Gates revealed

Commander / EDH RUW (Jeskai, America)

Kingdomsteel

Land (35)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Azorius Guildgate
• 1x Boros Guildgate
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dimir Guildgate
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gateway Plaza
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Gruul Guildgate
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Maze's End
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 1x Plains
• 1x Plains
• 1x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Selesnya Guildgate
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Vesuva

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Garruk Wildspeaker
• 1x Lord Windgrace
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Creature (28)

• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Chulane, Teller of Tales
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x District Guide
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove *f-pre*
• 1x Elvish Reclaimer
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Gatecreeper Vine
• 1x Joiner Adept
• 1x Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
• 1x Muldrotha, the Gravetide
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Ramunap Excavator *f-pre*
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Stone-Seeder Hierophant
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1x The Gitrog Monster
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Tireless Tracker
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Ulvenwald Hydra
• 1x Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• 1x Wayward Swordtooth *f-pre*
• 1x Yarok, the Desecrated

Artifact (6)

• 1x Amulet of Vigor
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top

Commander (1)

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Bring to Light
• 1x Broken Bond
• 1x Circuitous Route
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Eerie Ultimatum
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Gaea's Blessing
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Nylea's Intervention
• 1x Open the Gates
• 1x Recollect
• 1x Scapeshift
• 1x Splendid Reclamation
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Tooth and Nail
• 1x Wrath of God

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Guild Summit
• 1x Prismatic Omen
• 1x Sylvan Library

Instant (5)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Realms Uncharted

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Maybeboard

Artifact (3)

• 1x Cranial Archive
• 1x Feldon's Cane
• 1x Perpetual Timepiece

Creature (1)

• 1x Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Burgeoning

Land (1)

• 1x Thespian's Stage

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Hello fellow landfallers, landfetchers, landsearching bro's, marina's or whatever you identify as.

If I've learned anything during my almost 5 years of experience in Magic: The Gathering then it's definitely how much fun building your own deck can be. I've done it all, copy my deck off the internet, asked everybody for advice and what to play and I've tried al lot of different playstyles, thoroughly.

I've learned not only how to lose and win a game, I've also learned to enjoy and respect the community or even just your playtable and their decks/cards/playstyles.

Welcome to my pet-deck. My one deck I'm most proud of. It started out as a Yodah, Archmage Eternal deck with a bunch of stompy creatures, big spells and Maze's End as my plan B since I didn't have any budget for all those expensive fetches/shocks/pain lands. Well, why not go for Gates to begin with?

It became very apparent that Maze's End became a very comfortable win for my deck. Slowly but surely it became my main win con and a lot of big spells aswell as the big creatures had to go, everything I found that had to do with utilizing my lands and getting my gates on the battlefield became a big part of this deck.

for now it feels incedibly smooth, I really love playing and winning out of nowhere. I think it's a solid win to get out 11 cards out with different names and winning that way. imo.

I want to make sure that I haven't missed anything since May 2018, when I first built this deck. Therefore I'd like to ask the community if you could share a a few braincells and your knowledge to improve my deck to it's full potential.

Beforehand a few notes/requirements I want to quote before you slam me with infinite combo's;

Things I want my deck to do:

• When my lands enter the battlefield, I want them to trigger as much utility as possible. I want my lands to make me gain life, draw cards, get out other lands, untap permanents that make me produce more mana, bring me a step closer to getting maze's end out AS MUCH TIMES PER TURN AS POSSIBLE.

• Creatures need to have heavy synergy with getting out my lands, or using my lands to generate more mana, using other creatures to draw cards and get out lands, gaining life.

• Make me survive long enough to get out all my key ingredients so there's no more stopping me. Have me gain enough life, key removal, key ingocnito, don't make to much of an appearance with stax pieces or fancy counterspells. I don't want people to fear me. Stay below the radar, just like my lands.

Things I don't want my deck to do:

• go infinite. I tend to enjoy my games, as I enjoy seeing other people enjoy their decks long enough. They are the pinnacle of my learning process during my 5 year experience.

• Prevent other people from playing their decks/Locking out other players. See line above.

• Ramping trough artifacts. Allthough I've noticed and recognize their power and speed I'm convinced that the only way to properly ramp in this deck, are lands on the battlefield. I don't like my plays to be dependant on two rocks that can be easily wiped off the board. I wan't to keep myself off the radar as long as possible.

That said, please read the synergies I've noticed throughout my two years of experience. Enjoy!

Main strategy

Get out Maze's End, get out 9 gates, activate Maze's End, Win.

The road to the end of the maze.

Wow, dat main strategy tho.

Yeah this deck is really smooth in doing that, but what I enjoy most is how well and how fast everything helps me get there. Overall the CMC-curve is pretty low. I draw a comfortable starting hand most of the time with early ramp and I pretty much never get without a hand troughout the game.

My first 2 to 3 turns consist mostly out of "play this instant or sorcery, fetch some basics or gates, play land of the turn, maybe even an extra one or a creature that utilizes or fetches more lands. Very basic stuff, not really giving the impression I might explode in a couple more turns.

About turn 3-5 it's getting more serious. By then Maze's End has hit the field (If not, something's wrong or I'm getting targeted). Having permanents out that help me draw cards, play more lands per turn. golos, Eternal Pilgrim get's out and the party starts.

