hello fellow Locust God player (moment of praise...) I too play a Locust God deck but that is more "Cough Cough Cheaper Cough Cough" I will post it Right Here. We play very similar decks but yours is as you state a more of a dream deck which all of us Locust God players wish to have or at least a version of it. This is what I play and is still very competitive, just doesn't play all those $100-200 cards...But eventually we will get there...Right? )i( )i( )i()i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i(
Praise the Swarm! )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i( )i()i( )i( )i( )i( )i(

Apex_killjoy02: PRAISE THE SWARM

I'll come and take a look at your build! :)

I'm quite new to using The Locust God, and I'm surprised by the many ways it can win just on token swarming alone.

Have you given some thought (at least in the budget build) to Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive? Unless you have any anthems that boost toughness out, she renders all the locusts unblockable, so even other fliers can't chump them. Bonus points if Shared Animosity is on board as well. That said, she can be win-more if you already got a whole swarm out there, but in case you're up against the likes of Talrand, Sky Summoner, she could be useful.

This deck seems to be very reliant on using lots of artifacts, and really takes off with them out. This deck is also fantastic! I am wondering if putting Glimmervoid be a good idea? It can help fix mana and should always stay out due to the sheer number of rocks and artifacts.

Phaetion: I've never really had major issues getting my Locusts to connect (most players have few flying blockers and I can just outproduce them).

However, I do have a deck around her as the commander that's been performing fantastically, if you want to take a look! :D

Thousand Cuts: Tetsuko EDH

Duel Commander* Daedalus19876

SCORE: 15 | 9 COMMENTS | 967 VIEWS | IN 4 FOLDERS

Smasasaur: Hmmm. As much as I want to run that, I don't want to Strip Mine myself when I don't control any artifacts or get hit by a Vandalblast :( I think I'd need a higher artifact density to make it really work well here.

Daedalus19876 That makes sense. I took the basic idea from your deck and tried to cut costs down to ~800 USD and found this to be a solid substitute for Mox Diamond and works well with Seat of the Synod or a Darksteel Ingot. You are correct that sometimes there aren't enough artifacts to sustain it however...

Daedalus19876 I am a really big fan of this deck of yours and I have always been checking in to see updates. What do you think of the new Dominaria set? Are there any new cards that pique your interest? Anyway, keep up the swarm.. I mean good work :)

rivon: Thank you! I'm playing with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain over Meditate currently, though I may run Anticipate in that slot instead eventually...

Any hidden gems I'm missing from Dominaria? I think I'm going to avoid Mox Amber for the moment.

Just wondering, wouldnt Kindred Discovery cause you to mill yourself out? Each time you draw a card, you put a bug into play, but every time a bug comes into play, you draw a card, but every time you draw a card, a bug comes into play, etc. etc. Wouldnt this cause you to just kill yourself?

LegendMainsOnly: It would, but I terminate the combo with Stifle, Firestorm and/or Snapback.

You could dig for lab maniac with that combo and cast it before you mill yourself out

Apex_killjoy02: I used to run Lab Man for roughly that reason, but he proved unnecessary when I have at least 3 other ways to win at instant speed with my library in hand. Also, since he can only be cast at sorcery speed, you'd need him before you cast the combo, which puts a huge damper on that combo's usability. Not a fan TBH.

not a fan of lab man! MY DUDE! he is the coolest win con imo

Apex_killjoy02: I mean, I run him in other decks, and he's super cool. But if I draw my deck, I can win other ways. In a self-mill deck, or a Doomsday deck (anything that doesn't involve drawing 99 cards), he's bonkers. But he didn't fit in this deck, even though he was in the initial draft, so I cut him.

In games you have resolved Alhammarret's Archive, why did you need it and how impactful was it? Currently I'm comparing it to Library of Leng because Library lets you sculpt hands from wheels while Alhammarret seems to draw more. I'm sure you've at least tried Library of Leng, so which card made the cut over it?

You said in your Archangel Avacyn deck thread that you now prefer The Locust God.

Seems sad that a turn 3 combo deck is now your preferred :(

Don't prefer the more interactive, multiplayer focused Avacyn deck you made?

Nahgg: I found Alhammarret's Archive to be much more powerful - not really because of wheels, but because cheap cantrips etc dig much deeper. I did try Library of Leng, but 90% of the time I cast most of the things I want from a given hand before I wheel it away, so Library doesn't help much.

RobsJourney: Honestly, this deck is more interactive and multiplayer-focussed than Avacyn every was. While I do like both of them, this is much more fun for me to play due to more complex lines of play and more interaction with spells on the stack.

So, not normally an Izzet player...but this is pretty sexy. Haha. I have to ask though...is the $7000 Niv Mizzet deck on this website? Because I would love to take a look at that as well. Haha. Also, you have two copies of Meditate in your deck list, one foreign, one English. Also, out of curiosity, why have you chosen to exclude Lion's Eye Diamond?

