General:Derevi, Empyrial TacticianThe driving force behind this deck. EDH decks have varying degrees of reliance on their commander. Derevi is central towards this deck, for a variety of reasons, although the deck is not entirely reliant on her to operate. When I
first started working on Derevi, I did not have a serious build in mind, but her power became quickly apparant to me. I'll break her strengths down:GWU mana cost:This mana cost makes her cheap enough to be reliably cast, and operate as an effecient general in play. At the same time, it enables access to bant. This is critical because of the tools it enables us to make use of. First, and very
important for this deck, is that it opens up the largest (tied with Jund) pool of permanent one mana accelerants. Not only do you get the normal mana elves, but you also get Heirarch and Pilgrim (where Jund gets Evles of Deep Shadow
and Deathrite Shaman), and I would argue that these two have a slight edge over Jund's (while the damage from Deep Shadow is relatively negligable, Deathrite can be unreliable as a turn two mana producer, wheras Noble Hierarch is
extremely stable). Having access to this large a pool of one mana creature accelerants is very important to everything that this deck wants to do, but the most obvious being that these enable a pretty relable turn two Derevi, meaning
that constructing strategic elements around her being on the field is sensible and reliable.Flying:These least important of her abilities, but definitely non-neligable. On defense, this makes her an excellent blocker of creatures, stopping most attack based generals if neccessary. On offense, it enables her to even more reliably
connect to trigger the next ability..."Whenever Derevi, Empyrial Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.":This is the ability that this deck is constructed around most principally. The raw amount of range and options it enables is staggering, and I know that I for one did not even come close to appreciating just how powerful an ability it
is when I first saw her. First, the ability triggers on Derevi mearly entering the battlefield. Often this means that Derevi costs an essential two or less mana the turn you cast her, allowing you to play even more subsequent threats,
or it helps tap down things like potential blockers for other creatures before you attack, or just get a critical extra tap/untap in. It's easier to mention the cards that ineteract well with her as I go than to list them here, there's
such a huge range. Next, every creature you connect with triggers the ability independently. The raw amount of versilitily this allows you is, again, staggering. Usually it is quite easy to connect with one of your opponents, as
rarely do all of them have blockers. Upon doing this, these triggers can be used to tap down any opponent's resources, or untap your own. Because they are each independent, this allows you to also tap and untap the same permanent
multiple times, and stack them in such a way as to fully take advantage of this. For instance, you can untap a Gaea's Cradle and a Yisan, the Cradle again, and Yisan four more times, and get a full five activations from Yisan in a
single combat, a move that I've done several times. This is merely one example. Proper stacking of each indepenent trigger can be critical, so Derevi is not an easy commander to use, but she is very rewarding of skill in this regard.
However, the raw amount of options this can enable in the proper deck is really amazing."1GWU: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone.":With a card already so powerful, this ability is just icing on the cake, really, but how sweet an icing it is. Unlike other decks reliant on their commander, killing Derevi a few times doesn't push her into being prohibitively costed
from penalties. Derevi always costs 1GWU at the worst, always. And when you use this ability, she gains essentially both flash and uncounterability. This allows her to play around a ton of stuff and gives her some of the most
resiliancy of any Legendary creature in the game. Many builds seek to abuse this ability further as a combo element, and although this build does not, this is non-negligable as well. Keep in mind as well that the cost increase of
Generals is tagged to how many times they are cast, so if you have extra mana, using her ability preserves her one-time GWU for later use, despite you getting her into play."2/3":Probably the most negligable aspect, but she's got a decent body oh her as well. She'll block Brago all day, she can kill many of the other cheap commanders in combat, and she isn't killed by Elesh Norn and such, making her ever so
slightly tougher to deal with. A nice finishing touch to an already amazing card.
So now that we have some insight to our commander of choice, let's think about what can be done with her. What immediately jumped to mind for me was that her tap ability enables turning other creatures into pseudo-icy manipulators, and
the classic interaction with those is keeping a player down under Winter Orb. Three icy-manipulators = three players locked down, and you don't even have to pay a mana each to do it, all you have to do is connect with /any/ player.
And let us not forget that Bant enables access to both Rising Waters and Hokori, Dust Drinker, giving us all of the Winter Orb effects in the game. When I first started working on the deck, I wanted to combo off, first with her third
ability in conjunction with her second and something like Gilded Lotus and Phyrexian Alatar and all of that jazz. However, that proved very clunky and unreliable. I also for a while used her as a kind of three color Momir Vig in an
elfball strategy, reliant on maximizing combat with things like Bident of Thassa, Coastal Piracy, and Time Warp effects. This worked out fairly well for a while, and I full encourage people interested in that direction to explore it
fully. However, I found that those effects were often win more, and that what was much more critical for my success was my first gut reaction of Winter Orb. Derevi poses a few interesting challenges for this. She wants access to a
lot of creatures to maximize her second ability, but prison historically tends to use few if any creatures. This build started as a kind of bant-Maverick type approach towards solving this problem, using cards like Thalia and Glowrider
to get full value from Winter Orb, and provide bodies for Derevi. Further, a full compliment of mana dorks, which originally I had for elf-ball purposes meshed well, giving me access to more mana than opponants after Winter Orb hit,
providing bodies for locking people down, and passing through Thalia still at one mana. Eventually, pushing this line of strategic thought, I've arived at a build I'm extremely pleased with. Without futher ado, I present Derevi:
SB: Derevi, Empyrical TacticianDorks(13)1 Dryad Arbor1 Llanowar Elves1 Fyndorn Elves1 Elvish Mystic1 Arbor Elf1 Avacyn's Pilgrim1 Noble Hierarch1 Birds of Paradise1 Joraga Treespeaker1 Bloom Tender1 Lotus Cobra1 Elvish Spirit Guide1 Selvana, Explorer Returned
Mavericks(14)1 Cursecatacher1 Judge's Familiar1 Spiketail Drake1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben1 Glowrider1 Lodestone Golem1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV1 Chancellor of the Annex1 Patron Wizard1 Gaddock Teeg1 Kataki, War's Wage1 Aven Mindcensor1 Hokori, Dust Drinker1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Utility(12)1 Weathered Wayfarer1 Quirion Ranger1 Fauna Shaman1 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest1 Captain Sisay1 Sakashima the Imposter1 Prophet of Kruphix1 Consecrated Sphinx1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur1 Loyal Retainers
Prisons(14)1 Winter Orb1 Rising Waters1 Static Orb1 Stasis1 Tangle Wire1 Sphere of Resistance1 Thorn of Amathyst1 Trinisphere1 Rhystic Study1 Aura of Silence1 Aura Shards1 Null Rod1 Stony Silence1 Root Maze
Engines(5)1 Concordant Crossroads1 Sylvan Library1 Survival of the Fittest1 Birthing Pod1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Tutors(6)1 Enlightened Tutor1 Worldly Tutor1 Eladamri's Call1 Chord of Calling1 Green Sun's Zenith1 Summoner's Pact
Misc(1)1 Cylconic Rift
Rocks(7)1 Sol Ring1 Mana Crypt1 Mana Vault1 Chrome Mox1 Mox Diamond1 Lotus Petal1 Aether Vial
Lands(27)1 Gaea's Cradle1 Tropical Island1 Savannah1 Tundra1 Breeding Pool1 Temple Garden1 Hallowed Fountain1 Misty Rainforest1 Windswept Heath1 Flooded Strand1 Wooded Foothills1 Polluted Delta1 Verdant Catacombs1 Marsh Flats1 Arid Mesa1 Scalding Tarn1 Command Tower1 Gemstone Caverns1 Mana Confluence1 City of Brass1 Tarnished Citadel1 Thran Quary1 Undiscovered Paradise1 Forsaken City1 Yaviamay Coast1 Brushland1 Horizon Canopy
Strategy:
This deck has a lot of intricacies and rewards skilled and tight play. Mistakes tend to compound, and the deck is not very forgiving of play error, as any chink in your armour can and will be exploited. Exposing yourself to blow outs
from things like Terminus will often lose you games that should have been winable had you played tighter, and play error is not always obvious. The reason for this is that while the deck can take complete control of the game early on,
because of this you quickly will have the table forced to go after you, and once your board is removed it can be difficult to recover as your opponants will have amassed spells in their hand that you had been prohibiting them from
casting while your gas tends to have been expended. That being said, under-extending is dangerous, and you should not play 'conservatively' to try and avoid these kinds of blowouts, rather you should focus on tightening play such that
you are not exposed to them in the first place.
