Great job on yet another set review Darren!!! You came to the same conclusion as me with some of the released cards. I’m actually looking to change my list from a superfriend/reanimator hybrid to full on Reanimator (with some planeswalker splashed in like new Teferi). Probably will be a bit weaker than your build, but I think it will be a little more fun imo (plus, I am looking to work on another deck that is more superfriend focus :3 ). Will post a list soon!!!
Great job on yet another set review Darren!!! You came to the same conclusion as me with some of the released cards. I’m actually looking to change my list from a superfriend/reanimator hybrid to full on Reanimator (with some planeswalker splashed in like new Teferi). Probably will be a bit weaker than your build, but I think it will be a little more fun imo (plus, I am looking to work on another deck that is more superfriend focus :3 ). Will post a list soon!!!
Dedicating to reanimation does mean you can focus on more discard outlets and versatility of creatures to reanimate, which I am definitely lean on. Just make sure you have a good amount of answers for graveyard hate cards as well if you're going all in. I'm super light on removal, so I'd recommend some more catch all stuff like Anguished Unmaking, Oblation.
Great job on yet another set review Darren!!! You came to the same conclusion as me with some of the released cards. I’m actually looking to change my list from a superfriend/reanimator hybrid to full on Reanimator (with some planeswalker splashed in like new Teferi). Probably will be a bit weaker than your build, but I think it will be a little more fun imo (plus, I am looking to work on another deck that is more superfriend focus :3 ). Will post a list soon!!!
Dedicating to reanimation does mean you can focus on more discard outlets and versatility of creatures to reanimate, which I am definitely lean on. Just make sure you have a good amount of answers for graveyard hate cards as well if you're going all in. I'm super light on removal, so I'd recommend some more catch all stuff like Anguished Unmaking, Oblation.
Good points here and there are a few cards that I should probably add thinking about it now. Are there any giant creatures you could recommend for a reanimator build? I have my pet cards and personal staples, but I would be curious on any recommendations.
Also, new Karn is going to be a great in the right build for Aminatou. Especially going more in with cards with delve. Curious how much work he will actually do 🤔
An complete revamped version of my Aminatou reanimator build. Since I wanted a deck solely focused on the archetype, I took out a lot of the cards that made the deck a Superfriend’s hybrid. One card that is a pseudo-placeholder is Oath of Gideon which I want to replace with the new Teferi. The new Teferi acts as pseudo recursion getting back creatures like Spellseeker and enchantments like Animate Dead for reuse. Plus the +1 can lead to some hilarious reanimator shenanigans.
A complete revamped version of my Aminatou reanimator build. Since I wanted a deck solely focused on the archetype, I took out a lot of the cards that made the deck a Superfriend’s hybrid. One card that is a pseudo-placeholder is Oath of Gideon which I want to replace with the new Teferi. The new Teferi acts as pseudo recursion getting back creatures like Spellseeker and enchantments like Animate Dead for reuse. Plus the +1 can lead to some hilarious reanimator shenanigans.
Suggestions and thoughts are appreciated!!!
Looks sweet to me.
I do like Predict in a heavier reanimation build as you can Aminatou [+1] your big fatty you have in your hand to then put into your graveyard.
I also have talked about it before but Soul Summons is also a nice way to mitigate graveyard hate, by putting your big fatty on top of your library with Aminatou [+1], then manifest with Soul Summons. Then next turn you can Aminatou [-1] the 2/2 to flip it into it's true creature. I just like have avenues to get around things like Rest in Peace.
I personally hate Temple of the False God I think it's one of commanders biggest trap cards. Do you see it in other formats? Why not? Is commander that much slower? Is color fixing not as important? Vault of the Archangel also seems a bit of a stretch for a three colored deck.
A complete revamped version of my Aminatou reanimator build. Since I wanted a deck solely focused on the archetype, I took out a lot of the cards that made the deck a Superfriend’s hybrid. One card that is a pseudo-placeholder is Oath of Gideon which I want to replace with the new Teferi. The new Teferi acts as pseudo recursion getting back creatures like Spellseeker and enchantments like Animate Dead for reuse. Plus the +1 can lead to some hilarious reanimator shenanigans.
Suggestions and thoughts are appreciated!!!
Looks sweet to me.
I do like Predict in a heavier reanimation build as you can Aminatou [+1] your big fatty you have in your hand to then put into your graveyard.
I also have talked about it before but Soul Summons is also a nice way to mitigate graveyard hate, by putting your big fatty on top of your library with Aminatou [+1], then manifest with Soul Summons. Then next turn you can Aminatou [-1] the 2/2 to flip it into it's true creature. I just like have avenues to get around things like Rest in Peace.
I personally hate Temple of the False God I think it's one of commanders biggest trap cards. Do you see it in other formats? Why not? Is commander that much slower? Is color fixing not as important? Vault of the Archangel also seems a bit of a stretch for a three colored deck.
Hmmm, I completely forgot about Predict and Soul Summons for added value for the fatties. I will have to get through some testing and see what I could replace with those 2 (Maybe Entreat the Angels or Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria, but the former can be an emergency button to protect yourself and the other a value engine with our commander.
Temple of the False God is a land i’ve Never had issues with and has always been relevant drawing into it. Vault of the Archangel is more of a personal pet card I add to any colors that can run it. Though I have never really drawn into it, having the ability to gain life in some situations or kill a giant thing has potential to be handy
I will say during the game I first played the first game I tested this build, it nearly won. A combo of Nezahal, Primal Tide for value and Angel of Serenity for removal took control most of the game. However, I got greedy and casted a Reanimate into a Void Winnower took my life down enough to get me killed after a board wipe (forgot there was a Nevinyrral’s Disk in play towards the end). Overall, the deck performed spectacularly and I cannot wait for other big fatties to come out and swap around!
EDIT: Looking at some of the new cards, 2 that can give some value to the deck are Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor and Spark Double. Kasmina protects your fatties/commander through her static ability and -2 with tokens. Plus, her -2 can loot you as well which is extremely important for a reanimator deck. Might be a possible replacement for Kaya, Ghost Assassin, but can’t outright win the game when going infinite.
