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By: Leviathan, Mike Morales
Jun 25 2010 1:18am
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I.  Introduction

We are going to do something a little different this column.  I was recently contacted by Silencer over on the EDH Forums, who noted that he was a fan of the series (thanks Silencer!) and that he had just played an epic game that he wanted to share.  He sent me a copy of his decklist, video of the replay, his notes about the game and some images to look over.  The game and deck were interesting enough that I decided to go ahead and write up a report.  I know I said that I wanted to avoid writing about color combinations that I had already done, but rules are made to be broken!

II.  The Deck:  Overflowing with Mana

First, let's look at Silencer's general:

Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant

Once flipped, Sasaya has a very potent ability.  If you manage to cast Sasaya on turn 4, then flip her on turn 5 while dropping a Forest each turn, that's 25 mana on turn 5!  36 mana on turn 6!  That's some crazy mana production right there.

Flipping Sasaya requires some unusual deckbuilding and mulliganing measures though.  In order to insure that you do get 7 lands in your hand, you basically need a lot of lands in your deck.  If you are only packing 40 lands, that's not nearly enough.  Also, since you want to make your mana by playing Forests, make sure that you don't go overboard with the non-basic lands.  I've seen these types of decks with up to 70 lands.  However, once flipped Sasaya becomes Sasaya's Essence, and the payoff is huge.  You can start generating stupid amounts of mana real quick.  Is the payoff worth it?  I say yes.  Let's take a look at the decklist:

 

It's strange to me to see such a short deck list.  And only 35 non-land cards.  Let's take a closer look at some of the cards:

Land Fillers
Mulch
Storm CauldronAbundanceSprouting VinesJourney of DiscoveryLife from the LoamArmillary SphereFa'adiyah SeerHermit DruidKrosan Tusker
Storm Cauldron, Abundance, Sprouting Vines, Journey of Discovery, Life from the Loam, Armillary Sphere, Fa'adiyah Seer, Hermit Druid, Krosan Tusker:  So the thing about this deck is that you don't necessarily want to drop your lands directly in play.  You want them in your hand to flip Sasaya.  Each of these cards can put lands directly into your hand.  The All-Star here is Life from the Loam.  So many of your lands either cycle or sacrifice to find lands that there are usually a bunch of lands in your graveyard.  LftL automatically grabs 3 new lands in your hand, getting you that much closer to 7 lands in hand.  Storm Cauldron can easily get Sasaya to flip in the late game, and has the added ability to screw up control players.
Cyclers
Blasted Landscape
Tranquil ThicketDrifting MeadowPolluted MireRemote IsleSlippery KarstBlasted LandscapeSmoldering CraterBreak AsunderAncient Stirrings
Tranquil Thicket, Drifting Meadow, Polluted Mire, Remote Isle, Slippery Karst, Blasted Landscape, Smoldering Crater, Ancient Stirrings:  Hold on to these lands until you flip Sasaya, then cycle them to find threats.  Get them back again with  LftL.  Pretty simple stuff.  You obviously don't really ever want to play them, as they won't help you out once Sasaya is flipped, and most of them pretty much tap for colorless in your deck.  If you have Rings of Brighthearth out, each of these will draw you two cards instead of just one.  Ancient Stirrings acts essentially the same as a cycler, so it goes here.

Tutors
Realms Uncharted
Eye of UginTooth and NailRealms Uncharted
Eye of Ugin, Tooth and Nail, Realms Uncharted:  Once you get Sasaya flipped, you are going to have mana to start dropping some bombs.  Eye of Ugin and Tooth and Nail can both tutor up your Eldrazi and other big beaters.  There are plenty of different options in the deck for Realms Uncharted to look up that can help provide answers as well.   Silencer's basic tutor package is Eye of Ugin, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Petrified Field and Bazaar of Baghdad.  As for Tooth and Nail, according to Silencer he doesn't search up Emrakul unless he's playing against dedicated control decks.  Of course, if you play with this deck it's entirely up to you what to grab.