Games are quite unique and diverse with this deck, and while your general strategy of locking the board down is consistent, exactly how to go about this rarely is. Therefore, while I could explain specific lines of play, I think its
better to explain the principles that guide those lines.
This deck is very opening hand dependent, as this will define how you proceed. Some openers will just win you the game, such as land-mana crypt-trinisphere, and things like that. Always be aware of the possibility of these hands, and
take them when you see them as they are essentially free wins. Outside of that, however, the principle goal is to identify what decks your opponents are on, which may or may not be obvious from their generals, and devise the best way
to use the cards in the first opener to combat them. For instance, if you see three generals that traditionally don't use much artifact ramp, that Null rod in your opener probably should be mulled away. However, if you see a Teferi
and an Ulamog, that Null Rod is likely invaluable. The most generalizeable hate tends to be sphere effects, though.
Probably the most quintessential opening line of play is turn 1 land, dork, turn two land, derevi, something, turn three winter orb, win. These kinds of hands are common the most likely to successfully win you the game, particularly if
that turn two play is a sphere effect. In general, having a turn two sphere effect is the safest way to put yourself in a position to win the game. Winter Orb doesn't really become 'live' until turn three, although landing one as soon
as possible is critical, as it sets the stage for victory.
However, this deck has diverse elements, and highlander is high variance. While the above line is common and powerful, it is merely an example of the principle. The guilding principle is that you need to invalidate as many cards as
possible as quickly as possible. You should have at least your first two turns, and ideally your first three or four turns, in mind when you look at your opener. Exactly what card will play into what cards the next turn play into what
cards the next. Do not rely on drawing anything, figure out what the openening hand provides you. This deck is not control in that it can rely on drawing gas, as that gas may or may not align with an adequately disruptive line of
play, and this deck is not combo in that you can plan to assemple specific elements. You need to forsee how the elements you have interact and play them out to cause the most possible disruption on your opponents. Minimize risk of
blowouts first and foremost, ensure inevitability secondarily.
All cards that do not play into your sepcific line should be mulliganed. Further, if your opener does not have a land, consider mulliganing the entire hand. The deck has a low amount of lands on purpose, it ideal to minimize the
amount of 'dead' draws, and this deck rarely needs more than two or three lands for the entire game. This is why there are so few, but the side effect is that you cannot rely on drawing lands. Another important consideration for
mulligans is that you should mull away all disperate elements. If you have a null rod in a hand with sol ring and birthing pod, eather rod or pod/ring should be mulliganed, in general. This changes depending on opponents, but is a
good rule of thumb, as the cards you draw from your partial mulligan have a higher expected value of being valuable for your chosen line as disperate elements have been removed from the possibility of being drawn.
Look for tight lines over 'explosive' ones. While being explosive will win you games, and should be selected when it is porfitable, chosing hands that let you play out a tun of resources for some big turn three play is likely a
mistake. Disruption needs to start at the latest by turn two, or you are heavily exposing yourself to blowouts. The deck works on a very tight curve and with very effecient creatures, but this makes its late game comparably poor to
most decks if it does not establish an early game suppression.
This is part of a larger concept, do not get greedy. You aren't trying to 'combo out' like an elfball deck, you are trying to prevent opponents from being able to interact with you. In order to do this, you cannot focus on big plays,
but rather on incrimental advantges. If you have a choice between a turn three Elesh Norn and a turn three Lodestone Golem, the correct play is almost always Lodestone (unless there are creatures on board requiring disruption). That
is to say, this deck doesn't play 'big', it plays tight. You want to use all of your mana every turn, you want to be thinking at least two turns ahead at all times, and you want to be thinking in the mindset not of 'how to do I win',
but rather 'how could my opponents win from this position'.
The last point is the most critical. Derevi isn't really trying to win the game, it's tryint to /not lose/. This is a very critical difference. The longer that you do not lose, the more inevitabilty you gain, as almost everything you
do advances a state that approaches a hard lock.
That is the next principle, soft locks are temporary, and critical to surviving the early turns against combo and midrange decks, but they are a bandaid. You are trying to advance the board state to one of hard lock. Rarely, you will
have the opportunity to just win, usually on the back off an Elesh Norn or an especially explosive start. However, these are few and far between, and almost never neccessary. Rather, your end game is, instead of most deck's combo
victory, one of a hard lock victory. Once opponents can litterally do nothing about the board state, your dorks and bird wizards will eventually finish the job. You do not need fancy tricks to shuffle your grave back to avoid decking.
You do not need a splashy victory condition. You do not need to blow people out, and you don't need to assemble a combo. You need to stop your opponents from doing any of those things, and then you need to stpo them from doing
anything at all.
What defines a hard lock is a position where no possible card interactions in the game can escape. Now, granted theres some fancy stuff with multiple spirit guides that might escape some locks, we can ignore those due to their shear
unlikelyhood. More practically, you need to avoid getting undone by a rogue Abolish or a Blasphemous Act sneaking under your taxes.
To do this, you need two main things. One is a principle board state engine that prevents opponents from gaining any ground. The typical one in this deck is Winter Orb and Derevi. Next, you need at least two tax effects to prevent
them from casting anything even if it costs 1 or 0 mana. These can typically be interchanged with cards like Tangle Wire and Root Maze.
Hard locks includ eboard positions like: Stasis, Tropical Island, Quirion Ranger, Derevi, Root Maze, Trinisphere; Winter Orb, Derevi, Llanowar Elves, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Sphere of Resistance, Thalia; etc. They are an interaction of
different kinds of suppressive soft lock cards that combine to create an inescapable position. The number of these is very large in this deck, and rarely will they be the same.
If you have to expose yourself to blowouts from Wraths or what have you, have a contingency plan. Always always think in the worst case senario mindset. Never be married to a specific line of play, adapt to the field and your draws.
The main advantage to having so many tool box engines and tutors, and to having so many silver bullets, is that the deck is very adaptable to changing pressures. Unexpected or unlikely plays will happen, and only rarely is the deck not
able to change its plans to suit these circumances.
I'll now do a card by card break down of the deck to explain the strategic interactions within, as there are many and they are not always apparent. This deck is not very easy to play, and play error can and will be expounded
upon to critical effect by clever opponents, so understanding the deck deeply is neccessary to have success with it.Dorks:This, in my mind, is the actual core of this deck. Creature mana producers allow you to accelerate out your play, faster even than decks that rely on mana dorks. They allow for a reliable turn two Derevi. They allow you access too
more mana than normal despite Winter Orb effects. They give you bodies to attack with for Derevi. They really are crucial towards this deck's success.
