Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept | Art by Yoshitaka Amano

To Food Chain or Not to Food Chain?

No other card from Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy has excited me more than Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept. While she reads as a very weak card on first glance, I posit that she is immensely powerful - so powerful in fact, she may very well be the new premier five-color option for enterprising Competitive Commander pilots.

That's a bold claim! But, as I've been brewing different versions of Terra decks, comparing them to others, and getting a couple games in, I'm becoming more reinforced in this idea. The main question I have left is a tough one: Should the deck contain Food ChainFood Chain?

What Does Terra, Magical AdeptTerra, Magical Adept Do?

Terra brings a lot of strengths to the table, but I find most of her utility in three things. Firstly, her cost is incredibly affordable, letting her be cast as early as turn one with ease.

Secondly, despite only costing three total mana, she has all five color identities, enabling the pilot to pack all of the most powerful cards you can imagine. Where is that identity from, one asks? On her backside, Esper TerraEsper Terra.

While I doubt this side will ever be relevant in a cEDH match, given the high cost to transform her into Saga creature form, the fourth chapter ability is money. Since it adds , that's good enough to bequeath this card each of the colors for its identity. What an awesome freebie.

There's a world where her other three chapters (all of which share the same ability) could be relevant at the cEDH level; if you can make a nonlegendary clone of Esper Terra itself, say with Spark DoubleSpark Double, the clone will enter and trigger its own ability, which can then make a copy of itself with haste, which can make a copy of itself with haste… and suddenly one's left with an arbitrarily high number of 6/6 flyers with haste, which wins the game.

However, both the cost to flip Terra () and the cost of the effects that let you make a non-legendary copy of Esper Terra move this into the realm of cEDH implausibility.

Thirdly, and most importantly, her enters ability. “When Terra enters, mill five cards. Put up to one enchantment card milled this way into your hand.” Enchantments are one of the most powerful card types available in cEDH, with the likes of Rhystic StudyRhystic Study and Mystic RemoraMystic Remora currently defining many games played.

Having a Commander that, while not actually a tutor, can do a similar effect, has some great implications. We'll talk about that more later.

How Does Terra, Magical Adept Win?

Since its a huge pile of five-color good stuff, Terra has the unique ability to contain multitudes of interesting win-cons. Thanks to Terra, assembling several of them is easier than ever as they rely upon a key enchantment to get things going.

Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle + Demonic ConsultationDemonic Consultation / Tainted PactTainted Pact

This one is the cEDH classics. Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle and one of the library exiling effects are assembled, one can simply cast Oracle and respond to its enters ability by exiling your library.

Extra tip! Have Tainted PactTainted Pact and Demonic ConsultationDemonic Consultation in hand, but no Thoracle? Use Tainted PactTainted Pact to find Thassa's!

Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach +Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond/ Lotus PetalLotus Petal + Brain FreezeBrain Freeze / Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune

Another classic cEDH win-con at this point in time, possibly holding the crown of “best!” Use Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach to cast Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond or Lotus PetalLotus Petal over and over again from your graveyard, generating arbitrarily high amounts of mana, keeping the graveyard fueled by occasionally casting Brain FreezeBrain Freeze (or in a pinch, Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune). Eventually cast huge Brain FreezeBrain Freezes enough to mill out your opponents. It's fun that Terra can help find Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach if needed.

Food ChainFood Chain

The ability to have a Food Chain package is a main draw to Terra.

To win here, first cast Food Chain and have Squee, the ImmortalSquee, the Immortal in, well, any zone. Cast Squee and exile him to Food ChainFood Chain over and over - gaining one mana for creatures every time.

Eventually, use this mana to cast and exile and cast and exile Terra from the Command Zone, until she reveals Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge and puts him into our hand. Once Purphoros is cast, you can return to casting Squee over and over, shocking the table to death.

Another way of winning here, if Purphoros somehow isn't available, for example, is instead casting Terra until the library is empty and then using Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle. This win line may be good enough to simply cut Purphoros and replace him with another Good Card, but I'm undecided.

