Golden EggGolden Egg | Art by Lindsey Look

EDH is the format in which pretty much anything goes. Any archetype or play style you can think of is likely at least possible. And in a casual format where coming out on top isn't exactly the be all and end all, players can flex their creativity with decks that would never last in a more competitive format. So you can imagine my shock when I saw today that only 2000 Egg decks are registered on EDHREC!

What's worse is that the Eggs category also encompasses decks like Atla Palani, Nest TenderAtla Palani, Nest Tender that largely care about Eggs as a creature type rather than a card type. The kind of eggs we're talking about today are more of an abstract, mechanical term. We're not dealing with yolks here.

Okay then, so I hear you ask...

What Is an "Egg" in Magic: The Gathering?

Eggs are a jargon term for cheap artifacts that usually draw you a card. Then, once they're on the battlefield, you can "crack" them by sacrificing the artifact for some kind of effect. Now what that effect is can vary wildly; eggs are sort of an abstract concept. But a classic example might be something like filtering your mana:

The term isn't quite as random as it might appear either. Unlike more ironic names like "Cheerios" that some call the suite of zero-mana artifactszero-mana artifacts in MTG, eggs actually get their title from a cycle of dual colored mana fixers with that exact name:

How Does an Eggs Deck Work?

The key when using a deck loaded up with a ton of these eggs is to cycle through as many of them as possible to stack a bunch of triggers, either from artifacts entering under your control or through casting noncreature spells. A vast majority of eggs are colorless, and most of them only cost one or two mana. So with an artifact cost reducer in play, you can quite often go mana neutral on your casts.

Casting something like a Chromatic StarChromatic Star then essentially becomes a free card cycle. The cast is free due to its all colorless cost being reduced by your Etherium SculptorEtherium Sculptor or equivalent. The activated ability not only gives you back your mana for activating it but can also fix it into whatever color you might need.

And on top of all that, when Star hits the graveyard you get to draw a card as well, replacing the card you've spent from your hand.

So you've lost absolutely nothing by casting the spell. But what have you gained? A heck of a lot. A spell being cast, and a noncreature one at that. An artifact entering the battlefield. A permanent being sacrificed. And an artifact card hitting your graveyard.

And if you can't make a win-con out of one of those happening then what game are we even playing here?

How Does an Eggs Deck Win the Game?

Don't worry, I won't make you work for it. There's so many ways in which we can win the game from chaining off loads of eggs. The most obvious one is to just hurt our opponents whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under our control.

Cards like Reckless FireweaverReckless Fireweaver or Pactdoll TerrorPactdoll Terror will reduce opponents' life totals when we slam our eggs onto the board. Whereas Mayhem DevilMayhem Devil will ping a player (or a creature/planeswalker if you prefer!) when they're cracked.

If you need something that works in any color of deck you can always go with the classic Aetherflux ReservoirAetherflux Reservoir. Chain off enough eggs in a row and your health total will rise significantly, giving you plenty to spend on the player-killing activated ability.

Draw Your Deck, Fill Your Graveyard

Perhaps you'd rather build to a win rather than chip your opponents down, or maybe direct damage isn't quite your style. Alternatively we can take advantage of the crazy amounts of card draw you can pull off in egg decks. Not only are you flooding your deck full of cards that replace themselves, but you can also utilize cards like Jhoira, Weatherlight CaptainJhoira, Weatherlight Captain to grab another card off the top of your deck with each cast.

Putting every card in your deck into your hand makes for some very easy win conditions. You can straight up win the game outright with a Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle or Laboratory ManiacLaboratory Maniac style effect:

But there's also plenty of cards out there that'll reward you for drawing tons of cards in a single turn, like Proft's Eidetic MemoryProft's Eidetic Memory. I will just caution you though, if your win-con for drawing your deck isn't instant, you'd better have a way to shuffle your library back into your deck with something like Feldon's CaneFeldon's Cane or CampfireCampfire.

If you're not shuffling, however, you'll have a huge collection of artifact cards sitting in your graveyard after a particularly flashy turn. Those two can be utilized in your favor to clinch a game by smashing loads of Insects on the board with Aatchik, Emerald RadianAatchik, Emerald Radian or just swinging with a big trampler like Runaway Trash-BotRunaway Trash-Bot

Storm

And of course, we'll be casting a huge amount of spells in a turn when we start to pop off. So a standard storm win-con can also easily get us over the finish line.

A GrapeshotGrapeshot or Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony will surely be enough to take out a player or two. But there's a relevant game-changing card in pretty much any color, like ChatterstormChatterstorm or Volcanic AwakeningVolcanic Awakening.

Why Play an Eggs Deck?

So how do you know if an Eggs deck is right for you? Well, an easy comparison is the Spellslinger and Storm archetypes. Egg decks, much like Storm, want to have a big explosive turn that either wins the game outright or turns the board state so far in their favor that they can cruise their way to victory.

Egg decks can play very similarly, but with an artifact flair. And their ability to cost reduce is far greater than the average Izzet Spellslinger due to the lack of colored pips in their casting costs. So those looking to pop off a million triggers and enjoy super long, puzzley turns will definitely get a kick out of Eggs.

Not to mention that a hell of a lot of egg cards are very cheap - effectively bulk commons in most sets they're part of. And the colorless nature of the core of the deck allows the archetype to thrive in almost all color identities.

The biggest endorphin release from Egg decks for me, however, is their gambley nature. Your deck needs to find a delicate balance between the amount of eggs present in the deck and the amount of payoffs and support you add in. Leaning too far into one side can disrupt the deck's percentages, making the building of an Eggs decks a really interesting puzzle.

There's a certain thrill in trying to top-deck a useful card in a tight spot, and Eggs will be in that situation about 20 times in one turn.

What Commanders Are Good For Eggs?

So if I've piqued your interest in frying up some delicious scrambled eggs, then what commander should helm your 99? Well luckily for you there's been some great new additions to the archetype with the release of Edge of Eternities, the newest set to hit Magic's card pool.

Mm'menon, the Right HandMm'menon, the Right Hand turns all your eggs into mana rocks as well as allowing you to fish for additional eggs off the top of your library. The catch is that the mana your new eggy rocks will generate can only be spent on the cards on top of your library. This works as a really fun addition to the already puzzle game-like playstyle of Eggs decks, as you try and manipulate the top of your library to keep more eggs on top.

Sami, Wildcat CaptainSami, Wildcat Captain on the other hand gives us a cost reduction on artifacts straight out the command zone. When Sami's on the board, every spell we cast has affinity for artifacts - one of the most busted keywords a card can sport! This will let us cast our eggs for free without having to root around the deck for Foundry InspectorFoundry Inspector.

The most interesting thing about Sami is that we can also use their ability to give an alternative play style to the standard eggs fare, where we might not want to instantly sacrifice every egg we play. And we can even think about including more expensive eggs in our deck with Sami effectively ramping us for every one we keep on the table.

Get Cracking

Consider this a call to arms for all you Commander players out there. Spellslinging is already one of the most popular archetypes out there, so I know there's gotta be some people out there who could be the target market for this weird and wacky deck style that isn't yet familiar with the game plan.

If you've not considered it already, maybe give your next deck building challenge the gift of a giant pile of cheap artifacts. You might just have a cracking good time.

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