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Maelstrom Wanderer's Wacky Roller-Coaster [Primer]

Commander / EDH

DanyTmG


Maelstrom Wanderer's Wacky Roller-Coaster

I want to preface this primer by saying this is NOT a cEDH deck. While it is possible that you can play Maelstrom Wanderer at a cEDH table, it's randomness and lack of interaction makes it very inconsistent at a cEDH table. This is a deck that I use at non cEDH tables and has been built with that in mind. If you are looking for a Commander that can be really competitive in a "75%" meta, Maelstrom Wanderer does glorious things!

Deck Introduction

This is my take on Maelstrom Wanderer, built as a good stuff deck using aggressive Timmy cards. Maelstrom Wanderer is a commander that can be built in a very modular fashion and this can primarily be attributed to the fact that Wanderer double cascades into anything 7 CMC or less. While there are some key cards that I think are absolutely essential for Wanderer (hence why I'm writing this primer) this deck pretty much builds itself with a lot of the Timmy cards in your rares binder. This is probably one of my favorite things about this commander; even though this decklist is my finalized/optimized list, every week when I play EDH, I can swap around my cascade targets to mix things up a bit.

Note: Everything in my deck costs 7 CMC or less. Because of this Maelstrom Wanderer can cascade into ALL spells in this deck.

One of the great things about this deck is that it's extremely easy to pilot. Your main goal in the early game is to ramp, play Maelstrom Wanderer, cascade, rinse and repeat. While the deck has a very linear gameplan in the early game, it has the potential to lead into some interesting and complex board states depending on what you cascade into. This deck typically wins in one of three ways:

  • Commander Damage - Maelstrom Wanderer is a hasty 7 power creature; 3 hits with this guy and someone is dead.

  • Combo Finishers - This deck runs some Kiki-Jiki combos to close out games.

  • Board Presence - Sometimes you'll just cascade into an insane board state that your opponents can't keep up with.

Given the explosive nature of cascade most of your opponents will always view you as a threat the second you sit at the table and they'll definitely start shaking in their boots when they see you ramping like a madman. As a result of this you will probably draw a lot of focus from your enemies; be prepared for that. Games can typically turn into Archenemy when piloting this deck.

Who Am I?

Hey, I'm Dany.

I've been playing Magic since the release of the original Zendikar block. I used to play a ton of Standard when I first started playing Magic and dabbled a little in Modern. In 2013 I was introduced to the glorious format of EDH (through the Commander 2013 precons) and since then I haven't looked back. I pretty much only play Commander now, as I find it to be the most entertaining format in Magic. After hundreds of games (and thousands of dollars), I'd like to say that I'm pretty well-versed in both EDH and cEDH deck building and want to start sharing my thoughts on TappedOut.

Traditionally, I'm more of a combo/control player and as a result of this throughout the years of collecting Magic cards I've amassed an ungodly amount of Timmy cards which I never play. I built Maelstrom Wanderer with the intention to use those Timmy cards on my terms; cheating them in. I've been piloting this deck for about 6 months now and I can say that this deck is a blast to play, even though this is something I would traditionally stray away from. Through Maelstrom Wanderer I have channeled the Timmy inside me and have been having a blast doing it!

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Cascade generates an insane amount of value.
  • Wins very easily through commander damage.
  • Plays BUFF and HASTY creatures; including Maelstrom Wanderer himself.
  • Very easy to pilot.

Cons:

  • Cascade generates an insane amount of value...sometimes.
  • Tends to play with the top of your library more than the cards in your hand.
  • Gameplan is very linear; play Maelstrom Wanderer as many times as you can.
  • Is a very "all-in" deck.

Why Play this Deck?

You might enjoy this deck if you:

  • Like playing big, dumb Timmy cards.
  • Want to play an aggressive deck and want to win fast.
  • Enjoying winning through commander damage.
  • Like complex/durdley strategies or boardstates.
  • Enjoy playing Temur colors.

