. Just play the friggen hydra.

Ulvenwald Hydra+Cloudstone Curio+Khalni Garden= keep fetching non basic lands directly into play, until you either run out of land plays or mana.

couldstone curio+ any non artifact with an etb, really. Its a one card synergy enabler.

Scapeshift+Splendid Reclamation is an obvious feels good man play. Toss in any combination of Amulet of Vigor, Stone-Seeder Hierophant, Lotus Cobra to turn it into greater degrees of ramp. Will typically end the game at that point just due to the straight up value of such a play.

Realms Uncharted+Crucible of Worlds to cover the downside. Though honestly? I'm probably gonna replace Realms with Hour of Promise once I finally get around to acquiring one.

Prismatic Omen is the obvious one card synergy to power out a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle strategy.

And a lot of the other synergies I've already talked about in their own dedicated areas when discussing things like the core lands. I'm not gonna repeat those here, just go back and read those sections.

Finally, there are undoubtedly more synergies in the deck. Much like my own admission earlier, its hard to completely know every single possible interaction when the synergy is so dense.

Sample hands

These hands are a bit old at this point, as I have made a few swaps since. Nothing major, so I'm keeping these for now. Just note that there will be some slight discrepencies.

Hand 1

opener:

sol ring, valakut, khalni garden, inventors fair, budoka gardener, tree of tales, tunneling geopede

2 out of the 3 needed artifacts to bring the fair online, a creature, fast mana, and 2 potential win cons. This is a solid hand, though not particularly strong as it can't take immediate advantage of sol ring. It does have a couple of lines of play though, so its worth keeping.

turn 1:

draw Umbral Mantle

play Khalni Garden, get a plant token

turn 2:

draw Null Rod

play Inventor's Fair, tap for 1, play Sol Ring (0), tap for 2 (2), tap garden for G (2G floating), cast Budoka Gardener (1 floating, but nothing to do with it)

turn 3:

draw mountain

play mountain, tap budoka, play tree of tales, tap mountain tree and ring, play Mina

play valakut

turn 4:

draw Reforge, go ahead and cast by tapping valakut and tree

draw Sylvan Scrying, Krosan Restorer, Grove of the Burnwillows, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Expedition Map, Pyroblast, Manabond

Play Grove

Tap ring and garden (2G)

Play expedition map (1G)

Play Sylvan Scrying (0)

Fetch Gaea's Cradle

Play Cradle

Tap Cradle and Mountain (RGGG)

Bounce Cradle (GG)

tap budoka, replay Cradle

Tap Cradle and Grove (1GGGGG)

Pay all 6 to crack map and fair

fetch Deserted Temple and Crucible of Worlds

turn 5

Draw Nissa

Play Temple

Tap Sol ring, tree, and garden (2GG)

Play Restorer and Scout

Tap Cradle (GGGGG)

Play Nissa

+1 to Untap Cradle

Tap cradle (GGGGGG)

Play Crucible (GGG)

Play Fair for 2nd land

Tap Mountain (RGGG)

Crack the fair, fetch Rings of Brighthearth

Turn 6:

draw Fire-Lit Thicket

(optional, as she's pretty irrelevant at this point) Ultimate Nissa

Tap Cradle (GGGGG)

Play Brighthearth (GG)

tap Garden (GGG)

Spend 1 to Temple, untapping cradle, spend 2 to rings to copy the effect and untap temple.

Because Cradle is more than 3 mana per tap, I now have infinite mana through untapping all my lands

replay inventors fair from the yard, (draw off nissa's emblem if you like)

crack Fair to fetch Sensei's Top

Play Top

Tap top, duplicate the effect with Brighthearth, first copy resolves, drawing a card and putting top on top, second copy (the original) resolves drawing top but can't put top on top again because its no longer on the battlefield to put on top... thats a lot of tops.

recast top, repeat at previous step to draw as much of the deck as needed.

Win using your choice of infinite landfall engine. For this example...

cast eternal witness to get Umbral Mantle back

cast the mantle and equip to scout, we now have infinite scout activations. Drop all mountains onto the battlefield to bring Valakut online, bounce a single mountain with mina and replay with Scout to Valakut out all opponents.

Turn 6 is reasonably good for this deck. Its not the fastest win I've seen it do, but its not the slowest either. I would say its roughly average, but not the peak of the bell curve

Hand 2

opener:

Mana Crypt, Exploration, Mountain, Storm Cauldron, Mountain, Vexing Shusher, Lotus Cobra

This is an incredibly weak hand. Snek and exploration, but no green source to play them? Fast mana, but can't take t1 advantage of it? One of those mountains really needs to be a forest. This hand is very dependant on the draw which is not optimal at all. I'd be very tempted to mulligan this hand away and would not fault anyone for doing so. However, I'll keep in the interest of showcasing the flaws in the deck as well as the strengths.

