BUG Birthing Pod Toolbox Control
Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Competitive Control Midrange Reanimator Toolbox
Lands (33)
- 1x Alchemist's Refuge
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1x
Breeding Pool
- 1x City of Brass
- 1x Command Tower
- 1x Dimir Aqueduct
- 1x Drowned Catacomb
- 4x Forest
- 1x Golgari Rot Farm
- 1x Hinterland Harbor
- 3x Island
- 1x Mana Confluence
- 1x Maze of Ith
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1x
Overgrown Tomb
- 1x Phyrexian Tower
- 1x Polluted Delta
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1x
Reflecting Pool
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Simic Growth Chamber
- 2x Swamp
- 1x Temple of Deceit
- 1x Temple of Malady
- 1x Temple of Mystery
- 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- 1x Vesuva
- 1x Volrath's Stronghold
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1x
Watery Grave
- 1x Woodland Cemetery
Tutors (11)
Removal (15)
- 1x Acidic Slime
- 1x Beast Within
- 1x Cyclonic Rift
- 1x Damnation
- 1x Devastation Tide
- 1x Gilded Drake
- 1x Hornet Queen
- 1x Maelstrom Pulse
- 1x Mystic Snake
- 1x Reclamation Sage
- 1x Sidisi's Faithful
- 1x Sultai Charm
- 1x Terastodon
- 1x Toxic Deluge
- 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
Draw/Selection (12)
- 1x Baleful Strix
- 1x Brainstorm
- 1x Coiling Oracle
- 1x Disciple of Bolas
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1x
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- 1x Mulldrifter
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1x
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Flip
- 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
- 1x Scroll Rack
- 1x Sensei's Divining Top
- 1x Skullclamp
- 1x Sylvan Library
Beatsticks (3)
Commander (1)
Recursion (14)
- 1x Animate Dead
- 1x Archaeomancer
- 1x Body Double
- 1x Eternal Witness
- 1x Ghostly Flicker
- 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
- 1x Phantasmal Image
- 1x Phyrexian Delver
- 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
- 1x Reanimate
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1x
Rite of Replication
- 1x Sakashima the Impostor
- 1x Victimize
Ramp (11)
Sultai Toolbox
This is nothing like a typical Mimeoplasm deck. This deck isn't built around The Mimeoplasm and I was recently asked why I dont use Damia instead. Damia, Sage of Stone was definitely in the running to be my commander when I first decided to build Sultai colors. It came down to the CMC and the versatility of The Mimeoplasm. I can cast the big ooze twice before I can cast Damia once. Also Mimeo is just natural graveyard hate that you always have on the sidelines. It is crazy how many decks get hosed just because I am playing Mimeo. Karador, Ghost Cheiftain, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and any other graveyard strategy. Not only is he graveyard hate but if I really need an answer to something I usually can always find the answer in one of the graveyards in forms of creatures (Rune-Scarred Demon,Reclamation Sage, and many other great etb creatures). And that is why I chose Mimeo over Damia because of all that it brings instead of just drawing some cards if it dodges instant speed removal like Damia.
This was the first commander deck I ever made. I knew that I wanted all the colors of Sultai because you get everything I liked at the time in these colors…ramp, card draw, clones, reanimation, recursion, and tutors. Most Mimeoplasm decks are smill or self mill to turbo out a giant Commader monster. But I didn’t like that strategy because then you waste slots in your deck for useless mill cards and eating your own creatures make it so you cannot recur them. So I decided to first make a deck that had a bunch of value cards and some of my favorites and I found there was a ton of synergies and powerful things you can do with clones, reanimation effects, and Eternal Witness effects. I’ve tuned my deck for the past two years to make it my favorite kind of strategy, which is a Birthing Pod toolbox control deck.
Please leave any comments letting me know about cards that are versatile that are kind of unknown let me know (pet cards that do some work in your decks). Also Let me know if you guys like my style of play and if you want any help with your lists. I love to build decks and love giving feedback.
Help me with my Sultai modern brew too!
Sultai - The Gifts that Keep on Giving
Also let me know what you think of my modern deck that I have been playing/updating for a few years now!
You love to play long grindy games:
This deck doesn’t have combos to win out of nowhere. You are playing a long card advantage game and waiting for your opponents run out of resources and then you will try to find a way to assemble a huge unbreakable board.