Spark Double can act as a second commander to go infinite with Oath of Teferi on board or copy a fatty for added value. Not 100% on this card, but I know I do want it add it into my clone tribal deck
EDIT: Looking at some of the new cards, 2 that can give some value to the deck are Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor and Spark Double. Kasmina protects your fatties/commander through her static ability and -2 with tokens. Plus, her -2 can loot you as well which is extremely important for a reanimator deck. Might be a possible replacement for Kaya, Ghost Assassin, but can’t outright win the game when going infinite.
Ashiok, Dream Render also has a relevant ability in that you can put cards into your graveyard, and as I pointed out in my review of it, better in a deck that runs a card like Living Death, which you do. The static ability is commander hoser 101. We are talking land ramp doesn't become a thing anymore, combo decks looking to tutor become terrible.
Removing graveyards is also super strong in commander, it'll slow down a lot of decks this way as well.
Honestly I think in a reanimation heavy version its at least worth testing.
Ashiok, Dream Render also has a relevant ability in that you can put cards into your graveyard, and as I pointed out in my review of it, better in a deck that runs a card like Living Death, which you do. The static ability is commander hoser 101. We are talking land ramp doesn't become a thing anymore, combo decks looking to tutor become terrible.
Removing graveyards is also super strong in commander, it'll slow down a lot of decks this way as well.
Honestly I think in a reanimation heavy version its at least worth testing.
Ashiok, Dream Render does seem to be a hilarious addition to the deck, plus a 4 card mill you can setup with the coammander’s +1. It makes me wonder if that is still ok since you only have control over 1 of the 4 cards that get pitched, though the static ability is pretty crippling. It’s a reason why I like Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor since you have a bit more control.
Made a slight change to my list based off your recommendation:
Now to see if it’s worth keeping in Oath Of Teferi with so little planeswalkers. I still think so since the deck needs another win condition in cases graveyard hate happens, so combo seems the best route.
Dang we got some spice. Spark Double is a more tutorable and useful felidar guardian. God-Eternal Kefnet gives us a nice and easy infinite turn combo. (and one that's not all that easy to disrupt.) and I don't even know where to start with bolas's citadel. Crazy strong card that already synergized with our deck. Plus that tap ability if we ever hit our Ult. Yes please.
Dang. Am just now realizing this thread has been updated this whole time. I kept checking back and seeing nothing. Guess my computer is broken. O.o
Congrats on the primer tag! Haven't taken a look at the revamped primer, but I'm looking forward to it. Great work!
Thank you. I put a lot of time and effort into the thread, but the end result is that people have a nice platform to understand Aminatou potential if they happen to find the primer.
I've been tuning a cEDH Aminatou Stax list that's been performing well in gold-fishing. The new Ashiok and Narset are just awesome. I'll try and post a list sometime soon.
I've been tuning a cEDH Aminatou Stax list that's been performing well in gold-fishing. The new Ashiok and Narset are just awesome. I'll try and post a list sometime soon.
Look forward to seeing your list, and as always will try and help you to tune it if possible.
Quick question for you guys. How many Planeswalkers would you consisder minimum to run Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil in a deck. Currently, my reanimator build runs Teferi, Time RavelerKaya, Ghost Assassin and Tefer, Hero Of Dominaria and thinking either to run a few more, or changing the ones I have. Depending how another other deck goes, I was thinking of readding the veil for more Shenanigans, But was curious on everyone’s thoughts.
Quick question for you guys. How many Planeswalkers would you consisder minimum to run Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil in a deck. Currently, my reanimator build runs Teferi, Time RavelerKaya, Ghost Assassin and Tefer, Hero Of Dominaria and thinking either to run a few more, or changing the ones I have. Depending how another other deck goes, I was thinking of readding the veil for more Shenanigans, But was curious on everyone’s thoughts.
As long as you put in Spark Double then Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil are still very worth it in your deck. Don't get me wrong, The Chain Veil can sit in your hand for a long time, it's not very proactive during the early stages, as it requires a lot of mana to invest. But if you think about it as a win condition for the late game.
Quick question for you guys. How many Planeswalkers would you consisder minimum to run Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil in a deck. Currently, my reanimator build runs Teferi, Time RavelerKaya, Ghost Assassin and Tefer, Hero Of Dominaria and thinking either to run a few more, or changing the ones I have. Depending how another other deck goes, I was thinking of readding the veil for more Shenanigans, But was curious on everyone’s thoughts.
As long as you put in Spark Double then Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil are still very worth it in your deck. Don't get me wrong, The Chain Veil can sit in your hand for a long time, it's not very proactive during the early stages, as it requires a lot of mana to invest. But if you think about it as a win condition for the late game.
That makes a ton of sense. I nearly forgot about good old Spark Double. The deck was in need of another win con to close out the game in the off chance reanimation doesn’t get there first. I will do some more research and post my changes. Thank you for the insight!
Alright, here's the tentative list that I've been working on (I'll be making a formal thread in the cEDH forums FYI) but I must say that it's been goldfishing very smoothly and can stand against my wife's Kaalia deck fairly well.
There are several engines in the deck, but the most prominent one that I'd like to point out for your consideration is some sort of Wheel + Payoff engine. Esper now has some of the best payoff cards for people drawing mass quantities of cards, as represented in Smothering Tithe, Notion Thief, Waste Not, Narset, Parter of Veils, Consecrated Sphinx, and Alms Collector. I've been particularly impressed with Smothering Tithe and think that it should be considered as ubiquitous and powerful as Rhystic Study in Commander, and I think the rising price of the card reflects that. Anyways, by combining a Wheel effect with any of these payoff card (Waste Not being a little more conditional since opponents need to discard cards) and you are able to generate a SIGNIFICANT card advantage over your opponents. I built this list to try and take advantage of this fact as much as possible.
Combined with a significant number of Stax/Hate pieces, and I've settled on a 99 that is surprisingly consistent and powerful. It accidentally combos off and has a 1 card win condition in Tezzeret, just like your list darrenhabib. I'll elaborate on the particulars of this Stax list eventually in the cEDH forum, but I'd be pleased to share what I've got so far.
The card that I most want to find room for somewhere is Lavinia of the Tenth. For cEDH metas, nearly every permanent an opponent controls is 4 CMC or under and being able to flicker LAvinia repeatedly with Aminatou is incredibly powerful. It may be that Consecrated Sphinx is just too expensive for the deck and could get cut, but we shall see.