Turn 1:

draw gruul turf (this is already going to be insane)

play mountain, pass

turn 2:

draw nature's claim

play turf, bounce mountain, pass, discard storm cauldron and hope not to get strip mined

turn 3:

draw natural order

tap turf, play snek

play mountain, snek makes green (G)

play Mana Crypt, tap mountain and crypt (2RG)

Play Mina (0)

Play Mountain, snek makes R, tap mountain (RR)

Play Shusher, pass

turn 4: crypt trigger, odds or evens on a d6 to emulate a coin flip, calling evens, roll 5, take 3 damage (37)

draw Tree of Tales. Starting to look grim-ish. lets take a think.

Play Tree of Tales, snek makes G, tap Tree and crypt (2GG)

Cast Natural Order, saccing Mina. Fetch Ulvenwald Hydra. Hydra trigger, fetch Mosswort Bridge, snek makes G so lets destroy a thing with the claim in response to the hideaway trigger, then look at top 4.

Top 4 is Primal Command, Evolving Wilds, Tireless Tracker, and Budoka Gardener. Honestly? I say control game it for a minute and hide Primal Command. Besides, as long as the bridge doesnt get removed the command lets us set up the bridge engine.

Pass

Turn 5: crypt trigger, calling evens, roll 2 (37)

Draw Sylvan Scrying. This just got good. Tap the Turf, cast scrying, fetch Cradle

play Cradle, Snek generates G, spend G to activate bridge (2 p from snek, 2p from shusher, 6p from Hydra for exact 10p). Control an opponent and fetch Hierophant.

Tap Mountain and Cradle to play hierophant. Pass

Turn 6: crypt trigger, odds, roll 3 (37)

draw vandalblast

tap crypt, cradle, mountain (2RGGGG) to cast Mina (G).

Tap bridge and mountain for RG, bounce bridge with Mina, replay bridge, hierophant trigger to untap hierophant, in response to that trigger tap hierophant to untap bridge, snek generates G (GG), look at top 4.

Top 4 is Windswpet Heath, Cloudstone Curio, Mountain, Pyroblast. Hide Curio. Spend G to Activate bridge and play Curio (G)

tap Turf (RGG), bounce bridge (G)

replay bridge, all the triggers happen again only snek makes R (RG), the extra curio trigger happens (bounce turf) look at top 4

Top 4 is Forest, Top, Wolf Run, Valakut. Tough call. I'm gonna bet on going all in on bridge, so because Curio is in play I'm gonna hide the Forest even though the Top is a good option too for potentially more consistency next turn. Spend G to activate bridge (R)

Forest etb's, snek makes G (RG), stone seeder untaps Cradle, curio bounces bridge. Spend G to play Exploration for another land play (R) Play bridge.

Snek maks G (RG), hierophant untaps bridge, in response to the curio trigger tap forest for G (RGG), bounce forest with Curio, look at top 4 (Amulet of Vigor, Inventor's Fair, Krosan Restorer, Unstable Footing. Hide the fair) Spend G (RG) to activate bridge, Inventors Fair etb's.

Snek makes R (RRG), in response to Hierophant tap cradle (RRGGGGGG), then untap cradle with hierophant and finally let Hierophant untap from its own trigger, bounce bridge with curio

Overload vandalblast (RGG) to clear anything that may hurt us, tap Cradle (RGGGGGGG), crack fair (RGGG), fetch crucible. Hold off on playing in case anyone has sorcery speed removal. Pass turn

Turn 7: crypt trigger, evens, roll 4 (37)

Draw Skull clamp

tap crypt and mountain, play crucible. Replay fair.

snek makes G, ignore curio trigger, tap cradle and untap with Hierophant (GGGGGG) crack fair (GG), fetch umbral mantle, tap mountain (RGG), play mantle (0)

Equip to hierophant, with cradle achieve infinite mana.

replay fair, ignore landfall triggers, crack for rings of brighthearth, play rings, replay fair for the final time, ignore triggers, crack for top.

With Top, brighthearth, and infinite mana, draw as many cards as needed to win with any infinite landfall engine. Could use the same engine as last time, or a different one.

