Simic Evolve EDH (with combos in description)
Commander / EDH* Budget Casual Combo Counters GU (Simic) Infinite Combo
Creature (43)
- 1x Aeon Chronicler
- 1x Altered Ego
- 1x Aquastrand Spider
- 1x Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
- 1x Avatar of the Resolute
- 1x Chasm Skulker
- 1x Coiling Oracle
- 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
- 1x Cytoplast Root-Kin
- 1x Experiment Kraj
- 1x Experiment One
- 1x Fathom Mage
- 1x Fungal Behemoth
- 1x Gilder Bairn
- 1x Gyre Sage
- 1x Herald of Secret Streams
- 1x Incubation Druid
- 1x Ivy Lane Denizen
- 1x Lorescale Coatl
- 1x Managorger Hydra
- 1x Master Biomancer
- 1x Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
- 1x Murkfiend Liege
- 1x Overbeing of Myth
- 1x Pelt Collector
- 1x Plaxcaster Frogling
- 1x Psychosis Crawler
- 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
- 1x Realm Seekers
- 1x Reclamation Sage
- 1x Renegade Krasis
- 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
- 1x Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
- 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 1x Skatewing Spy
- 1x Tatyova, Benthic Druid
- 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
- 1x Vigean Graftmage
- 1x Vigean Hydropon
- 1x Vorel of the Hull Clade
- 1x Zameck Guildmage
- 1x Zegana, Utopian Speaker
Land (34)
- 1x Ancient Ziggurat
- 1x Evolving Wilds
- 9x Forest
- 1x Forge of Heroes
- 1x Guildmages' Forum
- 1x Hinterland Harbor
- 5x Island
- 1x Karn's Bastion
- 1x Llanowar Reborn
- 1x Lonely Sandbar
- 1x Novijen, Heart of Progress
- 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
-
1x
Reflecting Pool
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Simic Growth Chamber
- 1x Simic Guildgate
- 1x Temple of Mystery
- 1x Temple of the False God
- 1x Thornwood Falls
- 1x Tranquil Thicket
- 1x Woodland Stream
- 1x Yavimaya Coast
Enchantment (3)
Sorcery (3)
Commander (1)
Artifact (7)
- 1x Commander's Sphere
- 1x Conjurer's Closet
-
1x
Expedition Map
- 1x Simic Keyrune
- 1x Simic Signet
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Spellbook
Instant (7)
- 1x Counterspell
- 1x Growth Spiral
- 1x Inspiring Call
- 1x Plasm Capture
- 1x Rapid Hybridization
- 1x Simic Charm
- 1x Spell Rupture
Planeswalker (2)
Maybeboard
Creature (22)
- 1x Biomancer's Familiar
- 1x Bloodspore Thrinax
- 1x Champion of Lambholt
- 1x Cloudfin Raptor
- 1x Coiling Oracle
- 1x Combine Guildmage
- 1x Crystalline Crawler
- 1x Cytoplast Manipulator
- 1x Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
- 1x Fertilid
- 1x Gyre Engineer
- 1x Hooded Hydra
- 1x Kalonian Hydra
- 1x Kruphix, God of Horizons
- 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
- 1x Sapphire Drake
- 1x Shapers of Nature
- 1x Simic Manipulator
- 1x Tishana, Voice of Thunder
- 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
- 1x Viral Drake
- 1x Zegana, Utopian Speaker
Sorcery (10)
- 1x Circuitous Route
- 1x Cultivate
- 1x Explore
- 1x Explosive Vegetation
- 1x Farseek
- 1x Kodama's Reach
- 1x Rampant Growth
- 1x See the Unwritten
- 1x Skyshroud Claim
- 1x Tezzeret's Gambit
Instant (4)
Land (2)
Artifact (8)
- 1x Animation Module
- 1x Bow of Nylea
- 1x Contagion Engine
- 1x Gemstone Array
- 1x Paradise Mantle
- 1x Pentad Prism
- 1x Simic Cluestone
- 1x Thought Vessel
Enchantment (7)
This deck started as an attempt to build a simic flavored commander deck and turned out to be a pretty solid +1/+1 counter deck with lots of drawing. It's an etb focused deck that combines the two simic mechanics evolve and graft with new phyrexia's proliferate as well as some other cool stuff to generate counters.
I keep this list up to date with my irl deck, so the price may increase in the future if I get my hands on any expensive cards. (Like the Craterhoof Behemoth I won in a draft)
Our commander is Prime Speaker Zegana , which takes the most advantage out of this deck. Not only does she evolve everything on board, she also draws cards equal to her power, refilling our hand and even comboing with other cards as explained later. But as she tends to draw quite a lot of cards, we might want to remove our maximum hand size before we cast her with Spellbook , Reliquary Tower or Kruphix, God of Horizons . That said, this deck is not all about Zegana and the more I play with this deck, the less often I cast her. She is a powerplay, not an engine.
Combos and Synergies
While this deck's main focus is generating lots of +1/+1 counters with etb triggers, there are some combos and synergies that are worth mentioning, including a potential infinite combo.
Lorescale Coatl and Chasm Skulker
Lorescale Coatl + Zameck Guildmage / Chasm Skulker + Zameck Guildmage :
One pretty basic synergy is having either Chasm Skulker or Lorescale Coatl along with Zameck Guildmage on board. This allows you to use Zamecks draw ability without losing counters. Nothing too special, but it is something.