Tezzeret is a 1 card win condition with Aminatou in play and 2 as you first -3 Tezzeret to find Rings of Brighthearth (great synergy with Planeswalkers), flicker Tezz with Aminatou, activate Tezzeret's -3 to find Basalt Monolith and Sensei's Divining Top, make infinite colorless mana, draw your deck with Top + Rings of Brighthearth, and then proceed to win in whatever fashion you want. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is a really clean win condition, but I personally like to cast The Chain Veil, stack infinite number of Planeswalker activations, and then Jace, the Mind Sculptor each opponent to death.
Hopefully this helps diversify your Primer even further!
EDIT: Coveted Jewel is secretly one of the best mana rocks in this deck. The card drawing clause for opponents that take control of it is tempered signficantly by the payoff cards in the deck and you can always blink it back to your battlefield with Aminatou in case you need the mana and card draw. The more I play with this card, the more I appreciate its power and the card draw stapled to it.
Alright, here's the tentative list that I've been working on (I'll be making a formal thread in the cEDH forums FYI) but I must say that it's been goldfishing very smoothly and can stand against my wife's Kaalia deck fairly well.
There are several engines in the deck, but the most prominent one that I'd like to point out for your consideration is some sort of Wheel + Payoff engine. Esper now has some of the best payoff cards for people drawing mass quantities of cards, as represented in Smothering Tithe, Notion Thief, Waste Not, Narset, Parter of Veils, Consecrated Sphinx, and Alms Collector. I've been particularly impressed with Smothering Tithe and think that it should be considered as ubiquitous and powerful as Rhystic Study in Commander, and I think the rising price of the card reflects that. Anyways, by combining a Wheel effect with any of these payoff card (Waste Not being a little more conditional since opponents need to discard cards) and you are able to generate a SIGNIFICANT card advantage over your opponents. I built this list to try and take advantage of this fact as much as possible.
Combined with a significant number of Stax/Hate pieces, and I've settled on a 99 that is surprisingly consistent and powerful. It accidentally combos off and has a 1 card win condition in Tezzeret, just like your list darrenhabib. I'll elaborate on the particulars of this Stax list eventually in the cEDH forum, but I'd be pleased to share what I've got so far.
My only suggestions would be to play Time Spiral over Emergency Powers. Casting multiple spells from untapping lands is far superior to one big spell, and I don't think the instant speed is all that relevant?
I would personally want to play Teferi, Time Raveler over Jace Beleren for card advantage, as Teferi gives you disruption protection for your combos, and bigger tempo swing. The thing is that Aminatou can be best matched up with the walkers that have powerful minus abilities because she can [-1] them to get their activation's again. I just feel there is more potential upside to Teferi.
Now I do swear by Thalia's Lancers in my deck, it's overperformed as far as offering protection to planeswalkers as well as getting them, but I fell like in a combo centric format like cEDH that you'd be better served by a lower casting cost Spellseeker.
You can Aminatou [-1] the Spellseeker to get two instants. I really abuse Spellseeker in my deck, but I think you can aim for something like Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact to get Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and mill your library.
Or Spellseeker can just get Flusterstorm and Swan Song for counter magic if you already have a combo in hand, like Wheel + card draw restriction, etc.
The card that I most want to find room for somewhere is Lavinia of the Tenth. For cEDH metas, nearly every permanent an opponent controls is 4 CMC or under and being able to flicker LAvinia repeatedly with Aminatou is incredibly powerful. It may be that Consecrated Sphinx is just too expensive for the deck and could get cut, but we shall see.
I've mentioned Lavinia of the Tenth before, because it's actually when opponents have cast it, that I've realized what an absolute beating this card can be. Like all non-land mana sources just get shut off (mana dorks and mana rocks).
You also have Aminatou + Oath of Teferi with Stasis as Aminatou can just keep [-1] a land for the U each turn and you can also [+1] her to make sure you can keep it up forever.
Tezzeret is a 1 card win condition with Aminatou in play and 2 as you first -3 Tezzeret to find Rings of Brighthearth (great synergy with Planeswalkers), flicker Tezz with Aminatou, activate Tezzeret's -3 to find Basalt Monolith and Sensei's Divining Top, make infinite colorless mana, draw your deck with Top + Rings of Brighthearth, and then proceed to win in whatever fashion you want. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is a really clean win condition, but I personally like to cast The Chain Veil, stack infinite number of Planeswalker activations, and then Jace, the Mind Sculptor each opponent to death.
This is perfect, and in fact just the better option rather than Throne of Geth option I've been using, as that requires 4 and this only requires you have 2. Good job, will be adding Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith into the primer for this reason.
Not tempted by Felidar Guardian as well? Admittedly the neat thing about Spark Double is that it gets around Torpor Orb type effects as it's not triggered abilities doing clone effects.
I wondering if Karn, the Great Creator can be worked in for a cEDH build, as shutting off artifacts early could be a big game.
Then with Tainted Pact and his [-2] to can tutor for any artifact.
I'm just trying to think of things, this is purely brainstorming, but you could Tainted Pact your entire library and use Karn, the Great Creator [-2] to get Rings of Brighthearth. Cast Rings of Brighthearth. Use Aminatou [-1] on Karn, and use his [-2] and copy it with Rings of Brighthearth to get Basalt Monolith and The Chain Veil which is infinite, as Aminatou can [-1] the The Chain Veil to as many activation's as you want.
This requires 8 for casting the Rings and Basalt and activating it. Plus the Tainted Pact, so it might be that you have to cast it just before your turn to have the eight mana available.
Obviously Demonic Consultation becomes a enabler as well.
Food for thought anyway, I'll think about potential combos that could be made on less mana.
Hopefully this helps diversify your Primer even further!
For sure, I've never really thought about a Stax version, although I am aware that people do play versions for cEDH, I've just never seen an actual list.
EDIT: Coveted Jewel is secretly one of the best mana rocks in this deck. The card drawing clause for opponents that take control of it is tempered signficantly by the payoff cards in the deck and you can always blink it back to your battlefield with Aminatou in case you need the mana and card draw. The more I play with this card, the more I appreciate its power and the card draw stapled to it.
