Sidar and Ludevic, Spellshaper Fun

Commander / EDH Casual Multiplayer RGWU Tokens

IDunno12345

Creature (33)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Avenger en-Dal
• 1x Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1x Containment Priest
• 1x Dawnstrider
• 1x Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
• 1x Devout Witness
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Hammer Mage
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Marble Titan
• 1x Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1x Ohran Frostfang
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Silverglade Pathfinder
• 1x Tandem Lookout
• 1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1x Trygon Predator
• 1x Windborn Muse

Instant (6)

• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Fury Storm
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mirrorweave
• 1x Sudden Substitution
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Land (38)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 4x Forest
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^{Flip  Meld}
• 3x Island
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 3x Mountain
• 3x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Genesis Storm
• 1x Harvest Season
• 1x Stolen Identity

Commanders (2)

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Awakening
• 1x Breath of Fury
• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Commander's Insignia
• 1x Crackdown
• 1x Legion's Landing  ^Flip
• 1x One with Nature
• 1x True Conviction

Artifact (6)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Quietus Spike
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist

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Overall Gameplan

Grind your opponents down while directing aggression away from yourself with Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist , while chipping away with evassive threats thanks to Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa

Specific Gameplan

Standard line play random 2 drop T2, play Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist T3 swing at an open player to draw a card, T4 Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa if no naturally open player(if there is still open attacks then just skip to ramping and dropping your hand, save him for later) and draw another card, then ramp and deploy threats while keeping a full hand so you can rebuild after. Stuff like Burgeoning can speed you up of course but the basic plan is the same. If you have protection in hand ie. Lightning Greaves , wait to cast it before Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa . People rarely point spot removal at Ludevic, but once they notice what you do with Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa they will sometimes kill it early, so wait till removal is wasted if you don't need Sidar for evasion to get in lads to get your Ludevic draw. Try to avoid emphasizing that Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist triggers for opp if they hit a diff opp as soon as you play him, it makes people feel like you manipulating them. Better to wait until they attack to do so and to remind them to draw the card. Same with Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa making all opp unable to block eachother <3 power creatures. Anyhow, at some point in the late game you want to amass a solid sized board and alpha strike your opponents done with a buff, like using Mirrorweave after blockers are declared. Other ways to end the game are Breath of Fury combos, overwhelming cards to attrition them and chip, or Fury Storm on something nasty an opponent plays. Keep in mind that Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa does not give true unblockable, just "flying" unblockability.

NOTE:Some cards fit multiple categories, but they'll be in the one I think is more relevant to what they are.

Ramp

Early Ramp

• One with Nature , Burgeoning , Thada Adel, Acquisitor , Sakura-Tribe Elder , Farseek , Adanto, the First Fort
• Fairly self explanatory. Not that many of these, the deck's curve is pretty low and the mana hungriness comes more in midgame when you need to fuel multiple Spellshapers and dump hand. Burgeoning is even more house than usual thanks to Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist acting as a Howling Mine most of the time.
• Legion's Landing   earns special note for also providing a mana outlet late game and widening the board. Generally use the vampire and your commanders(maybe with a random 2 drop helping it get done earlier), with it flipping turn 4/5.

Later Ramp

• Dockside Extortionist , Silverglade Pathfinder , Harvest Season , Dreamscape Artist , Sword of the Animist
• These guys help keep up ramp later in the game or grant massive chunks of it. Important in giving you enough mana to keep your Spellshapers active and to make use of your hand.

Deal Damage to Players Triggers

Card Draw

• Cold-Eyed Selkie , Edric, Spymaster of Trest , Tandem Lookout , Ohran Frostfang , Bident of Thassa , Mask of Memory , Ninja of the Deep Hours
• This group of Coastal Piracy s and Ophidian s keeps the hand full for Spellshapers and to rebuild after wipes. They make up the core of this deck with Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist being an honorary one. If possible try to hit folks who aren't able to block regardless(ie. someone with Islands for Cold-Eyed Selkie . If your Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa is destroyed pre-blockers phase, loosing your whole board to a few blocks can be a blowout. Of course, if he's protected, the chance of instant speed removal is low, the top dog needs to be hit a little, or if it would draw too much aggression towards you, then making use of Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa 's ability and attacking into potential blowout can still be worthwhile. Just keep in mind the potential of Sidar dying and your lads being blocked. This applies for all of the deal damage to player triggers.
• Ninja of the Deep Hours has additional utility in bouncing creatures that have ETB effects. Bringing back something like Reclamation Sage is quite nice.

