Challenge the Stats – Varina, Lich Queen

Too-Specific Top 10 - Oldy and Not A Goody

The 600 - A Review of Throne of Eldraine Commanders

Conditions Allow - Mageta the Lion

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://daarken.com/shop/">Daarken</a>)</h6>
<h1>The Scour's Downfall</h1>
<p>A lone traveler approaches a chasm and peers into the darkness below. It seems as though the land itself had split in two, revealing a gateway into a dark world below, dominated by flame and the angry roars of dragons. The fissure continues on for miles, its size comparable to the mountains surrounding it.</p>
<p>The wanderer knows this place by its ancient name: the Scour. They'd heard whispers about it, from the victims of its inhabitants, those who would dare not speak of those lost to them. The wanderer trudges alongside The Scour, towards the mountains, happening upon the site where the lost warriors had fought and defied the draconian forces until their last breath. Stepping into the hastily-constructed outpost, the wanderer finds arrows littering the ground and banners still flowing in the wind, singed and torn. They leave footprints in the soot as they continue deeper into the camp.</p>
<p>Towards the mountainside, the wanderer finds small buildings, little more than sets of walls, strewn about with tablets and scrolls, maps and battle strategies. Whatever knowledge could've been gleaned from them wasn't enough to push back against the onslaught of the dragons - if only they had explored the mountains, and found the legendary tomes of the Jeskai, or perhaps studied the stories of foreign warriors, they may have stood a chance.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Siege Engines</h2>
<p>It's often said that the two most integral pieces in every single Commander deck are card advantage and mana ramp. This is because you need to have access to cards in order to use them, and you need enough mana to cast them. Since blue is the best color at drawing cards, the other colors have to find some more creative ways to generate card advantage: red, for instance, has more recently been given "impulse draw" to achieve this.</p>
<p>Impulse draw is the term we use for an effect that gives the controller access to more cards (usually by putting them in exile) and allows them to play those cards, but only for a short period of time. The default example of impulse draw that many point to is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Outpost Siege"></div></div>
<p>For four mana, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will exile one card off the top of your library at the beginning of your upkeep, allowing you to play that card until the end of the turn. This makes it comparable to the famed <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Arena" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Arena</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a card already given the <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/staple-remover-phyrexian-arena/"><em>Staple Remover</em> treatment</a> not long ago. This by itself is pretty slow for most, but it has additional functionality that many players miss: the Dragons mode on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> allows you to deal damage to any target whenever a creature you control leaves the battlefield, making it a very versatile card in Aristocrats-style decks.</p>
<p>But for decks that don't need to make use of both modes on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, there are a number of alternatives that simply pull more weight by either generating more card advantage or by providing extra utility. If these things interest you, then it's probably worth including the following cards in a couple of your decks.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Incendiary Enlightenment</h2>
<p>In order to set our decks apart from others and make them perform a bit more optimally, we're looking for alternatives to our staple card, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, that will perform the same role better in some decks and situations. In short, we need some paperclips.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tectonic Giant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Syr Carah, the Bold"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tome of Legends"></div></div>
<p>There are a lot of easy one-to-one comparisons with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, especially as impulse draw gets more and more common. One very similar but often superior version of it is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tectonic Giant" href="#" target="_blank">Tectonic Giant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Although this four-mana permanent is a little bit more fragile than our Staple, it certainly is just as capable: upon attacking, it gives you a much stronger version of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s Khans effect, allowing you access to twice as many cards for a longer period of time. If you're in a deck that likes extra combats, then <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tectonic Giant" href="#" target="_blank">Tectonic Giant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s advantage only compounds. It's a bit of a higher risk, but the reward is phenomenal.</p>
<p>Our next contender, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Syr Carah, the Bold" href="#" target="_blank">Syr Carah, the Bold</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, fills that same utility from the command zone. For one extra mana, you get a creature that impulse draws off of every burn spell you cast, a sort of pseudo-cantrip that we've seen work incredibly well in decks such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. If you need a demonstration of the power of this effect, I suggest you check out the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjg_6yb9anuAhUZFjQIHTroAZMQwqsBMAB6BAgFEAM&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCq-fgiiGoe0&amp;usg=AOvVaw3xAM84gv_VbQ-rlz9ZZtsa">Tolarian Community College's deck tech</a> on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Syr Carah, the Bold" href="#" target="_blank">Syr Carah, the Bold</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for some extra insight.</p>