Yep it's been an all-star in my Will & Rowan Kenrith deck, so it's legit. Aminatou [-1] become draw three gain three mana..sign me up.
My only suggestions would be to play Time Spiral over Emergency Powers. Casting multiple spells from untapping lands is far superior to one big spell, and I don't think the instant speed is all that relevant?
Totally agree about Ashiok, Dream Render. It's just so good. I pre-ordered at least 2 copies of it and I have no regrets about it.
Emergency Powers is a card that I'm testing. In the games that I have played with Aminatou, I really only have anywhere between 3-5 lands at any given point over the course of a game. I have many more Artifact mana sources in the deck, so the untapping of 6 lands isn't as attractive to me as the free permanent from the Powers is. Casting the Powers has often drawn me into Teferi, Temporal Archmage for some reason, and I must say that putting Teferi into play for free in an uncounterable way is really, really appealing. The instant speed ability makes it a lot more attractive since I can more profitably choose the window that I try and execute a Wheel + Wheel Payoff combo to put the game away.
I would personally want to play Teferi, Time Raveler over Jace Beleren for card advantage, as Teferi gives you disruption protection for your combos, and bigger tempo swing. The thing is that Aminatou can be best matched up with the walkers that have powerful minus abilities because she can [-1] them to get their activation's again. I just feel there is more potential upside to Teferi.
In this, I'm going to disagree with you. Turning off my opponents' ability to interact with each other is actually really dangerous since it puts the onus on ME to answer every single combo turn. While it's nice to have a guaranteed way to resolve my own combo turn, the risk is too great for a cEDH game. Jace Beleren also acts as a win condition since his -1 ability can actually draw my opponents out of the game if I really need it to. His +2 ability is also really great in conjunction with Notion Thief, Consecrated Sphinx, and Smothering Tithe. Overall, I prefer Jace's ability to actually win the game over Teferi's pseudo-removal ability and the static ability.
Now I do swear by Thalia's Lancers in my deck, it's overperformed as far as offering protection to planeswalkers as well as getting them, but I fell like in a combo centric format like cEDH that you'd be better served by a lower casting cost Spellseeker.
You can Aminatou [-1] the Spellseeker to get two instants. I really abuse Spellseeker in my deck, but I think you can aim for something like Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact to get Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and mill your library.
Or Spellseeker can just get Flusterstorm and Swan Song for counter magic if you already have a combo in hand, like Wheel + card draw restriction, etc.
This is a great point. I'll definitely make the swap, since the CMC is lower and she can find other tutors and countermagic to protect the combo turn. The Lancers simply help me find some of the key pieces of the deck, mostly Teferi, Temporal Archmage or The Chain Veil.
I've mentioned Lavinia of the Tenth before, because it's actually when opponents have cast it, that I've realized what an absolute beating this card can be. Like all non-land mana sources just get shut off (mana dorks and mana rocks).
Truth. I was able to stay in a game that I had no business being a player in simply because of Lavinia's trigger. Detaining Animar's entire board as well as Kraum & Tymna's board was the only reason I was able to survive for the 5+ turns I did. We still lost to Animar, but I had totally neutralized the Kraum & Tymna player since every single permanent on his side of the board was 4 CMC or under. It was glorious.
You also have Aminatou + Oath of Teferi with Stasis as Aminatou can just keep [-1] a land for the U each turn and you can also [+1] her to make sure you can keep it up forever.
Good point. I'll keep that interaction in mind for sure should I tutor for Stasis.
This is perfect, and in fact just the better option rather than Throne of Geth option I've been using, as that requires 4 and this only requires you have 2. Good job, will be adding Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith into the primer for this reason.
No problem. It's a pretty standard combo line from back in the day that I realized I could find via Tezzeret and Aminatou. I also like that Rings of Brighthearth has good synergy with the deck as a whole and can be used for super value when not being utilized for a combo line.
Not tempted by Felidar Guardian as well? Admittedly the neat thing about Spark Double is that it gets around Torpor Orb type effects as it's not triggered abilities doing clone effects.
In some games that I played, I noticed that I often only needed one of the actual trigger pieces (Felidar Guardian or The Sparkler) in order to execute that combo line. The utility of The Sparkler is better than the Guardian because you can make a copy of Aminatou and spam her blink ability multiple times per turn at the very minimum. Cloning a Teferi, Temporal Archmage is simply delightful as well, so I think The Sparkler is just overall better with the deck's strategy and has more long-term value. And I do have Torpor Orb in my "sideboard" of Stax pieces that I switch in and out depending on the decks I expect to play during a game session, so I want to try and minimize as many anti-synergies as possible in the general 99.
I wondering if Karn, the Great Creator can be worked in for a cEDH build, as shutting off artifacts early could be a big game.
Then with Tainted Pact and his [-2] to can tutor for any artifact.
I'm just trying to think of things, this is purely brainstorming, but you could Tainted Pact your entire library and use Karn, the Great Creator [-2] to get Rings of Brighthearth. Cast Rings of Brighthearth. Use Aminatou [-1] on Karn, and use his [-2] and copy it with Rings of Brighthearth to get Basalt Monolith and The Chain Veil which is infinite, as Aminatou can [-1] the The Chain Veil to as many activation's as you want.
This requires 8 for casting the Rings and Basalt and activating it. Plus the Tainted Pact, so it might be that you have to cast it just before your turn to have the eight mana available.
Obviously Demonic Consultation becomes a enabler as well.
Food for thought anyway, I'll think about potential combos that could be made on less mana.
The only problem I see with this is that you have no way to win unless you find an Artifact that you can dump infinite mana into that will win the game, like Goblin Cannon... or something else. Based on your combo line, you can get infinite Planeswalker activations but have nothing to dump it into since the rest of the deck is exiled. I'm certainly interested in your thought exercises, sir, so I look forward to what you come up with. The new Karn is really quite good and I like the fact that you can happily exile Artifact combo pieces via the Tainted Pact and easily recover them via Karn to assemble a combo line unexpectedly. Good idea, comrade.
For sure, I've never really thought about a Stax version, although I am aware that people do play versions for cEDH, I've just never seen an actual list.
