Xyris, the Writhing Eldritch Tentacles (Rule 0)

Commander / EDH RUG (Temur) Tokens

Q_is_564453

Lands (37)

• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Castle Embereth
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 4x Forest
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 5x Island
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Kher Keep
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Tutor (5)

• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Shared Summons
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Interaction (13)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Broken Wings
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Negate
• 1x Oko, Thief of Crowns
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip

Draw (9)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Jace Beleren
• 1x Minds Aglow
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Prosperity
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Shamanic Revelation
• 1x Skyscribing
• 1x Tishana, Voice of Thunder

Cradle (7)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Battle Hymn
• 1x Citanul Hierophants
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Xenagos, the Reveler

Tokens (4)

• 1x Augmenter Pugilist  ^Flip
• 1x Embercleave
• 1x Saproling Symbiosis
• 1x The Locust God

Commander (1)

Ramp (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity
• 1x Tangled Florahedron  ^Flip
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Three Visits

Combo (5)

• 1x Battle of Wits
• 1x Spawnsire of Ulamog
• 1x Temporal Manipulation
• 1x Time Warp
• 1x Walk the Aeons

Recursion (4)

• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Mythos of Illuna
• 1x Spark Double

Haste (3)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild

---

Sideboard

Other (314)

• 1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 200x Mistform Ultimus
• 1x Not of this World
• 2x Oblivion Sower
• 2x Prophet of Distortion
• 100x Skittering Invasion
• 1x Spawnsire of Ulamog
• 3x Ulamog's Nullifier
• 1x Ulamog's Reclaimer
• 2x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Vexing Scuttler

---

One of the most ambitious combos I've ever dreamed of achieving was finding a way to win a game of Commander with Battle of Wits. Obviously, this normally isn't possible since Commander has a 100-card deck size limit. However, if you rule 0 sideboard usage, you can activate Spawnsire of Ulamog to cast an arbitrarily large number of legendary Eldrazi cards from outside the game to get them into your graveyard with two Eldrazi titans such as Ulamog, the Inifinite Gyre to shuffle them into your library.

This obviously requires you to have 30 mana to cast and activate Spawnsire, so you need to find a way to consistently generate that amount of mana. Not only that, but you also need to have a way to find and cast Battle of Wits and then take an extra turn immediately so you can win the game immediately instead of giving your opponents a window to remove Battle of Wits before your next upkeep. I searched for years for the right Commander deck to house this combo.

Cue Xyris, the Writhing Storm. This writhing snake leviathan solves all of the combo's problems so well, it almost looks easy. Xyris incidentally generates a ton of snake tokens, which when combined with the color combination's plethora of Gaea's Cradle effects and creature tutors make it almost trivial to both find Spawnsire and reach the needed 30 mana to cast and activate it.

As far as finding Battle of Wits and extra turn spell goes, that's why we play 100 copies of Skittering Invasion and a couple copies of Prophet of Distortion in the sideboard as well. That provides enough mana to draw through the whole deck and find those two combo pieces as well as additional countermagic to protect the combo if necessary.

Be warned: While this deck is far from a cEDH deck, it is a difficult deck to tame and is extremely competitive. It usually only takes a couple of attacks with Xyris to generate the amount of mana needed to win. Make sure your opponents bring decks of similar caliber. Also keep in mind that this deck needs a sideboard to work, so clear that with the table before pulling it out. If the table needs convincing, just tell them the combo pieces are interchangeable with Craterhoof Behemoth and they'll probably let it slide. Besides, anyone can play a Craterhoof and win -- winning with Battle of Wits in Commander makes for a much funnier gameplay experience!

Hope you enjoy this gigantic bucket of writhing tentacles!

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 5 Mythic Rares 47 - 201 Rares 20 - 108 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.21
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elk 3/3 G, Food, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 UR, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Manifest 2/2 C, Saproling 1/1 G, Satyr 2/2 GR, Snake 1/1 G