Llanowar ElvesFyndhorn ElvesElvish MysticThese are the three core elves, doing a simple G for an elf that taps for G.
Avacyn's PilgrimNoble HierarchArbor ElfBirds of ParadiseThese creatures produce non-green mana, making them especially valuable. Hierarch and Birds don't attack well, but that is worth it for their versility. Arbor Elf is reliant on having a Forest, but with 9 fetches, despite having only
5 forests in the deck, this is rarely an issue, making it usually superior to the Llanowars.
Joraga TreespeakerI think of this as an Elf Worn Powerstone. It's a three mana investment for two mana output. However you can spread this out over multiple turns. Beyond that, over time this can double the mana production of your elves. Having a
double mana producer is also valuable for producing even more mana when untapping, increasing Derevi's mana-producing value.
Dryad ArborThis could probably be included in the land section, but honestly you don't really want to use it as one. The primary reason this is included is to make Green Sun's Zenith into a potential turn one Llanowar Elves. However, beyond
that, its another forest for Dryad Arbor and for Quirion Ranger, and it gives you the ability to fetch into a forest, both of which can be very valuable.
Bloom TenderLotus CobraThese are your two mana mana producing agents. Bloom Tender is extremely explosive. With it in play, Derevi is basically free. Often a play is to cast Derevi, targer Tender, respond by tapping Tender, make 3, untap it, and make 3
more, which can fuel all sorts of things. Originally included out of a whim, its raw power was quickly proven to me. Lotus Cobra is intersting, as it doesn't have to tap to make mana, meaning it produces mana and also attack for
Derevi triggers. With fetchlands, of which we have 9, cobra can make quite a bit of mana. While cobra isn't terribly reliable, its explosiveness in my mind makes it worth it. It also allows for some very interesting plays under
Stasis and in conjunction with Quirion Ranger
Elvish Spirit GuideHonestly this should probably be included earlier (if you'll notice, I'm moving up in mana cost, roughly), as you almost always use it for its ability. This card is a spell-less Lotus Petal, the spell-less part being very good because
Sphere effects don't do anything to it, giving you a quick extra mana. This card is powerful at all stages of the game, and in a pinch it can act as a Gray Ogre if you need an extra body to get in for Derevi with. Over all just very
powerful.
Selvana, Explorer ReturnedI wasn't sure if I should include this in the utility creature or mana creature section, as it really is both. Originally, I had totally dismissed this card. Howling Mine is notoriously awful in multiplayer, so why would parley be any
good? Put simply, this deck can quickly get to a point where cards in an opponant's hand are totally negligable. This results in a three mana legendary creature that produces usually at least two green mana, and up to four, and taps
to draw you a card. With Consecreated Sphinx out, things get even more ridiculous, with her drawing you 7 cards per tap. Often you'll use several Derevi untaps on her to draw into a few cards, maybe use some of the mana at instant
speed, and draw into a desperately needed lock card.
Prison CreaturesThe next core of this deck is creatures that double as prison elements. Typically, these force opponants to tap more than normally, or create states where tapped out opponants cannot play spells.
CursecatcherJudge's FamiliarSpiketail DrakeThese creatures seem a bit odd, as they're typically 1v1 cards. However, their utility in multiplayer is very interesting. Each opponent must avoid casting spells into them, and by not doing so, each perpetuates this same situtaion
for other opponents. This makes them pseudo-spheres, especially in the critical early game. As the game progresses, players may cast spells into them just to get rid of them, but even so, these creatures allow you to stop key spells
from resolving, patching holes that may appear in your locks. Familiar is hybrid mana, making it particularly easy to cast, and being strong with Bloom Tender. Cursecatcher is a wizard, which is very important for Patron Wizard.
Spiketail Drake costs two mana, making it the worst in the bunch, but has the advantage of being able to counter any spell, making it the most versitile. The flying of both Familiar and Drake is also important for connecting for Derevi
triggers.
Thalia, Guardian of ThrabenGlowriderLodestone GolemGrand Arbiter Augustin, IVChancellor of the AnnexThese cards increase the cost of opponants spells, while also being creatures. Thalia is one of the most powerful cards in this deck, and one of the early plays you can most reliably make and most reliably want to make. A turn 1/2
Thalia puts all of your opponants well behind early on, and eventually locks them completely out, in additino to having 2 power and first strike making her harder than normal to block. In addition, she's legendary, so Sisay can tutor
her up no problem, and she's a mere two mana. Glowrider fits the curve as well, and then Augustin tops off the strongest of the sphere creatures. Augustin has the added benefit of generating mana and mitigating your own sphere
effects, and being one sided, in addition to also being legendary and thus able to be sisayed and being four mana making it a prime creature to Pod Derevi into. Lodestone Golem is a slightly less strong Arbiter, effecting you, not
being legendary. Being an artifact is a wash, as it is affected by Kataki, but it can also be Tezzereted into. It is one of the more flexible slots in the deck, though it hits hard and is another very strong creature to Pod into.
Chancellor of the Annex has a prohitive cost, but its beginning of the game ability is really the reason you play the card. Starting the game with this forces opponents to be behind a full turn or sacrifice a card and the mana to pay
for it. In both cases, it serves to buy you the time to get more lock elements out. However, it is one of the weaker cards in the deck as post opening hand, its not really effecient enough to warrant inclusion. Still, it is a strong
card that fits well in the game plan. I consider it one of the flexible slots as well.
Patron WizardThis card functions somewhere between the above two. It doesn't sacrifice like the Cursecatchers, but it doesn't hard increase every spell. However, it does enable every wizard to have a counter ability, including our general itself,
along with Cursecatcher, Aven Mindcensor, and most importantly Prophet of Kruphix. With Prophet, this card becomes almost a hard lock in and of itself, enabling you to keep every opponant unable to cast spells.
Gaddock TeegSometimes cost increae just doesn't get the job done, especially with major threats like Terminus and Blasphemous Act. Teeg stops a minimal of cards in your own deck, yet by itself can invalidate entire strategies. The only cards
affected by it in the deck are Birthing Pod, Green Sun's Zenith, Chord of Calling, Rising Waters, and Tezzeret. That's hardly anything compared to the huge amount of cards Gaddock totally invalidates in other strategies. Teeg is also
a prime creature to use if opponants manage to stabalize on mana a bit, as it eliminates most of the useful things they could have done with that mana, making it a great fail safe for when your early game is disrupted or for less
powerful openers.
Kataki, War's WageOne of the primary ways opponants might get around Winter Orb type effects is using artifact ramp. While spheres help make such ramp prohibitely expensive, an early sol ring or crypt from an opponant can be difficult to rein in.
Kataki entirely undoes artifact ramp, forcing them to tap or sac each rock they have, making their existence on the field irrelevent. Further, combined with Winter Orbs, Kataki can clear fields of other problem artifacts that may have
gotten into play. Being a cheap legendary creature makes it easy for this deck to access and a relatively effecient bear for Derevi purposes as well.
Aven MindcensorCensor serves several purposes. Three mana is approaching the top end of your curve, but this one does so much. It can counter fetches and other ramp, which helps with the deck's mana denial strategy. It also blanks most tutors, or
essentially blanks them. This is very important, as often decks may have a few cards to help escape from early soft locks, and preventing them from easy access to these can be critical. Mystical Tutor for Terminus, for instance, is
massive, or someone trying to Enlightened Tutor for an early Humility or Cursed Totem can be rough. It also helps deny decks like Druid their plethora of tutors to combo out, which is critical because a combo before you're able to
develop board pressence can steal a game from you. Add to this that the creature has flash, making it rather flexible, flying, making it an evasive beater for Derevi, and a wizard, enabling Patron Wizard further, and this creature
serves a critical function.
