Omo, Queen of VesuvaOmo, Queen of Vesuva | art by Chun Lo

The Countdown Is at OneThe Countdown Is at One

Hello there! Welcome to the final edition of 2024's EDHighlights, the series where I build decks for last year's most popular commanders in each color combination.

Now that 2024's set releases have wrapped up, I'll be taking a look at the most popular legendary creatures that were released in the past year and building unique decks around them.

This week, I'm building a deck for 2024's most popular Simic commander, which means we'll be working with… Omo, Queen of VesuvaOmo, Queen of Vesuva!

OmoOmo was the leader of Modern Horizons 3's “Tricky Terrain” precon, and leads 6,948 decks on EDHREC as of the time of writing.

This card actually represents two distinct Vesuvian sisters, who rule Vesuva with one title. She's also referenced on Commander staple Helm of the HostHelm of the Host, which both sisters appear to be wearing in their art.

Neat, right? Let's see what made OmoOmo so popular…

OmoOmo is a 1/5 for , an interesting statline for a Simic commander.

When she enters or attacks, we get to put an “everything counter” on a creature or land we control, essentially giving that permanent changeling.

Creatures with that counter on them are every creature type, and lands with that counter on them are every land type. That's pretty strong, and it allows for fun land-based synergies with Deserts, Caves, and even Loci. 

Many OmoOmo decks focus on creating tons of mana with land-type-alteration shenaniganry, but I'll be focusing on an entirely different kind of shenaniganry: creature-type-alteration.

By filling a board with kindred synergies, and then ensuring that most of the creatures on our board are every creature type, we'll take advantage of powerful kindred synergies. Let's get brewing!

“Forged out of flowstone for the queen of Vesuva.”“Forged out of flowstone for the queen of Vesuva.”

As a Simic deck, this has a healthy amount of ramp included. One of the best ramp pieces in this multi-typal deck is Malcolm, Keen-Eyed NavigatorMalcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator. He can provide a constant stream of Treasures, as many as three each turn, as long as we're going to combat with our creatures.

Clement, the WorrywortClement, the Worrywort is great too, letting all of our creatures tap for mana while also providing the ability to reuse powerful ETB abilities. Three Tree CityThree Tree City is great too, providing a ton of mana regardless of which creature type we choose as it enters.

Creatures that can tap for multiple mana, one for each creature of a given type, are fantastic here too. Priest of TitaniaPriest of Titania and Harabaz DruidHarabaz Druid are nearly identical cards, and both can tap to add a ton of mana as the game goes on and our board full of multi-typed creatures grows.

Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid is great too, costing one more mana but providing an anthem to our board along the way.

As a Simic deck, we also need constant card advantage so we can spend our mana effectively. Curious AltisaurCurious Altisaur lets us draw a card whenever one of our Dinosaurs hits, which is super effective when combined with evasive threats we can modify the creature types of.

Grolnok, the OmnivoreGrolnok, the Omnivore is a super interesting card, providing a “riskier” version of card advantage but a lot more of it. I think this card is really cool, and I'm glad that it has a home here.

Hakbal of the Surging SoulHakbal of the Surging Soul is amazing in this deck, growing our board, providing card selection, and even a little bit of ramp for just four mana. I love that this card can hit the board the turn after our commander does, and provide a stream of value from there on out.

There's a few other pieces of card advantage I think are interesting, like Sea Gate LoremasterSea Gate Loremaster.

Yes, five mana is a lot for a 1/3. But, this creature can tap to draw five, six, seven or more cards if it we're allowed to untap with it. Mass AppealMass Appeal is a cheap card draw spell, letting us draw a whole bunch of cards for just three mana.

And, lastly, there's Call to the KindredCall to the Kindred. If we put this enchantment on a creature that has an everything counter on it, we can essentially sneak out any creature in the top five cards of our library every single turn.

A typal-typal deck, if you will...

One of the easiest ways that this deck can end the game is through combat. To make that easier, there's a few typal anthem effects that'll end up buffing our whole board. Lord of the UnrealLord of the Unreal can protect every creature on our board while also giving them +1/+1, even giving itself hexproof if we can put an everything counter on it.

There's also Tendershoot DryadTendershoot Dryad, which will give our whole board +2/+2 and make (what's essentially) a 3/3 token every single upkeep.

Lastly, Baru, WurmspeakerBaru, Wurmspeaker is here too, buffing our whole board and providing trample, while churning out cheap 4/4 tokens (that are really 6/6s) once per turn rotation.

There's some other cool typal stuff here too, like SwarmyardSwarmyard to protect any creature of our choosing, Horn of GondorHorn of Gondor to make a board full of 1/1 tokens, and even Ezuri, Renegade LeaderEzuri, Renegade Leader to protect our board or act as a game-winning overrun.

To round out the fun typal synergies, there's three more cards I want to show off. Minn, Wily IllusionistMinn, Wily Illusionist provides strong token creation, and can give us a nice consolation prize when any of our everything-countered creatures die.

Sachi, Daughter of SeshiroSachi, Daughter of Seshiro is an anthem and a nice source of mana, letting each of our creatures tap to add while giving them an extra toughness.

And, lastly, Galerider SliverGalerider Sliver can give all of our creatures flying for just one mana, ending games quite quickly.

StandardizeStandardized Testing

Because OmoOmo needs to attack in order to add everything counters to our creatures, I've added a few extra ways to ensure she survives combat.

Multiclass BaldricMulticlass Baldric provides the twins with some relevant abilities that make her quite hard to block, and can even make her invulnerable during combat if we should have a full party of creatures.

Merfolk SovereignMerfolk Sovereign is a neat little anthem that also provides the ability to tap and ensure that OmoOmo survives her attack, which is pretty helpful.

Last but certainly not least is Long River LurkerLong River Lurker, which protects all of our creatures with a light ward cost, makes OmoOmo unblockable, and even flickers our commander once combat is over.

This card not only ensures that we get to attack safely with OmoOmo, but also allows her to re-trigger her ETB trigger and produce an extra everything counter every turn. This is one of my favorite cards in the deck, even if it only provides a free attack once.

Here's the full decklist:

Tale's EndTale's End

Before I go, there's three more cards that I'd love to touch on. Biowaste BlobBiowaste Blob can multiply itself on each of our turns, and give our whole board a super powerful anthem if it sticks around.

Patron WizardPatron Wizard is a mean but super cool card, letting each of our creatures act as repeatable interaction that's sure to enrage our opponents. And, finally, there's Spawning KrakenSpawning Kraken to create tons of 9/9s way earlier than R&D intended.

That's it for this week, and for this series! EDHighlights was my first extended series on EDHREC, and I truly appreciate each of you who read any of these articles.

Whether you read one of them, some of them, or all of them, I appreciate you. I'll be back soon with some cool evergreen content for EDHREC, so I'll see you all then!

Cooper Gottfried

Cooper is a student at Brandeis University, where he’s Editor in Chief of its community newspaper, The Brandeis Hoot. Outside of Magic: The Gathering, his hobbies include weightlifting, writing, and Dungeons and Dragons.