Finishers
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Emrakul, the Aeons TornUlamog, the Infinite GyreKozilek, Butcher of TruthGelatinous GenesisWolfbriar ElementalDarksteel ColossusSundering TitanGoblin Cannon
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Gelatinous Genesis, Wolfbriar Elemental, Darksteel Colossus, Sundering Titan, Goblin Cannon:  Obviously these cards are how you win games.  The Eldrazi are all huge and difficult to deal with.  Gelatinous Genesis and Wolfbriar Elemental can spit out a metric ton of tokens.  One thing Silencer found out was that the limit to the amount of wolf tokens you can create is 50.  Goblin Cannon is a little used card that can take out at least one player.  Just remember to maintain priority when you activate it the first time.
Removal
Break Asunder
Ulamog, the Infinite GyreBreak AsunderRending VinesSundering Titan
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre,  Break Asunder, Rending Vines, Sundering Titan:  Not a whole lot of removal in the deck, but the removal either comes with a big body or the ability to cycle.  Actually the deck plays more as an aggressive deck, meaning that it wants your opponents to deal with your threats, rather than the other way around.
Draw & Smoothing
Sylvan Library
Staff of DominationAbundanceSylvan LibraryTeferi's Puzzle BoxKozilek, Butcher of TruthMagus of the LibraryBazaar of BaghdadMikokoro, Center of the Sea
Staff of Domination, Abundance, Sylvan Library, Teferi's Puzzle Box, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Magus of the library, Bazaar of Baghdad, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea:  Not a whole lot of straight card draw here, but all of this stuff is useful.  The Staff can fulfill a variety of functions with enough mana.  Abundance and Sylvan Library combine to draw 3 cards a turn.  Abundance also works well to make sure that you get enough lands to flip Sasaya, and if Sasaya is already flipped, will make sure that you draw some action instead.  Teferi's Puzzle Box is an interesting choice.  It can let you get rid of an all land hand for new cards, mess with control players, and is just plain fun. 
Defense
Constant Mists
Oblivion StoneConstant MistsSilklash SpiderThe Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Oblivion Stone, Constant Mists, Silklash Spider, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale:  So sometimes you are going to need to play defensively.  You can blow up the world with Oblivion Stone.  You can fog a bunch with Constant Mists, and since you play with so much land you should be able to keep it up a while.  Opposing flyers can sometimes be a problem, and Silklash Spider does a pretty good job against those.  And Tabernacle handles creature rushes pretty well.  The best part is, when one of your Eldrazi gets sent to the graveyard, you can reshuffle the cards that you've used back into your library and use them again!

Special mention should go to Rings of Brighthearth, as it works with just about every permanent in your deck.  You double your cycling, fetchlands, SDT, and more. 

So the gameplan with a decklist like this is to cast Sasaya early and flip her as fast as possible.  This requires aggressive mulligans.  If you have more than 2 non-land cards in hand, they need to be able to get you more lands, or cycle into more lands, or at least be draw spells in some way so that you can flip your Commander.  However, you obviously don't want to mulligan more than once, because it will be that much harder to get 7 lands in hand.  This is the rare deck where you want to keep a 7 land hand.  A good portion of the cards and lands can cycle, so after you flip Sasaya, you can start cycling and looking for threats.  Obviously you want to play your Forests, and keep your cycling lands in hand so you can get rid of them once Sasaya is flipped.  According to Silencer, you can flip Sasaya by turn 5 the majority of the time.  Once flipped, you can start casting massive threats on turn 6, and sometimes on turn 5, such as Eldrazi or Wolfbriar Elemental for a ton of tokens.

In the late game, you can have over 50 mana at a time or more.  With that much mana you can draw and cycle through a bunch of your deck to find your threats.  Since you are playing Eldrazi, every time they get destroyed you can shuffle your graveyard into your library, then cycle through your deck again to find your threats.  You are also able to rebuild quickly after Wrath effects

The deck seems pretty resilient.  Due to the high amount of cyclers and ways to fill your hands with lands, you can flip Sasaya more than once if it gets destroyed.  However, it's a little more complex than it looks.  The mulliganing decisions aren't going to be what you are used to, as well as some of the other in game decisions.  With a little practice, though, you can get the hang of it.  A couple of cards aren't in the deck due to Silencer's card availability, including better fetchlands, Dark Depths, Strip Mine, Wasteland, the Snow land package, and Undiscovered Paradise.

