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The Empyrial Tax Bureau

Commander / EDH* Competitive Death and Taxes GWU (Bant) Hatebears Primer Stax

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Creature (46)

Land (32)

Planeswalker (1)

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Commander (1)

Commander: foil Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

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The Empyrial Tax Bureau: Derevi, Hatebears and Paperwork

"If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't. Hyman G. Rickover

Greetings, citizen, and welcome to this primer on the Empyrial Tax Bureau (a.k.a. Derevi Hatebears), a variant of the Derevi Stax family of decks. In this primer, you will be given a thorough overview of the deck's basic strategies, its many potent interactions and a few variants you can tinker with if so desired.

Like every commander deck, this one begins and ends with its commander: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician. The genesis of the deck began almost two years ago as an attempt to recreate the feeling of playing Legacy Death and Taxes in EDH. Many commanders were tested, from the most usual of suspects like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Gaddock Teeg to more radical builds with Mangara of Corondor at the helm. Always, however, these iterations lacked in one way or another--whether lacking staying power, lacking card advantage or just simply lacked that "D&T" feeling.

Derevi is not what most would think of when the term "hatebear" is brought up. Usually it is a creature that makes spells more costly, or perhaps changes the rules of the game in some meaningful and, invariably, negative and annoying way. And this is true--Derevi is not a hatebear. Derevi is tempo beater. Derevi is a small mana engine with Bloom Tender or Gaea's Cradle. Derevi is an instant-speed blocker. Derevi can be a Rishadan Port or an Icy Manipulator. Derevi can turn a Birthing Pod into a stream of powerful threats.

Above all is this: Derevi is annoying as hell, and if you like playing D&T then you'll love this deck. Derevi has been a staple of many Bant Prison archetypes ever since her first printing. Primarily it is because of this line:

Whenever Derevi, Empyrial Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.

Her ability provides this and any Prison deck with a Swiss army knife of sorts. A Prison deck, also sometimes known as a Stax deck (the difference being rather akin to the difference between a square and a rhombus), essentially comes down to this simple idea: I can; you cannot. Usually, Prison decks will seek to curb mana production and restrain or otherwise inhibit an opponent's attempts to interact with them, while presenting a threat that will gradually wear them down. Prison strategies are often (justifiably) reviled by many players, EDH especially. It being a format about "fun" and "games that make stories," most devoted EDH players are drawn to the format because of its casual atmosphere that encourages creativity and self expression. This deck asks a question in reply: what is a story without a good villain?

But what is it about Derevi's seemingly innocuous ability that makes her so good in Prison archetypes? It comes back to the central thesis: I can; you cannot. I can untap my lands under a Winter Orb. You cannot. I can untap a creature to block, or tap down one of your blockers. You cannot. I can choose how this Prison is designed and enforced. You cannot. Perhaps most importantly: I can avoid the stack, the commander tax and the sorcery-speed restriction to play my commander. You cannot.

It is hard, really, to overstate just how absurd Derevi's second ability is. The commander tax is an integral part of keeping the format balanced; since having a commander is akin to always having a card in hand--and a card you always want to have available--being forced to pay each time you wish to recast it keeps the format from turning into something degenerate. But, then there's Derevi. Already a very lean , for more you get to effectively ignore countermagic, play around removal, interrupt your opponents on their upkeep or precombat main phase and, generally, always have a threat. Even if Derevi didn't have her cheat ability--even if she was , she would still be quite playable. It is for good reason that she occupies many players top lists of hated commanders.

And now onto the second half: why is Derevi especially good for hatebears specifically? Crucially, Derevi's first ability triggers not only on ETB but also when any of your creatures deal combat damage to a player. Given that hatebears are already aggressively costed and often evasive, this means that you can often sneak in many triggers to profound effect. You can untap your attackers to grant them pseudo-vigilance. You can untap your lands to cast more hatebears, or to get around an Orb or Hokori, Dust Drinker. Inversely, you can tap down your opponent's lands--and, more importantly, you can redirect this tapping or untapping anywhere you want. You a can therefore swing at an open opponent and apply the tap effects to another with a more impactful board. What makes Derevi awesome in this deck isn't that she is, herself a hatebear--it is that she greatly amplifies the negative effects for your opponents while diminishing their downsides for you.