Lorescale Coatl + Prime Speaker Zegana / Chasm Skulker + Prime Speaker Zegana / Overbeing of Myth + Prime Speaker Zegana / Aeon Chronicler + Prime Speaker Zegana / Fungal Behemoth + Prime Speaker Zegana :
Speeking of the devil, Chasm Skulker or Lorescale Coatl in combination with our commander Prime Speaker Zegana is pretty nasty. They get as much counters as you draw, so this at least doubles their power. The same thing happens with Overbeing of Myth and Aeon Chronicler , as their power is equal to your handsize. And it applies to Fungal Behemoth as well, as Zeganas power consists almost solely of counters.
Hardened Scales + Lorescale Coatl / Chasm Skulker + Hardened Scales :
Another card that combos well with Chasm Skulker and Lorescale Coatl is Hardened Scales . As they both get a +1/+1 counter added per draw, Hardened Scales triggers for each draw, doubling the amount of counters. Combine this with the previous combo and you just tripled the amount of counters.
Deadeye Navigator
Deadeye Navigator is obviously a very good card in such an etb heavy deck. Deadeye Navigator + Prime Speaker Zegana allows you to draw a ton of cards and Cytoplast Root-Kin + Deadeye Navigator lets you proliferate all your +1/+1 counters.
You can also use it to reset your graft creatures, dodge spot removal or simply flicker big creatures like Fungal Behemoth to trigger evolve.
Note that it can flicker itself, allowing you to change the soulbound creature.
Abusing Gilder Bairn (up to infinite times)
Gilder Bairn + Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Cryptolith Rite + Gilder Bairn allow us to to tap Gilder Bairn for mana in order to use its untap ability repeatedly.
Experiment Kraj + Gilder Bairn with a +1/+1 counter allows Experiment Kraj to first tap for its own ability (or any other copied tap ability) and then use the copied Gilder Bairn ability repeatedly. This can actually turn into an infinite combo with Gyre Sage .
Experiment Kraj + Gilder Bairn + Gyre Sage , each with at least 1 counter on them (3 on Kraj) allows you to go infinite. Now you can tap Experiment Kraj using Gyre Sage 's ability for mana and untap it to double counters on anything with Gilder Bairn 's ability. Once you have infinite green mana, you can add it's regular tap ability to the mix to give every of your creatures infinite counters.
Obviously, this combo is highly unlikely, but it's still cool to know it's there in case you can pull it off. The pieces are searchable with Momir Vig, Simic Visionary .
This combo also allows for other fun stuff: For example Simic Manipulator lets you steal all creatures your opponent controlls and Fathom Mage as well as Duskwatch Recruiter give you access to all cards/creatures in your deck, including trample enablers like Craterhoof Behemoth or Crowned Ceratok .
But as stated before, it's highly unlikely to pull the combo off in the first place, so don't count on it.
Getting the most out of death trigger tokens
Chasm Skulker + Novijen, Heart of Progress / Hooded Hydra + Novijen, Heart of Progress / Chasm Skulker + Zameck Guildmage / Hooded Hydra + Zameck Guildmage / Hooded Hydra + Oran-Rief, the Vastwood :
Activating Zameck Guildmage before or Novijen, Heart of Progress after Chasm Skulker or Hooded Hydra dies is also a good idea as it gives all of the tokens a counter doubling the power and toughness they had before. Oran-Rief, the Vastwood does the same but only for the Hydra.
For other dying creatures use Bioshift to save your counters.
And that's everything I currently remember. If you have any suggestions or questions feel free to leave a comment.
Possible changes and additions
In this last section I'd like to throw in some things I'm currently considering for the deck. Doubling Season is obviously out of budget but there are other cards to consider:
Tezzeret the Seeker
could help to set up a
Prime Speaker Zegana
play by either fetching
Spellbook
for unlimited handsize or a mana stone to ramp to 6+ mana. But thats pretty much all he'd do in the deck...
This deck could propably also use the Protean Hydra and Primordial Hydra I originally not included. They wouldn't stretch the budget too much, and for me it's not even a problem anymore as I already have the deck as it's right now. But I'm actually happy with the hydras I have.
Training Grounds and Paradise Mantle could be a great addition to the deck as it's another way for infinite Gilder Bairn uses. Only problem is that it's even less likely to get out than the existing infinite combo.
Hada Spy Patrol is also a thing I'm considering. You can proliferate his lvls or double them with Vorel of the Hull Clade / Gilder Bairn , and if you manage to move enough +1/+1 counters on him, he has the potential to turn into a pretty big threat. With that Gilder Bairn combo from earlier you could even turn it into an infinite/infinite shroud unblockable. Then again do you really need unblockables when everything is infinite/infinite. Also Elusive Krasis is already in the deck.
A similar reasoning applies to Ring of Three Wishes . You can proliferate/double your wishes to cheat it's limitations. And as there is an infinite combo in this deck, a search engine might be a good idea.
Also a good old CoCo engine could work considering the deck peaks at 3. But both Chord of Calling and Collected Company are kinda expensive.
There might also be stuff in that commander 2015 deck that I may want to include, but I didn't really look into it yet.
Suggestions
Updates Add
I've changed the decklist a couple times without changing the description. The most noteworthy additions were Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Cryptolith Rite as they allow us to tap Gilder Bairn.
This makes it a lot more dangerous. Before the only way to use its untap ability had been either attacking (which most likely ended in its death) or copying the ability with Experiment Kraj.
Other additions were Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
, which became a lot more affordable after reprint and rotating out, as well as Craterhoof Behemoth, which I won in a draft.