Tymna the WeaverTymna the Weaver | Art by Winona Nelson

cEDH is a meta with a whole lot of top-tier options. Stick Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh next to either Thrasios, Triton HeroThrasios, Triton Hero or Silas Renn, Seeker AdeptSilas Renn, Seeker Adept and you'll get a powerful contender. Even without the powerful partner mechanic, Kinnan, Bonder ProdigyKinnan, Bonder Prodigy consistently performs as one of the format's all-stars.

However, there is without a doubt one deck that stands head and shoulders above the rest: Blue Farm, the partner pair of Tymna the WeaverTymna the Weaver and Kraum, Ludevic's OpusKraum, Ludevic's Opus. So, what makes this deck so good, and how is it played? Let's dig deeper.

What Do Tymna and Kraum Do?

Tymna the WeaverTymna the Weaver

Kicking things off with Tymna the WeaverTymna the Weaver, this 2/2 legendary Human Cleric creature for has partner, lifelink, and "At the beginning of each of your postcombat main phases, you may pay X life, where X is the number of opponents that were dealt combat damage this turn. If you do, draw X cards."

While this card doesn't immediately warp the game in your favor the same way Kinnan's mana doubling ability does, don't let its comparatively lackluster text box fool you. The combat step is the most forgotten part of cEDH, as nearly every creature in the format is played either to tap for mana or to serve as some other value engine.

Tymna abuses this forgotten part of the game, as it's a rarity that an opponent would ever block with a creature unless it's a profitable trade. Creatures are small and valuable in cEDH; no one wants to trade Esper SentinelEsper Sentinels just to diminish a Tymna trigger.

Kraum, Ludevic's OpusKraum, Ludevic's Opus

Moving to the deck's second commander, Kraum, Ludevic's OpusKraum, Ludevic's Opus is a legendary 4/4 Zombie Horror creature with partner, flying, haste, and "Whenever an opponent casts their second spell each turn, draw a card."

Outside of its obvious synergy with Tymna as an evasive, haste-enabled attacker that'll add to Tymna's combat trigger, Kraum is another passive value engine that racks up card advantage as the game goes on.

Commander players love casting spells, and Kraum is happy to sit back and draw cards as your opponents play Magic beside you.

Taken together, Tymna and Kraum do three of the best things a cEDH player could hope for: They provide access to four incredibly powerful colors, they draw cards with minimal investment, and they present zero build-around hoops to jump through in order to maximize their value.

In sum, Tymna and Kraum let you play the format's best cards all the while providing two sources of card advantage to help you get access to those cards.

Key Cards for Blue Farm

Blue Farm is unlike every other cEDH deck in that it has no defining cards. As a midrange deck, it plays a slower game than other top-performing cEDH decks, but beyond the pace of play it doesn't really have any deck-specific picks. So, instead of asking what unique cards the deck plays, let's instead focus on what Blue Farm settled on as "cEDH's best non-green midrange cards." (Not counting the actual game-enders, which we'll get to in a later section.)

White

Starting off with white, Blue Farm of course runs the format's two best value engines in the color (a trend we'll see with the rest of the deck), thanks to Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel and Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe. While these two cards represent the opposite ends of the affordability spectrum (the former being a single mana and the latter costing four), they both blend together to represent a consistent trend for Blue Farm: stack value accrual on the board until your opponents simply can't keep up with you.

While it's normally hard to imagine succeeding in a resource war while playing a 3-v-1 game, it's thanks to cards like these that Blue Farm is able to actually do so.

Additionally, Blue Farm also runs essentially every SilenceSilence effect that is considered competitively viable; from the namesake instant to Grand AbolisherGrand Abolisher and Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory, this deck leans heavily into defensive effects which can assure it converts its vast resources into reliable win attempts.

Blue

Outclassing the value train already established by white is blue's contingent of Mystic RemoraMystic Remora and Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, the two greatest value engines in the format. Additionally, some lists play Faerie MastermindFaerie Mastermind and/or Wan Shi Tong, LibrarianWan Shi Tong, Librarian, cementing blue's role in the deck as the premier card-advantage engine.