Removal

• Caustic Wasps , Trygon Predator
• A small but powerful group. Luckily they come with built in evasion, so their attacks are much more free. Caustic Wasps is clearly much muuuuuuuuuuch worse, but it does the job of heavily hampering artifacts.

Token Generators

• Hanweir Garrison , Stolen Identity , Legion's Landing  
• Hanweir Garrison is technically a attack trigger not a damage trigger, but functionally fits in the same category. These guys gum up the board and setup some token generation to really abuse the Coastal Piracy effects. Hanweir Garrison goes infinite with Breath of Fury
• Stolen Identity functions pretty differently from the other 2. Getting 2 copies of a creature/artifact near immediately and more on subsequent turns is very powerful. Try to put it on one of your more reliable creatures, either bulkier or with built in evasion.

Low Power Synergies

Hating Big Creatures

• Dusk / Dawn , Crackdown , Marble Titan , Fell the Mighty
• These lads help prevent large creatures from overwhelming us by killing them or locking them down.
• Crackdown and Marble Titan in particular are both great. Marble Titan is a fairy frail creature unfortunately and Crackdown is racist, but they both perform well in forcing the opponent to overcommit to board or just do very little until they find a removal spell for them.

Helping Small Creatures

• Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa , Dusk / Dawn , Mentor of the Meek , Reveillark
• These guys help your small dorks actually shine. Reveillark 's recursion does wonders with its ability to basically pick up any creatures from your yard. Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa is the main one of course who your deck is built around.

Win Conditions

Combo

• Breath of Fury + Hanweir Garrison with Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa in play. Preferably you'll have some sort of protection as well. This kills everyone who doesn't have a flying/reach blocker, and with the amount of tokens you rack up probably kills them too.

Mass Buff

• Set up a bunch of tokens. Have Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa in play. Swing in with your unblockable small lads, cast Mirrorweave on some big thug your opponent has, win. Can also do it with Mirror Entity , particularly nice when you can Chord of Calling it in end of turn of opponent before you then untap and win.

The Beats

• Quietus Spike , Commander's Insignia , True Conviction
• You hit them and hit them and then they die. Sometimes you don't draw into your finishes somehow and just have to go through with the significantly less flashy method of death by a thousand cuts.
• Commander's Insignia goes against the basic concept of your deck. It doesn't matter because your creatures are massive enough to just win. +4/+4 Glorious Anthem or higher is just insanely powerful.
• Quietus Spike chunks folks into range. It also draws a bunch of hate because no one wants to be chunked, so play it only on turns when you can equip and hit with it since it isn't gonna be around long in most cases.
• True Conviction does it all. Draws you lots of extra cards from your Ophidian s and Coastal Piracy s. Makes the Mirrorweave kills easier. Gives you a health buffer. Not much else to say, wish it gave Vigilance over Lifelink for this deck but overall it just puts in the work.

Deck Themes

Abusing Partners

• Commander's Insignia , Genesis Storm , Fury Storm
• Your 2 fairly cheap partners make getting large counts of commanders cast trivial. 4 casts is just initial and 1 more time for each. In long grindy games I've gotten up to 8 between them. Hence, all these cards are insane.
• Genesis Storm is generally 5 cards which helps you rebuild. Even if you hit a One with Nature and some utility creatures, it generally provides enough to get back on board.
• Commander's Insignia was covered above, but basically making everyone a 5/5 means you get through blockers even without the Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa effect. Too much raw power to turn down with partners in a creature heavy deck.
• Fury Storm ranges from great value to outright winning the game.(also one unfortunate time I cast it to end a counter war) Generally play it on opponents spells, but copying Chord of Calling or Stolen Identity is pretty nice.

Spellshapers

• Avenger en-Dal , Dawnstrider , Devout Witness , Dreamscape Artist , Hammer Mage , Jaya Ballard, Task Mage , Silverglade Pathfinder , Fauna Shaman
• Most are removal, with a couple being ramp. Fauna Shaman is an honorary member and it phenomenal at tutoring up whatever.
• Jaya Ballard, Task Mage gets special mention as destroying blue permanents as well as throwing off Incinerate s kills a lot of stuff. So many blue commanders, with at least one at almost any table.
• Dawnstrider is excellent at bogging down the board, especially if given protection from Swiftfoot Boots and the like. Also can save people and/or force them to make deals with you.
• Hammer Mage is just flat a great card that you should consider putting in your deck if it has a lower artifact count.
• Seedborn Muse helps you abuse your spellshapers to a much greater degree if you can keep cards flowing in. Awakening does similar stuff here, though it does have anti-synergy with your Crackdown effects.