Welp, I'm writing out a Primer in the cEDH forums. It's still a WIP at the moment, but I'm hoping to be thorough for that particular build. Perhaps we can cross-link each other's Primers?
Yep it's been an all-star in my Will & Rowan Kenrith deck, so it's legit. Aminatou [-1] become draw three gain three mana..sign me up.
Agreed. I think a lot of people underestimate the Jewel generally, but in Aminatou it really shines. Being able to get it back on your turn at will is REALLY nice, since the colored mana and card draw is massively important for executing many of the combo lines. In fact, the Jewel is one of the ways I draw my deck when I'm combo-ing via The Sparkler and Oath of Teferi/The Chain Veil.
I would personally want to play Teferi, Time Raveler over Jace Beleren for card advantage, as Teferi gives you disruption protection for your combos, and bigger tempo swing. The thing is that Aminatou can be best matched up with the walkers that have powerful minus abilities because she can [-1] them to get their activation's again. I just feel there is more potential upside to Teferi.
In this, I'm going to disagree with you. Turning off my opponents' ability to interact with each other is actually really dangerous since it puts the onus on ME to answer every single combo turn. While it's nice to have a guaranteed way to resolve my own combo turn, the risk is too great for a cEDH game. Jace Beleren also acts as a win condition since his -1 ability can actually draw my opponents out of the game if I really need it to. His +2 ability is also really great in conjunction with Notion Thief, Consecrated Sphinx, and Smothering Tithe. Overall, I prefer Jace's ability to actually win the game over Teferi's pseudo-removal ability and the static ability.
That's fair, I could see how you could end up letting other people win with it.
The only problem I see with this is that you have no way to win unless you find an Artifact that you can dump infinite mana into that will win the game, like Goblin Cannon... or something else. Based on your combo line, you can get infinite Planeswalker activations but have nothing to dump it into since the rest of the deck is exiled. I'm certainly interested in your thought exercises, sir, so I look forward to what you come up with. The new Karn is really quite good and I like the fact that you can happily exile Artifact combo pieces via the Tainted Pact and easily recover them via Karn to assemble a combo line unexpectedly. Good idea, comrade.
Well now that I think about it more, if you have Karn, the Great Creator and Aminatou in play then you can Tainted Pact for either the Rings of Brighthearth or Basalt Monolith making sure that the other get's exiled. So you just keep flipping until you get to the final one. Then you can Karn to get the other, getting infinite colorless.
So this will only cost you 6. Casting Basalt into Rings and needing an additional 3 to untap the Basalt for Rings activation to get the ball rolling.
Now it depends on what else might have been exiled. What you are looking out for is a The Chain Veil, Sensei's Divining Top. Aminatou [-1] the Karn and get one of these.
Now the win condition with The Chain Veil is that you can keep ultimating Aminatou [-6] and get the board of the player you want the most, then return all the permanents you own, back to yourself with the [-1]. So you end up with what you started plus the player with the strongest board.
Plus you get ALL the artifacts that have been exiled with Karn [-2], so again a very game winning thing in reality.
If Coverted Jewel has been exiled then you get to bring that back (Karn) and Aminatou [-1] it to draw the rest of your deck.
The cool thing is that you can keep alternating boards states each round to adjust, be very liberal with getting the permanents you took killed, so that you can switch up who permanents you control. It's not deterministic, but one hell of a fun way to play.
Funnily you can make all your artifacts (except zero casting cost) creatures with Karn [+1] ability to do alpha strikes. Remember you'll be able to return all of them from exile, and make all of them creatures with infinite. I've calculated that's a potential 33 power not including artifacts you might have stole from opponents.
Obviously with any other ETB gains you might already have like another planeswalker, will also win.
Now note that we are not exiling the whole deck with this, so you should still have cards to draw with Sensei's Divining Top or The Chain Veil.
So I mean it depends on what gets exiled, it's a bit like Tazri foodchain, where you are hoping to exile some cards and perhaps not others.
But also with infinite Aminatou activation's the [+1] can be used to search for any card given a shuffle effect you might have access to; Trinket Mage and Spellseeker.
The example I've given is if you have Karn already in play, but you can do some of these lines with the intention of actually getting the Karn. So if you Tainted Pact you can actually keep going until you get to the Karn. Then you're hoping to have both Rings and Basalt exiled (and other perhaps) and get infinite colorless mana at the least, as you can get them both with a Karn [-2] and Aminatou [-1] on the Karn, plus remember you can Rings the Aminatou and Karn activation's to get double value.
Plunge into Darkness is another exile tutor. If you feel you have a moment to go for it you can exile as many cards as your life total allows.
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WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
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UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
In my review I didn't discuss the Ugin, the Ineffable and Karn, the Great Creator, which I should have (oversight) so added them in to the honorable mentions.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Good points here and there are a few cards that I should probably add thinking about it now. Are there any giant creatures you could recommend for a reanimator build? I have my pet cards and personal staples, but I would be curious on any recommendations.
Also, new Karn is going to be a great in the right build for Aminatou. Especially going more in with cards with delve. Curious how much work he will actually do 🤔
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UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
1 Aminatou, the Fateshifter
Creatures:15
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Spellseeker
1 Felidar Guardian
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Doom Whisperer
1 Magister of Worth
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Ashen Rider
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Void Winnower
Artifacts:7
1 Sol Ring
1 Azorius Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Progress
Sorceries:12
1 Careful Study
1 Reanimate
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Buried Alive
1 Entreat the Angels
1 Entreat the Dead
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Windfall
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Living Death
1 Terminus
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Brainstorm
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Negate
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Frantic Search
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Fact or Fiction
Enchantments:10
1 Mystic Remora
1 Animate Dead
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Necromancy
1 Oath of Gideon
1 Oath of Jace
1 Rhystic Study
1 Parallax Wave
1 Oath of Teferi
Planeswalkers:2
1 Kaya, Ghost Assassin
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Lands:36
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Irrigated Farmland
4 Island
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Mana Confluence
3 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Prairie Stream
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Sunken Hollow
3 Swamp
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of the False God
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
An complete revamped version of my Aminatou reanimator build. Since I wanted a deck solely focused on the archetype, I took out a lot of the cards that made the deck a Superfriend’s hybrid. One card that is a pseudo-placeholder is Oath of Gideon which I want to replace with the new Teferi. The new Teferi acts as pseudo recursion getting back creatures like Spellseeker and enchantments like Animate Dead for reuse. Plus the +1 can lead to some hilarious reanimator shenanigans.