Backing up all these spells is a full swatch of countermagic, as well. Since the deck plays a grindier game compared to the rest of cEDH's top bracket, Blue Farm specs into the format's premier interaction. Force of WillForce of Will, Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship, Mental MisstepMental Misstep - every viable free counterspell is thrown in here, plus most of the good cheap ones as well.

Finally, blue also serves a role as window-creator, thanks to its (mostly) unique ability to force open win attempts via the flash mechanic. Borne Upon a WindBorne Upon a Wind and Valley FloodcallerValley Floodcaller are mainstays of Blue Farm, ensuring that it can put spells on the stack on any player's turn.

Black

Black serves a dual role as this deck's main source of explosive mana product, while also providing the most single-instance card advantage out of any color. Unlike faster decks, which run the full swath of red rituals as well, Blue Farm is a black-forward deck, cutting extra, slower rituals like Desperate RitualDesperate Ritual while still keeping Dark RitualDark Ritual, Cabal RitualCabal Ritual, and Culling the WeakCulling the Weak. This ensures that Blue Farm can still churn out high-value plays when it wants to, without running a density of rituals so high that it erodes card quality in favor of higher risk, early-turn win attempts.

On the card advantage side of things, don't let the slower pace of the deck fool you. Blue Farm can still explode out of nowhere thanks to the likes of NecropotenceNecropotence and Ad NauseamAd Nauseam, two cards which can easily take a resolved Dark Ritual's worth of mana and convert it to a win that same turn.

Red

Lastly, red. Here, the deck plays essentially a mashup of effects it already has access to across all the other colors, except rather than play worse copies of Esper-colored effects it can supplement them with red's take. Dragon's Rage ChannelerDragon's Rage Channeler is another one-mana value creature like Esper SentinelEsper Sentinel, Jeska's WillJeska's Will is a bit of burst mana and burst card advantage bundled together, and Birgi, God of StorytellingBirgi, God of Storytelling ensures that there's always at least left to churn into the next spell.

How Blue Farm Wins

Tainted Fish

Nearly every game of Blue Farm ends with a Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle trigger resolving while you have an empty library; it's just a question of how to get there. Tainted Fish is the most straightforward package that executes this plan: cast Thassa's Oracle, then follow it up with either Demonic ConsultationDemonic Consultation or Tainted PactTainted Pact in response to the Thassa's Oracle trigger.

Since the deck runs no duplicates, either spell will result in an empty library, at which point Thassa's Oracle will see that your devotion is larger than (or equal to) the number of cards in your library, winning you the game upon resolution of the enters trigger.

Underworld Breach

The second way Blue Farm can reach an empty library is via the classic Izzet Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach combo. With Underworld Breach in play, sacrifice Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond to add . Use that mana to escape Brain FreezeBrain Freeze from your graveyard, milling you at least six cards, thanks to the storm trigger (assuming you cast the Underworld Breach that turn and nothing else). Now that you've milled six, escape cast the Lion's Eye Diamond, crack it for another , then rinse and repeat.

You'll mill your whole deck through this loop and add an arbitrary amount of mana, at which point you'll eventually stumble across Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle. Escape it, and voila! An empty deck plus a Thassa's Oracle trigger means a won game.

This loop also benefits from being able to win without Thassa's Oracle, as you can also start targeting your opponents with the Brain Freeze casts once the storm count is high enough that you'll mill them out in the process, too. Then, once you pass the turn, each opponent will attempt to draw from an empty library once they make it to their draw steps, closing out the game.

This is a bit riskier since it provides them with a whole upkeep step (so a Borne Upon a WindBorne Upon a Wind and a Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle of their own could be lethal), but it does mean that you can still close out a game without Thassa's Oracle in case something went wrong.

Blue Farm Deck List for cEDH

Wrap Up

If you want to pick up the defacto goodstuff deck, then Blue Farm is where to go. It might not have the most interesting or unique commanders, but that's kind of the point: high card quality, no exceptions.