As far as weaknesses, the deck does rely on Sasaya a lot.  However, due to the amount of cycling and draw, many times it's possible to get Sasaya back if she has been tucked.  In addition, because the deck can start spitting out massive threats as early as turn 5, you are going to be target number one, and the rest of the players are going to gang up on you.  Obviously try and take out the control players first.

III.  The Game:  Fight!

This is actually a pretty epic game.  It seemed like someone always had an answer, and ended with someone calling their shot.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Since I'm not the one that was playing, the terminology is going to be a little bit different, but the format will be the same.  Let's take a look at the opponents:

Merieke Ri BeritThraximundarMomir Vig, Simic Visionary

This looks like a pretty controlling group.  Everyone is playing blue.  Merieke has the ability to steal your biggest threat, and if you only have one, Thrax can attack you and make you sacrifice.  Momir can tutor up answers as needed.  This should be interesting.  Sasaya wins the roll.  Here is his opening hand:

Sprouting VinesKrosan TuskerForestForestHermit DruidForestRending Vines
Sprouting Vines, Krosan Tusker, Hermit Druid, Rending Vines, 3 Forests

Not the best opener, but has the ability to get lands into hand.  Sasaya keeps.  For this game, S = Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant, T = Thraximundar, MrB = Merieke Ri Berit, and MV = Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.  Since I didn't play this game, it's not going to have every detail, but you should definitely get the gist of things.

Round 1
S: Draw Constant Mists, play Forest.
T: Drowned Catacomb.
MrB: Tectonic Edge.
MV: Tolaria West.
 
Round 2
S: Draw Tranquil Thicket, play Forest, Hermit Druid.
T: Swamp.
MrB: Dreadship Reef, Azorius Signet.
MV: Yavimaya Coast
 
Round 3
S: Draw Oblivion Stone, play Forest.  S wasn't getting as many lands as he wanted, and was afraid that the game was going to be slow.  Little does he know what's going to happen....
T: Mountain, Darksteel Ingot.
MrB: Godless Shrine, puts a counter on the Reef.
MV: Terrain Generator. S uses Hermit Druid, revealing Storm Cauldron and Goblin Cannon before getting a Forest in hand.
 
Round 4
S: Draw Bazaar of Baghdad. Plays Forest, then Sasaya. leaving a Forest untapped so he can activate the Hermit.
T: Island.
MrB: Marsh Flats. MV uses Terrain Generator to put a Forest into play.
MV: Misty Rainforest. Sacs it (39) for Tropical Island. S uses Hermit Druid, revealing SDT, Life from the Loam and Mulch before putting a Forest into his hand. LftL is going to be huge this game.
 
 
Round 5
S: Dredges LftL, putting two Forests and Polluted Mire into his graveyard. Casts LftL, targeting the same lands. Uses Hermit Druid, revealing the Forest that he puts into hand. Attacks MrB with Sasaya (38). Reveals his hand because he now has 7 lands:
 
 
Just like clockwork, even after some disappointing draws and a shaky starting hand, Sasaya flips on turn 5. Plays Forest. Casts Oblivion Stone, and cycles Polluted Mire, drawing The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Discards Sprouting Vines and two Forests to get to 7 cards in hand.
T: Moutain. MrB sacs Marsh Flats (37) for a Watery Grave, and puts a counter on the Reef.
MrB: Plays Minamo, School at Water's Edge. Tries to play Sorin Markov, which probably would have had a drastic effect on the game. MV tries to Mana Drain Sorin. T casts Reiterate with buyback, Draining Sorin himself, so T gets the 6 mana on his turn. 
 