You might not enjoy this deck if you:

  • Dislike the randomness and inconsistency of cascade.
  • Like to play interactive Magic.
  • Don't like combos/extra turns. (Though you can modify your list to run them, given how modular this deck is)
  • Dislike playing Archenemy.

Gameplan

The gameplan is extremely simple in Maelstrom Wanderer (for the most part). It can be summarized with the following:

  1. Ramp till you have 8 mana.

  2. Cast Maelstrom Wanderer.

  3. ?????

  4. Profit. (most of the time)

Your main goal is obviously to play Maelstrom Wanderer as quick and as many times as you can. But there are tons of other things you"ll find yourself doing before and after casting Wanderer that gives this deck some depth. For starters, we want to play Maelstrom Wanderer as many times as possible and the best way to do that it to either sacrifice him or bounce him so that we can re-cast home for a double cascade. In addition to playing Wanderer as many times as possible, you want to make sure that your cascades have an impact on the battlefield. Due to the randomness of cascade, you can ensure this by running some deck manipulation; these cards are very important to play in the early game so you can ensure a swift victory. The key library manipulation cards you want to aim to play before casting Maelstrom Wanderer are the following:

Sylvan Library - Not only is this a great enchantment that draws us cards but it also helps with placing our cascade targets back on top of our library every turn.

Sensei's Divining Top - For the low cost of , this cards lets us re-arrange the top three cards of our library for when we are looking to cascade. Cards like this also allow us to plan ahead for future turns when wanting to cascade off of Wanderer.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor - His 0 loyalty ability lets us brainstorm, which lets us put cascade targets from our hand back on top of the library, all while digging three cards deep. This card is much better to run since it can be re-used, given it doesn't draw any hate (It usually draws hate just because of how powerful it can be.) You also have access to his +2, which lets you scry.

In addition to library manipulation, this deck runs many extra turn spells as cascade targets. Extra turns are great in Wanderer because not only can they be cascaded into, but they provide us with an extra turn to re-cast Wanderer and swing with creatures. Since it only takes 3 successful hits to kill a player with Wanderer, an extra turn can be devastating for a single opponent.

Note: The deck has has the tendency to ramp REALLY fast and sometimes you will draw into your cascade targets. Even though your main goal is to cast Maelstrom Wanderer, if you have enough mana to cast one of the cascade targets are unable to cast Wanderer, GO FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. Your cascade targets are still threats, even if you don't cascade into them.

Match Ups

Like any EDH deck, this deck has bad match ups and it's important to know which match ups will give you grief. Assessing who is a threat to you at the current point in the game is a very important skill that many EDH players lack. There are a couple of different archetypes that you will come across and this is generally how you want to play against them. Below are how you should usually prioritize your targets against some common EDH archetypes. (I bolded "usually" because in EDH there are always varying game states and your target priority can greatly change)

  1. Stax/Pillowfort - Tax effects are your worst enemy. The whole point of this deck is to cheat in BIG threats by completely tapping out for Maelstrom Wanderer and if you are unable to do so because some one has a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben out or a Thorn of Amethyst, they are severely hampering our gameplan. Pillowfort effects like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda can also be very detrimental to the success of this deck because we are looking to win with combat damage. Focus these players as fast as you can and save the limited interaction you have to deal with their threats.

  2. Control - These are the players who are normally playing a ton of interaction. Single-target removal can really hurt this deck if your opponents constantly keep removing the cards you cascade into you'll slowly start finding yourself running out of win conditions. Fortunately, if these opponents keep removing Maelstrom Wanderer, you can just keep re-playing him to generate more value.

  3. Aggro - Since this deck is more of a midrange deck, aggro decks can usually come out blazing and pressure us. In these match ups your main goal is to just endure their attrition until you can cast Maelstrom Wanderer. Hopefully, in these scenarios you can cascade into your large threats, which they will usually have a tough time dealing with unless they have removal.

