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The three best words in Magic

Commander / EDH Combo Counters GU (Simic)

Steaditup


Maybeboard


"Draw a Card"

What is good in life, fellow Mages? Is it card advantage? Is it proper sequencing? Does it feel best to execute a sweet combo, or to stop one in its tracks? Magicians, wizards, friends, Value feels best. Value is what's good in life.

Prime Speaker Zegana is my love, my angle. She never treats me like potato. If you like having giant creatures, a full hand, a high life total and a feeling of control and security, Zegana can teach you something. If you like Value, Zegana can teach you something.

My take on the Prime Speaker has an emphasis on horrifying monsters and lots of card advantage. Beyond the Speaker herself, my hand is stocked by Overbeing of Myth, Rhystic Study, Urban Evolution, and the lovely Fathom Mage.

"Ok, Steaditup, so you can draw cards. That's all fine and good, but how does that win you the game?" A fine question, fellow Magus. You might be familiar with the aforementioned Overbeing of Myth. Maro-style cards are very, very good here. Psychosis Crawler and, to a degree, Lorescale Coatl are super strong with Zegana on both ends (pre-cast and post-cast). Zegana comes in, I draw cards, they get huge, they smash, people die.

SPEAKING OF Lorescale Coatl, this guy is amazing with so many of my cards! Half of my actions draw cards, which make him big. Give / Take Just leaves him jacked and I draw so many cards. Zameck Guildmage reads "UB: Draw a card." His easy access to counters (he gets at least one each time my turn comes around) also means he's a soft combo with Kalonian Hydra.

I couldn't end a description of this deck without talking about my favorite card in all of Magic, Fathom Mage. This scaly beauty is a whirlwind of value. The cool thing about Zegana is that she triggers evolve on all of your evolvers guaranteed. Arguably, the two best evolvers in the format are the always-solid Gyre Sage and Fathom Mage. It extends the card advantage Zegana provides, further establishes a strong board, and is an all-around good play. She's nuts if Kalonian Hydra sticks, she gets a ton of free cards from Master Biomancer, and of course, she turns all my huge goons into cantrips.

There is a combo side to Zegana, as well. It's not pretty, it's not innovative, and it's not always fun to be on the receiving end of, but it's there. Laboratory Maniac turns card advantage into a W. Drawing 99 cards is not a difficult task, with engines like Deadeye Navigator and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary. If the Maniac plan doesn't pan out, Psychosis Crawler can just kill everyone at the table.

You may notice a certain word missing from a lot of my huge creatures. That word is Trample. I chose creatures that fit the theme of my deck (drawing cards) and those creatures are all really strong. However, if my creatures can't trample, how do I win? I have a couple of ways to get through for damage. Thassa, God of the Sea is the most straightforward. Plain-and-simple unblockability is a great way to close out someone's life total. (It helps that she's a Value engine every step of the way.) If I really need to go overboard and just clear away my enemies, good old Cyclonic Rift is always the answer.

If you like bending the rules, if you like having a hand bigger than your library, if you like having creatures the size of the moon, Prime Speaker Zegana offers all of that and more. Tell me your thoughts!

Suggestions

Updates Add

REMOVED: Bounty of the Luxafoil, Lorthos, the Tidemakerfoil

ADDED: Hadana's Climbfoil  Flip, Nezahal, Primal Tidefoil

Too often, Bounty of the Luxa and Lorthos are expensive do-nothings. Rivals of Ixalan brought us some sweet cards that can fill these slots. Hadana's Climb can start growing our creatures (with special bonus nacho value with Gyre Sage and Fathom Mage) to prime them for a Zegana cast, and later it can flip into a great way to kill someone with evasive commander damage (or just a huge creature). Nezahal is mega sweet and has many advantages in the obligatory giant sea monster slot over Lorthos. He can't be countered, he's another Spellbook effect, AND he draws cards! Also he's hard to remove (and can even juke wraths!) which is an amazing advantage in a big sea friend.

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Date added 10 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

28 - 0 Mythic Rares

40 - 0 Rares

12 - 0 Uncommons

9 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.08
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Emblem Kiora, Master of the Depths, Emblem Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Emblem Nissa, Vital Force, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Kraken 9/9 U, Octopus 8/8 U, Squid 1/1 U
Folders EDH, simic, Commander Ideas, Ref Decks, bootylicious, inspiration, deck, A EDH Playtest, simic ideas, Cool decks made by others
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