Lavinia Omen Pool *Primer*

Commander / EDH* Competitive Control Primer Stax WU (Azorius)

CallahanIsHere Fenix15

Instant (23)

• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Ertai's Meddling
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Negate
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Whir of Invention
• 1x Force of Will

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Ravages of War
• 1x Recurring Insight

Land (31)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 8x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 3x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Windswept Heath

Creature (6)

• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Hushbringer
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Verge Rangers
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Verity Circle
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Commander (1)

Artifact (18)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Juntu Stakes
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Knowledge Pool
• 1x Omen Machine

Planeswalker (5)

• 1x Gideon of the Trials
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler
• 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

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Maybeboard

Instant (11)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Dive Down
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Abeyance
• 1x Apostle's Blessing
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Winds of Rebuke
• 1x Mystical Dispute
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation

Artifact (9)

• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Helm of Obedience

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Legacy's Allure
• 1x Mystic Subdual
• 1x Steal Enchantment
• 1x Suppression Field
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Nevermore
• 1x Future Sight

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Time Wipe
• 1x Approach of the Second Sun

Creature (9)

• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Weathered Wayfarer
• 1x Meddling Mage
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Treasure Mage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Sun Titan

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

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Welcome to the Omen Pool

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is a / Legendary Creature from Ravnica Allegiance, which prevents opponents from casting free spells and noncreature spells with CMC greater than the number of lands that player controls.

Many people believe this to be a stax deck, when in actuality it is a control deck with lock pieces. The deck’s namesake locks of Omen Machine and Knowledge Pool give the control aspects of the deck a bit of inevitability, which works significantly in its favor.

If you are new to this deck here is my best advice I can give you, do not play taxing effects in this deck. It works against what Lavinia is trying to do. I know it seems counterintuitive, but taxing effects in this deck will lose game for you more often than not.

Make sure to join The Omen Pool Discord Server! (https://discord.gg/2VvERSX)

Why Lavinia?

Lavinia is a pretty awesome commander that is very successful at slowing down and punishing many of the meta’s most aggressive combo decks (Hulk, Divergent, and Consultation). Due to Lavinia’s cheap casting cost, we are able to aggressively push out hate/control pieces and restrict our opponents early, while still maintaining the late game locks that other / strategies contain. Lavinia’s early game effectiveness makes her possibly one of the strongest and most dangerous Control/Stax commanders available.

Why Not GAAIV?

Many people who begin the path down the / Control/Stax path, generally gravitate towards Grand Arbiter Augustin IV because of its taxing abilities. While Lavinia and GAAIV do share many similar decklist qualities, the ultimate philosophies are different. GAAIV attempts to tax opponents, while Lavinia tries to prevent moves all together.

GAAIV’s effectiveness is entirely meta dependent, and flourishes in slow grindy metas where it can gradually gain more value than its opponents over time. Lavinia, however, is much more effective overall due to her strong abilities and low casting cost, as well as its early game explosiveness.

Strategy

The game plan for this deck is fairly simple; resolve a Lavinia as early as possible, and then begin to control the game from there, eventually building to either a hard lock or a win condition.

Opening hands usually want to see any combination of relevant hate pieces, ramp, and interaction.

Going for the Omen Pool lock is generally going to be a timing piece. Waiting for the right time to either tutor or cast the lock is imperative. Try to wait until opponents are either tapped out or low on cards (remember free counterspells like Force of Will, Pact of Negation, and Mental Misstep cannot be cast while Lavinia is on the battlefield.

The other route to victory is with the deck’s gallery of planeswalkers. Cards like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria alongside a land destruction spell can quickly end games.

Opening hands and early game draw spells will be good indications of what avenue you should pursue for the win.

Locks & Win Conditions

Knowledge Pool + Lavinia lock

Hard Lock When Knowledge pool is on the battlefield, whenever a player casts a spell, that player exiles it into the Knowledge Pool. Once they do this, they may cast another nonland card exiled into the Knowledge Pool without paying that card’s mana cost. When Lavinia is on the battlefield, the spells your opponents cast from the Pool will get countered by her ability. It is also important to note the CMC of the card being cast from the Pool, because your opponents cannot cast cards with CMC greater than the number of lands they control. This can be relevant as an opponent may attempt to remove a win condition or spell target from the Pool. Again it is also important to note that spells cast from the Knowledge Pool are all cast at instant speed and ignore the timing restrictions of the card (this is how I was able to cast an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger at instant speed for 1 mana…. Magic is silly). This also allows Teferi, Time Raveler and Drannith Magistrate to be secondary lock pieces if Lavinia is somehow dealt with.

Make sure you are aware of cards like Abrupt Decay, Vexing Shusher, and Boseiju, Who Shelters All as these cards can allow opponents to cast spells through the lock.

Omen Machine + Lavinia lock

Soft Lock This lock functions very similarly to the KP lock, however it still allows for other players to cast spells and is open for interaction. This lock is generally much safer with a Teferi on board as it makes all of the potential interaction opponents might have sorcery speed, giving you more freedom to answer. I generally would recommend trying to steer more towards the KP lock if you can.