Hokori, Dust DrinkerIf Thalia isn't our most important prison creature, then Hokori is by a landslide. Hokori is one of three Winter Orbs, but beyond that Hokori is a legendary creature, making it tutorable by Sisay and creature tutors, and four mana,
meaning you can Pod Derevi directly into it. This makes it extremely accessible. Further, being a creature, it can attack and advance the lock that it itself perpestuates.
Linvala, Keeper of SilenceMana rocks are one way to mitigate and play around Winter Orbs. The other is what this deck does, mana dorks. It is important, therefore, that you are capable of countering elf ball strategies and the like. Linvala not only does that
at a very reasonable cost, and a very tutorable one with things such as Birthing Pod, but she is also one sided, making her a complete mirror breaker. She also serves to counter many general-based strategies, and deal with things like
resolved Hermit Druids in a manner that does not backfire, like many other solutions to such problems are (Humility, Cursed Totem, etc). She's also a decent attacker with stats of 3/4 and flying, meaning she can punch through blockers
fairly well, for Derevi purposes. She serves a critical function in this deck of countering strategies that Derevi would otherwise have problems with.
Utility CreaturesThe last major group of creatures is more ecclectic than the above, but includes essentially creatures that serve as engines to locate the resources you need at will, and functions that either compliment the other two major groups or
patch up strategic gaps that may be inlucded in them.
Weathered WayfarerIn earlier builds, I had Knight of the Reliquary here, but I found it a little clunky. Weathered Wayfarer is a very cheap creature, being only one mana, and due to our low land count, its ability can almost always be activated.
Wayfarer helps you keep a stream of lands despite having so few in the deck, but most importantly serves as an early tutor for either Gaea's Cradle, for explosive plays, or to fix your mana, getting you a critical blue or green mana in
the early game as neccessary. Beyond that, it allows you to do things like search for Forsaken City to compliment a stasis, or just pull out a fetch or two to help thin your deck of lands even further. I've been very happy with the
card in this deck.
Quirion RangerThis creature is so great and does so many things in this deck. It can generate mana not only by untapping mana dorks, but by essentially 'untapping' forests you control, in a deck with so few lands where it isn't uncommon to not have
other land drops in hand, making it have no drawback for its ability. Its a great first creature to Yisan into because it can untap Yisan immediately, allowing for him to tap for a two mana creature right away, and perhaps a third
activation on an opponants turn if you have the mana. He also can keep a Tropical Island untapped, not only helping you sustain a Stasis lock, but untapping a creature, hopefully Derevi, to keep opponants completely constrained under
the lock. He lets you maximize value from other creatures with tap effects, and all for the low price of a single green mana. An extremely versitile creature that is a great tool to have access to at any stage of the game.
Fauna ShamanA second Survival, Fauna Shaman may suffer from summoning sickness, but it's also a creature that can attack after its served its function, or when its ability is unneccessary or redundant. This deck is actually primarly a toolbox
deck, using many engines to select cards from a broad pool of options to completely lock opponants out. Fuana Shaman is not the most impressive of these, but serves an important function both in redundancy and along our curve. It's
important to remember that Derevi allows you to use her ability multiple times a turn, making her not always very different from an actual Survival as well.
Yisan, Wandering BardI could wax poetic about Yisan in this deck. Originally I tried him out because I suspected he would be decent, but I had no idea how powerful he really is in this deck until I started playing with him. At every 'level', Yisan gives
you access to a broad range of options. It allows you a natural flow and progression of lock elements from one card. An active Yisan requires opponants to play around his capacity to get Cursecatcher or Familiar right away, making him
almost like a Patron Wizard in that sense. With Derevi you can activate him multiple times a turn to quickly assemble a hard lock of creatures. With Prophet, he will basically win you the game in one turn cycle. An active Yisan is
one of the most powerful and threatening things this deck can produce for its raw versitility. Just try attacking with a few creatures when you have an active Yisan and a Gaea's Cradle and you'll see just how disgusting this creature
can be in the context of this deck.
Edric, Spymaster of TrestIn my earlier builds, I had built around Edric, Coastal Piracy, and Bident of Thassa. Only Edric has survived, and there's a reason for that. Erdic does not advance any lock, but the number of creatures in this deck is about as many
as dedicated Edrid decks run, and you have access to even more mana creatures. As a result, Edric easily can refill your hand the turn you cast him, and quickly will bury your opponants under prison elements. Time Warps and such are
not neccessary to maximize his effect. Further, because you are drawing into lock elements, not the traditional Warps and Counters of Edric decks, the drawback of allowing opponants to attack eachother for cards is entirely negligable.
Almost always it will be wrong for them to do so over holding up blockers, as cards in hand are irreleent if they can't cast them, so at worst Edric merely offers a temptation that opponants should not fall for in most cases, and that
when they do you can even futher capitalize upon.
Captain SisayAnother card who's power surprised me. My first impulse, as was many other's, with Derevi is to abuse its untap ability with powerful tap effects. Obviously being able to untap things like Arcanis and Skyward Eye Prophets would be
extremely powerful, however I quickly relaized that in the context of the deck that my build was becoming, their cost was not justified by their abilities. As I tried to tighten the curve, I tried Archivist, but was not very impressed.
Still looking for tap effects, I tried out Captain Sisay. At the time, I didn't have as many legendary creatures as in the current build, and I wasn't really suspecting it would be very good, but I wanted to see how it worked. I was
blown away by the power. Four mana is a lot for this deck, but every single game I untapped with Captain Sisay, I won. Her ability, in this deck, is massively more powerful than even Arcanis. The reason is that this deck cares about
tempo and quality over quantity of resources. This deck is one about maximizing not card advantage, but virtual card advantage, by blanking opponants hands and by finding the exact cards you need to do so. Here is a list of targets
for Sisay: Thalia, Augustin, Yisan, Gaddock Teeg, Kataki, Edric, Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxias, Linvala, Selvala, Sakushima, Hokori, Gaea's Cradle, Gemstone Caverns. The power and range of her targets is amazing. Usually, she either
fetches the kind of prison creature you need to lock up the board, or she gets Gaea's Cradle and lets you dump your hand. Captain Sisay isn't just card advante, she's an engine and enables a toolbox of creatures to be accessed. I was
worried about her four mana cost in this deck, and while it is true that it is high, she does so much in play.
Sakashima the ImposterThis is a card I tested on a whim, and it really surprised me. Clone effects in general aren't good enough for EDH, but this one is special. Because Sakashima keeps its name, you can clone your legendary creatures with impunity. The
go to is playing Sakashima to have a second copy of Derevi in play. With this, each attacker taps or untaps two permanents, meaning that Sakashima and Derevi is a hard lock with Stasis, Static Orb, etc. Beyond that, you can copy
things like Grand Arbiter to really secure a hard lock early on. Further, you can bounce Sakashima to change targets, meaning you can play it early on something undesirable and then change it later. Sakashima is legendary, so you can
find it with Sisay, which is pretty important. As a nice bonuce, if an opponant does manage to sneak a creature by you that's worth copying, Sakashima has some range, meaning that Saksahima many times can be a good option for getting
back into a game you're losing. All around, I've been consistently impressed with this card in this deck.