 
There weren't a lot of counterspells in this game, but the ones that did pop up got rid of huge threats.
MV: Plays Island. Casts Indrik Stomphowler, targeting Sasaya’s Essence, a pretty good answer even though S didn't really have any threats in hand.  Sad times. In response, S pops the Oblivion Stone.
 
Round 6
S: Dredges LftL, revealing Mountain Valley, Bant Panorama, and Darksteel Colossus, which shuffles back in the library. Plays Forest.
T: Gets 6 mana from Mana Drain. Plays Swamp, then Cast through Time. Then Mind Shatters S for 4. Unfortunately S had pressed F6, otherwise he would have cast Rending Vines targeting Cast through Time, as well as cycling Krosan Tusker.  However, he doesn't get the chance to do this, so S discards Bazaar of Baghdad, Rending Vines, Tranquil Thicket and Tabernacle.  This puts him significantly behind in his plan to re-flip Sasaya.
MrE: Academy Ruins, Mind's Eye.
MV: MrB draws with the Eye. Harmonize. Plays Forest. S cycles Krosan Tusker, getting a Forest and drawing Rings of Brighthearth.
 
Round 7
S:  Draws Abundance. Plays Forest, then Sasaya again. Probably not the best idea since T had enough mana to cast Thraximundar.  Casts LftL, targeting Tabernacle, Forest and Tranquil Thicket.
T:  Mind Shatter rebounds for 0. Tries to cast Thraximundar, but MV Hinders him, putting Thrax on the bottom of his library.  The second counter of the game answers a pretty threatening Commander. 
MrB: Orzhov Signet.
MV: MrB draws with Mind's Eye. Primal Command, putting Mind's Eye on top of MrB’s library and searching up Trygon Predator. Casts Lightning Greaves
 
Round 8
S: Dredges LftL, revealing Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, which shuffles his graveyard into his library. Plays Forest, Rings of Brighthearth, then cycles Tranquil Thicket, which he doubles with Rings. Draws Tectonic Edge and Blasted Landscape. Casts LtfL getting Tranquil Thicket back. Attacks T with Sasaya (38).
T: Nothing. MrB puts a counter on the Reef.
MrB: Plays Island. Casts Cloud Cover
 
Cloud Cover
Very interesting.
 
MV: Forest, Trygon Predator. Tries to equip Predator with Greaves, but MrB targets it with Oblation. Funnily, S says that he doesn't think Oblation is a very good card. T then Reiterates (with buyback) Oblation, targeting Sasaya. 
 
 
S was planning on flipping Sasaya next turn, but that won't happen now.  S's gameplan is now seriously hindered.  S gets to draw two from Oblation, and draws Forest and dredges LftL, putting Island of Wak-Wak and two other cards in his graveyard. 
 
Round 9
S: Draws Tooth and Nail, which is pretty sweet timing. Play forest, then casts Tooth and Nail, entwined, getting Sundering Titan and Emrakul. He could have gone for Sasaya, but thought that destroying opponents lands and getting a huge Annihilator would have sealed the game up.  Titan takes out an Island and Mountain T's, MrB’s Godless Shrine and Watery Grave, MV’s Tropical Island
T: Nothing.
MrB: Underground River. And of course, right before Emrakul can go on a destructive rampage, MrB has Oblivion Ring, taking out Emrakul.  Sad C'thulhu.
 
 
MV: Plays Minamo, taking out MrB’s Minamo as well. Plays Sphinx of Magosi, and equips it with Lightning Greaves. Attacks S (34).
 
Round 10
S:  Draws Break Asunder. Casts Abundance.  Without many options, S tries to Break Asunder Oblivion Ring, but MrB bounces it due to Cloud Cover.  At least MrB will have to use up some mana next turn to replay Oblivion Ring, or maybe he will let Emrakul go on a destructive rampage against another opponent?  Plays Tectonic Edge, then attacks MV with Sundering Titan (30). MrB plays Fact or Fiction, revealing Azorius Chancery, Magister Sphinx, Tezzeret the Seeker, Condemn and Dimir Infiltrator,
 
Magister Sphinx
Everyone's favorite Sphinx.
 