Content goes here

The Stasis Soft Lock

Stasis, on the surface, is a good way to slow down a game for a few turns but even Derevi, on her own, cannot escape its upkeep cost. However, a number of cards can help perpetuate the soft lock:

-Druids' Repository is perhaps the best card for the job. With Derevi out, you can attack, get a charge counter and use Derevi's untap trigger on the attacker, giving it pseudo vigilance. The charge counter, in turn, pays for Stasis next turn. Repository also helps to cheat on Static Orb and Winter Orb.

-Sakashima the Impostor easily one of the best cards in the deck, Sakashima does so much simply by being able to clone legendaries. With Stasis out, Sakashima can clone Derevi, allowing you to untap both the attacker and a mana source.

-Stoic Angel, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Brago, King Eternal round out the Stasis support. Angel and Elesh naturally have viglnce, allowing you to attack and untap Stasis without cost. Brago provides pseudo-vigilance to your entire board by blinking everything, letting mana dorks untap or Derevi triggers to be aimed at your own resources.

The Pod Package

Derevi has long been hated because of her ability to cheat on the commander tax. For , Derevi can hit play at instant speed, avoiding counterspells and ignoring effects like Iona and Arcane Laboratory altogether. She can untap a surprise blocker, tap down a Gaea's Cradle or other threat on your opponent's upkeep, "turn off" a Static/Winter Orb so you can untap or just flash in to save on mana the following turn.

In this list, Derevi also helps fuel a Birthing Pod package of powerful 4-drops. Derevi can even, with enough mana, untap Pod so you can tutor up many in a single turn!

  • Stoic Angel. She can really punish go-wide strategies and because of Derevi we can get around her tax easily.

  • Loxodon Gatekeeper Kismet on a stick. Usually my first pick with an early Pod.

  • Hokori, Dust Drinker Winter Orb on a stick and another good early tutor target.

  • Linvala, Keeper of Silence Hoses tribal decks in a hard way, and has a great body for equipment.

  • Grand Arbirter Augustin IV The absolute king of taxation, GAAIV helps our spells get under our other taxers.

  • Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa A great way for our weenies to punch through and get triggers off Derevi or Edric.

  • Phyrexian Metamorph A flexible clone, Metamorph should always make its way into any deck.

  • Sakashima the Impostor In a deck full of Legendaries, Sakashima is an excellent way to double up on a tax, triggers off Edric/Derevi or just ensure a crucial hatebear (like Gaddock Teeg) sticks around.

  • Captain Sisay Tutors up so many cards, though obviously Gaea's Cradle is almost always #1.

  • Glen Elendra Archmage _Board wipes are anathema to a deck such as this and few cards interact with them better than the Archmage. Being evasive means you can get a few triggers off Derevi or Edric while molding up some blue mana to keep your opponents from wiping and catching up. Best friends with Brago.

  • Brago, King Eternal _Great an squeezing more value from ETBs. Especially good at resetting Glen-Elendra Archmange, "untapping" Pod and dancing around Static Orb or Stasis. If you have Containment Priest out, don't fret--you can flicker everything so long as you flicker Priest as well and she won't exile anything when they all come back in.

Other Pod Targets

By no means is the above list exhaustive or perfect. There exist plenty of other options for a Derevi Pod package.

Terminology used in the custom categories:

Taxation:

Refers to a card that either makes your opponents pay more for their spells or one that limits their resources in some way. These are the cards which hinder your opponents' game while you develop yours and are generally good to prioritize.

Legislation:

Refers to a card which alters the rules of the game. These control what your opponents can do once they pay for your taxes, or help impose the taxes more effectively by limiting their options. These are more like your silver bullets--cards you use to attack a weak point in opposing strategies.

Judgment

Finishers, both in combat and on their own. Rarely do I pay their full price--usually I dump them in the bin with Survival of the Fittest and tutor up Loyal Retainers.

[Note: some people wonder why I've omitted cards like Arcane Laboratory or Eidolon of Rhetoric from my list. While these cards are good--essential, really, if your meta is rife with Ezuri or Krenko tribal decks--they aren't very impactful on their own. Tax cards can fulfill the same role through mana denial and help to outright deny your opponent the chance to play any spells in their turn. ]

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 3 years
Exclude colors BR
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

12 - 0 Mythic Rares

68 - 0 Rares

9 - 0 Uncommons

5 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.85
Tokens Emblem Tamiyo, Field Researcher
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