  4. Reanimator/Voltron - These decks can sometimes be pesky to deal with as we don't run much single-target creature removal. However, with cascade triggers you can usually outshine, if not match their board presence so there is a lot less to worry about when put up against these match ups.

Opening Hand

Opening hands in Maelstrom Wanderer are actually very easy to evaluate, You primarily want to be looking for the following:

  • Lands/Ramp - For this deck it is imperative that your hand has some lands and ramp. Ideally, you want to be running a hand with 2-3 lands and at least 2 pieces of ramp (the more the better). There's a big emphasis on keeping ramp because it reduces the turn clock on when you can cast Maelstrom Wanderer. The quicker you get Wanderer out, the quicker you can start smashing your opponents.

  • Card Draw/Library Manipulation - You generally want to keep a hand that has some form of draw or any of the library manipulation cards I outlined earlier. Card draw will allow you to potentially draw more ramp, further reducing the time it takes to cast Wanderer. The deck manipulation cards are also important because they give our cascades some consistency.

  • Interaction - This deck doesn't really run that much interaction, but it's always nice to keep at least 1 piece of interaction in your hand. Whether it's to deal with some pesky early threats that your opponents play or if its to reduce the chance that you'll cascade into them.

One more thing to note; try not to keep hands with cascade targets, you don't want to be hard casting them (although there will be times where you easily can) when you'd rather be cascading into them for free.

This section will individually discuss each card I have placed in my deck and why It warrants a slot in my deck.

Additionally, I will mark flex slots with a double asterisk (**); flex slots are cards that can be replaced with a card you prefer or a card that works better in your meta.

As I mentioned above, cascade targets in Maelstrom Wanderer are very flexible and ultimately it's up to you to decide what cards you want to cascade into. I primarily choose to run large creatures that can beat in my opponents faces along with some extra turn spells (which allow me to re-cast Wanderer and take more combats). ETB effects are also great in Wanderer as they give you immediate value when cascaded into and pair really well with Deadeye Navigator. In addition to having threatening cascade targets, I also run some Kiki-Jiki combo finishers; these combos exist to close out long games. (I make sure that the Kiki combo pieces I use work well on their own) Below I'll be splitting up the cascade targets I run in this deck into three sections: Big Dumb Creatures, Big Dumb Spells and Combo Finishers.

Cascade Targets Card List:

Big Dumb Creatures

  • Xenagos, God of Revels - Very hard to remove due to indestructibility (like all God cards) and can pump up Wanderer to deal 14 commander damage.
  • Deadeye Navigator** - Such a valuable card with the right ETB effects and is extremely easy to abuse. Also can create infinite colored mana with Selvala, Heart of the Wilds and Maelstrom Wanderer out on the battlefield.
  • Duplicant - Creature exile on a stick. Just the kind of interaction this deck is looking to run.
  • Etali, Primal Storm** - This is a new card that just does WORK with the haste Wanderer provides. The more opponents you have, the more devastating this card has the potential to be.
  • Brutalizer Exarch - Modal creature that lets you either put a creature on the top of your library to cascade into or remove a noncreature permanent.
  • Greenwarden of Murasa** - Regrowth effect on a body that triggers on ETB and death.
  • Inferno Titan** - This card fills a slot in our deck for creature removal. Really good at pinging low toughness creatures.
  • Consecrated Sphinx** - A fantastic commander staple that functions as a draw engine and as a flying beater.
  • Magus of the Mind** - This is one of those cards that has significantly overperformed for me in this deck. It's a Mind's Desire on 5/5 body that can be activated when you best see fit. Can lead to very explosive turns.
  • Pathbreaker Ibex - This card is insane in this deck and can be considered one of our key wincons. Pumps for insane amounts of damage and makes Wanderer hit like a truck.
  • Scourge of the Throne** - Extra combats are great in this deck, especially when they come paired with a beefy flier.
  • Sphinx Ambassador - A big Flying beater that lets you steal your opponents creatures from their libraries to use against them.
  • Phyrexian Ingester - Creature exile on a stick. Just the kind of interaction this deck is looking to run.
  • Balefire Dragon - When this card connects, it will usually wipe out an opponents board of creatures. Works really well when paired with buffs.
  • Dragonlord Atarka - Good ETB that can ping for up to 5 damage. All on an 8/8 flying and trampling monstrosity.