Scytec: Thanks, man! I don't think it's online, though, sorry. I'll fix the doubled Meditate; thanks for pointing that out :)

And I'm not entirely sure why Lion's Eye Diamond would fit here (plus, it's a bit expensive, haha). I care a lot about having a large hand size, and I have few ways to use the mana from LED? What do you think it would be good with here?

I'm sorry, I had Lion's Eye Diamond confused with Mox Diamond, which you already run. Haha, my bad.

responding to your fb comment: I'd add a high tide package here - Snap instead of snapback, cut the overcosted murder of crows and make space for High Tide. You've already got frantic search and time spiral, so adding the third good untapper isn't a big deal...maybe even Candelabra of Tawnos. Merchant Scroll is great, also Burning Inquiry might do some work here.

I'd have another close look at the counterspells, especially mindbreak trap can easily be replaced with Flusterstorm. Negate, Spell Pierce, Swan Song, Red Elemental Blast...might cut some of the high cost sorceries and niche-interaction for these?

and do yourself a favor and remove day's undoing. the end the turn clause makes it worse than the wheels for 5 mana to be honest. it's really not worth it to Wheel and immediately pass the turn, that's more often than not a kingmaking move unless the other players all have slices of bread instead of cards in their deck^^

the shell seems to be cool, but a difference of 10-15 cards or so could make it perform still better

Winterblast: Thank you for the comment.

I'm not sure how much High Tide will help here, given that I play a large number of non-basics without Island typing, and I'm not running any infinite combos that rely on it. It's cute with the two untappers, I suppose, but I'm not willing to rely on that synergy.

Murder of Crows is much better than it looks, to be honest - it gives me advantage from board wipes (which normally set me back pretty hard), allows me to draw into interaction when facing GY-based decks such as Meren, etc. It's also an unusual card to see in Locust God decks, which means my opponents often neglect to counter it if I have an Altar out.

Snap over Snapback is a fair argument - Snapback is in there to terminate the Kindred Discovery combo at instant speed with no mana held up, if the Simian Spirit Guide into Firestorm approach fails. Snap doesn't work as well for that role, but it does work better as a bounce before a wheel... I suppose I could run both; Snapback has performed well but I'd be happy to have another copy.

Burning Inquiry seems like a VERY risky idea here; the three extra locusts are not worth the chances of dumping a critical combo piece. I DEFINITELY can't afford the $$$ cost of Candelabra of Tawnos, haha, so that's a strong "no" from me. Merchant Scroll could be passable, I suppose, but none of my blue instants are really critical to the game-plan other than Dramatic Reversal, and Muddle the Mixture might be better for finding that (a card I've intended to add for a while).

Speaking of counterspells, Muddle the Mixture is the primary one I want to add, because it can grab Dramatic Reversal/Grim Monolith/Isochron Scepter (and, if I need counterspells in a pinch, can be Sceptered itself).

I could run Flusterstorm (I have one right here), but I find it's a little... situational, since this deck runs in a lot of different metas (some of which are less spell-based than others). I appreciate that Mindbreak Trap often closes out a game by exile-countering Food Chain, it acts in a similar role against Storm, and it's a very nice "gotcha!" against decks that act when I'm tapped out. Still, it's the only offensive counterspell in a deck that usually uses its counterspells defensively.

Negate or Swan Song are both definitely things I could/probably should run, but as always, slots are hard to come by. I'm not sure what you mean by "high-cost or niche interaction"; the only things that really seem to fit that mold are Recurring Insight, Mystic Confluence, or Mindbreak Trap. Mystic could get the axe, perhaps, but the amount of utility and flexibility the card gives me is unreal.

And on the topic of Day's Undoing - I agree that the card is really bad in the late-game, but there are many hands where I simply vomit out all of my cheap spells and mana rocks from my hand, and I am left with nothing to do. While obviously Timetwister/Wheel of Fortune are better in this role, having a third copy of that effect is nothing to sneeze at when I can use it to draw back into good cards from a bad hand (and often screw with opponents' hand shaping as well). If I replace this with something, I want it to be another spell that can refill an empty/bad hand - maybe Fact or Fiction?

Thank you for your thoughts.

I was considering building my own Locust God deck, then came across yours while it was featured. I'm on a pretty tight budget, though. I was originally thinking of using a combo with Goblin Bombardment + Murder of Crows + The Locust God , but that requires having an eldrazi titan I can discard to refill my library and I'd prefer not to burn $40 on one card. That would mean I'd have to use a single-use on-board artifact or a four-mana spell instead, however

I was also considering a Grixis build (maybe using Thraximundar as the commander?) in order to have access to Dire Undercurrents and the Blowfly Infestation + The Locust God + The Scorpion God combo.

Any suggestions?

DwaginFodder: I'm glad I could inspire you! :) you could also make the Murder of Crows/Goblin Bombardment combo work by including Hostility or Guile instead of an Eldrazi titan, if on a budget, although those cards won't do as much when hardcasted as a backup plan.

A grixis build could do work, though I'd suggest Nekusar, the Mindrazer as your commander there as a secondary win-con. I personally don't think it's worth it for only a few additional cards, but you do you (and let me know how it works out for you!).

Would you use Star Compass over Coldsteel Heart?