Ends up drawing Tezzeret, the Chancery and Condemn. T casts Mystical Teachings for Diabolic Edict.
T: Mystical Teachings rebounds, and T searches up Memory Plunder. T plays his own Tezzeret, searching up Tormod's Crypt
MrB: Terramorphic Expanse. Sacs it for a Plains. Casts Oblivion Ring on Emrakul again.
MV: Oracle of Mul Daya, revealing Tormod's Crypt, which he draws with the Sphinx, then plays. Top of his library is now Darksteel Ingot. Attacks Tezzeret with the now 7/7 Sphinx of Magosi, taking him out. S cycles Blasted Landscape, drawing Armillary Sphere. MrB takes out S’s Tectonic Edge with his own Tectonic Edge, which was tapped as he had used it to cycle earlier.  You can bet that MrB is happy that his Academy Ruins is still in play unscathed.
 
Round 11
S:  Chooses non-land with Abundance, and draws Yavimaya Elder. Cycles Tranquil Thicket, copies with Rings, and draws Realms Uncharted and Mulch. Casts LftL, getting back Island of Wak-Wak, Blasted Landscape and Tranquil Thicket. Attacks MrB with Sundering Titan (30). Then Realms Uncharted, searching up Reliquary Tower, Petrified Field, Bazaar of Baghdad and Eye of Ugin
 
 
He gets Tower and Petrified Field. Plays Reliquary Tower.
T: Plays Jwar Isle Refuge (39). 
MrB: Island, then Mind's Eye.
MV: MrB draws with Mind's Eye. Darksteel Ingot. Then draws Overbeing of Myth with Sphinx of Magosi (MrB draws with Eye), revealing Arcanis the Omnipotent on top of his library. Attacks S with Sphinx of Magosi and T with Oracle of Mul Daya, but S casts Constant Mists with buyback, sac’ing a Forest. 
 
Round 12
S: Dredges up LftL. Casts Mulch, getting two Forests. Cycles Tranquil Thicket, copying it with Rings. Picks non-lands with Abundance, and gets Sprouting Vines and Silklash Spider. With the Rings he can kill Sphinx of Magosi next turn using the Spider.  Plays a Forest, then the Spider. Attacks MrB with Sundering Titan (23). T casts Memory Plunder, targeting the Realms Uncharted in S’s graveyard, but MV cracks Tormod's Crypt taking out the 16 cards in S’s graveyard.  So many answers this game it's ridiculous. However, LftL is still in S's hand.
T: Casts Sorin Markov. No answer for the planeswalker this time.  Knocks MV down to (10) with Sorin. 
 
Sorin Markov Tezzeret the Seeker
Useful planeswalkers.
 
MrB: Casts Tezzeret the Seeker. Searches up Thousand-Year Elixir with Tezzeret, then plays Azorius Chancery, bouncing a Plains. He now has his combo ready for Merieke Ri Berit.
MV: MrB draws with Eye when MV draws Arcanis the Omnipotent, revealing Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on the top of his library. Draws Emrakul with Sphinx of Magosi (MrB draws with Eye), revealing Mulldrifter, which he also draws with Sphinx, revealing Duplicant. Sphinx of Magosi is now 10/10. Attacks and kills Sorin with Oracle of Mul Daya, and T with Sphinx (29). Discards Mulldrifter and Emrakul, which almost shuffles his graveyard into his library, but T uses Tormod's Crypt, taking out Emrakul and the rest of his graveyard.  Pretty sweet.
 
Round 13
S: Draws non-land with Abundance, and gets Oblivion Stone for the second time. Attacks MrB with Spider and Titan (14). Casts Oblivion Stone. Cycles Blasted Landscape, drawing Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Then pops O-Stone for the second time this game,
 
 
which gets rid of Oblivion Ring and brings back his Emrakul. Sundering Titan dying also means that he takes out a Swamp and Mountain of T’s, an Island of MrB’s and an Forest of MV’s. 
T: Plays Swamp, SDT.
MrB: Plays Plains, Personal Tutor for Innocent Blood and puts it on top of his library.  Casts Chromatic Star, sac’ing it to draw the Innocent Blood, then plays it, making S sacrifice Emrakul and shuffling his graveyard into his library again. Once again the flying jellyfish is thwarted in its attempt at world domination.
MV: Crystal Shard.  That could be useful.
 