You like your decisions to have a big outcome on the game:
Most commander decks that I have seen are all trying to do huge broke stuff and just casting huge spells. There is not a big “decision tree” for these kind of strategies. With this deck every little decision matters especially with your tutors. Knowing when to push for a win or push for outlasting your opponents is the key to playing this deck.
You don't always win the same way:
So from my experience most EDH decks have specific win cons that usually happen every time, either by comboing off or just winning with voltron damage or just the same big creature (Craterhoof Behemoth). This is one of the few decks that don't do that. I once let a friend borrow this deck and he asked me "what's the win con of this deck?" and I couldn't give him an answer. I told him that there really isn't a win con. The deck adapts to the users play style so well. You can either use tutors, clones, reanimation effects, and other things for aggressive style and just try to get a huge amount of Titans out. Or you can play like I usually play and try to outlast my opponents hands and wait until they can't win the insurmountable card advantage I've created.
- Out valuing your opponents with Birthing Pod
This is the the real "commander" of the deck. The deck is built around this card. If you get 3 turns with this out you will usually get a large enough lead that your opponents will not be able to catch back up.
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Seedborn Muse/Havengul Lich/Alchemist's Refuge/Phyrexian Tower/Mystic Snake
This is the new Prophet of Kruphix in my deck and Lich just makes you have access to all your cards in your graveyard with flash. Then the cherry is Mystic Snake with the sac outlet makes it at least one counter per turn. This lock is extremely hard to break.
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Eternal Witness/Archeomancer with Ghostly Flicker and another ETB will gain you so much value that your opponents will not catch up. Blow up every enchantment/artifact with Reclamation Sage, counter every scary spell with Mystic Snake, or even tutor over and over again with Rune-Scarred Demon.
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Eternal Witness/Archeomancer with Victimize is a reanimation loop that I discovered a while back by accident. Alternating bringing/sacrificing the two listed creatures and one other getting back the Victimize each time will take over the game.
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Sakashima the Impostor cloning either Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Sheoldred, Whispering One to get double triggers is always fun!
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Cloning Grave Titan a couple times will take down your opponents pretty fast.
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Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Niss, Vastwood Seer ultimates.
One of two lonely one-drops, BOP is a great way to accelerate and get ahead of opponents and also fix your mana. The deck needs a one-drop to continue the chain from sacing a token. Having too many one-drop mana dorks will hurt the late game of the deck though.
Just added this little guy recently and I have been very impressed with the versatility it adds to the deck. Unsummon sometimes I think gets overlooked in EDH. Bouncing a 5+ drop is a huge tempo swing. It is nice to have the ability to bounce your own creatures to reuse ETB effects. Having this guy also opens gives your Chord of Calling the unsummon ability. But by far the coolest interaction is turning your Havengul Lich into an unsummon machine gun.
Amazing at any point of the game. But early game is where it really shines. A 2-mana cantrip that helps you hit land drops and that that also makes people not want to attack you or your planeswalker because of the deathtouch wall it presents.
Another 2-mana cantrip that will sometimes help you ramp. You can take advantage of the ramp ability more consistently if you have Sensei’s Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, or Jace the Mind Sculptor.
This is probably the best clone in the deck. Being only 2-mana makes you able to have huge plays in a single turn. For example: for only 8 mana you could play a Grave Titan and the clone it with this little guy. Image is also a very important card in the late game with the Prophet of Kruphix/Havengul Lich combination, as it is the cheapest clone that you will be able to cast from your graveyard.
In my opinion, the best steal spell in commander. This being a “Control Magic” on a creature is insane in this deck. Once this hits the field it turns all your clones into steal spells. This also combos well with Jace the Mind Sculptor and cyclonic rift, bouncing it back to your hand to steal another creature.
This little thing may go to my "too good" pile for this deck. Once I clone this a couple times it gets pretty stupid. There are also a few infinite turns combos I found. (I talk about them in the comments) but it's a really fun card so far and can really help me either pull ahead of catch up. The only thing is I don't really like how it's not good early game.
This card is simply a commander staple. There are some tricks that I like to pull off with this card other than just getting basics. Sacing this 3 drop to Birthing Pod, getting two basics, to go up to Oracle of Mul Daya to play both the lands that turn is always nice. Also I found that this card pairs well with Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, or Jace the Mind Sculptor late game. Once you net three cards with the elder, you can then place the lands on top with the mentioned cards, then find a way to shuffle (which is not difficult at all).
There are 4 searchable targets for the Mage: Sol Ring, Sensei’s Divining Top, Skull Clamp, and Expedition Map. Each of these cards are extremely powerful which makes Trinket Mage a very good draw at any point of the game.
