Switcheroo V5

Commander / EDH RUW (Jeskai, America)

AnnTheAristocrat

Lands (36)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Homeward Path
• 9x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystic Monastery
• 6x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Temple of Epiphany

Other (11)

• 1x Cultural Exchange
• 1x Harmless Offering
• 1x Legerdemain
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Puca's Mischief
• 1x Role Reversal
• 1x Sudden Substitution
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Switcheroo
• 1x The Locust God

"gifts" (15)

• 1x Aggressive Mining
• 1x Akroan Horse
• 1x Crown of Doom
• 1x Delusions of Mediocrity
• 1x Form of the Dragon
• 1x Goldnight Castigator
• 1x Grid Monitor
• 1x Illusions of Grandeur
• 1x Jinxed Choker
• 1x Perplexing Chimera
• 1x Pyromancer's Swath
• 1x Rust Elemental
• 1x Statecraft
• 1x Steel Golem
• 1x Thought Lash

Removal (12)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command *list*
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1x Wrath of God

Draw (7)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1x Windfall

Commander (1)

Ramp (12)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Pillowfort (9)

• 1x Collective Restraint
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Lightmine Field
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Pramikon, Sky Rampart
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Sphere of Safety
• 1x Thought Lash
• 1x Windborn Muse

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Maybeboard

Other (11)

• 1x Bazaar Trader
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Donate
• 1x Fires of Invention
• 1x Hanna, Ship's Navigator
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Wild Research

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A deck built around my favorite card Switcheroo. The main plan of the deck is to give out "gifts" to your opponents, which usually hinder you opponents in some way. Pretty basic Zedru things really. Most importantly this deck durdles A LOT.

Btw: before you recommend cards, check out my personal banlist for my decks. :)

Categories

Ramp

I included around 12 ramp cards, since the deck doesn't have a need for any more. There are some "combos" that need a lot of mana. Like Illusions of Grandeur + Capsize, or Form of the Dragon + any bounce spell. (So basically Cryptic Command or Capsize ) But you'll usually end up with a lot of mana due to the amount of cards you've drawn anyway.

removal

A lot of enchantment based removal and utility cards. Enchantments are especially good with Zedru, since you can donate them.

draw

I included a bit less than i usually would, since Zedru is such a ridiculous draw engine when she gets going. Also there are a lot of cards that do something else than just drawing, just to justify their inclusion. What can i say, I like drawin caaards.

protection

I have about 9 pillowfort cards and 4 board clears. Now that i've played the deck, ive found that you usually end up fucking yourself over with the wraths most of the time. Since you desperately want your commander out and a lot of your "gifts" are creatures.

"gifts"

Literally the most satisfying things ever. The idea is to give them to my opponents and there are pretty much two ways of doing so.

Option number 1: Donating them with Zedruu the Greathearted or Harmless Offering.

Option number 2: Operation Switcheroo. For example, you exchange your Steel Golem for an opponents' commander or eldrazi titan. I actually built this deck, because is saw that there are a surprising amount of cards that exchange permanents.(or in some cases even spells). But my favorite part about Switcheroo type cards are that they don't have to target a permanent you control. So you could theoretically exchange an opponents Zetalpa, Primal Dawn for another opponents' 1/2 spider token. (Which i've actually done btw) And that's pretty much why Switcheroo is my favorite card ever.

Gameplan

Opening hand: In general I have a policy to not keep hands without ramp in casual edh. It kind of makes you feel like you're doing things. To be fair, there isn't that much ramp in this deck, so i think exceptions could be made here. In general, don't keep hands without ramp or pillowfort/protection. I wouldn't recommend keeping hands with just gifts and lands.

Now once you're in a position to do things, (which is usually around turn 3)you have a few options. Usually the choice comes down to 1.play pillowfort, 2. play zedru or 3. play gift. You might have removal in hand, but i wouldn't recommend firing it off, since you're most likely not the target for anything anyway. Playing pillow fort is almost never wrong. It does kind of draw attention to you. But people will most likely do more degenerate things anyway. I would actually argue that playing zedru on turn 3-5 is incorrect in most cases. She tends to die because she's either the "best target" or someone casts a wrath. Usually you'll want to cast her and immediately donate something away. Then she just becomes a Phyrexian Arena on steroids. Actually donating a land away isn't even a bad choice usually. playing a gift can be a good choice sometimes. playing a Statecraft or Jinxed Choker doesn't hurt you in any devastating way. Meanwhile playing Steel Golem or Pyromancer's Swath could destroy all chances of you ever winning. Be cautious when playing gifts.

Around turn 5-6 is when things start to get really interesting. You'll most likely have played some ramp and have set up some pillowfort or gifts. This is usually when i usually fire off one of my Switcheroo effects. Usually not targeting anything i own. Also keeping up a counter spell or removal is a absolutely legit option. In general you should keep your head down while making sure other people are targeting each other. There have been cases where i've been able to snowball out of control with a jinxed choker or locust god. In those cases, you should always try to find a counterspell while making allies, in case something goes wrong.

Ok. So everyone except you and one opponent are dead and you're staring down the barrel of a deck that was actually designed to win. Your first and usually best option is to try to outvalue your opponent with zedru. You drawing three cards a turn when your opponent is only drawing 1, tends to win games. Your second option is to disrupt your opponent with gifts and possibly even lock them out with one. Playing Steel Golem against a creature deck after a wrath is kind of not the worst thing ever.

This deck also has some "combos" that you can do to win the game. Donating Form of the Dragon with Role Reversal in hand, is usually a win.

Now one thing that you can do to make this whole part easier, is to make sure the bad matchup doesn't die last. Politically killing the Nekusar, the Mindrazer player and then having to fight against a janky Arcades, the Strategist deck is usually the best possible situation. Granted, that is a very extreme situation. But it is something you should keep in mind. Is Atraxa, Praetors' Voice a better matchup then Meren of Clan Nel Toth? Or is Animar, Soul of Elements easier than Krenko, Mob Boss?

Potential upgrades

The following is a list of cards i would replace with another card, followed by an explanation. There are plenty of cards i would like to try, but simply cant fit. Those cards are in the maybeboard. But these are cards that (to me) have a clear replacement:

Nahiri, the Harbinger out. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in. Teferi is just almost objectively better.

Lonely Sandbar and Forgotten Cave out. Sunbaked Canyon and Fiery Islet in. Almost objectively better. That being said, something about that feels wrong to me. I don't know what it is. It's weird.

Update log

Update log 24/09/2019: I'll most likely switch Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for Cryptic Command. When building the deck, I was super worried about milling myself out. But I haven't even been close to that yet. That and more removal is just always great. Also my win count is currently at 1 with this deck. But i've only played 3 games sooo.... grumble grumble
Update log 28/09/2019: Switched Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for Cryptic Command due to the reasons stated above. Also switched out three islands for: Glacial Fortress, Homeward Path and Temple of Epiphany. I wont be cutting anymore basic lands because I want to have enough basic lands to fetch with Myriad Landscape, Land Tax, Wayfarer's Bauble, Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum. Also my win count is currently 3
Update log 3/10/2019
switched Darksteel Mutation for Sudden Substitution. I have absolutely no justifications to do this, other than that I love switcheroo effects and I already have a nice amount of removal.

Top Ranked	Achieved #69 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #67 position in Commander / EDH 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH RUW (Jeskai, America) 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.56
Tokens	Elephant 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 UR, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	Built :), Cool EDH, Cool decks, Featured