Round 14
S: Draws Sylvan Library, plays Forest, then Kozilek, drawing Thawing Glaciers, Forest, Ghost Quarter and Polluted Mire. Unfortunately S forgets that Mereike can steal Kozilek next turn.  T spins the Top. 
T: Plays Mountain, then Surreal Memoir, returning Mystical Teachings to his hand. 
 
Surreal Memoir
Gotta love some recursion in Red.
 
At the end of T's turn, MrB puts Thousand-Year Elixir on top of his library with Academy Ruins.
MrB: Plays Thousand-Year Elixir, then Merieke Ri Berit, using a pain land (13). 
MV: Nature's Lore, getting a Forest.
 
Round 15
S:  Draws Forest. MrB steals Kozilek with Mereike. Cycles Polluted Mire, drawing Forest. Plays Yavimaya Elder, then sacs it, getting two Forests and drawing Slippery Karst. Cycles the Karst, drawing Grasslands. Plays Sylvan Library. T casts Diabolic Edict, targeting MrB, who sacs Kozilek. 
T: Surreal Memoir rebounds, getting Memory Plunder back. Plays Island. 
MrB: Plays Island, then Arcanis the Omnipotent.  MV targets Arcanis with Crystal Shard, and MrB taps him to draw 3, then lets Arcanis gets bounced. Discards Mind Spring and Magewright's Stone to get to 7.
MV: Triskelion.
 
Round 16
S:  Digs with Sylvan Library and draws Oblivion Stone, which makes him pretty happy. Casts the Stone for the third(!) time, but it turns out not to be as important as he first thought.  Plays Armillary Sphere. T spins his Top.
T: Phyrexian Arena.
MrB: Plains.
MV: Oblivion Stone of his own.  D'oh.  Suddenly S's Oblivion Stone doesn't seem quite as powerful. S puts a fate counter on Sylvan Library with his Stone, seeing as how he can't really do as much with it now. Seeing the opportunity and being a person of great wisdom, MV puts a fate counter on his own Stone afterwards. T draws with SDT, probably thinking that MV was popping the Stone. Attacks T with Triskelion (25). S sacs Armillary Sphere for 2 Forests.
 
Round 17
S:  Pays 4 (30) to draw both Staff of Domination and Darksteel Colossus with Sylvan Library. Unfortunately, although the Colossus would be able to shake off the Oblivion Stones with ease, Mereike is still in play and would likely steal him in a heartbeat. Plays Forest, then LftL targeting Slippery Karst. Cycles the Karst, dredging LftL. Casts LftL, getting back Blasted Landscape, Karst, and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. Cycles Karst, dredging LftL again. T casts Mystical Teachings for Radiate
T: Loses 1 life to Phyrexian Arena (24). At the end of his turn, MrB puts Magister Sphinx on top of his library with Academy Ruins. S sacs his Oblivion Stone, and MV hits T with two Triskelion counters (22) and S with one of them (29), then bounces Triskelion with Crystal Shard.  MrB probably could have stolen the Triskelion in response to make sure it died, but it's not a huge foul.  S admits that he really wanted to sac the O-Stone after MrB's turn, but it was late and he made a mistake.
MrB: Magister Sphinx, knocking S down to (10). 
MV: Wood Elves searching up a Forest. Duplicant takes out Magister Sphinx.
 