Witness is one of the most powerful cards in the deck and also my favorite card in MTG. Late game this card becomes a recursion machine. Most EDH decks take advantage of Eternal Witness effect once or at most twice a game. This deck wants to abuse the power of this effect over and over again by using clones, reanimation, Jace (to bounce back to hand), or Volrath’s Stronghold. Using Witness repeatedly is one of the main game plans of the deck. Casting Cyclonic Rift, tutors, huge creatures, or wraths multiple times is usually going to win you the game.
This card is very solid at all stages of a game. Early game it insures a land drop and is a chump blocker for an early Jace. Mid-Late game this will become a coiling oracle activation every turn, which I’ve already mention the synergies of that effect with some cards in the deck. What makes this planeswalker different from the others is the fact that you can use reanimation spells to get it back over and over again.
Having “Naturalize” on a stick is very nice in this deck. Having this effect makes your reanimation spells and clones “Naturalize” as well, which is a very good effect in commander since there will almost always be a powerful enchantment or artifact on the field.
This is one of the main ways of ramping in the deck. The deck has numerous ways of abusing this card’s effect of playing lands from the top of the deck. Sensei’s Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, Sylvan Library, and Jace the Mind Sculptor are all amazing in combination with Oracle. This not only ramps, but also is a great way to gain card advantage.
This is just another commander staple in any color. This is everything you want in commander: ramp and card draw. Sometimes with this out, opponents don’t attack you because they don’t want you to chump block to draw a card. Also this card is a great one to clone. Simulacrum is one of my favorite creatures to sac to birthing pod. Going into the 5 CMC Phyrexian Delver to then bring back the simulacrum is probably my favorite chain to do with the Pod.
There are a lot of very powerful spells to get back with this one. The best spells to recur are tutors, wraths, and reanimation spells. One of my favorite chains to do is use a demonic tutor, then play Witness to return the tutor, sac Witness to go into Archaeomancer to recur the Tutor for a third time.
The Reanimation Queen is a great new addition to the deck and works great with birthing pod. The newest chain that I found to be most effective is eternal witness into meren, then at the end of the turn you get witness back to your hand. Once you have Pod, Witness, and Meren, things get out of had quickly for your opponents if they don’t find disruption. Meren is great value early game but then will become a finisher late game as well with reanimating threat after threat.
There are not a lot of huge creatures to sac in this deck for this card. So the average cards you can get off Disciple is around 3. But with the amount of tutoring and recursion in the deck you will be able to use it 2-3 times if need be. One trick I like to do is sac a 6 to Pod to get Rune Scar Demon to tutor for Disciple, then play Disciple to draw six for sacing the demon.
This is another clone but it has some trickiness to it. My favorite is the fact that this guy can copy legendary creatures and have them both stay because Sakashima keeps his name. This means you can have two Sheoldred, Whispering One or Merens out at once. If no one has a wrath you will take over the game with these combinations. The self-bounce effect of Sakashima comes in very handy when you have your Muse/Lich combination out. It will let you reuse ETBs of your creatures.
This is just another clone but with a slight upside being able to copy artifacts. Every deck in edh has soul ring in it, having this card in your deck is almost having a second soul ring because chances are someone is going to soul ring turn one. Then you get to copy it.
I do not think I have ever Podded into Snake before. Nonetheless Mystic Snake is a very important card in the deck. It is the only counterspell in the deck. This turns your Chord of Calling into a second if Snake is in your deck. Snake is the final piece to the Seedborn muse/Lich lock. If you have those three creatures and your land sacrifice outlet, you will be able to counter around 2-3 spells a turn on each of your opponent’s turns. One other way you can reuse snake is by bouncing it with Jace, this plan usually only works in smaller games with fewer players.
This guy is almost always the first 5-drop I go into. There are so many valuable ETBs from your smaller CMC creatures that you want to reuse. The deck uses its graveyard as a toolbox. You will almost always find an answer in it late game for this guy to reanimate.
This is just another reanimation spell on a stick. This has one upside that Phyrexian Delver doesn’t, the fact that it can copy a creature from any graveyard. The one thing that Delver has that Double doesn’t is it puts the creature in play. So if you reanimate a 3-drop with Delver then you will have more options with your Pod the following turn (going from a 3 to 4 or 5 to 6). While if body double copied a 3-drop then you could only go to a 4 CMC next turn.
