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By: KaraZorEl, Winter Trabex
Jul 16 2012 5:58am
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After taking some time away from Commander, I decided to go back into the format once again. After picking up some mythic rares at random, I focused my attention on once card in particular: Primal Surge. The card is amazingly strong in a deck that doesn't have any other instants or sorceries. The only drawback is that you have to find other ways of providing for your defense because the usual Wrath of God effects. You can't count Fact or Fiction to see you through, either. I chose four dragon decks (all with green in the color identity) to utilize Primal Surge in. Each dragon does something different, so the decks themselves have to be built around their triggered abilities. However, since each deck revolves around Primal Surge, each deck will have some similarities.

Treva, the Renewer Teneb, the Harvester Rith, the Awakener Intet, the Dreamer

Treva is by far the strongest general out of the four (at least for me) in that you can give yourself some breathing space by swinging with your general. The life gaining ability is important, so long as you can keep yourself from getting milled. The primary combo for mill that you have to worry about is Conspiracy together with Patriarch's Bidding with a Halimar Excavator in the graveyard. Otherwise, with Treva, you only have to worry about general damage. Treva is a strong enough general that it can stop most other generals in their tracks. You'll get extra turns by defending. This will allow you to pull off the combo.

Teneb has much more utility as he allows you to bring back other creatures, ones which aren't even in your graveyard. However, this requires that he swing in for damage every turn. The usual way to build Teneb is to include a bunch of destruction spells and then grab each creature individually. However, for a Primal Surge deck, the build has to be a bit different. The creatures and artifacts have to be doing the destroying, otherwise we'll bump into a board nuke and end the combo.

Rith is a general that is normally played with Warp World, perhaps putting multiple copies on the stack at the same time. However, that sort of build is incompatible with Primal Surge so we have to take advantage of his token-making ability to do other things. Akroma's Memorial and Eldrazi Monument are both strong cards to play with this type of build, but I chose to go the combo route instead. Rith is the strongest deck I playtested that can hang in there if Primal Surge just doesn't show up.

Finally, Intet the Dreamer. Free spells are always fun. The danger here is that due to the 1 on 1 mulligan rules for Commander, players always go down to 6 if they don't find enough lands. As a result, I find that I have to put more lands in my deck than I normally would. This can mean that a land is hiding behind Intet instead of something really useful. Intet is a bit of a mystery, though the possibility of having blue and red permanents together is very appealing. Sun Quan, Lord of Wu and Rage Reflection makes things instantly fun, at least on my side of the table.

Without further ado, here is Treva's build:

Treva Surge
 
Creatures
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Terastodon
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Archon of Redemption
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Mausoleum Guard
1 Reveillark
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Roil Elemental
1 Master Thief
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Thopter Assembly
1 Eternal Witness
1 Mitotic Slime
1 Empress Galina
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Hornet Queen
1 Duplicant
1 Acidic Slime
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Emeria Angel
1 Glissa Sunseeker
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Wurmcoil Engine
33 cards

Other Spells
1 Parallel Lives
1 Birthing Pod
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Aura Shards
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Goldnight Redeemer
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Wild Pair
1 Jace Beleren
1 Sol Ring
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Primal Surge
1 Finest Hour
1 Forcefield
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Crawlspace
1 Alchemist's Refuge
25 cards
Lands
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Grasslands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Vivid Grove
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Island
5 Forest
2 Plains
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Command Tower
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Gavony Township
1 Island
1 Homeward Path
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Brushland
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Elfhame Palace
41 cards

Sideboard
1 Treva, the Renewer
1 cards
Goldnight Redeemer

 

Due to the newness of Avacyn Restored, cards from that block aren't yet recognized by the decklist builder I use. This deck assumes a resolved Primal Surge, but also plans for situations in which it doesn't resolve or even get drawn. The combo pieces in the deck are as follows:

Rampaging Baloths Aura Shards Goldnight Redeemer Soul of the Harvest

The first question I asked myself when I saw Soul of the Harvest was- why would I want to have cards in my hand if I can put them all in play? Then I remembered spells like Final Judgment and Decree of Annihilation which can exile lots of stuff even if I do have Avacyn in play as nuke protection. The only danger in doing this is that you put a TON of triggers on the stack. You'll get a lot of auto concedes from players who don't want to deal with it, even if they do have a way out of it next turn. Note that Soul of the Harvest says you "may"- you don't have to if you don't want to. In choosing combo pieces, it's good to have a choice of whether you want to make use of the triggers. Otherwise, the system could force you to draw lots of cards and destroy your own permanents with Aura Shards. In Commander, Goldnight Redeemer is strong enough to be a rare, especially with Darien and other Rith decks out there.