Round 18
S:  Draws Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, plays Ghost Quarter. Uses Ghost Quarter to take out MrB’s Academy Ruins. Casts Ulamog, destroying Duplicant. T casts Grab the Reins, entwined, stealing Ulamog and flinging it at MV,
 
 
who gets taken out.  It's important to note that the first player to get taken out in this game lasted until the 18th round and after over 110 minutes of play.  This is a pretty serious game.
T: Vivid Marsh.
MrB: Brainstorm. He takes pain (11) to cast Liliana Vess. Makes S discard with Vess, and he gets rid of Grasslands.  Strange that he didn't tutor for something. S casts Sprouting Vines, getting a couple Forests.
 
Round 19
S: Draws Krosan Tusker and casts it hoping to go the beatdown route, along with Staff of Domination, but the Staff gets Cryptic Commanded by T, who also draws a card. Plays Tabernacle, hoping to tie up some of MrB's mana if he wishes to keep his Commander and anything he steals, then cycles Blasted Landscape, drawing a Forest. Casts LftL, getting back Blasted Landscape and Grasslands
T: Plays Evolving Wilds and SDT. 
MrB: Chooses not to tutor again and makes S discard a Forest with Vess. Casts Royal Assassin, then Lightning Greaves and equips the Assassin. Then casts Darksteel Ingot.
 
Royal Assassin
Old school.  And can take out Emrakul.
 
Round 20
S: Pays Tabernacle upkeep for Tusker, which is a lot less useful now that Royal Assassin is out there. Dredges LftL. Cycles Blasted Landscape, drawing Teferi's Puzzle Box, and casts it.  This should help him start digging. Plays Island of Wak-Wak, then casts LftL, getting 2 Forests and Naya Panorama. At the end of his turn, has 16 cards in hand and 44 left in his library, meaning that he will see almost half of his library next turn. T sacs Evolving Wilds for a Mountain, then casts Memory Plunder targeting Personal Tutor in MrB's graveyard, searching up Demonfire, forgetting about Teferi's Puzzle Box
T: Draws 5 new cards, and plays Bloodstained Mire. Sacs Mire (21) for Badlands. Casts Beseech the Queen for Cruel Ultimatum. Casts CU, targeting S, who sacs Krosan Tusker, discards three Forests and drops to (5). T doesn’t have any creatures in his graveyard to return to his hand, but draws 3 and goes up to (26). 
MrB: Pays upkeep for Royal Assassin and draws 6 new cards. Casts Ponder, chooses to shuffle. Makes S discard a Forest with Vess, who now has 8 counters.  I don't think the creatures in the graveyards are really good enough for MrB to try and ultimate Liliana, but maybe I'm wrong. Casts Ethersworn Adjudicator and equips it with Lightning Greaves.  Has enough untapped lands to use his ability when necessary, so now he can kill two creatures.
 
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Another way to deal with Emrakul.  Remember to come prepared.
 
Round 21
S:  Draws 13 new cards, including a dredged LftL, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn due to the extra reach provided by Sylvan Library.. 
 
 
Plays Forest, casts Emrakul, getting an extra turn. However, MrB uses Ethersworn Adjudicator to kill Emrakul, which shuffles back into his library.  Afterwards everyone agrees that he should have waited until S's next turn, just in case S draws Emrakul again.  So what do you think happens next?
 
Round 22
S: Draws 12 new cards, including Emrakul, which he again pulls due to the extended reach provided by Sylvan Library
 
 
Plays Forest, then Emrakul again.  They all start wondering whether or not S will draw Ulamog to take out MrB's Royal Assassin. Will he do it?!?
 
Round 23
S: Pays upkeep on Emrakul, and draws 11 new cards, including Oracle of Mul Daya, Sundering Titan and, with the last card drawn, Ulamog, the Backbreaker. 
 
 
Casts Oracle, revealing Forest. Plays two Forests, revealing Forest on top of his library. Then casts Ulamog, targeting Royal Assassin, but MrB concedes. T is upset, because he says he was going to cast Comet Storm and kill S during his upkeep, assuming that S was going to attack MrB with Emrakul.  S casts Hermit Druid. Attacks T with Emrakul, who sacs SDT, Darksteel Ingot, Drowned Catacomb, Jwar Isle Refuge and Vivid Marsh. T drops to (11). 
T: Before drawing 7 new cards, prays for Demonfire and a land, since he has 5 lands and S is at (5). This is his only way to win the game.  And he manages to draw the two cards he needs for the win!
 