This was to show that even a weak hand has some potential, being a turn slower than the first but was lucky with the turf draw. If it didnt draw turf (or if the turf ate removal) this hand would have probably been a turn 8 or 9 hand, depending on when that first green source was drawn. It could have also folded pretty easily if it didnt get a green source within those first few turns. So again I'll say this was actually a very lucky hand, though I will point out that it was also unlucky in some respects as none of the bridge plays were really that impressive. They did generate lots of value, which is what enabled the turn 7 win, but overall that wasnt a good Bridge streak.

Hand 3

opener:

Amulet of Vigor, Forest, Reap and Sow, Kessig Wolf Run, Realms Uncharted, Null Rod, Expedition Map.

Now this is a hand of a hand that should demonstrate some interesting lines of play. 3 land tutors? The only problem is that I can't resolve Realms on my own. I'll call in my brother if I make that play, to get a more realistic resolve of it (though you'll still have to take my word on it). What makes it even more interesting is the lack of creatures, so I can't rush the Bridge play like I did in the previous hand. Its also got the rod in case someone tries to pull ahead with fast mana, though that would unfortunately turn off the map. Which means its clear to me that the map is top priority. Push it out fast so it stays as much out of the way of the rod as possible while also still getting the value. It does start with only 2 lands and will more than likely durdle around quite a bit more than it should, but its worth keeping ESPECIALLY if you are playing against people who have never played against a combo build of Mina. This is a grade A sleeper hand.

Turn 1:

Draw Mountain

Play forest, tap and play Map.

Pass

Turn 2:

Draw Crop Rotation

Play mountain, tap both lands and crack map, Fetch Turf, pass

Turn 3:

Draw Scapeshift. And now this is an S rank sleeper hand.

Tap mountain, play Amulet.

Play turf, tap for RG and bounce mountain, tap Forest (RGG)

Play Realms Uncharted. Fetch 2 forest, 2 mountain as at this point in the game anyone would ditch the nonbasics and I only run 2 fetches so those are out of the question at this point. Change depending on politics, but in goldfishing I'm assuming no ally's. My brother is telling me the Mountains go in the yard. His thought process? Flood me on green mana, hamper a potential future Valakut.

Pass, discarding Reap and Sow

Turn 4:

Draw Shamanic Revelation

Play Mountain, tap out, play Mina

Play Forest

Pass

EOT, if possible tap Forest, cast rotation, saccing a forest and getting Khalni Garden

Turn 5:

Draw Forest

Tap Garden and Mountain, bounce garden

Replay Garden and forest. Tap out (RGGGG)

Cast Scapeshift (R), sac all lands, fetching Cradle, Temple, Vesuva as copy of Temple, Dryad Arbor, and Great Furnace. They all enter untapped thanks to Amulet.

Cradle taps for 4. Spend 2 of that to untap it twice, getting 10 green mana total.

Spend 5 of that to cast Shamanic Revelation, draw 4 cards. Tree of Tales, Azusa, Primal Command, Nissa Vital Force.

Spend the other 5 to cast Nissa, +1 her immediately to untap Cradle, tap cradle for 5 now

Play Azusa (GG)

Tap furnace (RGG), bounce cradle (G)

Play Cradle and Tree of Tales, tap both (GGGGGGG)

Cast Primal Command (GG), bounce a problem thing and fetch eternal witness

Cast Null Rod (0)

Pass turn. Slow first 4 turns to slip under the radar, become a MASSIVE threat turn 5. I'm honestly not sure if this will win on turn 6, but the amount of card draw is about to be unreal.

Turn 6:

Draw Reclamation Sage

Ultimate Nissa

Play Forest and Wolf Run, draw Lotus Cobra and Beast Within

Tap Cradle for 5, spend 1 on the vesuva temple to untap cradle, retap for another 5, totaling 9

Cast Eternal Witness (GGGGGG), get Scapeshift back.

Tap Arbor, Tree, Kessig, and Forest (1GGGGGGGGG)

Cast Snek (GGGGGGGG)

Cast Scapeshift (GGGG), saccing Vesuva, Arbor, Tree, Kessig, Forest. Fetch Hanweir Battlements, Windswept Heath, Inventors Fair, Wooded Foothills, Mosswort Bridge. All enter untapped, Snek generates 5 of anything (XXXXXGGGG), draw 5 from the emblem Rings of Brighthearth, Vexing Shusher, Glacial Chasm, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Mana Crypt.

Finally look at top 4, Tunneling Geopede, Caustic Catepillar, Magus of the Candelabra, Gamble. Hide Tunneling Geopede.