Bonus - Displacer KittenDisplacer Kitten + Teferi, Time RavelerTeferi, Time Raveler + Mana Positive Rock

This one probably won't come up as often, as it's expensive and hard to assemble, but it is a way the deck can technically win with cards we already would like to play.

With Teferi & Displacer KittenDisplacer Kitten in play, cast any non-creature spell, flickering Teferi. Use Teferi's -3 ability to pick up a mana positive rock (Sol RingSol Ring, Mox OpalMox Opal, Mana VaultMana Vault, etc.) and then recast said rock. Flicker Teferi, use Teferi's -3 after floating mana from the rock... you can see where this is going.

Loads of mana and the ability to draw your whole deck. Easy!

It's Tutoring Time

Since Terra is a five-color deck, you also get the advantage of including the best tutors. Interestingly enough, this deck is one that benefits massively from the inclusion of the recently un-banned Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven!

• Both IntuitionIntuition and Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven play similar roles, fetching up most of your win conditions in return for a bit of mana. Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven is the better of the two, and the standard pile for tutoring is Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond, Brain FreezeBrain Freeze, and Sevinne's ReclamationSevinne's Reclamation. No matter what an opponent gives you, you can win from that point, given you have enough mana. You can also assemble Food Chain lines here!
• All the Rest:
  • Vampiric TutorVampiric Tutor
  • Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor
  • Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor
  • Wishclaw TalismanWishclaw Talisman
  • Tainted PactTainted Pact
  • Worldly TutorWorldly Tutor
  • EntombEntomb
  • GambleGamble

All of these cards work excellently to get me where I'm going, especially Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor or Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor. Being heavy on enchantments specifically makes Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor more than just a Go-Get-Rhystic StudyRhystic Study machine, though it's never gonna be bad at that either.

EntombEntomb has some specific utility, letting me find Squee and get him into the graveyard at any time; but if ReanimateReanimate is in hand, there are plenty of other powerful options as well.

Maximizing Terra

Here's the part of brewing up Terra that I had the most fun with. If I'm going to have Terra in the Command Zone, I would love to have her hit and draw a card every time she enters the battlefield.

Additionally, I would like to be able to trigger her ability multiple times without having to recast her, helping dig through my library to find the most valuable pieces in the deck. As a result, I've specifically included a higher than normal enchantment count, stuffing in powerful options, both as creatures and non-creatures.

Let's run through the creatures:

• Colossal SkyturtleColossal Skyturtle offers two powerful effects that, while a bit more costly than they normally would be, are nearly impossible to interact with because they are channels!
• Destiny SpinnerDestiny Spinner lets cards such as Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach and Food ChainFood Chain resolve with ease while also protecting Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle and other value creatures.
• Enduring VitalityEnduring Vitality helps leverage a high creature count into explosive mana turns.
• Overlord of the BalemurkOverlord of the Balemurk can be cast for either its impending or normal cost to continue digging through the library while also returning an accidentally milled (or killed) creature of value to my hand.
• Purphoros wins the game with Food Chain.

Now, the noncreatures:

• Mystic RemoraMystic Remora, Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, & Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe: These are the four must-run enchantments in every cEDH deck that feature their color. Casting Terra early in the game and happening to reveal one of these is the actual dream.
• Carpet of FlowersCarpet of Flowers: While this has fallen out of favor in many cEDH pilots' heads, getting mana to cast my spells while also being able to draw it with Terra seems good enough to me.
• Food ChainFood Chain: Wins games. ‘Nuff said.
• Copy EnchantmentCopy Enchantment: An enchantment that gives me enchantments from my opponents? With everyone else playing Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, Mystic RemoraMystic Remora, Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe, etc., I would love the chance to copy it. Of course, it copies any enchantment in play, so I can double up on my own high-power options as well. Normally, I also wouldn't play this card either, but getting to play a high-upside card that I can sometimes “draw” off of my Commander makes it worth it.