<p>Particularly boisterous commanders like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Moraug, Fury of Akoum" href="#" target="_blank">Moraug, Fury of Akoum</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can have the tales of their exploits recorded with the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tome of Legends" href="#" target="_blank">Tome of Legends</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, allowing you to read them and generate a sizeable advantage at a pretty cheap cost compared to the alternatives. You can even use it recount the tales of Sir <del>Robin</del> <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Norin, the Wary" href="#" target="_blank">Norin, the Wary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and how he bravely ran away!</p>
<hr />
<h2>Expeditionary Wisdom</h2>
<h6 style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-60950 size-large" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303-1024x782.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="782" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303-1024x782.jpg 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303-300x229.jpg 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303-768x586.jpg 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/303.jpg 1400w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valakut Exploration" href="#" target="_blank">Valakut Exploration</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/aenamiart">Aenami</a>)</h6>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Valakut Exploration"></div></div>
<p>If you're involved with the EDHREC community, then you've already heard of the premier replacement for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valakut Exploration" href="#" target="_blank">Valakut Exploration</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card showed up so often in the team's <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/top-10-cards-of-2020/">Top 10 Cards of 2020</a> that I thought I was reading the same list over and over.</p>
<p>For one <em>less</em> mana, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valakut Exploration" href="#" target="_blank">Valakut Exploration</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> gives you both modes of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outpost Siege" href="#" target="_blank">Outpost Siege</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, the card advantage and the damage, without even having to choose between one or the other. Simultaneously, it still fills the graveyard, a welcome boon for cards that need a full graveyard to work properly, such as the immensely powerful <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. All of this upside comes with a much higher ceiling, since getting multiple <em>Landfall</em> triggers tends to be much more common than getting multiple upkeeps. The only downside is that the damage from it cannot be dealt to creatures and planeswalkers, which is more than a fair tradeoff for me.</p>
<p>Below is an upgraded <em>Land's Wrath </em>precon courtesy of EDHREC's Precon Upgrades feature. Being a Naya <em>Landfall</em> deck, it makes good use of synergistic card advantage pieces such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valakut Exploration" href="#" target="_blank">Valakut Exploration</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tireless Tracker" href="#" target="_blank">Tireless Tracker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and more.</p>
<p>Until next time!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Land Wrath" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor
[/Commander]
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Nissa, Vital Force
*1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
[/Planeswalkers]
[Sorceries]
*1 Edge of Autumn
*1 Ground Assault
*1 Hour of Revelation
*1 Into the North
*1 Migration Path
*1 Nissa&#039;s Renewal
*1 Planar Outburst
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Search for Tomorrow
*1 Skyshroud Claim
[/Sorceries]
[Lands]
*1 Alpine Meadow
*1 Arctic Treeline
*1 Blighted Woodland
*1 Boros Garrison
*1 Command Tower
*1 Cryptic Caves
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Fabled Passage
*5 Forest
*1 Gruul Turf
*1 Highland Forest
*1 Jungle Shrine
*1 Krosan Verge
*1 Mountain
*1 Myriad Landscape
*4 Plains
*1 Sacred Foundry
*5 Snow-Covered Forest
*2 Snow-Covered Mountain
*3 Snow-Covered Plains
*1 Stomping Ground
*1 Temple Garden
*1 Terramorphic Expanse
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
*1 Acidic Slime
*1 Admonition Angel
*1 Ancient Greenwarden
*1 Avenger of Zendikar
*1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
*1 Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps
*1 Courser of Kruphix
*1 Elvish Rejuvenator
*1 Embodiment of Insight
*1 Emeria Angel
*1 Emeria Shepherd
*1 Evolution Sage
*1 Fertilid
*1 Geode Rager
*1 Lotus Cobra
*1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
*1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
*1 Multani, Yavimaya&#039;s Avatar
*1 Murasa Rootgrazer
*1 Omnath, Locus of Rage
*1 Phylath, World Sculptor
*1 Rampaging Baloths
*1 Ramunap Excavator
*1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
*1 Scute Swarm
*1 Springbloom Druid
*1 Sun Titan
*1 Sylvan Advocate
*1 Tireless Tracker
*1 Trove Warden
[/Creatures]
[Enchantments]
*1 Felidar Retreat
*1 Grasp of Fate
*1 Khalni Heart Expedition
*1 Retreat to Emeria
*1 Retreat to Kazandu
*1 The Mending of Dominaria
*1 Valakut Exploration
*1 Zendikar&#039;s Roil
[/Enchantments]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Blackblade Reforged
*1 Sol Ring
[/Artifacts]
[Instants]
*1 Crush Contraband
*1 Harrow
*1 Inspiring Call
*1 Naya Charm
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Return of the Wildspeaker
*1 Roiling Regrowth
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Sylvan Reclamation
[/Instants]"></span></div>