Cast Vexing Shusher (XXXXXGG)

Cast Scout (XXXXXG)

Cast Rings (XXX)

Generate Infinite mana with Cradle, Temple, and Rings

Crack Inventors Fair fetching umbral mantle

Cast Umbral Mantle.

Cast Reclamation Sage targetting our own Null rod

Equip Umbral Mantle to Scout

Activate Bridge flipping over Geopede

Since we have infinite mana AND Mina AND Scout with Mantle, with can infinitely bounce and land we control and replay it. Ignore Nissa's emblem because thankfully its a may trigger, and geopede the table.

And yep, it won turn 6 again. Scapeshifting with Nissa's emblem is a hell of a thing.

The godly turn 1 win

starting hand: Mana Crypt, Amulet of Vigor, Gruul Turf, Summer Bloom, Lotus Cobra, Khalni Garden, Eternal Witness.

On the draw or in multiplayer: draw Skullclamp

mana crypt, tap (2/1)

amulet of vigor (1/1)

gruul turf (1RG/0)

summer bloom (R/3)

turf (RRG/2)

snek (G/2)

Garden and tap(XGG/1)

Eternal Witness, get bloom back

Turf, returning itself (XRG/0)

Skullclamp, clamp plant, drawing Exploration and Cloudstone Curio (G/0)

Exploration (0/1)

turf, return itself (XRG/0)

summer bloom (X/3)

turf (XXRG/2)

cloudstone curio (X/2)

turf, returns itself curio returns garden (XXRG/1)

garden and tap, plant token triggers curio returning ewit (XXRGG/0)

5 mana is enough to recast ewit, get bloom back and recast bloom. From there the cycle of dropping garden and the turf to reset generates 1 additional land play per cycle, which means infinite mana and plant tokens to clamp. Draw the deck.

Wrapping it up Show

Budget options

Because I've done a huge amount of swaps (I think around 20 or more total) since I initially made this primer, I've deleted specific budget swaps for now. Some of them may not apply anymore.

The all in combo build is expensive, to say the least. Not as crazy expensive as some tier 1 cedh decks, but this isnt a tier 1 cedh deck either (touched on that earlier). Some pieces can be substituted out for cheaper parts, though at a certain point (around 100 usd for the deck total) the combos start falling apart too much to be worth it. You potentially lose access to Amulet of Vigor, which is S-rank oil for the deck.

So for any Mina and Denn build that is on a budget, I'm actually inclined to go counter to my initial Mina combo assessment and recommend going with the Denn gruul stompy approach. Take out a lot of the combo pieces and put in more of the landfall beaters, though one that I have noticed doesnt find its way into too many of those lists is Adventuring Gear as a way to reliably 'tron with Mina and Denn along side the wolf run and even Rubblehulk. Just, for the love of everything, include the Mosswort Bridge synergy as already discussed...

Sideboard

I don't really use my sideboard as an actual sideboard. Its just cards that make sense in the deck or that I've used in the past, or w/e. They arent meant to power up or detune the deck or even adjust for various meta's. They are just cards that also work in the deck.

Journey of Discovery can be an adequate substitute/redundant Summer Bloom in that combo, though you lose the godly t1 win.

Manabond combo's with Storm Cauldron (and possibly War's Toll) to create a land stax situation you can break parity with. Personally? I find it hard to actually include. Possible, but hard. You really need both out for maximum effectiveness. That makes it a bit too inconsistent imo. Manabond does next to nothing on its own unless I'm already winning, and Storm Cauldron on its own is frustrating because the bond isnt there to break parity.

Null Rod is the more specialized Harsh Mentor... probably the only exception to the rule I outlined at the start because it is kind of a meta consideration.

Tunneling Geopede used to be the main win condition in the deck as it can utilize any of the infinite land fall engines. I swapped to the Sunscorched Desert to play test at first, but found I liked it better because it opens up the geopedes slot for other uses (I believe thats where I put the Harsh Mentor)

Vesuva also used to be in the deck as a way to duplicate any of the utility lands. Its still very useful, and with a land untapper can be better than Thespian's Stage in certain circumstances. I like the Stage a bit better, due to the inclusion of Dark Depths though.

Wordly Tutor I'm so seriously on the fence about it. Traverse the Ulvenwald is currently in its slot, and I think I like Traverse better. Its so hard to say, because the tutor is more consistent but traverse can fetch any land... and there arent a lot of those kinds of tutors. Higher risk due to the delerium hoop, higher reward? I'm sticking with Traverse for now.

Burgeoning as a swap for Exploration, for the extra ramp capability. Its not in right now because Exploration is often much more helpful during the puzzle turn. But it could help me get to the puzzle turn quicker? IDK.