Prophet of KruphixOriginally I had Seedborn Muse, having started work on this deck before Prophet's printing. Prophet makes Seedborn look like a joke. You don't have many non-creature, non-land things you want to untap, so it essentially untaps your
board every turn, but giving your creatures flash is so extremely important. Untaping engine cards like Sisay or Fauna Shaman allows you to dump a stream of threats over a single turn cycle. It lets you empty a hand over a turn cycle
even without such an engine. It entirely mitigates Orb effects, making them completely asymmetrical. It allows you to block creatures with Derevi every turn, and then replay Derevi each turn, which can in turn do even more to
perpetuate locks. This often is a priority target, because very frequently having Prophet in play will enable a line of play that will close out a game in short order.
Consecrated SphinxSphinx is approaching the top end of creatures. Six mana is a lot for this deck, but Sphinx does so much to justify it. In one cycle, it draws 6 cards, totally replenishing a hand, meaning that if you ramp into sphinx, it mitigates
the potential blow out of a wrath that comes with it not actively disrupting opponents. That's assuming that opponants don't do anything else to play into the Sphinx. Sphinx is also a fantastic follow up play to getting a Prophet in
play, giving you cards which are likely creatures every turn to play. Finally, perhaps the most distusting application in this deck is Selvana and Sphinx, as Sphinx turns Selvana into T: Add 0-4 green to your mana pool, draw 7 cards.
With a Derevi in play to untap Selvana, its clear how quickly that will close out a game. Sphinx also serves as one of the decks 'recovery' options, as it isn't vulnerable to a lot of the hate that will disrupt the rest of the deck (it
survives opposing Elesh Norons, Night of Soul's Betrayal, it isn't affected by Cursed Totem, etc) and quickly draws cards, allowing you to recouperate from a blowout Terminus or Toxic Deluge.
Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteElesh Norn is similar to Linvala, although in a different sense. Similarly, Elesh serves as a mirror breaker, and similiarly Elesh deals with opposing mana dorks. Divergently, Elesh Norn pumps your team, allowing you to sometimes just
swing for the win without a lock, and solving problems such as Night of Soul's Betrayal or opposing Elesh Norns. Elesh also solves the problem of token strategies like Krenko, which can slide under the lock strategies early and pose a
team that can threaten to kill you despite your elimination of their ability to play further spells. Elesh also allows you to punch through blockers, making your dorks much more threatening and making blockers much less so, if it
doesn't just outright kill them. An added touch is that Elesh has vigilance, which is surprisingly useful in this deck as it, with Derevi on the field, can sustain a Stasis by keeping blue untapped without having to tap itself to swing
in.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core AugerTen mana is a lot of mana. However, Jin-Gitaxias has that very nice little ability of Flash. As with Prophet, flash is amazing here, but on Jin-Gitaxias, far more so. Because he has flash, you can attack with a few creatures, then
use Derevi's ability to do things like untap a Gaea's Cradle twice and a blue source twice, taping each time in response to the other trigger, allowing you to produce ten mana from very few resources, and then allowing you to cast Jin-
Gitaxias on the combat damage step. This almost entirely mitigates its cost. Once in play, Jin-Gitaxias, like Consecrated Sphinx, first immediately recouperates your hand, meaing that even if he's swept, you have a fresh hand to
reestablish a lock. Second, each player affected by Jin's final ability is pretty much down for the count. In fact, with sufficient spheres, he is part of a total hard lock.
Loyal RetainersStill, ten mana is a lot. So even is the seven mana of Elesh Norn. It would be a lot nicer if you could just pay three for them. Survival and Fuana Shaman allows you to transmute any creature into a large threatening legendary
creature (of which it's clear we have a large variety of) and then subsequently transmute that into Loyal Retainers, allowing you to play the card out for a measily three mana. It should be noted that Loyal Retainers is the only card
in the deck with any reliance on the graveyard, as well. This makes the deck almost impervious to grave hate. However, Retainer's power is too much to pass up. There are hands that will allow you to just play out a Survival and get a
turn three, sometimes even a turn two, Jin-Gitaxias and just steal games away. Beyond that, Loyal Retainers can bring back any of your legendary lock creatures that was somehow killed. Someone might wrath away Hokori, pay three and
bring that right back. Maybe the five color control deck managed a Toxic Deluge, dumped a bunch of mana and is preparing for some large plays next turn. Bring back your Gaddock Teeg or Augustin and put a stop to that. The only
liability is that in the early game, its a bad draw, but EDH mulligan rules allow you to easily toss it back if it's in your opener, making the odds of you actually drawing it early on extremely low, while the power it brings to the
deck by being accessible is extremely high.
Non-CreaturesWhile the owl's share of the deck is creatures, for obvious reasons, many non-creature cards are simply too powerful to pass up. They also give the deck some resiliancy, as wraths won't destroy ALL of your resources, if they manage
one.
PrisonsObviously, this deck being a prison deck, you want as many lock elements as you can manage. Some of the most powerful of these aren't creatures.
Winter OrbRising WatersThe card this deck is really built around, Winter Orb. And Rising Waters means you have a total of three of these effects in the deck, exactly what you want! Landing one of these early on and using Derevi and a few other creatures to
keep opponant's lands tapped down is what this deck is all about.
Static OrbProbably the card with the most tension in this deck. If you can keep up creatures to swing with this, or if you can keep killing Derevi, its power is amazing. The problem is that both of those are not simple. Typically, you want to
pair this card with Prophet of Kruphix. The only reliable sac outlet in this deck is Birthing Pod, but often rather than sacrificing Derevi every turn its just more practical to turn Derevi into a four mana creature and then that
creature into Prophet. The reason sac outlets work is that, due to the 7th edition printing of Orb, if you can tap it on your last opponent's end step, you get to untap all of your permanents, breaking its symetry. If you can
sacrifice Derevi every turn, you can use its last ability to do this. Unfortunately, bant simply does not have any sac outlets you really want to use. Some combo derevi builds use Ashnod's and Phyrexian Altar to combo with Derevi, but
this deck just doesn't want those cards. For a while I had tested High Market, but it just never was something I wanted to do. I anticipate that eventually we may get the kind of outlet we want and Static Orb will skyrocket in power,
but even short of that the card plays so well with Derevi's ability that even though it can sometimes be difficult to break Symmetry, that isn't always neccessary and it merely biding time is sufficient, and finding Prophet is not so
very difficult either. Other cards like Quirion Ranger help a ton with enabling this card as well, so it is well justified.
StasisThe grand daddy of all locks, the infamous Stasis. This deck has a slew of ways to maintain Stasis, and finding them is not terribly difficult. Stasis will close out games that are otherwise difficult, and an oppening hand containing
Stasis can usually be mulled into one capable of taking full advantage of it, or you can mull the stasis away easily. Having access to this card is invaluable.
Tangle WireThis card is just incredible in EDH. It generates so much tempo, it's intrinsically asymetrical, as you are always affected not only one less permanent to tap, but given the wire itself to tap at no real cost. Tangle Wire lets you tap
down opponents who are trying to be conservative and keep mana available to eventually overcome Derevi, it bides you a ton of time in the early game, and it just taps down a ton of things no matter the stage of the game. A wire and a
winter orb even without Derevi.