Staple Remover - Outpost Siege

The Toolbox - Reconnaissance

Ranking Every Planeswalker with EDHREC – Epilogue: Are Planeswalkers Good in EDH?

Too-Specific Top 10 - Special Reserve, 2021 Edition

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sunscorched Desert" href="#" target="_blank">Sunscorched Desert</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bumskee/">Min Yum</a>)</h6>
<h1>Introduction</h1>
<p>Your lips are cracked. Your legs throb. Despite your dehydration, your eyes water from the wind and from the stinging sand it carries. But you crest another dune. This one has somehow sent all its ice to the leeward side, as if it had been briefly deposited windward, then pushed over the apex by unrelenting, eroding winds. You take pause in your brief shelter, this softer side of a temporary mountain. Well, all mountains are temporary, this one just much more so.</p>
<p>Welcome to <em>Dual Shot</em>, the deckbuilding experiment wherein we brew two decks at the same time... in one deck. The list came before the write-up for this one, and so now I regret not doing a Deserts-matter theme inside of a Snow deck, to truly capture the strange biome of Colorado's <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm">Great Sand Dunes National Park</a> in the winter - Blanca Peak, or <em>Sisnaajin<i>í</i></em>, the Sacred Mountain of the East, also called White Shell Mountain, or simply <em>The Dawn</em>, skirling snow from its great granite crown, creating the impossible phenomenon of snow-capped sand dunes.</p>
<p>I think the endless field of snow and sand and all the wet-dry winds should still be suitably embodied by a subtheme of <a href="https://edhrec.com/themes/counterspells">counterspells</a>, presented here supporting a four-color... Sand tribal deck?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dune-Brood Nephilim"></div></div>
<hr />
<h2>A Maze of Winds</h2>
<p>While there are regrettably no Desert shenanigans here, non-blue counterspells should prove dehydrating enough. Refer to <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/author/douglas-young/">DougY</a>'s <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/too-specific-top-10-counter-intuitive/">excellent article</a>, which expounds on many of the considerations in the generally far more limited pool of <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/brgw">Dune-colored</a> counters. For this list, we went with... well, all of them, nearly, and while some are terribly situational, we do employ a small coterie of cards for exchanging the less-ubiquitous parts of your hand.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Faithless Looting"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tormenting Voice"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cathartic Reunion"></div></div>
<p>Most of our counterspells are restricted by either color or type, which is dangerous. And unlike a counterspell-focused list in blue, we can't really run any payoffs like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Talrand, Sky Summoner" href="#" target="_blank">Talrand, Sky Summoner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glen Elendra Pranksters" href="#" target="_blank">Glen Elendra Pranksters</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Guile" href="#" target="_blank">Guile</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Instead, here they're more meant to keep our primary theme alive and running: wide, combative tokens. With any luck, your commander will breathe a Desert into being, and your counterplay will keep the sands shifting.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Pocket Sand" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Dune-Brood Nephilim
[/Commander]
[Creatures]
*1 Order of the Sacred Torch
*1 Stromgald Cabal
*1 Unyaro Griffin
*1 Thrull Wizard
*1 Vexing Shusher
*1 Vile Aggregate
*1 Emmara Tandris
*1 Veteran Explorer
*1 Arboreal Grazer
*1 Courser of Kruphix
*1 Suspicious Bookcase
*1 Dauthi Trapper
[/Creatures]
[Instants]
*1 Avoid Fate
*1 Autumn&#039;s Veil
*1 Guttural Response
*1 Illumination
*1 Lapse of Certainty
*1 Mana Tithe
*1 Dawn Charm
*1 Dash Hopes
*1 Withering Boon
*1 Burnout
*1 Mages&#039; Contest
*1 Molten Influence
*1 Red Elemental Blast
*1 Pyroblast
*1 Artifact Blast
*1 Warping Wail
*1 Atarka&#039;s Command
*1 Deathsprout
*1 Faithless Looting
*1 Tormenting Voice
[/Instants]
[Sorceries]
*1 Gruesome Slaughter
*1 Swarm Surge
*1 Kodama&#039;s Reach
*1 Cultivate
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Summer Bloom
*1 Three Visits
*1 Boundless Realms
*1 Scapeshift
*1 Reprocess
*1 Decimate
*1 Extinction Event
*1 Wreak Havoc
*1 Cathartic Reunion
[/Sorceries]
[Artifacts]
*1 Sphinx-Bone Wand
*1 Forsaken Monument
*1 Fellwar Stone
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Akroma&#039;s Memorial
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Lifeforce
*1 Deathgrip
*1 Anointed Procession
*1 Parallel Lives
*1 Intangible Virtue
*1 Cathars&#039; Crusade
*1 Glorious Anthem
*1 Gaea&#039;s Anthem
*1 Primal Rage
[/Enchantments]
[Lands]
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Cascading Cataracts
*1 City of Brass
*1 Survivors&#039; Encampment
*1 Krosan Verge
*1 Myriad Landscape
*1 Blighted Woodland
*1 Naya Panorama
*1 Savage Lands
*1 Nomad Outpost
*1 Ash Barrens
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Exotic Orchard
*1 Tarnished Citadel
*1 Spire of Industry
*1 Rupture Spire
*1 Command Tower
*5 Plains
*5 Swamp
*5 Mountain
*6 Forest
[/Lands]"></span></div>

