Everybody Wins! | Zedruu the Greathearted (EDH / Commander) [Revision 121]

Welcome to Everybody Wins! (Obviously, not everybody can win.)

This deck is meant to lay low in a game of 3 or more players, build up an enormous hand, and then win the game by giving a surprise series of gifts - ideally within a single turn. If you like playing decks where people eye you suspiciously and don't quite know what to do with you, and you get to say "everybody wins" every time you take your turn -- then this deck is for you.

This deck trades on the "illusion of benevolence." (In its first incarnation, I called it a Pacifism deck. It actually had [[Pacifism]] in it.) But, look, we all know what it's like playing against a trick deck that pops off but can't seal the deal. Unless we're running alt-WinCon cards like Second Sun and Felidar Sovereign, eventually someone needs to die in order for the game to end, and prolonging a match because we don't want to land the killing blow isn't kindness at all, is it?

My take on Zedruu removes the alt-Win Con stuff as well as the shutdown cards that people seem to love so much. Instead, you play a pure;y political game. If it works, you get to say over and over again: "I am not a threat" -- while being the biggest one at the table.

It's a blast, frankly.

--Breakdown--

Win Conditions
Let's start with how we can win with the Everybody Wins iteration of Zedruu. In order to keep things simple and tutor-able, I've tried to make this work primarily with enchantments: [[Nine Lives]], [[Words of War]] and [[Transcendence]]. We can pop down [[Nine Lives]], take a few hits to add some counters to it, then gift it to our adversary at the last minute. We can also remove it without targeting it by using our [[Serenity]]. [[Words of War]] requires some mana to make it work, but can feel laser-targeted if you're pulling in at least eight mana and have [[Paradox Haze]] on the battlefield. And finally, there's [[Transcendence]], the ultimate finesse play. Gifting that when your opponent has you cornered is truly chef's kiss. There are two other methods that can play back-up -- tossing [[Diviner's Wand]] on Zedruu and having her suddenly soar of an opponent's head and/or sending [[Bronze Bombshell]] to an already weakened opponent.

Card Advantage
We are trying to make sure we have a road to the three WinCon enchantments: [Words of War]], [[Nine Lives]] or [[Transcendence]]. [[Library of Leng]] and [[Howling Mine]] and [[Coveted Jewel]] double as gifts to your opponents. [[Heartwarming Redemption]] is hilarious and feels ominous when your opponents don't know your win condition. The other cards are there to double your upkeep or make sure your hand size becomes unlimited. Obviously Zedruu is at he best when people are holding on to her gifts for multiple turns -- and I've seen lots of gift-giving decks that throw [[Rust Elemental]] at our enemies. But I like the play flavor of actually liking most of the gifts we give, and - well - everybody wins, right? So most of the gifts in here are meant to persuade our opponents to hold on to them, and - to some extent - to have a need for them, so that they don't just nuke what we give them. I kicked out stuff like [[Shifting Borders]] because, In my mind, spending more than 3 mana for giving a gift had to be super worth it. [[Akroan Horse]] makes the cut because if you get it out early and your opponent doesn't have a quick answer for it, they can become quickly outnumbered. Also it's just... it's just too funny to lose it.

Ramp and Lands
We gift, or swap, two main things to our opponents: our mana rocks and our lands. [[Pentad Prism]] is fantastic for ramp and also becomes completely useless when we hand it over. The signets make sure we get our three colors necessary for keeping Zedruu's ability going, and - if you're sitting pretty - those can be handed over as well.

Protection
Despite the fact that everything you do has a generous bent to it, or perhaps because of that, people will try to target you. This is my version of the Pillowfort that Zedruu requires, but there are a lot of other options out there. Keeping the mana cost low is necessary in order to keep up, since her ability is actually quite expensive, for how little it usually benefits you at the top of the game. There's a lot of removal here, which is all here to make Zedruu a powerful voice at the table and removing the worst of the worst cards on the battlefield. The idea of being completely aloof and not dealing with our opponents meanest meanies didn't feel right for her. The "wraths" here are not really orthodox: [[Serenity]] can get you out of a bind, but is likely to take you a few steps back -- it's really there to remove [[Nine Lives]] without having to target it. [[Statecraft]] is meant to be sent to an opponent who has thirty tokens and is about to swing. "Dig in folks, we might be here a while."

Utility Creatures
[[Dream Trawler]] and [[Niv-Mezzet, the Firemind]] can actually win the game for us, but are likely to be targeted before that happens. [[Doomed Artisan]] can load us up with some pretty powerful bodies on the board before he send him elsewhere - presumably to his death. [[Swans of Bryn Argol]] works both a great defender for us, and also can be gifted to provoke others to attack that person.

Recursion
We have a narrow road to victory - there's no doubt about it.We lose the game without our enchantments and/or commander. These cards are here to try to give us a second chance, should someone be shutting us down without directly killing us.

...and that's it. Like I said above, this deck is a blast to play. It can feel like you're playing a very different game from everyone else at the table. If you're looking to add something to the rotation that will have people guessing, give it a go. Just remember to say, "Everybody wins~"