Ms. Sidisi is a tutor on a stick, which simply makes her anything you want her to be. Also no one is usually going to attack into a 4/6 deathtouch.
Slime is an amazingly versatile card. It will always have a target to destroy and usually will kill a creature eventually in combat due to its deathtouch. Slime is another great defensive card for your Walkers and another great clone target.
Divination on a stick is pretty good in a deck that is full of reanimation effects and clones. The best thing about Mull-daddy is you can play it on turn three to insure land drops early, which is huge with the new mulligan rule.
Mr. Swagtusk is in here for a couple purposes. The first and most important is for the life gain. Cloning and recurring Thragtusk is the game plan to come back from an early beating from more aggressive decks. The last purpose is a 5/3 can bring the beats to close a game.
I took out Havengul Lich for this because it's kind of like doing the 70% rule. Lich was just too powerful once the I assembled the snake/muse/refuge lock. Scarab doesn't allow me to loop my creatures over and over again. It is still a great finished but less oppressive than lich.
I will sandbag this cards until I get out Alchemist's Refuge. It creates a prophet of kruphix when I get both of them out!
This guy is the best finisher in the deck. Once this guy sees the field or even graveyard people need to exile him. The amount of clones in the deck take this guy over the top. I have had turns where I have podded into Grave-Daddy and then clones him 2-3 times the same turn. This guy not only will finish the game fast but also can play amazing defense with all the chump blockers he creates. He helps protect the planeswalkers so well in the deck.
Big Z is the “nail in the coffin” of most games. I’ll be slightly ahead but it could be still anybodies game, then Zegana is dropped and I draw 4 – 10 cards and it is usually over after that, and if there is any sign of struggle from the opponents I can just clone Z a couple times drawing 10-20 more cards. Probably the best chain with Z is sacing Thragtusk leaving behind a 3/3 and getting Z to draw 4 cards.
Big Bad Behemoth is just simply the best ramp in the deck. Doubling your mana is outrageous but also you can clone this big guy making your lands tap for even more mana! Oh and also you become the monarch and draw a card at the end of the turn which is nice that behemoth at least replaces himself with a card. The best way to use this guy is to pod into him for one mana so you can take advantage of his doubling of mana right away.
Already went over the power of tutor on a stick when I wrote about Sidisi. This guy is the same but for two more mana you don’t have to sac a creature like Sidisi. Also a 6/6 flyer is no laughing matter. Cloning this guy will get you the answers you need while also advancing your board. I don’t like hard casting Scar though. 7 mana is pretty steep cost. I usually just wait to pod into him or reanimate him if he gets discarded.
This is one of the better board stabilizing creatures in edh. It puts up a brick was of fliers that no one wants to attack into. Cloning it is insane and also has great synergies with skull clamp.
I really hate playing against this guy. But he is crazy good so I have to play him myself. A 9/9 that can kill three noncreature permanents is so great in multiplayer. I’ve taken down three planeswalkers with this guy and totally turned a game around because of it.
Every commander deck needs it….period.
Got this when it was cheaper because of the reprint. The deck does damage itself a lot so it can be taxing if you call wrong a few turns. But it is well worth it and can lead to some really insane starts.
I use to run skyshroud claim and tempt with discovery. But I found 4 mana is still a little slow and inconsistent if I don't hit a 4th land. 3 mana ramp spells that guarantee your 4th land drop seemed safer so I added these two and loved them ever since.
You can’t beat a 3 mana wrath that gets around indestructible and regeneration.
For one more mana you don’t have to pay life to wrath the board compared to Deluge. Only downside is you cant get rid of indestructible.
One of the most powerful cards in EDH. Also very versatile for the alternate cost of 2 mana for bouncing one thing.
A new addition to the deck that I have been extremely happy with. Mystical and vampic tutor make this miracled on my turn any time I want. Also this and eternal witness/archeomancer is a really hard loop for creature based decks to beat.
The best spot removal in edh next to vindicate and anguish unmaking. Kills anything at instant speed…simply amazing.
Just another extremely versatile removal spell. Be careful when using clones though because this can get your clones along with your opponents creatures.
The versatility of those removal spell is what made it earn a spot in the deck. It's a naturalize, ultimate price, and catalog all in one. The catalog is probably the most important role because it can help out some reanimation plays by discarding a fattie or help find early land drops.
One mana for a huge creature is just easy money. I like to use this also as an answer card instead of reanimating big fatties. Getting a reclamation sage back when needed is a very viable play.