Suggestions and thoughts are appreciated!!!
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WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
I do like Predict in a heavier reanimation build as you can Aminatou [+1] your big fatty you have in your hand to then put into your graveyard.
I also have talked about it before but Soul Summons is also a nice way to mitigate graveyard hate, by putting your big fatty on top of your library with Aminatou [+1], then manifest with Soul Summons. Then next turn you can Aminatou [-1] the 2/2 to flip it into it's true creature. I just like have avenues to get around things like Rest in Peace.
I personally hate Temple of the False God I think it's one of commanders biggest trap cards. Do you see it in other formats? Why not? Is commander that much slower? Is color fixing not as important?
Vault of the Archangel also seems a bit of a stretch for a three colored deck.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Hmmm, I completely forgot about Predict and Soul Summons for added value for the fatties. I will have to get through some testing and see what I could replace with those 2 (Maybe Entreat the Angels or Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria, but the former can be an emergency button to protect yourself and the other a value engine with our commander.
Temple of the False God is a land i’ve Never had issues with and has always been relevant drawing into it. Vault of the Archangel is more of a personal pet card I add to any colors that can run it. Though I have never really drawn into it, having the ability to gain life in some situations or kill a giant thing has potential to be handy
I will say during the game I first played the first game I tested this build, it nearly won. A combo of Nezahal, Primal Tide for value and Angel of Serenity for removal took control most of the game. However, I got greedy and casted a Reanimate into a Void Winnower took my life down enough to get me killed after a board wipe (forgot there was a Nevinyrral’s Disk in play towards the end). Overall, the deck performed spectacularly and I cannot wait for other big fatties to come out and swap around!
EDIT: Looking at some of the new cards, 2 that can give some value to the deck are Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor and Spark Double. Kasmina protects your fatties/commander through her static ability and -2 with tokens. Plus, her -2 can loot you as well which is extremely important for a reanimator deck. Might be a possible replacement for Kaya, Ghost Assassin, but can’t outright win the game when going infinite.
Spark Double can act as a second commander to go infinite with Oath of Teferi on board or copy a fatty for added value. Not 100% on this card, but I know I do want it add it into my clone tribal deck
EDH
WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
Removing graveyards is also super strong in commander, it'll slow down a lot of decks this way as well.
Honestly I think in a reanimation heavy version its at least worth testing.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Ashiok, Dream Render does seem to be a hilarious addition to the deck, plus a 4 card mill you can setup with the coammander’s +1. It makes me wonder if that is still ok since you only have control over 1 of the 4 cards that get pitched, though the static ability is pretty crippling. It’s a reason why I like Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor since you have a bit more control.
Made a slight change to my list based off your recommendation:
-Leonin Relic-Warder
-Oath of Gideon
+Predict
+Teferi, Time Raveler
Now to see if it’s worth keeping in Oath Of Teferi with so little planeswalkers. I still think so since the deck needs another win condition in cases graveyard hate happens, so combo seems the best route.
EDH
WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
Congrats on the primer tag! Haven't taken a look at the revamped primer, but I'm looking forward to it. Great work!
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
EDH
WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
Oath of Teferi still represents value by flickering a card like Spellseeker, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Magister of Worth, Noxious Gearhulk, Angel of Serenity, Sphinx of Uthuun, Ashen Rider.
As long as you put in Spark Double then Oath of Teferi and The Chain Veil are still very worth it in your deck. Don't get me wrong, The Chain Veil can sit in your hand for a long time, it's not very proactive during the early stages, as it requires a lot of mana to invest. But if you think about it as a win condition for the late game.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
That makes a ton of sense. I nearly forgot about good old Spark Double. The deck was in need of another win con to close out the game in the off chance reanimation doesn’t get there first. I will do some more research and post my changes. Thank you for the insight!
EDH
WOrzhova's PoliticsB
UStensia's SaintW
U1000 FacesB
UIzzet's GambitR
RUBThe Rose's ThornBUR
RUGEternal HuntGUR
UWBArchitect's FoundryBWU
BBlood PactB
There are several engines in the deck, but the most prominent one that I'd like to point out for your consideration is some sort of Wheel + Payoff engine. Esper now has some of the best payoff cards for people drawing mass quantities of cards, as represented in Smothering Tithe, Notion Thief, Waste Not, Narset, Parter of Veils, Consecrated Sphinx, and Alms Collector. I've been particularly impressed with Smothering Tithe and think that it should be considered as ubiquitous and powerful as Rhystic Study in Commander, and I think the rising price of the card reflects that. Anyways, by combining a Wheel effect with any of these payoff card (Waste Not being a little more conditional since opponents need to discard cards) and you are able to generate a SIGNIFICANT card advantage over your opponents. I built this list to try and take advantage of this fact as much as possible.
Combined with a significant number of Stax/Hate pieces, and I've settled on a 99 that is surprisingly consistent and powerful. It accidentally combos off and has a 1 card win condition in Tezzeret, just like your list darrenhabib. I'll elaborate on the particulars of this Stax list eventually in the cEDH forum, but I'd be pleased to share what I've got so far.