Sphere of ResistanceThorn of AmathystTrinisphereSphere effects form a neccessary counterpoint to the above spells. Keeping opponants tapped down will prevent them from casting expensive threats, but it won't stop them from slipping in cheap spells. Beyond that, many combo decks
don't even need very many lands to operate, and many decks will bide some time and then simply cast a barge of spells to escape your lock. Sphere effects, which compliment our already impressive list of creatures with similar
abilities, disrupt opponent's early games, turn soft locks into completely hard locks, and slow opponents down to a speed that can be easily dealt with. Your ideal turn 2, and in fact your ideal turn 1, is almost always a sphere, so it
is critical to run as many as you can. Originally, I only had Thorn of Amathyst, my thinking being that I didn't want to slow my own speed of dropping mana dorks. This is a mistake. Sphere of Resitance and Trinisphere, as odd as they
seem in a deck so focused on cheap creautures and effects, will simply steal games, and give opponents no quarter, whereas Thorn of Amathyst can be exploited by opponents just as much by you.
Rhystic StudyPart sphere, part engine, difficult to place but I'll include it here. This card punishes opponents by either acting as a sphere itself, or if they choose to play into it, drawing you more cards, usually proper spheres, meaning that
Study is truly a lose-lose proposition for them. Study is powerful in almost any blue deck, but particularly so here for those reasons, as it plays directly into this deck's strategy.
Auara of SilencePart sphere, part silver bullet, this card is a bit costly for what it does, demanding two white. However, it not only puts opponents of the mana to play things like heavy mana rock ramp or slamming down a Humility or Stranglehold or
what have you, which may otherwise prove a critical problem, it also allows you, in a pinch, an answer to a resolved one. While in that case, it serves as card disadvantge, being a -.7 card advantage trade, in cases like this the idea
is that it provides a neccessary swing in virtual card advantage that allows you to overcome cards that are otherwise blanking large parts of your strategy.
Aura ShardsAgain, cards like cursed totem and humility, and mana rocks, are potential problems for this deck. Aura Shards not only increases the advantage of every creature in your deck (and you do play 40), it even gives you another answer for
Humility, despite your creatures having no abilities.
Null RodStony SilenceYes, this deck has several cards that are turned off by these: Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond, Chrome Mox, Lotus Petal, Aether Vial, Birthing Pod. That's only 8 cards in a deck of 99, though. Further, cards like Lotus
Petal and Mana Vault are often one use effects. More importantly, these cards are just incredibly poweful not only at shutting of the problem of mana rocks, but at just invaliding entire strategies predecated on those or combos
revolving around artifact effects. It also turns off Sweepers like Disk and O-Stone, it turns off some generals, and it does so so effeciently. An opponent resolving an early Sol Ring could be a problem, Null Rod stops not only that,
but all potential threats from all opponents of that nature. The fact that it doesn't play well with a few of your own cards is fine, it's a calculated dissynergy, and one neccessary to perpeatuate the hard locks and denial strategy
that this deck revolves around.
Root MazeThis little one mana enchantment does so much. Yes, it hurts your own use of fetches as much as opponents, however Derevi really allows you to play around that adeptly. More importantly, Root Maze not only serves an amazing capacity
at early game disruption, putting opponents at least a turn behind you, but it denies them the ability to generate mana by untapping a land to orb and then playing another. It turns Stasis into an actual hard lock, it turns off a lot
of combos, and it slows the game down to a manageable level while minimally affects you and your legion of dorks, all for the low cost of a single G.
EnginesThis deck is a prison deck built around the principle of toolbox engines. Several engines are creatures, but the strongest are these non-creature ones in the deck. These are what makes this deck run so smoothly and so reliably, they
let you take any collection of creatures and find the ingrediants to turn them into a total lock. They let you manipulate your deck to maximize your virtual card advantage and minimzie your opponents by selecting the most devestating
cards for your opponents, and repeatedly. Derevi is a deck all about the sum of its parts, and if the parts are powerful creatures and prison cards, the summation is represented by these cards.
Concordant CrossroadsOkay, I'm not really sure if this is an 'engine', but it is an amazing card in this deck. It is part acceleration, part enabler. An early crossroads allows you to play dorks out in rapid succession, subsequently allowing you to dump
your entire hand. Further, it allows creatures, including Derevi itself, to swing the turn they come into play, allowing you to tap things down quickly or produce even more mana. Finally, it turns things like Sisay and Yisan from
'untap and win' into 'cast this and win' cards. A very effecient and very poweful card, and the fact that it affects opponents as well is often completely negligable.
Sylvan LibraryThe classic green draw engine. The rule of fire in magic is often stated as 'a card is worth about 2 life'. However, what it really is c = L/f, where c is a card, L is your total startin gLife, and f is the constatn of fire. So long
as f is roughly equivelent to its normal value, then in edh a card is worth not 2, but rather 4 life. Sylan Library therefore turns into being a kind of free Sensei's Divining top where maybe you'll draw a card into a card where the
first 3 or 4 turns, you'll simply draw 3 cards and pay 8 life. Life matters particularly little for this deck where you do not expect to give your opponent much ability to cast threats, let alone anything that would threaten your life
total. As such, Library here gives you access to a steady stream of cards, which allows you not only more access to locks, but the ability to rebound from answers or hate by simply drawing into even more prison cards, even if they do
mangage to deal with your board one way or the other, and all for a mere two mana.
Survival of the FittestThe classic toolbox card, this card is just amazing in this deck. It lets you transmute any creature, be it a dork or a prison creature you don't relaly need, into exactly what you do need. This deck offers you such a broad range of
possible creatures that this ability is particularly powerful in this strategy. Let alone that it pseudo-combos with expensive legendary creatures and Loyal Retainers, allowing you for potential complete blow outs. You'll note that
besides this, there is little interation with the yard, which is a tad uncommon for Survival decks, however here the raw power of the creatures you are fetching more than makes up for your lack of taking advantage of the second aspect
of the ability.
Birthing PodYes, both Null Rod/Silence and Gaddock Teeg stop you from using this card, making it the most 'ill suited' card in a sense for this deck. However, the raw power of it in the context of Derevi is astonishing. Primarily, this card is
essentially yet another Winter Orb, as you can sacrifice Derevi into a Hokori. Beyond that, however, it lets you turn any creature on curve into another, letting you filter mana dorks into hate elements, and derevi into several four
mana elements. Further, it is a sac outlet, which is great as you can keep getting extra triggers out of Derevi by using its ability to put it back out. Derevi plays particularly well with it because you are able to sac derevi, replay
derevi, untap pod, sac derevi, repeat for however much mana you have. This card is extremely flexible and well worth the fact that sometimes it will be rendered useless, as in those times you should expect to be winning anyways, and
when it is useful, it just takes games.
Tezzeret the SeekerThe most recent addition to the deck, I'd not really tested it before Paramount Elite suggested it, as five non-creature mana is a lot for this deck, especially with two blue in the mana cost, you can't tutor for it, its a walker and so
naturally vulnerable, and this isn't the most typical place for it, as normally you see it functioning in artifact based decks. However, despite its cost and despite its disfunctionality with cards like Gaddock Teeg, Tezzeret has
proven extremely powerful. It is an engine for artifact locks, and thus it represents yet another essentially winter orb card for the deck. Beyond that, it can, depending on the situation, find Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, or
often it will find Tangle Wire to tap down a field that's beginning to get worrisome. Oh, and it can also tutor out mana rocks, even though we only run a few. And then it can untap them, meaning that it can maintain a Stasis
profitably all on its own. Or it can just generate some extra mana. Tezzeret is extremely flexible, and even if you only get one use out of it it tends to be more than worth it, despite it being one of the slower elements of the deck.