Matchups

Mono-Colored Decks

Urza Powered Scepter

Slightly UnFavored Playing against this deck is no easy feat for any deck. In our list, getting a Turn 1-2 Lavinia can be the difference between winning and losing. If they land a Sai, Master Thopterist it is going to be a bad time for you. Try to keep them in check by finding cards like Phyrexian Revoker, Suppression Field, or Cursed Totem.

Midrange Yisan

Even This is going to be one of the rare instances where getting a Turn 1-2 Lavinia really is irrelevant. They don’t care too much about our Lavinia hate. Instead try to track down Cursed Totem A$AP Rocky. Hitting their creature activated abilities will be debilitating for them. In this matchup try not to lean too heavily on Artifact ramp since both Null Rod and Collector Ouphe are guaranteed to make an appearance.

Godo Helm

Favored Turn 1 Lavinia wins this matchup. Hold up removal for either Godo or Helm of the Host

Two-Colored Decks

GAAIV Control

Slightly-Favored This the case of “whoever gets their commander out first has the advantage.” Good news for us is that our commander comes down rather consistently on turn 1. Lavinia really hits this deck hard since they work around an As Foretold value engine. Watch out for Humility. Also they will have a greater density of counterspells than us (not by much), so counter-wars may swing in their favor from time to time.

Gitrog Dredge

Favored Rest in Peace should be a card you immediately try to track down in this matchup. Drannith Magistrate also has some value here, but not nearly as potent as good ole RiP

Mirror Match

Race to the Lock This is quite possibly the most miserable mirror match for everyone involved. Try to get to your lock first is the best advice I can give you.

Three-Colored Decks

Kess Consultation

Favored RiP is really good here. So is Grafdigger's Cage and Magistrate. Back to Basics is also super strong here and will punish their greedy mana-base

Grixis Storm (Jeleve/Kess)

Even-Favored With my build of the deck, this is an even matchup. Stock out of the box, Omen Pool is geared at slowing combo decks rather than storm. If you play in a storm heavy meta, many of the maybeboard cards are worth considering. With the stock build Teferi, Turn 1, and Magistrate are bombs here Lavinia are MVPs here.

Divergent Kykar

Slightly-Favored In a weird way, a lot of the same hate pieces that hit Dredge hard, also hit this deck as well. Grafdigger’s Cage is obviously the MVP here. T1 Lavinia is still on the mind, but watch out for cards like Flame Sweep that will open them up.

Harvest Animar

Unfavored OOOFFFFF. This is not a good matchup at all. Don’t focus on your lock too much in this. They will have dudes and they can just attack you through the lock. Instead focus on getting to the Helm+RiP win. That will generally pay off better than the locks will.

4+ Color Decks

Curious Control

Slightly-Favored This is a weirdly good matchup for us. We have a lot of hate pieces that make this deck struggle. They are going to have a decent amount of interaction, and BY NO MEANS LET THEM GET SEEDBORN MUSE ONTO THE FIELD.

Yidris Storm

Even-Favored Same deal as Grixis storm, now just with green to deal with.

Blood Pod

Unfavored This is a creature heavy deck that is going to make our day pretty rough. Don’t worry about casting Lavinia early. Work for the Helm win if you can.

TnT Hulk

Favored Lavinia is really good here. So is Grafdigger’s Cage and RiP. Watch out for Gilded Drake. They also will sandbag fffffooooorrrrreeeevvveeerrrrrrr. So try to sit back on your interaction as much as possible as well. This is a favorable matchup if you navigate it well. Make sure you are aware of Flash and Thassa's Oracle as both of those cards can be a nightmare for us to deal with in certain situations.

Razakats

Favored Kind of the same deal as Hulk here, except our grave hate is not nearly as powerful. Sit on your interaction and try to wait to force them into predicaments. Never let Kenrith, the Returned King or Thrasios, Triton Hero (depending on the buld), stick around too long.

Opus Thief

Unfavored This is a really tough matchup for us. We can’t keep up with what they are doing very well. The best way to have success in this matchup is to aim for an early Lavinia, and hopefully Teferi or Narset will come as reinforcements.

Najeela Tempo

Slightly-Unfavored We do run a decent amount of hate that shuts off the combo win of this deck, but they can also just continuously attack us and we will just die to beats. So a good start is imperative here. Removing the Najeela on sight is the way to beat this deck.

Food Chain Sliver

Favored Have you read what Lavinia does? It completely shuts down what TFS is trying to do. They will struggle to win through a Lavinia or a Magistrate. Vexing Shusher can get them there so do be aware of that card. With that in mind, keep hands that can get her out early and defend her.

the Maybeboard

The Maybeboard is a lot of meta considerations and/or cards that just didn’t quite make the cut but are worth thinking about.

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.26
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Gideon of the Trials, Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Treasure
Folders	EDH ideas, Commander, Maybe not tasgur, Lavinia comp control, Stuff I like, commander, DECKS EDH, Cool Deck, FAV, ideas