Of note, there are a few more completely defensible cards you could play that are enchantments that I've decided to leave out of my list. Those options include:

• Animate DeadAnimate Dead
• Copy ArtifactCopy Artifact
• Wild GrowthWild Growth
• Sylvan LibrarySylvan Library
• Urza's SagaUrza's Saga
• Bloodchief AscensionBloodchief Ascension
• MirrormadeMirrormade
• Maybe even Sanctum WeaverSanctum Weaver (if you lean even harder into enchantments)

Leaning harder into enchantments is appealing for one obvious reason: I get to profit off Terra triggers even more, ensuring that every time her ability triggers, I draw a (probably powerful) card. The harder one leans into enchantments though, the more Real cEDH Playables hit the cutting floor.

Already, with the list as is, I'm nervous about not including Culling the WeakCulling the Weak and Ancient TombAncient Tomb, for example. But those are the sacrifices I've made to try out cards like Overlord of the BalemurkOverlord of the Balemurk instead.

But wait! There's more maximizing of Terra to be had! How could I do that? Blinking. This is a segment of the deck that I'd like to figure out a way to maximize more, but I'm starting low and trying not to overindex on it.

• Displacer KittenDisplacer Kitten: The obvious best option for these kinds of shenanigans. Being able to blink Terra whenever I cast a noncreature spell will snowball quickly - especially since casting any noncreature enchantment I find off of her will trigger it again!
• Phelia, Exuberant ShepherdPhelia, Exuberant Shepherd: The little Dog who could is awesome in this deck, letting me flicker Terra every turn - or temporarily removing other stuff if it's needed. The nice thing about exiling your own things is that Phelia gets bigger every time you do it, making it that much easier for her to get through attacks. Win-win!
• EphemerateEphemerate / Ghostly FlickerGhostly Flicker: These two one-off effects let me trade a card for - hopefully - another, higher quality one. Ephemerate gets bonus points for firing off twice for one cost.

5C Good Stuff

The rest of the deck, at the risk of sounding a bit boring, does quite literally build itself.

Since it's five colors, there's a fairly standard mana base to consider, alongside all of the rest of the must-play cEDH staples. Excellent blue interaction, some removal, off-blue but free interactive options (Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick, Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat), SilenceSilence, all the Good Mana, Grand AbolisherGrand Abolisher effects, Orcish BowmastersOrcish Bowmasters, Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel, and, of course, The One RingThe One Ring. Plenty more besides.

The one inclusion I'll shout out here is SpellseekerSpellseeker. Since the tutor package is so good, and since I've also packed in some flicker effects, she can find a lot of the cards I'm looking for at most any time, while also fitting into a few of the more niche Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven packages.

A notable exclusion at this time is Ranger-Captain of EosRanger-Captain of Eos. The printing of Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory has made his inclusion a little bit less must-have and I'm experimenting with how it feels not playing him, especially since a cost is a tough ask in a five-color deck. I'm sure he'll end up in the list sometime - just not yet!

Terra, Magical Adept cEDH Deck List

Conclusion: On Food Chain

So that's my Terra list! I'm excited about the prospects of having a new, cheap, powerful five-color legend, something it feels like we haven't gotten in the cEDH space in years.

The real conundrum I continue to have about building it is how much Food ChainFood Chain matters - or if it matters at all. It's obviously powerful for Terra, given that she herself gives me an easy outlet for winning the game once I've assembled both Food Chain & Squee. However, it does necessitate adding anywhere from three to six additional cards to make it work most optimally.

For example, if I was cutting Food ChainFood Chain, I would also look to cut Squee, EntombEntomb, Purphoros, and, most likely, both SpellseekerSpellseeker and Destiny SpinnerDestiny Spinner. These could be filled with the next best-in-slot cards that one would expect to see in a five-color deck that aren't present here. Ancient TombAncient Tomb, maybe, Imperial SealImperial Seal perhaps, SnapSnap, Final FortuneFinal Fortune, Culling the WeakCulling the Weak, and so on.

Luckily, at least for now, the cards that feel like they're missing are slim-to-none, while the cards that I would replace Food Chain lines with feel a bit more replaceable than all the rest I've fit into this list.

What would you put into your own Terra list? I would love to hear it in the comments. Thanks for reading!