3x Aminatou, the Fateshifter
Mana Sources (15)
0x Mana Crypt
0x Chrome Mox
0x Mox Diamond
0x Mox Opal
1x Sol Ring
1x Mana Vault
2x Talisman of Dominance
2x Talisman of Progress
2x Dimir Signet
2x Azorius Signet
2x Grim Monolith
3x Basalt Monolith
4x Smothering Tithe
5x Gilded Lotus
6x Coveted Jewel
Combo Pieces (4)
3x Rings of Brighthearth
4x Spark Double
4x The Chain Veil
5x Oath of Teferi
Stax Pieces (11)
1x Grafidgger’s Cage
2x Cursed Totem
2x Stasis
2x Blind Obedience
2x Rest in Peace
3x Ashiok, Dream Render
3x Narset, Parter of Veils
4x Notion Thief
4x Alms Collector
4x Frozen Aether
4x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Planeswalkers (6)
3x Jace Beleren
4x Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5x Tezzeret the Seeker
5x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
6x Teferi, Temporal Archmage
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Vampiric Tutor
2x Lim-Dul's Vault
2x Demonic Tutor
2x Tainted Pact
3x Trinket Mage
3x Whir of Invention
5x Thalia's Lancers
Counterspells (8)
1x Flusterstorm
1x Swan Song
1x Mental Misstep
2x Counterspell
2x Mana Drain
2x Dovin's Veto
2x Counterbalance
5x Force of Will
Card Draw (9)
1x Mystic Remora
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Brainstorm
3x Rhystic Study
3x Windfall
3x Timetwister
4x Whispering Madness
6x Consecrated Sphinx
7x Emergency Powers
Removal (7)
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Chain of Vapor
2x Cyclonic Rift
2x Gilded Drake
3x Anguished Unmaking
3x Toxic Deluge
4x Supreme Verdict
Lands (31)
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Inventors' Fair
1x Command Tower
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Mana Confluence
1x City of Brass
1x Sea of Clouds
1x Morphic Pool
1x Underground Sea
1x Tundra
1x Scrubland
1x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Godless Shrine
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Mystic Gate
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Marsh Flats
1x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Windswept Heath
The card that I most want to find room for somewhere is Lavinia of the Tenth. For cEDH metas, nearly every permanent an opponent controls is 4 CMC or under and being able to flicker LAvinia repeatedly with Aminatou is incredibly powerful. It may be that Consecrated Sphinx is just too expensive for the deck and could get cut, but we shall see.
There is a legit hard lock involving Stasis + Frozen Aether + Teferi, Hero of Dominaria/Teferi, Temporal Archmage/Smothering Tithe/Tezzeret the Seeker which is always fun to execute. Nothing like taking pseudo infinite turns and winning at your leisure.
Tezzeret is a 1 card win condition with Aminatou in play and 2 as you first -3 Tezzeret to find Rings of Brighthearth (great synergy with Planeswalkers), flicker Tezz with Aminatou, activate Tezzeret's -3 to find Basalt Monolith and Sensei's Divining Top, make infinite colorless mana, draw your deck with Top + Rings of Brighthearth, and then proceed to win in whatever fashion you want. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is a really clean win condition, but I personally like to cast The Chain Veil, stack infinite number of Planeswalker activations, and then Jace, the Mind Sculptor each opponent to death.
There's also the Oath of Teferi/The Chain Veil activated once + Spark Double + Aminatou, the Fateshifter combo.
And there's also the Tainted Pact + Jace, Wielder of Mysteries combo to win the game as well.
Hopefully this helps diversify your Primer even further!
EDIT: Coveted Jewel is secretly one of the best mana rocks in this deck. The card drawing clause for opponents that take control of it is tempered signficantly by the payoff cards in the deck and you can always blink it back to your battlefield with Aminatou in case you need the mana and card draw. The more I play with this card, the more I appreciate its power and the card draw stapled to it.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Looking like a very mean deck!
Wheel effects with the new Narset, Parter of Veils is going to be GG. Ashiok, Dream Render is just a beast in cEDH.
My only suggestions would be to play Time Spiral over Emergency Powers. Casting multiple spells from untapping lands is far superior to one big spell, and I don't think the instant speed is all that relevant?
I would personally want to play Teferi, Time Raveler over Jace Beleren for card advantage, as Teferi gives you disruption protection for your combos, and bigger tempo swing. The thing is that Aminatou can be best matched up with the walkers that have powerful minus abilities because she can [-1] them to get their activation's again. I just feel there is more potential upside to Teferi.
Now I do swear by Thalia's Lancers in my deck, it's overperformed as far as offering protection to planeswalkers as well as getting them, but I fell like in a combo centric format like cEDH that you'd be better served by a lower casting cost Spellseeker.
You can Aminatou [-1] the Spellseeker to get two instants. I really abuse Spellseeker in my deck, but I think you can aim for something like Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact to get Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and mill your library.
Or Spellseeker can just get Flusterstorm and Swan Song for counter magic if you already have a combo in hand, like Wheel + card draw restriction, etc.
I've mentioned Lavinia of the Tenth before, because it's actually when opponents have cast it, that I've realized what an absolute beating this card can be. Like all non-land mana sources just get shut off (mana dorks and mana rocks).
You also have Aminatou + Oath of Teferi with Stasis as Aminatou can just keep [-1] a land for the U each turn and you can also [+1] her to make sure you can keep it up forever.
This is perfect, and in fact just the better option rather than Throne of Geth option I've been using, as that requires 4 and this only requires you have 2. Good job, will be adding Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith into the primer for this reason.
Not tempted by Felidar Guardian as well? Admittedly the neat thing about Spark Double is that it gets around Torpor Orb type effects as it's not triggered abilities doing clone effects.
I wondering if Karn, the Great Creator can be worked in for a cEDH build, as shutting off artifacts early could be a big game.
Then with Tainted Pact and his [-2] to can tutor for any artifact.
I'm just trying to think of things, this is purely brainstorming, but you could Tainted Pact your entire library and use Karn, the Great Creator [-2] to get Rings of Brighthearth. Cast Rings of Brighthearth. Use Aminatou [-1] on Karn, and use his [-2] and copy it with Rings of Brighthearth to get Basalt Monolith and The Chain Veil which is infinite, as Aminatou can [-1] the The Chain Veil to as many activation's as you want.
This requires 8 for casting the Rings and Basalt and activating it. Plus the Tainted Pact, so it might be that you have to cast it just before your turn to have the eight mana available.
Obviously Demonic Consultation becomes a enabler as well.
Food for thought anyway, I'll think about potential combos that could be made on less mana.
For sure, I've never really thought about a Stax version, although I am aware that people do play versions for cEDH, I've just never seen an actual list.
Yep it's been an all-star in my Will & Rowan Kenrith deck, so it's legit. Aminatou [-1] become draw three gain three mana..sign me up.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Totally agree about Ashiok, Dream Render. It's just so good. I pre-ordered at least 2 copies of it and I have no regrets about it.
