The Seeker of Heaven [Bruna, EDH]

Commander / EDH Control Voltron WU (Azorius)

soly

Land (36)

• 1x Azorius Chancery
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Ipnu Rivulet
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 9x Island
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 7x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Shefet Dunes
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Tolaria West

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Gift of Estates
• 1x Open the Armory
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Wrath of God
• 1x Cleansing Nova
• 1x Three Dreams
• 1x Hour of Revelation
• 1x Recurring Insight
• 1x Treasure Cruise

Instant (22)

• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Scout's Warning
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mission Briefing
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Thirst for Meaning
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x True Love's Kiss
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Dig Through Time

Artifact (9)

• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soul-Guide Lantern
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Hedron Archive

Commander (1)

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Battle Mastery
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Shielded by Faith
• 1x Steel of the Godhead
• 1x Auramancer's Guise
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Corrupted Conscience
• 1x Spectra Ward
• 1x Eldrazi Conscription

Creature (7)

• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Heliod's Pilgrim
• 1x Baird, Steward of Argive
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Cavalier of Dawn
• 1x Totem-Guide Hartebeest
• 1x Sovereigns of Lost Alara

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Martial Coup
• 1x Savor the Moment
• 1x Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Cataclysm *list*
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Winds of Rath

Creature (3)

• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Silent Arbiter

Instant (2)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Silence

Artifact (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Crawlspace

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Narset Transcendent

Land (1)

• 1x Kor Haven

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This is my budget(ish?) Bruna list. It's slowly being tricked out.

Introduction

For those unaware, Bruna, Light of Alabaster is an explosive Voltron-style commander who "magnets" auras to her when she attacks. She has her choice of any aura on the battlefield (including your opponents' auras), in your hand, and in your graveyard. This allows Bruna to become lethal basically immediately upon entry and is a major selling point - other Voltron commanders tend to need time to accumulate equipment and auras. As such, Bruna should be a very attractive option in metas rife with removal; it means that the only time your opponents have to answer Bruna is when you're ready to win the game. The downside of this approach is that while Bruna will win the game for you, she'll do basically nothing else for you - your list of 99 has to stand on its own.

There are probably three major ways to play Bruna. The first is to load up on a critical mass of Auras in the deck and play self-mill. You win the game if your opening hand contains Traumatize or Tunnel Vision. Otherwise, you're probably going to end up topdecking. Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior Edificer are probably stars in this style.

The second is to play stax. A while ago, Bruna was used in cEDH, not quite top tier, but apparently usable. Having inspected those lists, I have no idea how they function, but they were built and piloted by better players than I am, so I assume they work. Of course, since I have no idea how they function, there's no way I can copy them.

The third - what I've chosen to do - is to play control/combo, tutoring for your important (aura) pieces and trying your level best to not die until Bruna can swoop in to save you.

Aside from the auras and aura tutors that are a natural fit in Bruna lists, I've opted to double down on card draw and board interaction (removal and wrath effects). Having more card draw options means I get to my auras and aura tutors more quickly, miss less land drops, and are more likely to have answers in hand when I need them. Board interaction, of course, lets me shoot threatening cards. Wrath effects will typically be asymmetrical due to my low creature density and relative lack of utility creatures.

Problems?

No deck is perfect. It just so happens that, uh, this one is further from perfect than the average. It's exceedingly vulnerable to creature combat, and also slower than I would like.

Now included in the deck is Propaganda alongside Ghostly Prison, as well as Maze of Ith and Expedition Map. I haven't had the opportunity to test them out yet - haven't even collected them from the friendly neighbourhood LGS - but we got these cards coming in.

As for slowness, tutors (and maybe tutors for tutors) are prescribed. The big one is, of course, Intuition which is a star performer in any Bruna deck.

Possible changes Show

The Magic Mirror. Do I like the idea of lots of card draw? Do I like the idea of running it in a spell-heavy list? Do I like the idea of playing more cards from super-epic-fantasy Eldraine? Yes. Yes, I do.

Stifle looks like an effect I might want a few copies of.

Temple of Enlightenment looks cool and just got reprinted. Theros, ho! In a similar vein, Elspeth Conquers Death is some pretty decent looking removal. 40% chance of the ult whiffing, and it's not instant speed, but she hits basically any relevant permanent, then staxes the field for a turn.