Big Dumb Spells

  • Zendikar Resurgent** - Mana doubler that also has the potential to draw us cards. This card can lead to very big turns.
  • Selvala's Stampede - Depending on your opponents choices, this card can lead to some crazy board states as it can let you cheat in multiple threats.
  • Knowledge Exploitation - A cool way to utilize your opponents instants and sorceries against them. Most often used to steal board wipes.
  • Tooth and Nail** - Yet another way to cheat creatures in and you can choose to pay the entwine cost of you cascade into it, so long as you have the mana to pay for it. Alternatively, you can also just bring in a Kiki combo and win the game.
  • Time Warp** - The best extra turn spell in this deck. Cheap and re-usable.
  • Nexus of Fate** - Probably one of the best extra turn spells to run in this deck as it goes back into your library if it ever goes to the graveyard.
  • Walk the Aeons** - Another extra turn spell that didn't exile itself so you can recurr it later.
  • Temporal Mastery** - Our last extra turn spell that can potentially be cast for if we miracle into it. Exiles itself.

Combo Finishers

Ramp is the lifeblood of this deck. The success of this deck is greatly determined by how quickly you can ramp out Maelstrom Wanderer and start cascading into threats. The ramp slots are pretty flexible for the most part but I find it very important to have mana rocks/dorks that have the ability to tap for more than one mana at a time. Rocks/dorks that do this really reduce the turn clock on Maelstrom Wanderer and make it easy for us to drop him as early as turn 3-5. Not only is ramp great to rush Maelstrom Wanderer out, but it also gives this deck the potential to drop our cascade targets early too. Below are the ramps cards I use, however I would say most of these cards are very flexible. Choose whatever ramp you think suits you best.

Ramp Card List:

  • Sakura-Tribe Elder** - Lets us fetch a basic land on turn two. Nice and fast acceleration.
  • Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - This card leads to some insane ramp when we have one of our big creatures on the battlefield. It's also very easy to trigger Selvala's draw ability in this deck due to having a 7/5 in the command zone.
  • Shaman of Forgotten Ways - Really helps ramp towards Wanderer by providing 2 colored mana. The Biorhythm activated ability on this card is usually very relevant as this deck can ramp to 11 mana very easily. It definitely serves as another way to close out the game.
  • Somberwald Sage - This is basically a gilded lotus as a mana dork. Reduces the turn clock on Maelstrom Wanderer by 3, which is fantastic.
  • Wood Elves** - ETB effect that lets us fetch for any Forest card and have it enter untapped. Great for grabbing duals/shocks.
  • Oracle of Mul Daya - I would say this card is extremely essential for all Wanderer decks. Not only does it let you play 2 lands per turn (off the top of your deck as well) but it lets you see what you might cascade into, allowing you to make an informed decision when casting Wanderer.
  • Collective Voyage - While this card ramps our opponents, ramp almost always provides us with more value.
  • Farseek** - Great 2-drop that lets you search for duals/shocks.
  • Nature's Lore** - Probably my favorite ramp card in green. Lets you search for a forest and have it enter untapped. Great for grabbing duals/shocks.
  • Skyshroud Claim - Great burst ramp spell that lets you search for 2 lands that have forest land types. Great for fetching duals.
  • Sol Ring - I don't think I really need an explanation for this card...
  • Gruul Signet** - 2 mana rock that can greatly help with color fixing.
  • Izzet Signet** - 2 mana rock that can greatly help with color fixing.
  • Simic Signet** - 2 mana rock that can greatly help with color fixing.
  • Thran Dynamo - 4 mana rock that reduces the turn clock on Maelstrom Wanderer by 3.
  • Gilded Lotus - 5 mana rock that reduces the turn clock on Maelstrom Wanderer by 3, also produces colored mana, which is an added bonus.
  • Zendikar Resurgent** - Mana doubler that also has the potential to draw us cards. This card can lead to very big turns. This is a card we are primarily looking to cascade into due to its high mana cost, but feel free to cast this when given the opportunity.
  • Dack Fayden** - Probably one of my favorite "ramp" cards. His -2 ability lets you steal your opponent's mana rocks, both putting you ahead and them behind.
  • Garruk Wildspeaker - Primarily being used for his +1 ability so that we can ramp 2 turns ahead, but his other abilities can sometimes be relevant.
Interaction is very important in EDH as you need to always have an answer for your opponent's threats. You need to remember that you aren't the only person sitting at the table playing to win and should always be prepared for your opponents. Even though cascading into interaction can sometimes feel bad, it is important that we run some form of interaction to deal with threats. Below I'll be splitting up the interaction I run in this deck into three sections: Single-Target Removal, Counter Magic and Board Wipes.
Because there is a chance that you can cascade into single-target removal, I tend to run targeted removal on a stick so that even if I don't have any relevant targets, I still get something out of my cascade. However, there are still some single-target removal spells that don't come with a body that are too good to pass up on. Below are the single-target removal spells I find best with Wanderer.