TutorsWhat's an EDH deck without tutors? Not a good EDH deck. Tutors compliment our engines by either finding the engine itself, or serving as a one shot engine, fetching the card you need for the situation you're in. This is particularly
critical in this deck, and secondary in strength here probably only to true combo decks like Druid. Green has the most and strongest tutors of any color save Black, and here they are probably superior in quality to black tutor's as
they are very effecient at finding mostly just creatures, and this deck is if nothing else a very creature centered deck.
Enlightened TutorWorldly TutorThe namesake tutors from mirage, these two each give you access to a wide range of options. Both your enchantment/artifact options and creature options encompass every kind of proactive disruption you should want, making these tutors
both cheap and flexible, turning hands into what you need them to be to win.
Eladamri's CallPractically an instant speed Demonic Tutor here, you almost always want a creature anyways. Instant speed is great because it lets you take full advantage of Derevi's ability to produce extra mana during the combat damage step, as well
as working well with things like Prophet.
Chord of CallingSimilar to Call in that it's instant speed, this XGGG spell is even more well suited for Derevi's ability as you can use derevi on Bloom Tender or Gaea's Cradle to generate plenty of mana to pull any creature you may need from your
deck, or you can use it at an end step to pull something like Sisay or Bloom Tender, enabling you to immediately untap with them.
Green Sun's ZenithThis card can be a Llanowar Elf with Dryad Arbor, or it can be a flexible tutor for almost any creature in the deck. As an added bonus, it shuffles itself back into your deck, and since its quality increases with mono production and
its power scales with it, it ends up increasing the expected value of your subsequent draws, if only slightly. Fantastic card in this deck.
Summoner's PactThis card costs nothing (or maybe a few mana, depending on your sphere situation) to find almost any card you could want. Since this deck prioritizes tempo and virtual card advantage so highly, this is extremely important. Having to
tap four mana next turn is nothing compared to being able to cast the creature you got now. Rather than the more typical tutor line of cast the tutor then cast the tutored card, this card tends to play out more like Play the tutored
card, then pay for the tutor. This is especially important as often you tutor for cards that enable you to pay its cost, such as Bloom Tender or Prophet of Kruphix.
Miscellaneous:
Cylonic RiftI don't really know how to catagorize this card, its the only card in the deck that doesn't have any redundancies, yet it is too poweful and too neccessary to exclude. Rift is one of the most powerful cards in multiplayer, allowing you
to recover from essentially any concievable board state. No matter how many Humilities and Mana Rocks and Elesh Norns and Cursed Totems and Strangleholds and blockers and whatever else you can conceive of, Rift clears them all off the
board. No card is immune to rift, unlike other removal spells. Not only that, but in a pinch, Rift can be used for two mana to pick off a single critical threat, be it that Elesh Norn or that Humility someone snuck into play. Follow
it up with a winter orb or a few other locks, and they'll never have the chance to recover. It's unfortunate that the deck doesn't have the capcity to tutor for Rift at will, since it's such an important fail safe, but because it is
isolated in function and kind, it simply isn't worth it to run Mystical Tutor or what have you. Cyclonic Rift has won me so many otherwise unwinable games from nowhere, I cannot stress its importance enough, despite it not quite
flowing nearly as cleanly as the rest of the deck.
Rocks:These cards are so powerful in how much they accelerate us that they warrant slight dissynergy with cards like Null Rod and Kataki:Sol RingMana CryptMana VaultThe core rock sof most decks in edh, these accelerate you so fast and allow for plays like turn one Trinisphere that will just blow out the entire table, such that their inclusion should be automatic.Chrome MoxMox DiamondThese moxen allow for explosive starts. We cannot use Mox Opal as we don't have nearly enough artifacts, but these both are easily worth it.Lotus PetalI would argue that most decks should include this, but some I suppose don't require it. Still, in this deck, the fast acceleration when it is present in an opening hand makes it easily worth the card disadvantage.Aether VialI include this here as it is essentially a mana producer, although it does a lot more, making creatures both uncounterable and available at instant speed. Because this deck has 39 creatures and they follow a fairly tight curve, Vial is
perfect here, usually allowing you to double your mana production for your first three turns, and even later in the game enabling some tight plays with things like Quirion Ranger and Dryad Arbor.
Lands:Lands are often not given as much respect as they are due in EDH. A solid mana base is critical towards the functioning of decks, and a solid understanding of what that entails is critical for the ability to build one. Derevi gets
away with a mere 27 lands because of the principles at play, and yet games where you experience mana screw are probably less than I've had with decks running upwards of 10 more lands.
The first principle is that we are playing a full suit of mana dorks. We need access to turn one green mana to make good use of this. In addition, these lands should produce both green and at least one other color, as Derevi will cost
GWU, and most of our mana dorks produce green, thus neccessitating the land that casts them to provide non-green the following turn. However, more critically is that we have that green mana turn one. Therefore, lands that do not
produce Green on turn one need to be minimized. This deck only runs three that do not do this:Gaea's CradleThis land is just so ridiculous. While it sereves little function as a turn one play, every turn after this becomes just ludicrous. Games that involve an early Cradle quickly spiral out of control, as quickly it becomes easy to play
entire hands. Derevi untapping the land becomes even more ridiculous. The fact that it does not enable a turn one Dork is negligable compared to the power it represents.Tundra and Hallowed Fountain:They do not produce green mana, but they enable fetches to easily access any neccessary mana, and provide a solid counterpoint of mana towards the heavy green leaning of the rest of the base. However, hands that only have these lands
and do not have other sources of green should be aggressively mulliganed.That brings us to the rest of the mana base...Dual-Fetch Core:Tropical IslandBreeding PoolSavannahTemple GardenThe four other dual lands all provide green. In fact, I would argue that Tropical Island is the most important land in the deck. Having lands that are forests is extremely important towards enabling both Arbor Dryad and Quirion
Ranger. Ranger with a Tropical Island can fuel a Stasis indefinitely, and several cards in the deck have heavy blue demand. Tropical Island does all of this. However, the other three are also obviously extremely important and
neccessary.Wooded FoothillsWindswept HeathFlooded StrandPolluted DeltaVerdant CatacombMarsh FlatsArid MesaScalding TarnMisty RainforestThe 9 on-color fetches allow easy and versitile access to our six duals, and the green ones have an added benefit of being able to grab Dryad Arbor if neccessary.Five-Color Lands:Five color lands should be played in every non-mono colored edh deck, just because they offer flexible access to the mana you need. However, this deck makes especially good use of several of these lands.Command Tower: Obvious include, no-penalty access to all three colors.Mana Confluence/City of Brass: Essentially a command tower, the damage is negligable.Gemstone Caverns: People still don't see how powerful this land is. In your opening hand, 75 percent of the time this is the best Mox ever, costing a card of any type, giving access to all colors, and giving you mana on turn zero. If
you are going first, it is easy to mulligan away. If you draw it later in the game, you already have access to the colors you need, so it is not much worse than a normal land. As an added benefit, its lgendary, so you can feven fetch
it with Captain Sisay if you need an extra land, in a pinch. An invaluable asset, and it gives you turn one green mana to boot, every time that it is in your opener.Tarnished Citadel: Basically another City, 3 life isn't that big of a deal and the flexibility is worth it.Thran Quary: In a deck with 40 creatures, this land often also has no downside, being just another Command Tower.Undiscovered Paradise: In a deck that is trying to get cards like Winter Orb down as fast as possible, this card essentially not only has no drawbacks, but is an asset. This deck does not run many lands because you really don't need to
play more than one or two lands in any given game. Paradise is a land that, once used, returns to your hand allowing you to replay it. This means you do not need to draw lands to have a constant stream of lands you can play and tap,
despite Winter Orb locking down the rest of your mana. It also means that if you don't have a land in your hand, returning to your hand and replaying it, even without an Orb in play, has no detriment towards your development.Forsaken City: Similar to Paradise, this land untaps itself. Dissimilar, however, it costs a card to do. However, often this is easily worth it, or makes it no worse than a Command Tower under a Winter Orb. What it does do, unlike
Paradise, is allow you to constantly pay for Stasis in one card. This land gives you extra mana when you need it, and it gives you full access to all of your colors.Non-five color lands:Yavimaya CoastBrushlandHorizon CanopyThese lands round out our mana base, enabling turn one green with added benefits. Canopy can cycle when its no longer useful, and Coast provides much needed blue. Brushland is the worst of the lot, and the first land to exit the deck
in the case of a suitable replacement being printed.