More generally, I want to look into staxy effects -- God-Pharaoh's Statue, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Hushwing Gryff and Aven Mindcensor are all on the list of cards I'm looking at. Rule of Law, Damping Sphere, Windborn Muse, Soul-Guide Lantern. Basically anything that screws other players. I just need them to not kill me for long enough, see.

I've been looking for an excuse to slot in Elspeth, Sun's Champion for a while.

The list is divided into subthemes a la the 8x8 rule. Except it's clearly not 8 themes or 8 cards per theme. You can check the Custom Ordering for a good idea.

1. Auras
2. Aura Tutors
3. Haste
4. Counterspells
5. Defense
6. Ramp
7. Draw
8. Removal
9. Wrath
10. Goodstuff

Auras

The heart and soul of any Bruna list, Auras are what win you the game. Unfortunately, they, like Bruna, basically don't do anything until that time. As such I've opted to streamline my Aura package, so as to avoid dead draws.

Auras may be grouped into three major categories: damage, unblockable, and defense.

The Damage auras comprise of Battle Mastery, Corrupted Conscience, Eldrazi Conscription, and Auramancer's Guise. These auras are chosen because any combination of two of them will put Bruna at lethal commander damage. (Auramancer's Guise requires three auras total, but the third can be a defensive or unblockable one.) Eldrazi Conscription is notable in this list because it offers Trample in addition to its massive +10/+10 bonus. Combined with Battle Mastery in particular, Bruna will be doling out 30 commander damage, making her very hard to stop even with blockers.

Unblockable auras ensure that Bruna's lethal commander damage goes through. I'm using Steel of the Godhead, which offers Lifelink in addition - if I'm low on life, the Lifelink helps me stabilise and prevents people from dealing with Bruna via Player Removal. This has been important more than once. In addition, Spectra Ward has made the list - it's an imperfect aura as colourless creatures (notably artifact creatures like Thopters) can still block it, but offers pseudo-Hexproof in addition and can be put on a small utility creature to create an unkillable blocker.

Defense auras keep Bruna on the field by offering Hexproof, Shroud, Indestructible. Shielded by Faith stops common board wipes, and Diplomatic Immunity is an utter pain to deal with.

Cut from the list Show

A card I've cut is Alexi's Cloak, which notably has Flash. Alexi's Cloak is an instant-speed response to protect Bruna after she's cast, but before she swings (for example, in response to Doom Blade). Mystic Veil is basically worse Alexi's Cloak.

One more aura I've never used, but have heard good things about, is Sage's Reverie. It's dead in your hand, unfortunately, but when it magnets to Bruna, you draw three to four cards on average, which can keep you in the game.

Aura Tutors

The great thing about running a lot of aura tutors is that an aura tutor reads "This card is the aura you need." Rather than being a second-rate aura like Ethereal Armor, it's a fast ticket to a Battle Mastery. Such a shame that they're so expensive. Either money-wise, or mana-wise.

The list currently runs Heliod's Pilgrim, Open the Armory, Three Dreams, Idyllic Tutor, Totem-Guide Hartebeest, and Sovereigns of Lost Alara. The last three are on the cutting board. Plea for Guidance is interesting because it also lets me grab regular enchantments like Ghostly Prison if I need card draw or defense respectively.

Enlightened Tutor is a money card.

Haste

Imagine this: Bruna is summoned and resolves. The table has 3 turns to deal with her before her first lethal swing. The remaining players together have 2 turns to deal with her before she swings again; then 1 turn. That's 6 turns total to remove her via board wipe, not to mention that she's vulnerable to spot removal during the first three turns due to a lack of Hexproof or Shroud auras.

Now she has Haste. She comes in and swings. Someone's out of the game. 2 turns, she swings again. 1 turn, she swings again, and you win. 3 turns total to deal with her.

Currently my list contains Scout's Warning and Swiftfoot Boots. Open the Armory and Muddle the Mixture tutor for boots, while Expedition Map and Tolaria West fetch Emergence Zone and Hall of the Bandit Lord.

