Working on a non-competitive Kynaios & Tiro EDH deck.
The deck is meant to play like a pillow-fort/control deck that ramps into some crazy critters. This represents my actual paper deck, except for the fetchlands.
note. My playgroup discourages land destruction, infinite combos and Purphoros.
Card Breakdown
Lands: 40! I run 39 lands that produce mana, Maze of Ith is the only exception. This may seem a little high, but remember my commander lets me place two per turn. I need to hit the land drops or the commander isn't doing their job.
- Maze of Ith: is an amazing deterrent against enemy commanders and strong creatures. Attack someone else please.
- Kher Keep: allows me to reliably use Proteus Staff and Synthetic Destiny to cheat my fatties into play. Also some extra defenders can be very helpful. (The deck only runs 9 creatures!)
- Wasteland: great utility, my favorite target is cabal coffers.
- Boseiju, Who Shelters All: the deck runs some pretty magnificent instants and sorceries. Namely: Insurrection, Tooth and Nail, Reins of Power, and Master Warcraft. I don't want these countered. Also Boseiju has the added benefit of really breaking open Dovescape.
- Homeward Path: The deck runs some very strong creatures. I don't want them to be used against me.
- Reliquary Tower: With the control options and the extra draw from the commander, its nice to not discard down to hand size.
- Forbidden Orchard: pairs nicely with Defense of the Heart.
- two ramp-lands Krosan Verge and Blighted Woodland.
- three battle-lands
- six shock-lands
- six fetch-lands
- thirteen basics. (Enough to cast any card in the deck)
- some misc rainbow lands
Ramp: I run 7 ramp sorceries (and 1 that tutors). A 4-color mana base can be tricky, so I need to have reliable access to my four colors.
- Nature's Lore Favorite ramp spell. This card lets me find any color and plop it down untapped.
- Farseek Nature's Lore's slower brother. Can access any dual land in the deck.
- Kodama's Reach & Cultivate: Most efficient 3-cost ramp out there.
- Skyshroud Claim: Wonderful card; two duals that are paired with forest and come into play untapped.
- Hunting Wilds: Two dual forests but come into play tapped. (I will rarely ever use it for kicker)
- Tempt with Discovery: Not the most efficient ramp spell, but having access to any of our fancy utility lands is really valuable. Also can give opponents a little boost when they are stuck on mana while helping me in the process.
- Sylvan Scrying: Not technically ramp, but can tutor any land to our hand, which we can easily play the same turn thanks to Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
Artifacts: I run three. Since the deck runs Stony Silence, i never want to be working against myself.
- Torpor Orb: Amazing powerhouse of a card for only two mana. Disables oh so many creatures and other triggers. You'll notice that from among the creatures I run (which is only 9), only two have ETB effects. It will rarely disrupt me.
- Chromatic Lantern: Best mana fixing there is. It doesn't even matter if stony silence disables the tap effect.
- Proteus Staff: Combine 6 mana over two turns and sac a token to cheat one of our creatures into play; so much value out of a single card. I have even targeted my commander with it, its just that valuable. Has the added benefit of being able to tuck indestructible creatures that my opponents control.
Sorceries: This section will cover non-ramp sorceries. I run 5 of them. Any control player knows, ending your turn without tapping any lands is sometimes the best play to make.
- Wargate: can tutor any enchantment, land, or creature. Gives me access to the toolbox of the deck to (hopefully) handle any situation.
- Martial Coup: The deck runs very few creatures, so why not combine a board-wipe with some token generation. (costs 7 mana to destroy all creatures)
- Austere Command: One of the most flexible board-wipes in the game.
- Tooth and Nail: One of green's strongest contributions to the format. I designed the deck to not win off this card alone, I don't want to win with an infinite combo. This will hopefully give me an unbeatable board-state.
- Insurrection: A win-con that is board dependent. You'll notice the deck doesn't run many board wipes or creature removal. A big theme is to deter people from attacking me without actually removing their creatures. Insurrection is one hell of a sorcery.
Creatures: Since we just talked about tooth n nail, lets bring our creatures to light. I run very few. The one's I do run need to kick ass. When I was first researching cards for the deck, Synthetic Destiny caught my eye. The idea of generating 5 tokens and then slamming 5 boss monsters onto the board during my opponents end step was a driving force for the deck.
- Eternal Witness: turns your graveyard into a toolbox. Its not a boss-monster, but its too strong not to include.
- Academy Rector: of all pillow-fort creatures that have ever existed ... nothing says "don't attack me" more than this lil cleric. It doesn't hurt anything, it can't even fly, but the possibility of giving me access to any enchantment in my deck is unnerving. (Beware, will not work if Rest in Peace is out)
- Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: I would love to have her as my commander, but RW isn't my style. This creature deters attacks, swings for 10 damage, and helps your opponents kill eachother. What is not to love?
- Avenger of Zendikar: we already talked about how much we like lands, so lets put them to better use. This card single-handedly gives you a threatening board-state.
- Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: very powerful creature. Giving your creatures a 4 power/toughness advantage over your opponents', and likely killing a bunch in the process. This card pairs amazingly with Dovescape and the Avenger.
- Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: this is my favorite early target for Defense of the Heart. Cheating this dude onto the board will double your mana and be punishing to remove. The second ability is a replacement effect, which means if your opponents' tap lands to remove it, those lands will still be affected, and will not untap on that player's next turn.
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Why yes please! Darksteel Forge's angelic doppleganger (although avacyn is much more eco-friendly). Hopefully your opponents won't have an All Is Dust.
- Terastodon: sometimes you just need to bop a planeswalker or a pesky enchantment (or cabal coffers).
- Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur: this card can really piss people off. Make sure your opponent isn't holding a soda when you flash this in before their cleanup step and make them discard their hand. (style points because of the flavor text of Synthetic Destiny)
Instants: This is the largest sections of the deck. I run 18 instants.
- Crop Rotation: instant speed access to Maze of Ith or Homeward Path has saved me more than once.
- Enlightened Tutor: gets what I need. Beware of using this with defense of the heart on the board ... i once shuffled my tutored card back into the deck during my upkeep.
- Swan Song: creatures are rarely an issue for me, so a 1 mana to counter to rest is so valuable.
- Voidslime: catchall counterspell, I'm considering swapping it out for Summary Dismissal though.
- Counterflux: uncounterable counterspell, bonus points when used with Dovescape on the board. (you'll counter their spell, and get three birds!)
- Secure the Wastes: another way to get some blockers or fuel for Proteus Staff and Synthetic Destiny
- Artifact Mutation: artifact removal and tokens.
- Arachnogenesis: of all the fog effects, this one suits the deck the best.
- Entrapment Maneuver: with our propaganda effects, usually our enemies will be attacking with one strong creature instead of many little ones. (Also works when opponents attack each other)
- Boros Charm: double strike on Gisela, indestructible permanents, or planes walker removal. A very flexible card.
- Cyclonic Rift: EDH staple.
- Sphinx's Revelation: Very powerful draw spell.
- Krosan Grip: I've considered replacing this with Return to Dust, but one member of my playgroup runs breya, so I need a way to stop her from going off.
- Beast Within: strong permanent removal.
- Chaos Warp: strong permanent removal.
- Reins of Power: very good card. Can be used on an opponents turn after declare attackers to undo their combat. Can be used on my turn to attack for lethal. The deck runs very few creatures, so its rarely a problem, also none of my creatures have activated abilities so they will just sit on my opponent's side.
- Master Warcraft: this card is very versatile, and tricky. I control which creatures attack, but the player who controls them chooses the target. I also control which creatures block, and how they block. This means i can have an opponent attack with everything, and also have the defending player block with nothing. I can have an opponent attack with everything, and choose blockers to kill off some creatures. I can use it on my turn to make all my creatures unblockable. I can also use it to skip someone's combat phase. This card is as clever as person who plays it!
- Synthetic Destiny: with three or four targets (hopefully tokens), this card will give you a very powerful board state. Bonus points if used with Reins of Power or Insurrection to exile all of my opponents' creatures.
Enchantments these cards might not last very long, but can give you a very nice advantage while they last. I run 16 enchantments.
- Sterling Grove: Early in the game it'll tutor for something i need, late in the game it will protect my other enchantments.
- Stony Silence: Amazingly powerful in edh. IT TURNS OFF MANA ROCKS. I'll say that again ... ARTIFACT BASED RAMP IS DISABLED UNTIL THIS CARD LEAVES THE FIELD.
- Rest in Peace: High impact when it hits the board, and works overtime until its removed. Hard counters certain decks.
- Aura of Silence: slow em down, and when they remove it, you can simply sac to return the favor.
- Propaganda & Ghostly Prison: attack tax.
- Collective Restraint: stronger attack tax.
- Solitary Confinement: strongest attack ... stopper. You don't want to play this card early. Its the fail-safe, it does exactly what it needs to do. It has a very clean synergy with our commander. It won't get turned off unless removed from the field, or we choose to sac it.
- Rhystic Study: drawing has never been easier. I've considered running Mystic Remora too. I might come back to this at a later time.
- Sylvan Library: fantastic card. If this is in my opening hand, i feel so confidant going into a game. It gets even better with shuffle effects since you get to refresh your top-deck.
- Abundance: this card doesn't give extra draws, but it lets you get land drops early, and non-lands later in the game. It works especially well with our commander, so that you never miss that land drop on your end step. This card gets EVEN better with sylvan library. Its a little complicated, but the result is that you will be putting 3 cards into your hand during your draw step, paying no life, and choosing land/non-land for each of them. How bonkers is that?
- Luminarch Ascension: classic pillow-fort win condition. Its usually difficult to deal damage to me, and this card preys on that. It can get out of hand quickly for opponents.
- Defense of the Heart: tooth and nail, except a lot cheaper, and a little slower.
- Mirari's Wake: Mana Doubler, do i need to say more?
- Privileged Position: Gives all your permanents hexproof! Such a powerful enchantment.
- Dovescape: a choice card in a creature light deck. This card will hopefully come down to secure a winning boardstate. It has tricks with Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
Thanks for reading, feedback is welcome!