Possible Inclusions and Notable Exclusions
Natural OrderI love this card, it is so powerful. Well, it was. Sylvan Primordial is amazing, and being able to get it out for four mana was ridiculous. It was a catch all and answered many problem permanents, while being larger and accelerating
you all at the same time. Unfortunatel, with it being banned, there just are no good targets for it anymore. I tried Vorinclex for a while, but you really don't care about land based acceleration, and while it seems like its tap
ability is in line with prison, the fact that it is only 'after the fact' punishment means that it does nothing to actively prohibit opponents from playing threats, making it largely unexciting and not worth the investment of Natural
Order. I tried Terrastadon, but giving opponents three elephants is basically the last thing you want to do, unfortunately. Woodfall Primus doesn't do nearly enough, and that leaves precious little of any value to do with it. I'm
hoping that either Primrodial will be one day (rightfully) unbannned, or we'll get a large green creature that helps with our game plan at some point, but until then Natural Order is never more exciting than just Sylvan Tutor.
Sylvan Tutor.Speaking of, Sylvan Tutor is very close to being strong enough, but it has several problems. Because it is a tutor that 'broadcasts' its choice, it gives your opponents a lot of information about what you're doing when you cast it,
allowing them to modify their gameplay around yours. Because it's sorcery speed, unlike Worldly Tutor, you can't minimize this disadvantage. Further, sorcery speed means it can't be used on your combat step, as can be done with
Worldly and such. Therefore, it doesn't quite do enough to justify its inclusion, and you'd normally just rather run more threats, even if they're a bit weaker than what you'd tutor for, in its stead.
Mystical Tutor/Personal TutorWithout Natural Order, the only card you'd really want to tutor for is Cyclonic Rift, and you don't reliably want to do that early on anyway. There's just not really any powerful instant or sorcery spells you want to have, and
certainly those that you have there are not a large enough range of to make the tutors a very useful prospect.
Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation/Capture of JingzhouExtra turns are fantastic in edh, and in my original build I ran all three of these. I originally modeled Derevi after Edric, and thus Time Warping for days was the plan, fueled by Coastal Piracies and such. However, as I tested, I
found that this gameplan feels very win more, and that typically either I had a lock and draw engine and the extra turn was suplerfluous, or the extra turn wasn't much better than a cantrip. In both cases, I realized the card was not
earning its slot and the three got.
Bident of Thassa/Costal PiracyThese cards are excellent card advantage engines, and Edric is a great deck that proves the utility of this kind of strategy. However, this deck is not Edric. These cards neccessitate having enough creatures to earn return. However,
the amount of creatures you need usually means you'd have lock creatures anyway, making the card draw win more. The fact that the cards aren't attatched to bodies, cost a critical four mana and therefore can't be cast under Gaddock
Teeg and are slowed down by Thorn effects, and the fact that normally when you can cast it, you've already won anyway, or if you're lsoing they don't help you recover, they just don't do enough to warrant their inclusion. Bident is
obviously superior to Piracy, being fetchable by Sisay and Tezzeret and having an extra ability, but even so it is just not quite good enough in this conception of Derevi.
Brago, King EternalUntapping your team is great, but summoning sickness really takes the punch out of this in this deck. He's good for maintaing Stasis and Tangle Wire, and getting an extra trigger out of Derevi, but at four mana he's just not exciting
enough. Maybe if Sylvan Primordial was still around, but... well, a man can dream, a man can dream.
Copperhorn ScoutA one mana kind of bizzaro-Brago, Copperhorn is actualy pretty great, untapping your team and thus allowing you to almost 'double' Derevi's effect a lot of the time. This card could very easily see play, but the fact that its reliant
on other creatures and not very exciting on its own (compare to Quirion Ranger where, even on its own, it untaps forests), I was never quite impressed enough by it. I repeatedly put it back in for flexible slots and take it out,
though, and its never bad. This creature may find its way back in in the future, its unclear to me.
Conclusions:
Derevi is probably the best deck I've built for this format. It is extremely flexible and is well equipped to totally undercut almost any of the other primary strategies. Since its elements are extremely cheap with regards to
the power they produce, and all interact well with eachother, the deck reacts very well to opponants, while at the same time quickly creating a board state that cannot be escaped from. Nothing in this deck exists for flash, and all of
the fat is neccessarily cut out. No part of this deck is given towards dudrling around, or playing fair in any regard. At every corner, you need to examine what your opponants are tyring to do and then stop them preemptively. Are
they trying to sneak out artifacts to get out from Winter Orb? Prioritize finding Null Rod or Kataki. Is someone trying to play dorks? Find Linvala or Elesh Norn. If they sit back with mana open, its a good time to either find
Gaddock Teeg or Tangle Wire. At every turn, you should be able to stop your opponant's advancement, and I would say most games I've lost with the deck are due to player error. This is not a deck for the faint of heart, there's very
little forgiveness if you fail to adequately lock down an opponant. Sure you'll lose games due to a turn two combo, or a turn one sol ring into more acceleration than you are prepared for, so if that does happen don't fret too much,
but most games you lose are because you wanted to play more dorks on turn two rather than Glowrider so you could have a REALLY good turn 3, and then someone lands a bunch of acceleration or combos out in your face. Derevi has also shown me several larger principels in the format. One is the absolute viability of mana dorks, perhaps their neccessity. I have since strated incorporating dorks into my other decks to great effect.
Essentially, if an opponant doesn't wrath, they're the best bang for your buck short of Mana Crypt or Sol Ring, and they diversify your mana base, making you less susceptable to Geddons. In derevi, though, they are the best they could
be, allowing you to convert them mid game into prison elements of their own. The deck also represents the best use of Sphere effects I've thus seen in the format, allowing you to play around them with ease and deploy them faster than
other prison decks. Overall, I think this sort of deck is extremely healthy for the format. At it's core, its all about preventing opponants from abusing their resources, and then inverts that to be oppressive. It forces players to respect the
mana curve and not get overly greedy living in their own goldfish bowl. It's also a deck that punishes both misplaying and combo decks harshly, since most combo decks are reliant on chaining tutors together, sphere effects are ideal at
putting a Thorn of Amathys in the side of any combo player. It also is a deck that facilitates more interesting strategies by going 'under' the big midrange-control decks that most players tend to play. I hope you enjoyed reading this primer, and I hope it gives you some ideas about moving forward in the format. I truly believe that this deck represents a technological improvement over past strategies that has forced an
interesting element of the metagame, that is the true and absolute viability of prison, rather than prison that preyed on greedy players alone. Let me know any thoughts or questions you have on the deck in the comments and I'd be happy
to answer.
-Glix