Turn 5-? anywhere close to Turn 5 Things can get as out of control as an Izzet Storm/spellslinger deck. The amount of mana produced, spells fetched and perfect hand molded are mostly always in time or only 1 turn to late to win. Anyway always a great feeling, win or lose.

How can it win?

Getting out Maze's End is one thing, getting out 9 to 10 gates is another. Fetches enough, but what speeds things up?

• Scapeshift ftw, literally. The only thing you need is 10 lands, sacrifice as many as needed and have the new ones enter untapped, or survive one extra turn. Activate Maze's End, win.

• Armageddon with Splendid Reclamation. I litterally drooled out of my mouth when I first saw this combination in my hand at a game once. I was trying to figure out if I was gonna have any friends after this. Tap lands for 8 (or more) mana. Cast Armageddon, have at least 4 mana left in pool and cast Splendid Reclamation now you have a huge head start on your lands. Most people don't recover from this. They are not prepared. I always mind the blue players on the table, won't play this if they have untapped lands. Patience has rewarded me more than once.

• I can cast all of the above with Bring to Light straight out of my deck. Great card, has helped me numerous times.

• Amulet of Vigor. This is a true powerhouse as it speeds up my game entirely. All of the sudden not only my gates are 100% faster, but also Maze's End. This can speed up my win but at least two turns. Not much removal has gone to this, as I think those were big mistakes.

• Cyclonic Rift. As this makes sure my opponents have to rebuild their empire entirely, this is the end of most of my opponents as they can't recover from this most of the time. I know I said "I'd rahter not prevent other people from playing their decks/Locking out other players" But if you give the the chance to cast this for 7 mana after it's become apparent I have 7 mana at my disposal very fast, you kind of wanted it.

Great Synergies

• Expedition Map+Academy Ruins Fetch any land on demand. Given it's a 5 mana combination, it feels like a good filler if there's nothing going on in my hand.

• Lotus Cobra+Stone-Seeder Hierophant Tap a land for mana, untap land with Seeder, play land, trigger Cobra and produce one mana of any color, trigger Seeder and untap it. If my calculations are right That 5 mana out of two lands. One of wich you just played. Imagine being able to play more lands in a turn. The ramp is real.

• Thrasios, Triton Hero+Seedborn Muse. Depending on the mount of mana you have available you can basically top deck your deck into lands onto the battelfield or draw cards at the end overy every other player's turn.

• The Gitrog Monsteror/andTatyova, Benthic Druid+Evolving Wilds,Prismatic Vista or Fabled Passage+Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator. Keep thinning your deck with making use /abusing this beautiful synergy. Molding your hand is great this way and not hard to get these cards together considdering we can fetch for it all.

I think it's very obvious that whatever permanents provide me with extra lands per turn really helps out these synergies. For instance: Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Courser of Kruphix, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Mina and Denn, Wildborn, Oracle of Mul Daya, Exploration...

Yarok, the Desecrated Is a HUGE YAYA for anything that concearns triggers provided by my lands or creatures and he gives this to me a second time. For instance:

• Double draw (Guild Summit or Tatyova, Benthic Druid)

• Double life gain (Tatyova, Benthic Druid)

• Double untaps Stone-Seeder Hierophant (proper use of the stack)

• Double producing mana Lotus Cobra

• Double permanent recovery Sun Titan

• Double Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath (WHAT?)

• Double Burgeoning Trigger (maybe future card)

The list goes on, just wanted to point out that Yarok, the Desecrated is not to take lightly.

Protection and the minority of it

As you might've noticed, I don't run so many removal spells/protection spells in this deck. That's because I enjoy the idea of giving myself as much chance of getting the lands/synergies I need to play and utilize as many lands as possible before the game ends. I find one or two mass removals enough for me to move on and try to win the game.

There will always be Spot removal/Mass removal/Mill, therefore I have more than enough graveyard recurrence in the deck, for instance:

• Academy Ruins

• Eternal Witness

• Muldrotha, the Gravetide

• Ramunap Excavator

• Sun Titan

• Lord Windgrace

• Eerie Ultimatum

• Gaea's Blessing (Anti Mill)

• Recollect

• Crucible of Worlds

• Elixir of Immortality (Anti Mill)

There one thing I'm really weak against and that's the exile zone. I've tried running Riftsweeper and Pull from Eternity. Just never felt like I could use them as they were dead cards in hand 99% of the time. Maybe some GY protection like Perpetual Timepiece, Cranial Archive or Feldon's Cane that could help me feel safer. Suggestions?

The 12th and 13th gate

Vesuva is a ggg (God given gift) if it get up to having a couple percent more chance to get out an extra Gate as it copys All types/subtypes of the card you make it a copy of.

Thespian's Stage (Maybeboard) is almost the same, but requires an activation cost and doens't do much for me at the tart because of the lack of color it produces. This is a rather small problem since we have Prismatic Omen,Chromatic Lantern and Joiner Adept. But it's just an atleast two card synergie that harder to obtain, what do you think?

Thanks for checking this deck out, much appreciated.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	20 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 9 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.28
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Cat Warrior 2/2 G, City's Blessing, Clue, Plant 0/1 G