Because every guild leader needs to look both intimidating AND flawless.
This is my attempt at making a pseudo-competitive
Prime Speaker Zegana
EDH deck that also keeps multiplayer in mind, centering around a specific-and-quirky card-draw combo. Simic is my favorite color combination, and yet I've had the hardest time deciding what deck to make out of the colors. I think at the very least, this is a good starting point, and I think Zegana has a good and fun theme to work around that's prevalent in the color pair. Now, onto the combo pieces:
The main winning combo of this deck is
Prime Speaker Zegana
+
Chasm Skulker
+
Simic Ascendancy
. As long as I have a way to re-cast Zegana over and over (i.e. Deadeye Navigator, Cloudstone Curio, etc.), or if Chasm Skulker is already high enough, I can end the game quickly. With Chasm Skulker on the battlefield, I cast Zegana, triggering her ability and adding +1/+1 counters to her body. This procs Simic Ascendancy. Zegana's second ETB effect then triggers, drawing cards and triggering Chasm Skulker, putting more +1/+1 counters on it and adding counters to Simic Ascendancy. If Chasm Skulker is ever at 9 counters, I can cast Simic Ascendancy followed by Zegana and win that turn.
But here is, in my opinion, the more enjoyable combo:
-
Archmage Ascension
/
Cream of the Crop
: as this deck is centered around ETB-effects and the like, blinking and returning creatures to my hand to be re-cast will consistently trigger this card's ability, which will in turn let me know what card to name when triggering Conundrum Sphinx's ability. In of itself it's also a decent semi-tutor, allowing me to draw what I need when I need it on my turns.
-
Beacon of Tomorrows
: the card that lets me start this whole process all over again. I wanted to make sure that the extra turn spell I selected had decent protection and recursion from opponent's and Beacon of Tomorrows does just that. In addition, it fits all too well with my deck's theme of rearranging my library as Beacon is shuffled back into it after being cast.
-
Conundrum Sphinx
: I suppose invariably the keystone to the combo, as long as I know what card is at the top of my library I can consistently draw into my hand, while potentially ruining the other players' tempo. The main combo is with Cream of the Crop, but the sphinx also works well with cards like
Vizier of the Menagerie
and
Nulltread Gargantuan
.
-
Champion of Rhonas
: the final part of the main combo, Champion allows me to cast my creatures that I just drew at near-instant speeds, and at almost no cost! Such value. Much tempo. Also combos well with
Archmage Ascension
when it's fully activated.
Elvish Piper
acts as a solid backup in case I can't keep the Champion on the battlefield.
-
Deadeye Navigator
: how this card hasn't been banned yet, I'll never know (probably due to the mono-color aspect of it and its 6 mana cost, but still). The Navigator can reset my combo all by itself with just two mana. If it's ever removed from play, I still have several other cards that can kick Zegana back to my hand to be recast, but this card makes things so much easier.
-
Prime Speaker Zegana
: the commander of my deck, and thus the figurehead of the combo. I like choosing commanders that always serve a purpose in their deck other than to provide the color base someone wants to play with, and Zegana always wants to find new and quirky ways of utilizing her ability.
So below is a breakdown of the combo sequence in the deck:
- Board State: ~6 lands, Cream of the Crop/Archmage Ascension, Conundrum Sphinx, Champion of Rhonas, Deadeye Navigator on battlefield. Prime Speaker Zegana, Beacon of Tomorrows in hand.
- cast Zegana, proc'ing CotC, and organize the top X cards of my library to whatever I need/want. Soulbond Zegana to Deadeye.
- Attack Phase: declare Sphinx & the Champion as attackers. Activate Thassa's ability to make them unblockable.
- both abilities proc, organize Sphinx's ability to go on stack first, followed by Champion.
- abilities resolve, putting a creature I want into hand and then casting said creature.
- Second Main Phase: cast Beacon, shuffle it into library.
- Next Turn: repeat combo as necessary until can consistently get Beacon into hand each turn.
Other than that, this deck is all about sheer card-advantage, with numerous draw mechanics set to play and creatures to take advantage of them. This deck also comes with the typical blink suite, namely
Cloudstone Curio
/
Deadeye Navigator
to abuse the many ETB effects.
Oh, and
Laboratory Maniac
as a fail-safe. Just in case.
