Stitcher Geralf

>Introduction

This is a deck I made 7 years ago and have been tinkering and playing with ever since. This is rare for me because I typically enjoy deck building much more than playing, and yet I keep coming back to this deck... it's just been that fun to play for me. When I first saw Stitcher Geralf I knew he was the commander for me: A mono blue commander that interacts with graveyards and wants to play big dumb creatures? Sounds like an amazing deck building challenge! In addition I wanted to make a budget version not because I was on a budget but because I kept finding myself putting the same cards in every deck and so building something under $100 forced me to think outside the box.

What started as a pet project has become my favorite deck to play in my entire collection and I'm hopping you have a lot of fun with it too!

Power Level

I believe this deck is around a 7-8 power level-wise (don't we all say that though lol). There's no tutors, there's no infinite combos and as I'll discuss the commander isn't particularly strong. However, this deck can do a lot of powerful things and can win pretty frequently in my experience once you get the general gist of how to play it.

I would recommend that if you bring this deck to a 5-6 power table that you take out Hullbreaker Horror, Tidespout Tyrant, and Galecaster Colossus as they can create potentially negative experiences for other players in that range of more casual games. Conveniently the three cards mentioned also happen to be the most expensive in the deck so if you want to make those adjustments I've provided recommended changes in my "Even More Budget Options" section below.

Thanks for checking out my primer and enjoy!

>The Commander

So I'm going to be completely honest with you: Stitcher Geralf is not a particularly strong commander. In fact, at the time of writing this he is currently sitting at rank #58 on edhrec for mono U commanders and rank #928 overall. He costs a lot to cast, does nothing when he is played for a whole turn around the table and every time you want to activate his ability you have to sink 3 mana. To add insult to injury, there is a possibility that you completely brick in making a creature off his ability. Even if you don't brick, there may very well be some graveyard decks such as Meren of Clan Nel Toth at the table who will be THRILLED to mill over 3 cards for you.

In addition to these flaws is the unfortunate fact that many opponents are unaware of said flaws. Yes that's right, Stitcher Geralf is a huge lightning rod. Most opponents I play against see the card and think I will be cranking out 15/15s every single activation. Because of this, if you brazenly play out Geralf without protection and pass the turn, it is highly likely that you will be untapping the next turn with him back in your command zone.

HOWEVER, what Geralf lacks in immediate impact, ease of use, reliability, survivability, he makes up for in what's most important: FUN! When Stitcher Geralf is at his best you are cranking out multiple 8/8s and 15/15s a turn, cloning those monsters, giving them flying and smashing your opponents out of the game. In addition he's dumping a ton of value into your own graveyard that you can then take advantage of with the card selections of this deck.

>Strategy

General Strategy

Given the weaknesses mentioned for Geralf, the goal is rarely to ramp out Geralf early and hope that you can start activating. Instead, in general, you want to play a more controlling game early on: Ramp early and often, pose as little threat as possible to avoid hate, and answer only the most threating spells being played. When your opponents are out of resources/answers in the mid-late game you can start to take over by playing huge creatures like Hullbreaker Horror, Tidespout Tyrant, Galecaster Colossus. You can then cheaply clone them with cards like Quasiduplicate, Cackling Counterpart, Mirrorhall Mimic // Ghastly Mimicry. When your opponents answer those threats you can recur them from your graveyard with cards like God-Pharaoh's Gift and Hour of Eternity.

Your Commander

So then that leaves our commander. What do we do with Stitcher Geralf? Well, like The Dude's rug, Geralf really ties the deck together. You can play Geralf either when you have protection for him or you have nothing better to do in your hand. It's not the end of the world if Geralf dies because you will generally be ramping a lot and playing lands most turns. With the composition of this deck you can generate a TON of value from Geralf. First, obviously he can create some pretty huge threats that your opponents will need to answer, but in addition he will mill your cards into your graveyard. The deck has several cards that you can either cast from your graveyard with mechanics like flashback, eternalize, disturb, jump-start as well as cards that can generate value from your graveyard such as Body Double and Back from the Brink. In this way Geralf generates threats and can potentially "draw" you cards with a single activation.

Making a Monster

If you manage to get Geralf to stick, I would not recommend activating him on your turn. Rather you should wait until the end step before you turn. This gives your opponents less time to respond, less potential resources in their graveyards and more of a chance that your monster survives. It also allows you to keep mana up for counterspells, removal, etc.

This deck is packed with 32 creatures to mitigate as much as possible the potential for bricking with Geralf's ability. However, despite your instinct to go for the hugest monster possible whenever you activate Geralf there are a few things you should consider. As a general rule, you typically want to exile your opponents creatures to make the monster rather than your own. There's a few reasons for this: First, obviously, you have a few ways in your deck to recur your own creature later so exiling it will remove that possibility. Secondly your opponents who are playing graveyard decks can potentially generate value from anything you don't exile. With that in mind here is the order of priority for creatures to exile:

• Opponent's creatures that are a threat of recurring/reanimating. Cards like Eternal Witness, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or combo pieces like Karmic Guide
• Creatures that any other opponent can reanimate that would ruin your day
• Your opponent's big creatures
• Your opponent's mid-sized creatures. The exception here being if you need a bigger creature for blocking/posing a threat. In which case, make the biggest creature possible
• Your big creatures. As a general rule, if you don't have a way to recur/reanimate that creature in your hand just make it into a zombie... you aren't guaranteed to draw action any time soon and it would be a waste to not make a threat immediately
• Any other creatures

>Themes and Synergies

Since I discuss each card individually up above I am only going to highlight the themes and synergies of the deck here. Starting first with what you are probably wondering about the most...

Reanimation

Reanimation in blue? What is this guy talking about? Ok, ok so blue doesn't really have many reanimation options at all, but there are several ways that you can recur your creatures, even if it doesn't involve bringing the actual creature back:

Artisan of Kozilek
Back from the Brink
Body Double
Hour of Eternity
God-Pharaoh's Gift

Commander Synergies

These cards generate even more advantage from Geralf and the other things your deck does like giving flying to your zombie monstrosities or turning the smaller ones into actual fatties in your deck.

Archetype of Imagination
Geralf, Visionary Stitcher
Hordewing Skaab
Jalira, Master Polymorphist
Wonder

Multiple Geralf Activations

These cards untap your commander so that you can activate multiple times a turn. Some conveniently are low cost enough that they double as ramp as well.

Kelpie Guide
Retreat to Coralhelm
Tidal Force
Vizier of Tumbling Sands

The Clones

This is actually a very important part of the deck. If you were only playing or making one big creature a turn the deck would be too slow. These cards will allow you to generate even more value once you stick a threat. The majority also have the bonus of being playable from your graveyard.

Cackling Counterpart
Mirrorhall Mimic // Ghastly Mimicry
Quasiduplicate (this is probably the single best card in the deck)
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Vizier of Many Faces

The Fatties

These are the cards you want to play, clone, reanimate or use to make your zombies. In general I've tried to only include creatures that fit several purposes. For example, Tidal Force is both a threat and can allow me to activate Geralf multiple times. Artisan of Kozilek is also reanimation when cast. Cyclone Summoner is a nice board reset... you'd also be surprised how many other wizards/giants are in the deck so it can potentially be a one sided wipe.

Artisan of Kozilek
Cyclone Summoner
Diluvian Primordial
Frost Titan
Galecaster Colossus
Hullbreaker Horror
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Scourge of Fleets
Stormtide Leviathan
Tidal Force
Tidespout Tyrant

Graveyard Value

These are cards you are happy to mill over with Geralf because you can play them from your graveyard.

Cackling Counterpart
Chemister's Insight
Commit // Memory
Deep Analysis
Drownyard Temple
Mirrorhall Mimic // Ghastly Mimicry
Quasiduplicate
Vizier of Many Faces
Wonder

Ramp

For getting to your big spells.

Deranged Assistant
Everflowing Chalice
Kelpie Guide
Millikin
Mind Stone
Myriad Landscape
Palladium Myr
Prismatic Lens
Silver Myr
Sky Diamond
Solemn Simulacrum
Sol Ring
Unstable Obelisk
Vizier of Tumbling Sands

Board Resets

For staying alive long enough to play your deck

Curse of the Swine
Cyclone Summoner
Devastation Tide
Oblivion Stone
Perilous Vault
River's Rebuke
Scourge of Fleets

Counter Spells and Single Target Removal

As mentioned before, you typically want to hold mana up for your opponents turns and then activate on the last end step before your turn. These will give you things to do to interact and stay alive long enough to win.

Capsize
Commit // Memory
Dissolve
Imprisoned in the moon
Meteor Golem
Overcharged Amalgam
Ravenform
Reality Shift
Rewind
Sinister Sabotage
Transmogrifying Wand (seriously underrated card)
Unstable Obelisk
Voracious Greatshark

>Starting Hand

With all of the fatties in your deck you are going to need a lot of mana. We have 39 lands (36 lands, 3 Zendikar spell/land split cards) in the deck and 14 pieces of ramp, 8 of which is 2 mana ramp.

Your opener should have AT LEAST three lands or two lands and one piece of 2mana ramp (or Sol Ring). If it doesn't, you need to mulligan no matter how good the rest of your hand looks. I've kept hands with 5-6 lands/ramp but I never keep a hand with 2 or less lands. Trust me, if you do this you are going to have a very bad time.

>Even More Budget Options (WIP)

I'm still working on this section, sorry! But as promised here are replacements if you want to power down the deck for a more casual setting:

Hullbreaker Horror -> Fleet Swallower
Tidespout Tyrant -> Inkwell Leviathan
Galecaster Colossus -> Desolation Twin

>More Expensive Options (WIP)

WIP! Without a budget, two cards that immediately come to mind for me though are Crucible of Worlds and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. But I will be adding a range of options here in the future!