 

IV.  Conclusion

Silencer told me that shortly after this game, he made a couple of changes to the deck.  He took out Goblin Cannon and three Forests for Eternal Witness, Deserted Temple, Diamond Valley and Horizon Canopy.  Witness gives some recursion and is one of the creatures he typically searches for with Tooth and Nail.  Deserted Temple helps with additional mana generation and tutoring with Eye of Ugin, and also provides an infinite mana combo with Rings of Brighthearth, a flipped Sasaya and 4 Forests.  Horizon Canopy is another cycler, and Diamond Valley helps against theft and preventing Sasaya being tucked.

There are a couple more cards that may be worth including, depending on how you want to run it.  Planar Portal is a good way to tutor up threats andanswers, and another answer card to consider is Terastodon.  Other large threats for the insect enthusiasts out there include Killer Bees and Unyaro Bees.  Athough they probably aren't as good as the Eldrazi, you can make them ridiculously huge.  Seek the Horizon and Gaea's Bounty are additional cards that can help you get to 7 in hand.  Weird Harvest has the possibility of tutoring your threats from your deck, and Mind's Eye can be additional card draw.

So there you go.  A good mono-green deck that seems like it can definitely hold it's own against control decks, and has the possibility of pushing out huge threats as early as turn 5.  There is a good amount of clicking going on when you are cycling through stuff and using LftL, but it's worth it.  Hope you guys enjoyed this look at an interesting deck.

Leviathan, aka Tarasco on MTGO

5 Comments

You said you would show us a by Paul Leicht at Fri, 06/25/2010 - 10:49
Paul Leicht's picture
5

You said you would show us a good land commander deck and you did. Impressive. It is upsetting to see so many Eldrazi in Multiplayer (though quite predictable). I thought perhaps the rumors exaggerated.

Ironsides's picture
5

Every deck I get inspired by turns out different from the original deck (which is good). So I have made some different card choices. One of them is that I have found that Horn of Greed is quite good. I find it benefits me more than my opponents because I use Exploration and Explore as well as Azusa and Oracle of Mul Day. I also use Vernal Bloom as backup in case my General is "tucked" or otherwise indisposed. I have mixed feelings using Crucible of Worlds because it always gets destroyed before I get any true value out of it. I loved your article and I can't wait for the next installment.

Awesome article! by SilencerPL at Sat, 06/26/2010 - 09:05
SilencerPL's picture

Hello and thanks for your kind feedback :]
I made this deck some while ago and I've already changed several things. As Leviathan noted in the conclusion, I added Eternal Witness and it's been a great choice. Additionally, I added Panglacial Wurm, because casting it from library is never a problem. I'm also testing Chameleon Colossus, Mindslaver and cantriping Relic of Progenitus, which are doing very good. I can also say that Avarice Totem is bad and Frontier Guide intended to make a little combo with Staff is actually very weak, too. You can also use Lifespark Spellbomb for infinite combo with Staff, but I eventually resigned from it. It has a cheap cantrip, but such win is too easy.
Thanks again for writing the article, Leviathan. Keep up the good work and be sure that I will read all your future articles as well.

Some advice about Mind by Paul Leicht at Sat, 06/26/2010 - 09:28
Paul Leicht's picture

Some advice about Mind Slaver. My experience with it in multiplayer is that people will let you use it once without quitting but if it looks even a little recursive you can kiss that game goodbye. Be wary of that interaction with Eternal Witness. Chameleon Colossus is of course great but it does die to all kinds of weird hate (Endemic plague and Extinction for instance, so be aware that its pro black hide isn't invulnerable.)

Thanks again to silencer for by Leviathan at Sat, 06/26/2010 - 14:20
Leviathan's picture

Thanks again to silencer for all the info and great game replay. It was pretty awesome. Glad you guys enjoyed it.