The deck breaks down into a number of categories. First off we have the creatures, who break down into Targets, Size, and Utility.
Targets are the creatures you actively want to make Mimeo into. They have a variety of effects, but they are all very strong plays.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Capable of drawing your whole deck Putrefax - The easiest one shot in the deck Stormtide Leviathan - Moat Fish buys you crazy amounts of time and is capable of killing players Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Similar to Putrefax, Skittles hangs around, but costs more mana to kill in one turn. He is also resilient and has a low threshold Triskellion - Combined with Lord of Extinction or Multani, Trike can kill whole tables if large enough
The next category of creatures is the guys for size. These are huge dudes that give you the ability to make Mimeo a game ending monster.
Lord of Extinction Multani, Maro-Sorcerer Consuming Aberration
The next category I call utility, but honestly it could just be called 'The Rest". These are dudes that give you a variety of effects. Creatures are inherently more valuable than non-creatures due to the nature of the deck. When dredging constantly, creatures are what you have the easiest access to through your general.
Bane of Progress - Great for us since we run virtually no artifact mana Body Double - Mimeo Lite, can do cool things with persist creatures Deathrite Shaman - Lowish value, gives me some gy hate without nuking my yard Disciple of Bolas Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord - Important threat that can end games by eating Mimeo Hermit Druid - I run basics, there just isn't a much better way to fill the yard. Golgari Grave Troll Krosan Tusker - Replaces itself, gets a land, feeds Mimeo. Great card Lotleth Troll - Discard outlet that makes a decent target with Trample and Regen Prophet of Kruphix - Gives the deck the ability to make more use of its mana Phyrexian Delver - A creature reanimation spell Puppeteer Clique River Kelpie - Draws tons of cards. Lots of things in the deck trigger him
Satyr Wayfinder - Enabler that can block Stinkweed Imp
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant - Efficient enabler that gives bodied for sacrifice
Soul of Innistrad - Fine Milled or in play, draws three action cards. Snapcaster Mage - My way of accessing milled spells.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang Terastodan - Huge dude that doubles as triple disenchant.
Titania, Protector of Argoth - Provides bodies. Plays well with LFTL Varolz, the Scar Striped - In theory he gives me tons of giant growths Woodfall Primus - Persist + Disenchant = win. Wonder - Free flying for my whole team by doing what the deck wants to do anyway
There are plenty of big guys in the rest, but the point of the card is not the size of the creature, but rather what the creature does. There are a lot of interconnected pieces here. The Persist creatures are great on their own, but when in the presence of sac outlets, a general that can copy them and then return as something else and remove the counter, they become extremely powerful. Glen Elendra Archmage hasn't made it in since I don't often have free mana to leave up, but the card is on my radar. Titania has been great. Getting me ahead on mana and providing a steady stream of 5/3s. Tasigur is new, but he's been quite strong. I'm contemplating going for Gurmag Angler. The extra point of power does make a difference, and the extra card really doesn't. Tasigur's ability is decidedly meh with how many cards I have in my graveyard, but he becomes a real powerhouse when combined with Prophet of Kruphix. Cards on the block include Varloz, who is a good sac outlet but we don't have a lot of cheap creatures to scavenge. He is a decent Mimeo target since he regenerates, but no natural evasion is a bit of a problem.
Of course, the creatures are only half the story. The problem with non-creature spells is that we don't have a lot of good ways to recover them. I tried Eternal Witness and I would it quite slow at recovering these things. As such, non-creatures without flashback or some strong reason to be included have been cut. The remainder are the cream of the crop, and have also been divided into categories.
Setup: Crucible of Worlds Entomb Frantic Search Grisly Salvage Life from the Loam Mulch Sylvan Library Survival of the Fittest Unfulfilled Desires
Intuition
Thought Scour
Mental Note
Monastery Siege
Restore
Card Draw:
Deep Analysis
Greater Good
Treasure Cruise
Protection: Cabal Therapy Krosan Grip Mental Misstep Pact of Negation Stifle Mana: Mana Crypt Sol Ring
Other:
Berserk
Dread Return
Worm Harvest
As you can see, the fast majority of the non-creatures are there for the pre-dredge phase. Of particular note is Life From The Loam. Loam is one of the major cards in the deck's scheme. It is a go-between for dredge to cards with the cycling lands. It gives me mana early, fills my yard and lets me play a land every turn. Its important in a dredge deck like this one to play land every turn since I eschew artifact mana and play very few land search effects. Building my graveyard is of paramount importantence to ensure Mimeo is dangerous early and often. This is not intended to be blisteringly fast, its designed to be very hard to deal with. Most EDH groups have an unwritten rule not to play hardcore mana denial. No Armageddons, no taxing effects, and most if not all land hate is single target in nature. Mimeo exploits this weakness by only having lands and the graveyard matter. The protection spells are mostly to protect the graveyard. The vast majority of gy hate is Relic, or Bojuka Bog type effects that Stifle and Mental Misstep are great at protecting me from. Mental Misstep has the bonus of stopping turn one Sol Ring and Swords to Plowshares targeting Mimeo. With all this emphasis on the lands, lets have a look at them.
Land:40 Ancient Tomb Barren Moor Bayou Breeding Pool Bazaar of Baghdad Command tower Cavern of Souls Crystal Vein Centaur Garden Cephalid Coliseum Dakmor Salvage Dimir Aquaduct 2x Forest Golgari Rot Farm Hinterland Harbor Hall of the Bandit Lord Island Lonely Sandbar Misty Rainforest Mosswort Bridge Miren, the Moaning Well Overgrown tomb Polluted Delta Phyrexian Tower Rupture Spire
Simic Growth Chamber Sunken Ruins Swamp Temple of Deceit
Temple of Mystery
Temple of Malady Twilight Mire Tranquil Thicket Tropical Island Urborg Underground Sea Volrath's Stronghold Verdant Catacombs Watery Grave
This mana base is littered with cool effects, Hall of the Bandit Lord is unbelievably scary when it can produce a general damage lethal attack at any moment. Volrath's Stronghold lets me retrieve any creature if the game starts going long. The deck has a number of lands that trigger Titania beyond fetchlands. Bazaar is an all star, churning through the deck with incredible velocity. Bazaar is especially great in combination with Loam. Turning the lands that Loam returns into real cards. The bounce lands are really good at extending my land drops and resetting effects like Temples and Mosswort Bridge. Temples have been surprisingly good at helping to navigate whether to dredge or draw, and the deck is very color dense, the duel lands aspect of them helping to maintain cast-ability of my cards.
I hope you enjoyed this overview. My next experiment is likely to include Summer Bloom, Exploration, and Explore. These might help me not fall behind a table. With the increased power of non-creatures in the deck, including Eternal Witness again might be worthwhile.
Leave any questions in the comments,
Cheers!
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