Maybe board

Some of these arent maybe's, they are when's.

Abrade WHEN. would fit in one of the artifact destruction slots to be a bit more universally useful

Defense of the Heart for fun times with Dowsing Dagger/Lost Vale ? MAYBE on both. I kinda want the dagger because a 3 mana land sounds excellent. Defense would probably fit in Primal Command's slot, not sure where the dagger would go.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc /Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun. MAYBE. A high risk, high reward version of Gaea's Cradle. Not sure which slot it fits in, but its worth it to play test. The lesser Collected Company on the front side could help more than people on reddit are giving it credit for.

Hour of Promise WHEN. Would take Realms Uncharted's slot.

Seedborn Muse MAYBE. I'm just not sure how big an impact she would actually be. I'd probably need to make the Burgeoning swap for maximum effectiveness, for the awesomeness of Bridging on other peoples turns. Second issue, not sure where she'd go.

Shapers' Sanctuary MAYBE. Not sure where it goes. Really want it though, I like draw engines.

Staff of Domination WHEN. As a replacement for Sensei's Divining Top. I really only use the top as a draw the deck pay off for the Cradle + Temple + Rings engine. Staff fills the same role while being redundant with Umbral Mantle and prior to going infinite can possibly save my life on occasion either through enough life gain to survive something or tapping down a lethal creature prior to combat.

Taiga WHEN. just need the budget for it. Would replace Fire-Lit Thicket... the filter lands are nice and all, but the consistency of fetchable duals is probably better for color fixing in general.

Thanks for stopping by! Please upvote if you found the deck interesting!

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Zendikar Rising spoiler reaction — Sept. 2, 2020

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Its been a while, eh?

I stopped playing there for a bit. Never lost interest, but just had other things going on in my life. Even now that I'm returning, I still consider those other things more important so this deck will still not get updated as frequently as it used to. That said....

Zendikar Rising spoilers started coming across my reddit feed and... hol-eeee am I excited!

More lands matter stuff, more expeditions for bling potential, more combo potential.... Right now I'm hoping an updated version of Mina and Denn gets shown off thats a bit more powerful. From what I recall of the last few games I played, this deck is kind of at the point where its almost auto-pilot even without Mina and Denn on the field. I had been considering changing things up by going 3 or even 4c (hello new Omnath), but I have several issues with that which I will not go into here.

Anyway, I went back and looked at some of the sets I missed out on, and have found some fun stuff and new ideas I want to try out. Two cards in particular caught my eye.

Arboreal Grazer

I really feel like this little creature has some potential, but as far as I can tell it wouldnt be as simple as slotting it into the deck in place of some other creature. As-is, looks like I'd need to bolster it with a couple of additional lands for the combo to go infinite, and the deck is already strapped for land slots as is. Each utility land already plays a very crucial role in the deck, so fully supporting the Grazer would require shifting focus' around a bit. Same thing for the next card...

Evolution Sage

I am very much a fan of interesting landfall effects that arent just "landfall: dude gets bigger for a turn"... and the sage certainly fits that criteria. Immediate thought? Shifting the deck from an Avatar Earth Bending flavor to a "plague bearers" flavor by swapping the Sunscorched Desert out for Inkmoth Nexus. Get some sneaky poison counters out there, throw lands onto the field, win. Functionally its no different, it would still be the payoff win for infinite landfall same as the desert, but would simply be a flavor change. HOWEVER... If ALL of my infinite landfall engines were somehow removed then the Sage would still be an easier path to victory. 120 desert drops versus 30 any land drops, and it would diversify a bit. Technically, win by raw damage is already covered by Valakut. This idea could be a potent back up in case someone makes themselves immune to damage somehow or whatever.

I'm not going to be making any changes yet though, as I'm waiting to see how the rest of the spoilers play out.

In the mean time, I have accepted some suggestions I do think make sense for the deck. I havent rejected the others yet, for reasons already mentioned.

Ixalan spoilers have me like... — Sept. 12, 2017

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Amonkhet full spoilers — June 30, 2017

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Deserts — June 16, 2017

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Why do leaks do this to me? — June 13, 2017

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AKH spoiler swap...s? — April 17, 2017

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Date added	8 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 6 Rares 17 - 2 Uncommons 15 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.71
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Clue, Elemental 5/5 RG, Elemental X/X G, Emblem Nissa, Vital Force, Marit Lage, Plant 0/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Cool EDH Decks, EDH, edh, Cool decks, Concepts, other decks i like, lol i wish, Cool dudes with cool decks, EHD -, Cool Decks
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