<hr />
<h2>Erosion</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dune-Brood Nephilim" href="#" target="_blank">Dune-Brood Nephilim</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't exactly legendary. More on that later. For now, our primary strategy is connecting with our commander, making lots of coarse, rough, irritating stuff, and getting it everywhere. To that end, we want lots of lands out. That means we're prioritizing land-grabbing sorceries over mana rocks. This also means that bounce lands are out. Instead, we'll run lands that function in quite the opposite fashion.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blighted Woodland"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Myriad Landscape"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krosan Verge"></div></div>
<p>Once you're generating some quartz, it's up to <a href="https://edhrec.com/themes/anthems">anthem</a> effects to make your sand worth reckoning. To that end, we're including <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gaea&#039;s Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Gaea&#039;s Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glorious Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Glorious Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cathars&#039; Crusade" href="#" target="_blank">Cathars&#039; Crusade</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Forsaken Monument" href="#" target="_blank">Forsaken Monument</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Intangible Virtue" href="#" target="_blank">Intangible Virtue</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. For additional width, this list enjoys the company of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Parallel Lives" href="#" target="_blank">Parallel Lives</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Anointed Procession" href="#" target="_blank">Anointed Procession</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but since those two cards together cost as much as a PlayStation 4 wireless controller in the default jet black, consider replacing the pair with tools for added height instead - things like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Akroma&#039;s Will" href="#" target="_blank">Akroma&#039;s Will</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Collective Blessing" href="#" target="_blank">Collective Blessing</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glory of Warfare" href="#" target="_blank">Glory of Warfare</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Speaking of costly replacements, an anthem like one of the former, or even a lord (and multitool) like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trostani Discordant" href="#" target="_blank">Trostani Discordant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, will make an easy substitution for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Akroma&#039;s Memorial" href="#" target="_blank">Akroma&#039;s Memorial</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which on its own costs as much as Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS.</p>
<p>The fact is that there are a few dehydrating cards in this list, as far as one's wallet's water levels are concerned. Since we used basically every counterspell we had access to, fleshing out the token strategy seems most immediately obvious when considering substitutions - but also try advancing looting, rummaging, and wheeling techniques as a means of cycling through the color- or type-specific counters that might be dead in your hand in a given game or situation.</p>
<p>Now that the body of the brew is sufficiently smoothed by the sands of time, it's time to crack open the commander and color identity with a bit of freezing water.</p>
<p>Not every playgroup is going to let you run a Nephilim. And that's alright, because only a slight change in management is required to facilitate some rule-following. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tana, the Bloodsower" href="#" target="_blank">Tana, the Bloodsower</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does a superb impression of Ravnica's resident sand-monster. Saprolings are green, however, so that would mean swapping out things like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vile Aggregate" href="#" target="_blank">Vile Aggregate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Swarm Surge" href="#" target="_blank">Swarm Surge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Forsaken Monument" href="#" target="_blank">Forsaken Monument</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Perhaps for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tendershoot Dryad" href="#" target="_blank">Tendershoot Dryad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rith, the Awakener" href="#" target="_blank">Rith, the Awakener</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vile Aggregate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Swarm Surge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Forsaken Monument"></div></div>
<p>As for the Orzhov partner, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ravos, Soultender" href="#" target="_blank">Ravos, Soultender</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> acts as a decent lord, but his graveyard recursion falls somewhat flat in this creature-light list. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tymna the Weaver" href="#" target="_blank">Tymna the Weaver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> plays nicely with an army of Saprolings, and card draw means you're more likely to have a relevant counterspell in hand. One more thing to keep in mind, should we decide to button up our shirts and run actual legendary creatures as commanders, is that Tana's token-generation is not land-dependent, but rather damage-dependent, so the land ramp package that was prepared for Dune-Brood is less synergistic in this new context. But beyond that, scarcely any tinkering should be required. There should be plenty of anthem effects in the brew to skirt the need for a Voltron strategy in support of Tana, although a pair of boots couldn't hurt.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Given enough time, even mountains are ground to dust. It's strange that the mounds of memory that are left behind do a decent impression of the stone they were hewn from. And like memory, the sands pile up, shift, and change, pushing their gradients into the neighboring peaks and dusty valleys. It's those surreal moments, often caught up in the landscape, that make us question the veracity of our experiences and our expectations. Sand and snow. Uh, tokens and counterspells. Hmm, really gotta try that Snow/Desert idea out.</p>
<p>That's all for this edition! When have you brewed with commanders that aren't quite commanders? How do you feel about the Nephilim? What are your opinions on sand? Let us know in the comments below! Till next time.</p>


Dual Shot - The Great Sands

Ultra Budget Brews - Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn

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