Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Vorosh EDH

A few weeks ago a few of my friends convinced me to build an EDH deck. At first I was reluctant, as building a good deck in EDH usually requires knowledge of many many cards and I've only been playing Magic since Lorwyn was released so, of course, my knowledge is very limited. I'm still learning the format but have discovered many things so far. The first thing I noticed is that there are some AMAZING cards that are only show their true strength in casual or multilayer formats (EDH being a combination of both, usually). I have dug through boxes of cards and scoured the internet finding cards that on the surface seem less than optimal but become pretty insane in games that last countless turns and let you have access to much more mana than usual. Ive also discovered my inner Johnny/Timmy, as Ive been playing cards that may not help me win, but have a fun effect on the game and make the experience more fun for everyone playing. But even with all the fun cards and interactions that Ive been experimenting with, Im still a Spike at heart and have built what seems to be a strong EDH deck based on my general Vorosh the Hunter. Quick backstory on my general, Vorosh is known to be one of the less powerful Elder Dragons that are available for use in EDH. His ability has little to no effect on the overall game, and often seems like a waste of mana as Vorosh gets killed before Ive ever had a chance to attack with my freshly pumped 12/12. So how did a Spike like me end up with a less than broken general? Well, he was $1 in the bargin bin of my local gaming shop. Yes, I picked my general because he was the first legend I saw and cost me less than a meal at McDonalds. However, I have been nothing but happy with my choice. Vorosh is the only general in the color combination of UGB. This gives me access to Green for mana ramp, Blue for control and draw, and Black for mass removal (or just removal in general). This powerful combination has led to many wins with my new deck. Though the newest version has yet to be tested, 2 similar builds (one on MTGO and one in RL) have been extremely resilient and fast. Without further ado, here is Vorosh EDH:



Here are some cool cards and interactions in the deck:

Sensei's Diving Top + Magus of the Future: This combo lets you draw cards as long as you have a mana untapped (and it's your turn). You simply cast Top, tap to draw a card, and then cast Top off the top of your library (rinse and repeat for massive card draw).

Crystal Shard: Many creatures in this deck have "Enters the Battlefield" abilities that can do some pretty serious things (Eternal Witness, Reiver Demon, Body Double, etc). Crystal Shard allows you to exploit these abilities by bouncing your own creature so you can cast it at another time to "reuse" the effect. This has worked especially well with Body Double and Vesuvan Shapeshifter because they can trigger "EtB" effects that you dont control making for even more shenanigans. Mystic Snake has also been powerful with this combination as long as you have the mana to bounce and recast the card. Nothing seems greater than a reusable Counterspell. Ive also considered Vensur for this combo but have yet to find a spot in the deck for the powerful Wizard.

Winding Canyons: For the longest time I had Teferi in my "RL" (real life) version of Vorosh EDH. The ability to cast creatures (especially those with EtB effects as mentioned earlier) at instant speed is extremely powerful and had given me a strong advantage in many games (Ulamog during your opponents End Step is pretty ridiculous). However, I wouldnt always get to abuse this power because Teferi would become Public Enemy #1 as soon as he'd hit play. Winding Canyons allows me to have this powerful instant speed effect essentially "on demand" without having to worry about protecting the card giving me this advantage (though Tectonic Edge and other LD spells can cause problems). Either way I have enjoyed this land and I think it fits quite nicely into my deck.

Hall of the Bandit Lord: Here is another land that grabbed my attention when I first saw it. Haste is a huge ability, and losing 3 life to give a card like Ulamog or even Vorosh haste is absurdly powerful. This land, while fairly mediocre early game, has been a huge success and I would definitely suggest fitting a copy into your deck (if you havent already, Im sure thousands of people already know about this "tech" card so Im definitely late to the party).

Rhystic Study: For the longest time I wanted to test Mind's Eye in this deck. Paying 1 mana to draw a card every time an opponent did seems pretty fun, but I would often see myself holding back on playing spells just so I could draw a few extra cards (I value card draw highly in Magic and will jump through hoops to get an extra draw or two). While doing some research I found Rhystic Study and have been impressed so far. Study hits play on turn 3 (if Im lucky of course) and not only provides card advantage but has the ability to lock down an opponent from doing anything too crazy early on. While this card has less relevance in the late game where 1 extra mana wont harm a person's situation, the early game effects of this card are definitely worth considering. Plus, in non-MTGO games people will often forget about the Enchantment and therefore "forget" to pay the extra mana, giving me the occasional free card or two.

So there's the deck, I hope you all enjoyed this post. I look forward to playing this deck at my local card shop as soon as the rest of the cards come in the mail (big thanks to Star City Games for having all these cards in stock and at... decent prices). If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the deck, please let me know by either commenting this post or sending me a message on Twitter (@dcampa93).

Thanks for reading!!