Good for the same reasons as reanimate also a little better because of no life loss. But its not tutorable by mystic tutor or bring to light.
This card is a wincon if paired with archeomancer and eternal witness. You can loop witness/mancer with this alternating the two creatures getting the victimize back over and over again along with an additional creature each time for a low cost of 3 mana.
I don’t think I have every seen a EDH deck take advantage of Top more than this deck. It is great with so many cards in this deck. Top and Oracle of muldaya/coiling oracle/flipped nissa get you more lands. Get the best of three cards each draw step before you shuffle with Birthing Pod or any other tutor in the deck. Helps the pain of Dark Confidant. Can miracle Devastation tide instant speed.
This hasn’t shined any brighter since the new mulligan rule. I can keep a hand of 2 lands and this card and feel safe. This also is great for all the reasons I listed for Divining Top as well. There are so many shuffle effects in the deck to make this one of the best Scroll Rack decks in EDH.
Again I am going to be confidant again and say that this is the best Jace deck I have personally seen in EDH. I have seen a lot of people play Jace and just brainstorm and keep getting locked over and over again. This deck is full of shuffling effects and brainstorm effects are amazing in toolbox decks. You can just shuffle the effects you don’t need back into the deck. Also the ETB effects in this deck make Jace’s minus ability pretty versatile.
Like I already mentioned in the Jace section, brainstorm effects are amazing in toolbox decks.
This slot has been many different cards. I wanted another card that helps with early selection/hand fixing. And this is the card that is in here now. It is a better brainstorm because you can choose to not get "locked" by placing cards on the bottom. Always feels great casting this card. Other cards that have been here are Credit Voucher, Lim-Dul's Vault, and Ancestral Knowledge
This isn’t the best skull clamp deck but it is such a powerful card that it made the deck, also because it is tutorable by Trinket Mage. It will draw you enough cards through out the game to help grind out a game if it is not answered.
One of my first decks I ever built was using Ghostly flicker to blink Mystic Snake and Eternal Witness to counter every spell for the rest of the game. It is pretty much the same concept in this deck and also you can just get some random value blinks until you find your witness/archeomance to start a blinking machine gun.
I decided I wanted another target for mystical tutor, so I added this. It scales with the game so well and adds another semi wincon to the deck late game. Been very happy with it so far.
The best card in the deck by far. This is what the deck is built around and is what you need to first tutor for around 90% of the time unless you are facing crazy aggro decks, then you get a wrath most of the time. Or voltron decks, then you get Maze of Ith or Guilded Drake.
It’s the best tutor in the deck. Gets any card in the deck….just broken.
Vampic Tutor:
Play it at the end of the turn before yours to get the most information of what you want to grab.
My favorite play with this is to put Devastation Tide on top to miracle when I draw it.
When I first saw this I didn't want it in my deck because I wasn't able to recur it because it exiles itself. But I found that an extra one time pod activation that can skip a chain was well worth it. Also it can be played off of bring to light which makes some very interesting plays.
One of the best tutors in the deck. Allows you access to a variety of effects at instant speed. Some effects include drawing, reanimation, naturalize, counters, bounce/steal, removal, cloning, and tutoring.
This card recently made the list because of the rule change in EDH where your lands can produce the colors that aren’t of your commander. So I can now cast this for 4/5 with Bird, Mana Confluence, or City of Brass. If I don’t have any of those I can always get a three drop which is most likely Toxic Deluge, Witness, or Beast Within. Extremely versatile card.
This is very nice to have with the new mulligan rule. It allows you to have a lower land count because you can search up your bounce lands or any colors you need for fixing.
Bouncelands:
These really are the lands that allow me to run only 33 lands. If you are in a meta where land destruction is a common thing then don’t go this route.
Scry lands:
Probably my favorite lands in combination to bounce lands. Such great value.
Tutor this up for voltron decks. It also is really nice to help protect your planeswalkers.
Being able to recur a witness is usually lights out in most match ups.
The only Sac outlet in the deck but it also ramps when you do. Very important with Havengul Lich.
With Prophet being banned this land is one of the most important in the deck to make transform into a tap out control deck into an instant speed machine.
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 3 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 11 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.36 |
| Tokens | Ashaya, the Awoken World, Beast 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Experience Token, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, The Monarch, Zombie 2/2 B |
| Folders | EDH, Cool stuff, Mimeoplasm, Deck ideas, Tri-Color Decks, Evil deck, EDH Deck builds, edh, Commander Folder, edh decks |
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