Emergency Powers is a card that I'm testing. In the games that I have played with Aminatou, I really only have anywhere between 3-5 lands at any given point over the course of a game. I have many more Artifact mana sources in the deck, so the untapping of 6 lands isn't as attractive to me as the free permanent from the Powers is. Casting the Powers has often drawn me into Teferi, Temporal Archmage for some reason, and I must say that putting Teferi into play for free in an uncounterable way is really, really appealing. The instant speed ability makes it a lot more attractive since I can more profitably choose the window that I try and execute a Wheel + Wheel Payoff combo to put the game away.
In this, I'm going to disagree with you. Turning off my opponents' ability to interact with each other is actually really dangerous since it puts the onus on ME to answer every single combo turn. While it's nice to have a guaranteed way to resolve my own combo turn, the risk is too great for a cEDH game. Jace Beleren also acts as a win condition since his -1 ability can actually draw my opponents out of the game if I really need it to. His +2 ability is also really great in conjunction with Notion Thief, Consecrated Sphinx, and Smothering Tithe. Overall, I prefer Jace's ability to actually win the game over Teferi's pseudo-removal ability and the static ability.
This is a great point. I'll definitely make the swap, since the CMC is lower and she can find other tutors and countermagic to protect the combo turn. The Lancers simply help me find some of the key pieces of the deck, mostly Teferi, Temporal Archmage or The Chain Veil.
Truth. I was able to stay in a game that I had no business being a player in simply because of Lavinia's trigger. Detaining Animar's entire board as well as Kraum & Tymna's board was the only reason I was able to survive for the 5+ turns I did. We still lost to Animar, but I had totally neutralized the Kraum & Tymna player since every single permanent on his side of the board was 4 CMC or under. It was glorious.
Good point. I'll keep that interaction in mind for sure should I tutor for Stasis.
No problem. It's a pretty standard combo line from back in the day that I realized I could find via Tezzeret and Aminatou. I also like that Rings of Brighthearth has good synergy with the deck as a whole and can be used for super value when not being utilized for a combo line.
In some games that I played, I noticed that I often only needed one of the actual trigger pieces (Felidar Guardian or The Sparkler) in order to execute that combo line. The utility of The Sparkler is better than the Guardian because you can make a copy of Aminatou and spam her blink ability multiple times per turn at the very minimum. Cloning a Teferi, Temporal Archmage is simply delightful as well, so I think The Sparkler is just overall better with the deck's strategy and has more long-term value. And I do have Torpor Orb in my "sideboard" of Stax pieces that I switch in and out depending on the decks I expect to play during a game session, so I want to try and minimize as many anti-synergies as possible in the general 99.
The only problem I see with this is that you have no way to win unless you find an Artifact that you can dump infinite mana into that will win the game, like Goblin Cannon... or something else. Based on your combo line, you can get infinite Planeswalker activations but have nothing to dump it into since the rest of the deck is exiled. I'm certainly interested in your thought exercises, sir, so I look forward to what you come up with. The new Karn is really quite good and I like the fact that you can happily exile Artifact combo pieces via the Tainted Pact and easily recover them via Karn to assemble a combo line unexpectedly. Good idea, comrade.
Welp, I'm writing out a Primer in the cEDH forums. It's still a WIP at the moment, but I'm hoping to be thorough for that particular build. Perhaps we can cross-link each other's Primers?
Agreed. I think a lot of people underestimate the Jewel generally, but in Aminatou it really shines. Being able to get it back on your turn at will is REALLY nice, since the colored mana and card draw is massively important for executing many of the combo lines. In fact, the Jewel is one of the ways I draw my deck when I'm combo-ing via The Sparkler and Oath of Teferi/The Chain Veil.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Well now that I think about it more, if you have Karn, the Great Creator and Aminatou in play then you can Tainted Pact for either the Rings of Brighthearth or Basalt Monolith making sure that the other get's exiled. So you just keep flipping until you get to the final one. Then you can Karn to get the other, getting infinite colorless.
So this will only cost you 6. Casting Basalt into Rings and needing an additional 3 to untap the Basalt for Rings activation to get the ball rolling.
Now it depends on what else might have been exiled. What you are looking out for is a The Chain Veil, Sensei's Divining Top. Aminatou [-1] the Karn and get one of these.
Now the win condition with The Chain Veil is that you can keep ultimating Aminatou [-6] and get the board of the player you want the most, then return all the permanents you own, back to yourself with the [-1]. So you end up with what you started plus the player with the strongest board.
Plus you get ALL the artifacts that have been exiled with Karn [-2], so again a very game winning thing in reality.
If Coverted Jewel has been exiled then you get to bring that back (Karn) and Aminatou [-1] it to draw the rest of your deck.
The cool thing is that you can keep alternating boards states each round to adjust, be very liberal with getting the permanents you took killed, so that you can switch up who permanents you control. It's not deterministic, but one hell of a fun way to play.
Funnily you can make all your artifacts (except zero casting cost) creatures with Karn [+1] ability to do alpha strikes. Remember you'll be able to return all of them from exile, and make all of them creatures with infinite. I've calculated that's a potential 33 power not including artifacts you might have stole from opponents.
Obviously with any other ETB gains you might already have like another planeswalker, will also win.
Now note that we are not exiling the whole deck with this, so you should still have cards to draw with Sensei's Divining Top or The Chain Veil.
So I mean it depends on what gets exiled, it's a bit like Tazri foodchain, where you are hoping to exile some cards and perhaps not others.
But also with infinite Aminatou activation's the [+1] can be used to search for any card given a shuffle effect you might have access to; Trinket Mage and Spellseeker.
The example I've given is if you have Karn already in play, but you can do some of these lines with the intention of actually getting the Karn. So if you Tainted Pact you can actually keep going until you get to the Karn. Then you're hoping to have both Rings and Basalt exiled (and other perhaps) and get infinite colorless mana at the least, as you can get them both with a Karn [-2] and Aminatou [-1] on the Karn, plus remember you can Rings the Aminatou and Karn activation's to get double value.
Plunge into Darkness is another exile tutor. If you feel you have a moment to go for it you can exile as many cards as your life total allows.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Just a more versatile package overall.
Added
+ Basalt Monolith
+ Rings of Brighthearth
Removed
- Throne of Geth
- Flux Channeler
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith