EDH - Multiplayer - Ephara, F*** The Polis

[AliasGreg]

EDH - Multiplayer - Ephara, F*** The Polis

I would like some advices concerning this deck.
The goal is to spam the board with ETB creatures, play hate cards to counter the opponents.
The decks lacks good ramp in the begining.
I may add Oblivion Sower because there are some cards to exile graveyards (hello fetchs, wasteland, strip mine, ...) but it's not an ETB creature.

Thanks for the help!

[WWolfe]

Landtax could help with thinning out your deck and Gift of Estates could help with ramp to a degree.

So you're wanting to win by combat damage?

[AliasGreg]

Thanks for you reply, the problem with cards like Gift of Estates is that the lands don't come into play but in my hand (which is often full of cards).
Landtax could be great but I would need some more rocks to do that and I don't know what to cut :/

Yes, I often win by combat damage, some flyers, some removals and cards like Lavinia of the Tenth.

[SeDuKon]

Are you using this as a commander or trying to knock it down to 60

[WWolfe]

Thanks for you reply, the problem with cards like Gift of Estates is that the lands don't come into play but in my hand (which is often full of cards).
Landtax could be great but I would need some more rocks to do that and I don't know what to cut :/

Yes, I often win by combat damage, some flyers, some removals and cards like Lavinia of the Tenth.

That's the problem I have with Gift of Estates in my Daxos deck. Surprised you're not running Sol Ring or Gilded Lotus.

What results have you had play-testing it so far?

[AliasGreg]

Sedukon : Yes, it's a commander deck!

Thanks for you reply, the problem with cards like Gift of Estates is that the lands don't come into play but in my hand (which is often full of cards).
Landtax could be great but I would need some more rocks to do that and I don't know what to cut :/

Yes, I often win by combat damage, some flyers, some removals and cards like Lavinia of the Tenth.

That's the problem I have with Gift of Estates in my Daxos deck. Surprised you're not running Sol Ring or Gilded Lotus.

What results have you had play-testing it so far?

Sol Ring is banned in our group.
Gilded Lotus should be good, I have to find a slot for it.

While testing I would say that the deck has a lot of answers but a lack of tutors to find the right ones.
Torpor Orb is a real problem, that's why I added Oblation and some other instants (along with Ojutai Exemplars and Monastery Mentor),
but it's only one card, I should find at least an other two.
Otherwise, blinking is a really good mechanic.

[WWolfe]

Oh I love blinking.

I forgot you had mentioned elsewhere that your group used a custom ban list. What all is on it?

[AliasGreg]

We use the current multiplayer ban list but:

Primeval Titan is allowed.
Sol Ring, Bane of Progress, Ruination, Craterhoof Behemoth, Gaea's Cradle and Mana Drain are also banned.

And we are discussing the ban of the following cards:

Primeval Titan (yeah, him again), Cyclonic Rift, Living Death (because of a 5 hours game, when you have more than 30 ETB to resolve ...) and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.

We also forbid infinite combos...

[WWolfe]

I can see those decisions on bans.

The infinite combos I'm torn on. One playgroup I'm in limits them to 10 cycles.

[AliasGreg]

In fact, we like disputed games, where everybody stands a chance. A deck full of wrath and that wins in one turn is obviously not very fun.
When I play decks like Jeleva, it's very easy for me to ramp and then cast huge spells and additionnal turns to snowball and win.
We also avoid mass lands destruction because it's not very fun either.

Still, sometimes a player make a play and wins really fast, but it's always due to a mistake. (not taking care of a recursive engine, not exiling a graveyard, let someone draw to much ...)
I think 10 cycles of a combo is not very accurate, because if a Gray Merchant of Asphodel triggers 10 times ... Well 
It also depends of the combo, Enter the Infinite combos for example...

[WWolfe]

All valid points. I'm the one person that actually voted against the 10 cycle rule, either have infinites or don't IMHO.

My playgroup is pretty similar. We've talked about a custom banlist but have just never taken the time to make one. Generally though we do a pretty good job of not including super broken stuff in our decks.

[AliasGreg]

I'm trying to find the best creatures to blink, if you have some ideas... 

[WWolfe]

You have most of the ones I first thought of. One card I thought of that could help with controlling your draws is Sage of Epityr.

[CommanderMeanderer]

Hello there!

If you're looking for nice ETB triggers, Angel of the Dire Hour and Mulldrifter came to mind. (Mulldrifter is my personal favorite card to blink, although it might be redundant with all this deck's card draw). Also, I'm not 100% sure on this interaction, but if you have Ephara and Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper out are all of your instants and sorceries suddenly cantrips?

If you want a nice versatile solution to Torpor Orb, I suggest Return to Dust. Use it immediately if you need to, or wait and destroy two cards for one. Plus it exiles to stop those graveyard shenanigans.

If you're looking at adding Oblivion Sower and some exile manipulation effects, I read an interesting Dear Azami a while back that you might be interested in. It used processors like Oracle of Dust to turn temporary exile (here's looking at you, Angel of Serenity, Glimmerpoint Stag, and Flickerwisp) to removal spells for your opponent's permanents. I understand that's not your plan with the deck, but it's an interesting interaction if you want to get more versatile removal that still synergies with ETB triggers.
(Link: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31752_Dear-Azami-Lets-Do-Some-Processing.html)

Anyway, hope I helped, happy deck building!

PS: How would you like a Blade of Selves in the deck?

[AliasGreg]

Aah, I love the idea, I have to test this. Thanks for the article!
Those eldrazis are not cheap though...
Blade of Selves looks really fun, I forgot about that card.
It make me want to build Brago artifact ETB deck.^^
Return to Dust, I thought about that card, 4 is a lot, but maybe it's the price to pay against Torpor Orb, and it deals with gods too. I will reconsider.
Noyan is not working, as the lands are already in play, sadly.