With blue, you also have the option of running Laboratory Maniac, a card which I didn't include because I didn't want it in my hand when I casted the surge. I would have to cast the Maniac first, giving my opponents a turn to respond. More than likely, the Maniac would be dead by the time I got around to do anything.

But I didn't just want to be captive to luck. I decided that I also wanted ways to dig through my deck to find what I'm after. In lieu of Planar Portal, which is a bit too expensive to pay for activation, I had to choose other permanents that could let me do this. Here is what I came up with:

Arcanis the Omnipotent Sensei's Divining Top Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur Jace Beleren

Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Jace, Memory Adept are both more powerful than Jace Beleren but I'd rather have the option of letting everyone draw a card if I want. This ability goes well with Consecrated Sphinx, which I plan to add into the deck post-rotation. Both Arcanis and Jin are mean cards, Jin being the primary offender that forces people to discard their hands. That's an alternate win condition which I generally don't use unless I'm backed into a corner. Sensei's Top is a card that makes it into every Commander deck I run. There's no reason not to turn it, not so long as there are only a handful of ways to get rid of it, such as Krosan Grip.

A few unintended effects happened while I put the top fifty or so cards from my deck into play...

Roil Elemental Emeria Angel Cathars' Crusade

I didn't really intend to gain control of every single targetable creature on the board, but that's what happened when Roil Elemental came down followed by a bunch of lands. This is where you won't want to draw cards with Soul of the Harvest as it will put lands into your hand- I drew about 15 lands in one go this way. Had I chosen to put them in play, I could have gained control of fifteen other creatures. He is a bit fragile in that he doesn't have a lot of toughness or any inherent evasiveness. Avacyn, Angel of Hope will usually protect him from most things.

Emeria Angel and (Cathar's Crusade) together make all your creatures huge. You're getting all the landfall triggers you ever wanted. In this sense, it's better to have more lands, not less. Remember that the Crusade's trigger will also put counters on creatures you stole. Be careful what you steal, for it might be turned against you the next turn.

Overall, the Treva deck outperformed all my best expectations. Primal Surge is ten mana, but if you can manage it, you'll suddenly find yourself with hundreds of creatures in play, a boatload of life and- the only drawback- a very thinned out deck. My impression of it is that it's stronger than a mythic rare. It's a card that snaps the game right in half.

Teneb Surge
 
Creatures
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Volrath the Fallen
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Xathrid Demon
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kiyomaro, First to Stand
1 Devout Witness
1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
1 Suture Priest
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Heartwood Storyteller
1 Wood Elves
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Fallen Angel
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Acidic Slime
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
1 Greenseeker
1 Seizan, Perverter of Truth
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Graveborn Muse
31 cards

Other Spells
1 Sol Ring
1 Wild Pair
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Liliana Vess
1 Aura Shards
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Night Dealings
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Birthing Pod
1 Goldnight Redeemer
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Pithing Needle
1 Seraph Sanctuary
1 Venser's Journal
1 Celestial Mantle
1 Descent into Madness
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Forcefield
1 Primal Surge
1 Crawlspace
25 cards
Lands
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Gavony Township
1 Plains
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Swamp
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Swamp
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Arid Mesa
1 Vivid Grove
1 Diamond Valley
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
5 Forest
1 Marsh Flats
2 Swamp
2 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Command Tower
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Swamp
1 Homeward Path
1 Plains
1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Brushland
1 Plains
1 Godless Shrine
1 Forest
1 Elfhame Palace
43 cards

Sideboard
1 Teneb, the Harvester
1 cards
Rune-Scarred Demon

 

Teneb is a different general, so he requires a different sort of theme to build around. I still went with the "let's put tons of triggers on the stack" approach, but this time I'm playing around with the graveyard a little bit. I decided the first thing I could do was make use of Teneb's trigger by putting big things in my graveyard, then getting back after attacking.

Volrath the Fallen Greenseeker Fallen Angel

Fallen Angel is one of my favorite cards. It's not meant to be anything but a combo piece, and here the small combo I can put together is to pump the angel by killing a creature, then bringing it back with Teneb. This interaction can be especially strong if I'm playing with Acidic Slime or Stonehorn Dignitary. It's entirely possible to make someone skip their combat step every time you connect with Teneb. Volrath is a bit high on the curve- and really hard to cast on turn 6- but he makes himself stronger in addition to letting you dump something in your graveyard to get back. In Commander, Greenseeker is strong enough to be an uncommon. There are a lot of cards in here that want to be discarded, and the elf will help you ramp while you're at it. Now drawbacks here, just business.

Rune-Scarred Demon Night Dealings Liliana Vess

With black, there are a lot more ways to find the stuff you're looking for. Note that with Night Dealings, you don't want to find Primal Surge due to the card being revealed. You'll give yourself away then. Instead, find one of the other two pieces, then find Primal Surge. You won't ever need to tutor twice with Liliana. Remember that if you need anything out of your deck that isn't in your hand, the Surge will most likely put it in play for you.

I also tried a few cards I rarely ever use, but ones I thought might be good in this kind of build.

Descent into Madness Celestial Mantle

Most of the time, you'll want to put the Mantle on a creature with flying and/or hexproof, such as Sigarda, Host of Herons. The image has always misled me a bit because it looks like the person depicted is flying to me, but the Mantle doesn't actually grant flying. Things get out of hand if you can manage to give your enchanted creature double strike. The other enchantment, Descent into Madness, requires several upkeeps for it to be worthwhile. This card seems to work best when you can destroy all lands or all creatures. If a player goes all out and swings with everything, then you find Sunblast Angel in addition to Descent, they are simply out of luck. Note that players can choose to take cards out of their hands rather than exiling permanents in play, which may be better or it may not. This card isn't really meant to be found with Primal Surge; rather, it's intended as a bit of defense until it can be found.

Rith Surge
 
Creatures
1 Godsire
1 Reya Dawnbringer
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Reveillark
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Blinding Angel
1 Terastodon
1 Eternal Witness
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Dragon Broodmother
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Hornet Queen
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Duplicant
1 Acidic Slime
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Emeria Angel
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Masumaro, First to Live
1 Scion of the Wild
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Razia, Boros Archangel
32 cards

Other Spells
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Parallel Lives
1 Birthing Pod
1 Goldnight Redeemer
1 Form of the Dragon
1 Celestial Mantle
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Malignus
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Primal Surge
1 Emblem of the Warmind
1 Wild Pair
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Privileged Position
1 Rage Reflection
25 cards
Lands
1 Stomping Ground
3 Mountain
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Temple Garden
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Rupture Spire
1 Arid Mesa
1 Plains
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
5 Forest
2 Plains
1 Grasslands
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Command Tower
1 Mountain
1 Gavony Township
1 Homeward Path
1 Plains
3 Plains
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Brushland
1 Plains
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Naya Panorama
42 cards

Sideboard
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 cards
Rage Reflection

 

The inclusion of red allows for a bit more aggressive play, namely from (Urabrask, the Hidden). Urabrask is such a sneaky strong creature that a lot of players haven't quite realized just how good he is. If your goal is beat down, then this is a card you can't go without. The ability to give all your creatures (or at least one creature) double strike allows you to finish the game real fast.

Rage Reflection Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Malignus

Malignus was printed as an answer red deck could use against all those life-gaining decks. However, in multi-player commander, if someone even stays at 40, you've got yourself a 20/20 double striker that can take can kill someone in one attack, provided you're not attacking the player with the highest life total. Remember with Kessig Wolf Run, you only need to pay green and red to give it trample- pumping it up is optional. With Gisela in play, Malignus becomes even better. Suddenly, he's dealing 40 damage in one shot- or even more if someone has played Beacon of Immortality. In this case, it's a very bad thing to gain life- triple digits in your life total makes my side of the board that much stronger.

I also included a bit of help in case Rith is forced to make lots and lots of Saprolings:

Warstorm Surge Parallel Lives

What happens if Rith connects for damage after you've cast Primal Surge? Silly things- you're dealing lots of damage all over the place. It gets even better if Rith has double strike because you can then use his trigger twice in one turn. In one attack phase, I made 38 tokens (with a bunch more already in play). Needless to say, Rith is a holy terror as long as he's out. 

The only drawback to playing Naya colors is that there aren't a lot of non-revealing ways to find a card out of my deck with a permanent. I just have to trust to luck and hope I've thinned out the deck enough. Primal Surge here is the best win condition, but the deck can survive without it.

For defense, I tried something a little different:

Ethersworn Canonist Form of the Dragon Ryusei, the Falling Star

Form of the Dragon is a card I haven't had much occasion to use. In Commander, there are a lot of creatures with flying and this card makes you very vulnerable. As such, the best way to play it is in a deck where you have a ton of permanents in play so that you can be careful about not attacking too quickly. Keep in mind that with Gisela, the enchantment will deal 10 damage to anything that can be targeted. Having your life total at five isn't too worrisome as long as you have a ton of creatures and enchantments in play. You only have to worry about life loss effects, such as Exsanguinate.

Intet Surge
 
Creatures
1 Roil Elemental
1 Grazing Gladehart
1 Rayne, Academy Chancellor
1 Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
1 Trygon Predator
1 Kavu Predator
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Eternal Witness
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
1 Beguiler of Wills
1 Phyrexian Ingester
1 Heartwood Storyteller
1 Wood Elves
1 Windrider Eel
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Dragon Broodmother
1 Duplicant
1 Acidic Slime
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Clone
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Wurmcoil Engine
28 cards

Other Spells
1 Wild Pair
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Mirror Universe
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Malignus
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Future Sight
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Emblem of the Warmind
1 Infinite Reflection
1 Birthing Pod
1 Asceticism
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Mana Flare
1 Decree of Silence
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Forcefield
1 Sol Ring
1 Primal Surge
1 Crawlspace
1 Defense Grid
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Rage Reflection
27 cards
Lands
2 Island
1 Stomping Ground
1 Homeward Path
1 Mountain
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Island
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Island
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Mountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Diamond Valley
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Mountain
1 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Island
5 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Command Tower
1 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Island
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Grove
2 Island
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
2 Forest
44 cards

Sideboard
1 Intet, the Dreamer
1 cards
Vexing Shusher

 

With Intet, I decided to move away from putting tons of triggers on the stack. However, I found that I could still do very powerful things anyway. Here is one interaction I didn't see coming:

The cards involved are these:

Beguiler of Wills Emblem of the Warmind Infinite Reflection

As long as you can get the Reflection on your Beguiler and the Emblem on one of your creatures, you suddenly have a swarm of creatures that can gain control of just about anything. Even better, since all your creatures have haste, you can attack with the creatures you gained control of on that same turn. After resolving Primal Surge, I had Decree of Silence in play to protect me from any responses. I actually found it to be a better protector than Avacyn, Angel of Hope. When all this happened, I got two concessions right in a row. The third player stuck around, then conceded once Duplicant was countered by the Decree.

You can also be a little bit meaner with this combo if you happen to find Tyrant of Discord first. I haven't tried Avenger of Zendikar with this combo, but it would seem to give you an infinite number of creatures. Get an Avenger, put a Reflection on him, every saproling enters as a copy of Avenger, get more saprolings, they enter as copies, and so on. 

Rayne, Academy Chancellor Vexing Shusher Heartwood Storyteller

Here I decided to focus on answering control decks. There are a lot of Edric decks out there, primarily because Edric lets players draw cards which will in turn allow them to control the game state. My goal here is to say: not so fast. Go ahead and cast your blue instant if you want but you might be letting me draw a card while you're at it. I also chose Rayne over Kira, Great Glass-Spinner because Rayne can be enchanted with the Emblem, thus allowing you to draw two cards whenever a permanent you control is targeted- never mind if the spell even resolves. This interaction led to the inclusion of Elixir of Immortality in the hope that I'll have some mana open if someone tries to make me draw myself out.

Windrider Eel

This guy deserves a paragraph all to himself because no one saw it coming- not even me. But what happens when you put 15 lands in play and all your creatures have haste? Suddenly, you've got yourself a 32/32 flying creature, possibly with double strike. Absolutely fantastic!

Playing Intet taught me one thing: there's no bad plays with Primal Surge. There's only game-breaking plays and really strong plays. 

 Please note: the videos I've presented here are silent. I've included descriptions to help you understand what I was thinking at the time.  

Here is a match with Rith. With Primal Surge not showing up, I'm forced to make tons of tokens. This is one of the few games where I stared down a horde of Grave Titan zombie tokens but wasn't worried. I forgot to swing with a boatload of saprolings even though I saw someone recur Wrath of God. In the end, it didn't matter. My deck proved to be too strong. 

Here is a match with Teneb I'm facing, ironically, a deck playing Rith. I'm saved by the sneaky Crawlspace which ensures that I'm not killed by a bunch of saprolings. Once I'm able to hit the Surge, it's all over but the shouting. At this point, I feel I should note that a fair bit of lag came with all the triggers on the stack. This may be a combo that's easier to get off in paper than online simply because the client isn't quite powerful enough to handle it all. 

Here is a quick one on one game I managed to grab with Intet. The Mimeoplasm is distinctly better in multiplayer games. In one-on-one games, it's susceptible to aggro beatdown. Here my deck performed much as I expected to. I used my general as bait so that I could draw out a removal spell. Malignus is actually far, far worse.

All in all, any deck that runs Primal Surge and resolves it should be able to win very quickly. There are a myriad of choices and, as long as green is included in the Commander's casting cost, there's no reason not to run it. At first I thought I would miss all those sweepers that cleared the board. As I kept playtesting, though, I discovered that as long as my creatures were powerful than those my opponents had, I didn't need to worry. The pressure was on them to clear the board, not me. In this way, spells like Wrath of God might not even be needed in Commander. Dragons make good generals for this type of deck build in that they ensure that you have at least one strong creature in play. Animar, Soul of Elements might be strong as well, but once it's removed, you often have to start over from scratch. Vorosh, the Hunter and Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund look very tempting as well. Maybe a Primal Surge deck with lots and lots of dragons that get haste when the general comes in? Now that's a scary thought.

Until next time!

4 Comments

Great article on my fav new toy by PatrykG at Mon, 07/16/2012 - 11:59
PatrykG's picture

Primal Surge is great - I have it in my Animar Deck, and it has a total of two non-permanents, Primal Surge and Personal Tutor. The only issue with the card is that, as a general rule, I found it to be way too predictable and therefore boring. I have at worst a one-in-fifty chance for each card drawn to end the game, basically. The rest of the deck is ramp creatures and uber-fatties. With Animar, the uptap creatures (Peregrine Drake and Great Whale, for instance) and cloning creatures work to give me the ability to cast the spell out faster, and draw creatures get me the spell when Personal Tutor grabs it from the deck.

primal surge is fun by BOBBAKAKE at Mon, 07/16/2012 - 16:08
BOBBAKAKE's picture
5

I been playing this card alot lately. I use it alot in mono green in multi room and in my sigarda edh deck. I like it more in my mono green becuase it shines brighter. I use 4 surge and the rest are all permanants. Druid's repository makes for a decent ramp with viridain emisary and predator ooze as attackers. Craterhoof is a staple using this card as Dana mentioned. Fun card though, I always like gambling cards, thats why my favorite classic deck is still Draco explosion.

The decks look like fun, by Leviathan at Tue, 07/17/2012 - 12:57
Leviathan's picture

The decks look like fun, except for the use of Vorinclex. However, I gotta agree with the other people that Craterhoof Behemoth definitely warrants inclusion. If you're playing a 10 mana sorcery, you pretty much want to say "I win!" after you cast it. Other things to include are haste enablers, such as Urabrask (which you have) or Fires of Yavimaya.

I also think that Eternal Witness, Anarchist and/or Izzet Chronarch (and the new Archaeomancer) deserve a shot. Why? So that you can play tutors and make the deck slightly more consistent. Even if it's just for Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Tutor, you'll be able to get Primal Surge off more consistently, then get it back to cast it again. Additionally, ramp creatures like Yavimaya Dryad, Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf are all ways to thin your deck and ramp.

It's essentially a variation of a Warp World deck. Warp decks can get boring, as has been noted, but you get around that by making variations using different color combos. Good stuff.

For the "I win now" by KaraZorEl at Tue, 07/17/2012 - 14:54
KaraZorEl's picture

For the "I win now" condition, I made a Vorosh deck that had Laboratory Maniac and Jace Beleren in it. Fun times. :)