Utility(aka the rest of the deck)

Protection

• Windborn Muse , Grand Abolisher , Lightning Greaves , Swiftfoot Boots , Marisi, Breaker of the Coil , Heroic Intervention , Teferi's Protection
• First, Windborn Muse a card:Propoganda with legs. You get a naturally evasive body to help draw cards, but it does die to a Wrath of God .
• The second group is those that protect your creatures. Staples Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots help you activate some spellshapers immediately and make your important utility creatures much harder to slay. Grand Abolisher and Marisi, Breaker of the Coil protect your stuff at certain times, but your turn and combat respectively both work in making sure you don't get blow out by an instant speed spell killing Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and leading all the squad to death. The 2 big protection instants avoid board blowouts.
• Marisi, Breaker of the Coil deserves special mention as the only >3 power creatures in the deck that doesn't have some effect that helps small creatures. It's also the largest creature in your deck, at an imposing...5/4. Anyhow, evasive creatures let you get the goad trigger easily and cause havoc against creature based opponent, as well as forcing enemy utility creatures to die in combat. Combine that with protection from blowouts and it earns its slot convincingly.

Quick Interaction

• Acidic Slime , Curse of the Swine , Sudden Substitution , Reclamation Sage
• While you have plenty of deal damage trigger removal and spellshaper removal, sometimes you need something gone NOW. These do the job.
• Curse of the Swine gives 2/2s which Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa blocks for days and who other opponents will have a harder time blocking thanks to his effect. Hence it earns the nod. Exiling is also nice.
• Sudden Substitution is very fun. Split Second makes it a hard to interact with gut punch and you generally have something to toss to an opponent. A token is best, but giving them a spellshaper they can't activate or the spare body of something that had a good ETB effect works too.

Goodstuff

• Containment Priest , Eternal Witness , Glen Elendra Archmage , Chord of Calling
• These are simply good spells that fit the deck. Containment Priest hinders very few cards in the deck while rocking the 2/2 statline. Eternal Witness is a staple for its recursion and also has a small enough body to slip under and deal some chip. Glen Elendra Archmage gives some solid interaction. Chord of Calling tutors for one of your many many utility creatures. It can even assemble half of your combo or get your pump effect. Just all around good cards.

Manabase

Shocks and Hanweir

• Disclaimer:I do not own this full manabase. I use a worse version of it when I pilot this deck. My mana works fine with that one, but it's just slower. I want a blueprint for a manabase just in case I ever decide to optimize this deck more. Not planning to but might as well have it set up in case I change my mind. Also because putting out a manabase with a couple fetches and shocks(that I happen to have) but not all would mess with my sense of neatness.
• Hanweir Battlements  . Giving your creatures haste is nice. Making a monstrous Eldrazi town is cool. This card fits like a glove since running Hanweir Garrison was gonna be done anyways. I've only got the Meld off a couple of times, but it makes a impressive board pretty quick. Mostly used it to rebuild after a board wipe.
• The other specific land worthy of note is Forbidden Orchard . Giving opponents non-flying spirits to hit eachother with is nice since they're incentivized to do so thanks to your commander and even if they don't it's not like said tokens will be problematic to you(unless you give them to a opposing token deck or sacrifice deck which...don't). 5 color lands to smooth the strained mana of this deck is nice too.

What I'm Looking For

Cool utility creatures that you think would fit well in the deck. While I do like style over substance, I would like soooome amount of use for them to be part of the deck. It doesn't need to be a lot, but it does need to be there. For example, in my Meren Spirits deck I currently have Pus Kami but cut Hyalopterous Lemure some time ago(with a heavy heart). While both are horrible creatures, Pus Kami atleast provides some thematic hard removal for spirits beyond card:Rend Soul and helps Soulshift chain. Hyalopterous Lemure is just a horribly statted creature(albeit a humorous one. Might re-add it someday but that's beside the point.) Also worth mentioning that while this deck has a spellshaper subtheme it is not a full spellshaper deck. Thanks for reading.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Breath of Fury + Hanweir Garrison
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 64 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.26
Tokens	Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Eldrazi Horror 3/2 C, Human 1/1 R, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W
Folders	Lånte deck, Interesting