Scout's Warning is sneaky - it allows me to flash in Bruna on the opponent's end step and untap with her. This has a lot of dangerous potential - untapping with Bruna means mana sources untap as well, allowing the deck to (for example) grab auras with Three Dreams after summoning Bruna.

Can't go wrong with Swiftfoot Boots. At 2 CMC, it responds to Tribute Mage and Muddle the Mixture. Lightning Greaves is better. I'd use them both, but the one I'm missing might be pricey.

Emergence Zone cheats in Bruna on the end step, while Hall of the Bandit Lord just outright has a haste effect. Winding Canyons is expensive Emergence Zone that I don't have.

Counterspells

Me, I'm not so good at judging which of the opponent's plays needs to be Counterspelled to stop them from going off or getting lots of value. So I'll save my Counterspells for when I want to get Bruna out and swing with her. As such, I'm focusing on cheap Counterspells that stop Instant-speed spells.

The current list is: Flusterstorm, Swan Song, Arcane Denial, Negate, Muddle the Mixture, Dovin's Veto, and Counterspell.

I've included Mystic Confluence in my list, but since it's 5 CMC, it's not really suited to stopping stuff from going off. Consider it primarily a draw spell, with a sometimes-counterspell tacked on. Also in the deck: Archmage's Charm.

Ramp

Not much to see here, really. 2 CMC mana rocks, Sol Ring. Smothering Tithe. I added Hedron Archive and Gift of Estates to hit land drops.

Draw

Some cards attack your opponents. Some cards defend your planeswalkers. And some cards... the best cards of all... just give you more cards.

This deck won its first game primarily off the back of resolving Fact or Fiction no less than three times (via Spellkeeper Weird recursion, then Mission Briefing). I can't believe I was dumb enough to think about cutting draw sources.

Half of my draw options are literally just stuff I had lying around. I'm rotating them towards stuff that's actually good. Here's some of the notable stuff...

Search for Azcanta   is pretty good card advantage cum ramp. Came in recently. The flipped activation is good for spending excess mana at instant speed.

(Cut) Pull from Tomorrow is an important and essential spell here. It's a big X draw spell at instant speed. Normally something like Sphinx's Revelation would get the nod instead, but Pull from Tomorrow responds to transmuted Muddle the Mixture in a pinch, so it's kinda important.

Mystic Confluence is primarily a draw spell. It's a little too expensive to serve the Counterspell purpose in this deck (prevent opponents from stopping Bruna), but will disrupt plays by opponents if given the chance.

Removal

As far as spot removal goes, this deck has three that hit creatures: Swords to Plowshares, Rapid Hybridization, and Reality Shift. Two hit artifacts and enchantments: True Love's Kiss and Aura of Silence. Then Generous Gift and Cavalier of Dawn hit anything.

Wrath

Four wrath effects here: We have trope namer Wrath of God. We have Day of Judgment. A modal wipe that can hit pesky artifacts and enchantments in Cleansing Nova. Then Hour of Revelation to just get rid of everything.

Goodstuff

Mission Briefing. Do I want discount Snapcaster Mage for $2? Yes. Yes I do.

Got me a Soul-Guide Lantern to troll the local Muldrotha deck. Also notable: Scavenger Grounds.

I've just slotted in Mystical Tutor, which grabs half my list. Not drawing auras? Three Dreams. Need a Counterspell? They're all instants, take your pick. Looking for Haste? Scout's Warning.

I've made space for Narset's Reversal, a general goodstuff card I want to test out. It doesn't do anything in particular, which is a problem in my decklist where nearly everything does something in particular. But Narset's Reversal is very versatile so hopefully it'll work out. Steal someone's X=12 Torment of Hailfire, grab card draw out from under them, or copy one of your own spells that was counterspelled to get it back. Or even just copy one of your own spells if you need to double up on it (eg. a Tutor). It's not as "busted" as it could be here (spell copy makes it really pop off). But it's cool.

Maybeboard: I'm thinking of trying out Armageddon and/or Cataclysm. I expect these will be absolutely ruinous to opponents' abilities to stop Bruna once she's out, which ideally secures me the win.

Silence is out of stock everywhere locally but stopping people from casting removal when you want to drag Bruna out is pretty cool. In the same vein, Grand Abolisher, who is not out of stock everywhere, but he is like $10.