Single-Target Removal Card List:

  • Reclamation Sage - ETB that can remove pesky artifacts and enchantments.
  • Acidic Slime** - Covers a wide range of targets to destroy and provides us with a deathtouch chump blocker.
  • Brutalizer Exarch - Lets you send a noncreature permanent to the bottom of an opponents library.
  • Duplicant - Creature exile on a stick.
  • Phyrexian Ingester - Creature exile on a stick.
  • Inferno Titan** - Deals 3 damage on ETB and attack declaration, really good at pinging low toughness creatures.
  • Dragonlord Atarka** - Good ETB that can ping for up to 5 damage and has a huge 8/8 body to go with it.
  • Zealous Conscripts** - Lets us steal any permanent our opponents control for the turn. Also serves as a combo finisher with Kiki-Jiki.
  • Beast Within - My favorite green removal spell in commander. Destroys ANY permanent at instant speed, the downside of this card (giving an opponent a 3/3 beast) is irrelevant most of the time.
  • Krosan Grip** - Instant speed, enchantment/artifact removal that can't be interacted with. Just a really solid card.
In Wanderer you don't want to run traditional counter magic because it feels terrible to cascade into. However, modal spells that can counter work fantastic because even if you cascade into them, you can use the other relevant modes on those cards.

Counter Magic Card List:

  • Cryptic Command - All modes on this card are extremely relevant in this deck in addition to being a counter-spell. Lets you choose two modes.
  • Mystic Confluence - All modes are extremely relevant in this deck in addition to being a counter-spell. Also allows us to repeat modes up to three times.
Despite being a creature heavy deck, board wipes actually don't feel bad to cascade into because the wipes you cascade into will always trigger before Maelstrom Wanderer enters the battlefield. This allows you to completely wipe out your opponents and swing in with Maelstrom Wanderer for that sweet commander damage. Below are the board wipes I choose to use.

Board Wipes Card List:

  • Balefire Dragon - Usually will completely wipe out an opponents board board of their creatures when it connects. Works even better when paired with the pump effects in this deck.
  • Cyclonic Rift - Feels terrible to cascade into, but this card is too good not to run. Auto-include in every blue commander deck in my opinion.
  • Knowledge Exploitation - This card can be any board wipe in your opponents decks, and because this is EDH, your opponents WILL have wipes.
Utility cards are usually there to fill the holes in our decks. For my Maelstrom Wanderer deck, I'd break these cards into three different categories: Card Draw, Library Manipulation, Recursion and Bounce/Sacrifice. Below I'll go into further detail explaining each of these categories and why they are important to the overall strategy of this deck.
While card draw is super important in most EDH decks, it's not that big of a priority in Maelstrom Wanderer, mainly because you'd rather be playing cards from the top of your library than from your hand. I run card draw in this deck so that I can draw into ramp cards or interaction; I usually just want to cascade into the rest of the deck. You'll notice that most of the card draw options below draw cards as an additional effect rather than a primary effect.

Card Draw Card List:

  • Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Great ramp card that can also draw us cards since we are playing a ton of big creatures.
  • Mulldrifter - Good card to play early for some burst draw. It's ETB can also be abused in this deck.
  • Consecrated Sphinx - Probably one of the best draw engines in the format. Not much else to really say about it.
  • Cryptic Command - Modal spell that can draw you a card in addition to one of its other abilities.
  • Mystic Confluence - Modal spell that has the potential to draw you three cards.
  • Sylvan Library - 2-drop EDH staple that can draw you up to 2 extra cards at the cost of life. Also helps with arranging our cascade targets.
  • Zendikar Resurgent - This is a creature heavy deck and we cast a ton of them, so this will usually draw us a ton of cards.
  • Dack Fayden - His +1 is a useful looting effect for the early game.
  • Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Jace's 0 ability is the best type of card draw for Wanderer as it lets you brainstorm. Not only does it let you draw cards, but it lets you put any cascade targets on top of your library if you don't want to hard-cast them.
  • Garruk, Primal Hunter - This is on of the few green "burst-draw" spells in this deck that don't feel bad to cascade into. His -3 ability will generally draw you 7 cards, assuming you have Wanderer on the battlefield.
Library manipulation is very useful in this deck and is what gives Wanderer decks more consistency. The randomness of cascade gets eliminated if you can control the cards on top of your library. An important thing to note is the more of these cards you run, the more competitive your deck will be. Maelstrom Wanderer is already very strong in my meta and as a result I purposely do not run every good deck manipulation card I have access to. This is primarily so that I can keep things interesting at my LGS. Below are the library manipulation cards I choose to run in my Wanderer deck to keep it competitive, yet fair in my personal meta. If your meta requires you to have more consistency, I will discuss some more library manipulation options in my Notable Exclusions section below.

Library Manipulation Card List:

  • Brutalizer Exarch - Lets you put a creature card on the top of your library to cascade into.
  • Mystical Tutor - Let's you put an instant/sorcery right on top of your library for when you're looking to cascade into something specific. Also works at instant speed, which can be used to stack on top of cascade triggers.
  • Noxious Revival - Recurs a card to the top of our library at instant speed. Can be cast for free if you choose to pay 2 life.
  • Sylvan Library - Not only is this a great enchantment that draws us cards but it also helps with placing our cascade targets back on top of our library every turn.
  • Sensei's Divining Top - For the low cost of , this cards lets us re-arrange the top three cards of our library for when we are looking to cascade.
  • Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Jace is a very useful card for deck manipulation as he has two abilities that help with this. His 0 loyalty ability lets us brainstorm, which lets us put cascade targets from our hand back on top of the library, all while digging three cards deep. You also have access to his +2, which lets you scry.
Typically, when playing Wanderer you just want to barf out your entire deck with cascade, so recursion has less of an importance in this style of deck. Instead of trying to recur your removed threats you'll often find yourself wanting to cascade so that you can just replace them. However, sometimes there are moments where you will want to recur your threats and for those moments; for those moments I run the cards below. You'll notice the recursion cards I use target any card type (as opposed to just creatures), this is so that when I cascade into them, they have a lower chance to whiff. (They also let me chain my recursive extra turn spells, which is nice.)

Recursion Card List:

  • Eternal Witness - Just a solid EDH staple that can recur any type of card from the graveyard on ETB.
  • Greenwarden of Murasa - Has the potential to recur two cards from the graveyard. Also comes paired with a 5/4 body.
  • Noxious Revival - Very underused recursion card and can provide some insane value in Wanderer. At instant speed for , you can not only put a cascade target from your graveyard to the top of your library, but you can also really mess around with your opponents graveyard strategies since it can target ANY graveyard. Very versatile card.
Our main gameplan is to play Maelstrom Wanderer as many times as we can, because of this running bounce and sacrifice effects are important. Bounce effects are more favorable to sacrifice effects though, as they let us cast Wanderer from hand at his base CMC instead of a cost with commander tax. Bounce effects are also really useful in this deck as a way to re-use many of the ETB effects in this deck. Below are the bounce effects I run in this deck.

Bounce/Sacrifice Card List:

  • Clever Impersonator - In addition to the added utility this card has as a clone it can clone Wanderer if we ever want to send him back to the command zone to re-cast him.
  • Phyrexian Metamorph - Similar to Clever Impersonator, we can use this card to clone Maelstrom Wanderer, so that we can recast him.
  • Temur Sabertooth - This is probably my favorite bounce effect in the deck. For , not only does this card allow us to bounce a creature hand but it makes it indestructible, making it pretty hard to interact with.
  • Cryptic Command - One of the modes on this card lets us bounce to hand.
  • Mystic Confluence - One of the modes on this card lets us bounce to hand.
  • Crystal Shard - A great artifact that can bounce both our creatures and our opponents creatures.
  • Jace, the Mind Sculptor - In addition to all of the library manipulation Jace provides us with, he also has a -1 ability that can bounce Wanderer to our hand. This card was made for this commander.
  • Birthing Pod - A sweet toolbox card that can also sacrifice Maelstrom Wanderer if we have no other way to re-cast him. (It will fail to find a creature if you sac Wanderer, since I don't run any 9 CMC creatures.)
  • High Market - Useful utility land that lets us sac a creature for free.
Below I'll go into detail about exclusions in my deck and why they aren't present.
  • Taiga/Volcanic Island/Tropical Island - Simply put I don't run ABUR Duals in any of my decks due to budgetary reasons (even my competitive decks). I can't justify the cost associated with them for some slight consistency within my manabase. If I had them lying around I'd definitely use them but shocks and battle lands do the job for me personally. Fetches though, I'd say they are 100% worth the investment for 3+ color decks.

  • Worldly Tutor - I had this in the deck but often found myself getting the same target (Pathbreaker Ibex), making the deck feel even more linear than it already is. If you're looking for consistency, this is a great card to run in your deck, but I took it out to shift down the power of this deck and add a bit more variety in my play.

  • Mana Crypt - Great card to run in this deck. I only have two copies of this card and I run those in my cEDH decks, which is why it's not present in this list. If you have one free for this deck you should absolutely use it.

  • Jokulhaups/Wildfire - People in my meta hate MLD, but for some reason don't mind extra turns. I choose to run the latter than the former as it eases the tension among players in my playgroup, but still allows me to do degenerate things.

  • Explosive Vegetation/Ranger's Path - I've always preferred land fetching ramp that costs 1-3 mana so I have things to do in the earlier turns, which is primarily why I don't have these cards present in my list. However, they are good ramp spells. I run Skyshroud Claim because it lets you put duals into play, and that's too good to pass up.

  • Prime Speaker Zegana - This card is can be great in this deck, but has the chance to be very underwhelming if you have weak creatures on the battlefield and this is your first cascade. Rishkar's Expertise also has similar issues, which is why you don't see them in my list.

  • Mind's Dilation - I used to have this card in the deck, until Etali, Primal Storm was released. Etali is just far more explosive in this deck, even though it's easier to remove.

  • Bloodbraid Elf/Etherium-Horn Sorcerer/Shardless Agent - These cards can generate a lot of value early on in the game before you cast Maelstrom Wanderer, but when I used them in this deck they felt really awkward to cascade into because they would often make your high CMC cascade targets go to the bottom of your library when searching for a valid cascade target for themselves.

  • Avenger of Zendikar - This card is extremely overplayed in my meta, which is primarily why I don't play it. I also think the card is much better in token decks than the style of deck I'm trying to play.

Overall, I would say Maelstrom Wanderer one of my favorite decks to play due to its explosive nature. Although cascade can be inconsistent, this deck has the potential to take over games very quickly when cascade works in your favor. Winning in this deck always feels satisfying (even if your opponents disagree) because of how many big, dumb Timmy cards you get to play. Wanderer is a commander I would definitely recommend to newer players in the format as it follows a very linear gameplan but still leads to the fun and wacky board states that make EDH great. If you're a Johnny (like myself), but want to experiment and play with Timmy cards, Maelstrom Wander is a commander deck I would wholeheartedly recommend building.
I've made a ton of changes to this deck over the past few months and haven't really reflected those changes in my primer. I will outline those changes below.

In:

  • Consecrated Sphinx - This card is just very good all around and is an amazing cascade target. A big flying beater that draws you a TON of cards.

  • Skyshroud Claim - I feel silly for not running this card before. It's just a really solid ramp spell that lets you fetch dual lands with basic land types.

  • Sphinx Ambassador - I found my deck needing more evasive creatures, so I added in Sphinx Ambassador because it is a good cascade target that is also a flying beater. It's ability is also really strong as it lets you use your opponents creatures against them.

  • Brutalizer Exarch - Not only does this card function as library manipulation (allowing you to put a creature on top for cascade triggers) but it also acts as some really good removal for noncreature permanents. The fact that this card is modal makes it feel great to cascade into as it provides some much needed flexibility when playing with cascade.

  • Phyrexian Ingester - Duplicant has been great for me in this deck as creature removal. Adding this card as a second functional copy of Duplicant has worked out great as my meta is quite creature heavy and this deck needed some more creature removal.

  • Phyrexian Metamorph A great clone that can be very flexible. Can copy our strong creatures or our opponents strong creatures. However one of my favorite uses of it when drawn early is to use it as a way to copy mana rocks for ramping out Maelstrom Wanderer.

  • Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sima - I really like this card a ton for this deck. Acts as ramp for Wanderer as well as most of the creatures in this deck. Also provides trample and an anthem effect for those creatures as well.

  • Nexus of Fate - Well, Wizards decided to print this controversial card and all I could think of was getting a copy of this for my Wanderer deck. Insanely strong extra turn spell that can be recurred. No reason not to run this over an extra turn spell that exiles itself.

Out:

  • Nezahal, Primal Tide - Overall this card just felt a little underwhelming in this deck. Consecrated Sphinx works out as a better creature to draw you cards.

  • Search for Tomorrow - Even though this is a great turn 1 play,I replaced this card in favor of Skyshroud Claim as the burt ramp felt much better/faster to get Maelstrom Wanderer out.

  • Evacutation - While there aren't many board wipes in this deck, I felt like I didn't really need this card and opted to run more spot removal over wipes to get rid of threats. Creatures wipes almost always affected me negatively over my opponents.

  • Surrak Dragonclaw - Goreclaw seemed like an upgrade over this card as it lets you ramp and covers most of what this card does. I often found that getting my creatures countered doesn't feel as bad in this deck (especially if wanderer gets countered as you still get the cascade triggers) as it does in other decks.

  • Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - Wasn't really happy with this card in the list, I felt like I could run better cascade targets for my meta. My meta is very battlecruiser heavy and if it ever changes to have more control based decks I will consider bringing this card back in.

  • Seedborn Muse - This card just felt very win-more. Deck doesn't need it at all to be degenerate.

  • Combat Celebrant - While it does combo with Kiki-Jiki, extra combats (especially one that you can only tirrger once every OTHER turn) don't feel as good as extra turns. I opted to not run this card as it only ever felt useful to combo with Kiki-Jiki.

  • Part the Waterveil. Probably the weakest extra turn spell in my deck, which I opted to replace with Nexus of Fate.

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Casual

97% Competitive

Date added 7 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

18 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

6 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.40
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Dack Fayden, The Monarch
Folders Built, Decks To Reference, Favorite Decks, saved decks, possibilities
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