Actual Narset, Narset Transcendent offers card draw, doubled spells, and a devastating ult ability that stops people from stopping Bruna. She's 4 CMC and comes with a massive 6 loyalty, so she'll hang around a bit... only I'm not sure how good the deck is at protecting her. I really want to run a planeswalker just for the sake of running a planeswalker, but sometimes it's just not a good idea. Would I run Elspeth, Sun's Champion instead? Maybe. Elspeth's ult is less attractive, but spawning mooks and wrathing the board? That's much better self-defense.

Lands

Emergence Zone lets me cheat out Bruna on the end step and untap with her. Pseudo-haste? Yes, please. As for actual haste, that's what Hall of the Bandit Lord is for.

Maze of Ith. Do I like not dying? Yes. Yes, I do.

A mana sink in desperate times: Castle Vantress.

Ghost Quarter blows up Gaea's Cradle and opposing Maze of Ith. And, more generally, things that tap for lots of mana.

Scavenger Grounds is symmetrical grave-hate. The symmetry is unfortunate, but it's built into the land base so I'll excuse it. In fact, being built into the land base means that basically every deck should be using this card... I've slotted in Ipnu Rivulet and Shefet Dunes as fodder for Scavenger Grounds, just in case I happen to draw both in a game where grave hate is needed. Overkill? Maybe. But Ipnu Rivulet and Shefet Dunes come in untapped and can tap for coloured mana. They were also cheap, so I figured it was worth testing. We shall see how this goes.

Notably due to this symmetry and also because I have Ghostly Prison and Propaganda: Hall of Heliod's Generosity. I haven't forgiven him for stabbing Elspeth, but this is a good way to start making it up.

Piloting the Deck Show

As a control-style Bruna list, this deck actually plays like a bad combo commander disguised as a Voltron commander. The gameplan every game is to assemble:

1. 2 Damage Auras
2. 1 unblockable/Trample aura
3. 1 source of protection (typically Hexproof)
4. 1 source of haste
5. 1-2 counterspells

Thankfully, the auras can be chucked in the graveyard if necessary (with Fact or Fiction or Mission Briefing, for example), because Bruna grabs them right back out when she swings.

If you chuck too many auras in the graveyard, you will draw grave hate. Unlike many Bruna lists, this one runs almost the bare minimum of Aura options - there's some redundancy built in, but not much, so if two or three pieces are lost the game can be hard to win. Thankfully there's precious little targeted grave hate in my meta - just the odd Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void.

The goal early game (my meta is ridiculously durdly) is to ramp hard and draw a lot of cards. There are typically some creatures hitting the battlefield early on, and they will enjoy swinging, so if Tribute Mage appears in hand, the proper tutor target is probably Crashing Drawbridge, which doubles as creature defense. If Three Dreams is in hand, though, then the artifact haste sources don't die to board wipes and are probably better targets. If ramp is needed, then tutor for ramp.

Typically I'll try not to be the first deck to attempt to pop off. Let people throw their removal at someone else, first, and keep an eye on any mana left open. This deck does have a fair amount of removal itself, most of which becomes relatively low-value when Bruna hits the field, so I typically don't hesitate to pick off board threats if I need to. It's not a bad idea to wait to see if someone else will deal with it, but I've learned not to be hopeful about that - I'll save my instant-speed removal for when the danger is pointed at me, but if I have something that operates at sorcery speed, I'll just spend it when my turn comes around.

Bruna attempting to hit the field is a signal that you're going to try to close out the game immediately. She's a one-card ticket to the archenemy train. Keep an eye on mana left open, and try to cast her when the table is tapped out. (Note that Flusterstorm usually won't stop a wrath effect).

With a bit of luck, no one is going to have any answers to Bruna (or any answers you can't stop, anyway).

There are ways to really pop off. Extra Turn spells will kill an extra player. Teferi's Protection is basically an extra turn spell, since it stops people from killing Bruna. Basically anything that reduces opponents' ability to respond to Bruna is good (mass land destruction, for example, and oh, aren't we in the same colours as Armageddon?).

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 33 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.20
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Elephant 3-3 G, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Golem 3/3 C, Manifest 2/2 C, Treasure