Samut: Play Dudes, Turn Sideways

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Don't you ever wonder what lies beyond the Hekma? Beyond the reach of the gods? Beyond the horns on the horizon?
- Samut, Voice of Dissent.
"Image"




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Introduction

A while ago, I noticed something about my decks: I play almost no creatures with tap abilities. It's not that I haven't tried them out - it's just that they always seem to die before I get to benefit from them. Thus, I set out to correct this by constructing a deck built entirely around tap abilities. I specifically wanted to include Adarkar Valkyrie in the deck, and I noticed that my decks had a severe lack of Red in them, which locked me into including Boros colors. I searched far and wide, and finally found the perfect general: Johan! He would allow my creatures to both attack and use their tap abilities, and also have some sweet synergies with Reconnaissance.

Around two weeks later, WotC revealed Amonkhet, the Exert mechanic, and Samut.

...sometimes, all the signs converge, and you're able to escape from making a questionable Johan-based life decision. This was one of those times.

This is a deck built to maximize the value of creatures with tap abilities.


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Commander Analysis



Samut hails from the plane of Amonkhet, an Egypt-inspired plane reshaped by Nicol Bolas. She was raised as a member of the Tah crop to eventually become an Eternal and fight in Bolas's army, but became a dissenter and left her crop after discovering the truth. Samut eventually sparked after Bolas's return, and she participated in the final showdown against him in War of the Spark.

In terms of powers, Samut is characterized primarily by her speed - she was one of the strongest fighters in her crop, capable of taking down a manticore by herself, but she was also able to ferry other members of her crop across hazards and obstacles.

Mana cost:
Samut inherently provides us access to both red and green, and her final ability also gives access to white mana, for a composite Naya color identity. As a shard, Naya is traditionally associated with aggressive, creature-based strategies. The center of the shard, green, provides many incentives for playing creatures. Meanwhile, white provides ways to go wide, and red provides ways to go fast. We don't make much use of the aggressive tools available to us, but we certainly have a lot of creature support.

At five mana, Samut is somewhat middle of commander mana costs. We won't always have access to her early, but neither do we need to require to devote a large percentage of our deck to the ramp necessary to cast her. She can get expensive to recast if she dies a few times, but we do have access to ramp if necessary.

In terms of color identity, Naya has access to most effects we care about - we're able to interact with artifacts, enchantments, and creatures, but we don't have much stack interaction. Red and white traditionally don't have a lot of access to card advantage or ramp, which means that we need to rely more on green for those duties.

Type: Legendary Creature - Human Warrior.
Humans are one of the most widespread tribes, appearing in almost nearly set. They don't have as much tribal support as something like Elves, but there are still some support cards available, such as Thalia's Lieutenant and Devout Chaplain.

Warriors have some tribal support from Tarkir and Battlebond. Samut also has planeswalker versions if you want to make some sort of Samut tribal deck, although not nearly as many versions as other walkers such as Jace and Nicol Bolas.

Stats: 3/4
Three power is somewhat low for an aggressive commander, but Samut makes up for this elsewhere in her text box. On the other hand, four toughness protects Samut from a significant percentage of damage-based removal. I would describe Samut as a 'mid-sized' creature - she won't win every combat by herself, but she is very capable of getting in the red zone.

Flash
A very powerful keyword. This allows Samut to dodge a surprising percentage of board wipes and sorcery-speed removal by being cast afterwards. Much more commonly, Samut is able to serve as a surprise blocker - even with her face up in the command zone, many opponents are going to forget some of her text. You could also use her at the helm of a flash-based deck, backed up by piles of instants.

Double strike, vigilance, haste
That is a lot of keywords. Double strike lets Samut hit hard by herself - 6 hasty damage for 5 mana is pretty respectable, and serves as a four-hit commander damage kill. It also means that Samut works very well with equipment, especially if you give her some swords. Vigilance is a useful defensive keyword, and means you can often attack freely into an open board. Finally, haste means you can start beating down with her immediately. All together, these keywords make Samut a very solid voltron commander, especially all the synergies Red and White have with equipment.
....we're squandering pretty much all of that potential in this decklist.

Other creatures you control have haste
The primary reason why we're running Samut as the commander - if you're using creatures with tap abilities, being able to activate them immediately is really, really important. My general heuristic for creature lifespans is you can only expect them to live for around one turn cycle, so being able to activate our creatures twice instead of only once is a big deal. Combine with Samut's flash, and you can occasionally surprise opponents with activations they aren't expecting. Alternatively, granting global haste can also make Samut an excellent commander for an aggro deck, or a deck with many attack triggers.

,: Untap another target creature.
But wait, there's more! For the low, low price of adding another color to her color identity, Samut also has the ability to let us double-dip on a tap ability activation. It also works pretty well with her vigilance, since we don't have to choose between attacking and untapping. You can also use this to untap another creature you want to use as a blocker.

Putting it all together:
Samut's abilities point us in two possible directions: either make use of her combat prowess and keywords to helm a Voltron deck, or make use of her support abilities to support the other creatures in our deck. This deck focuses primarily on the latter, making use of Samut's ability to grant haste and untap creatures to supercharge our other creatures. This allows us to play creatures with tap abilities and attack triggers, which may not be playable if we needed to wait a full turn cycle to use them.

This deck may not be for you if:
  • you want all your cards to always be good
  • your meta is hostile to creatures
  • you prefer a reactive gameplan
  • you're not comfortable with needlessly complicated combo finishers

You may enjoy this deck if:
  • you like tap abilities
  • you enjoy playing with niche cards that don't see play elsewhere
  • you like complicated boardstates
  • you enjoy winning without combat



Other Commander Options
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  • Aurelia, the Warleader - capable of untapping your entire team, and a scary aggro commander. Works very well with swords and creatures with attack triggers, similar to Samut.
  • Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - likely the strongest commander, in terms of raw untapping ability. Blue has a lot of good tap abilities, and Derevi turns any evasive creatures you have into more untap triggers.
  • Johan - vigilance is a useful ability, but.... don't. Just don't.
  • Mayael the Anima - usually based around bigger creatures, which may or may not have useful tap abilities. Consider both her and Samut as potential commanders for a deck built around beating down with fatties.
  • Merieke Ri Berit - usually more concerned about untapping herself, but another commander that enjoys having access to many untap effects.
  • Marath, Will of the Wild - worth consideration if you specifically want to play pingers - Marath works really well with ways to grant deathtouch.
  • Najeela, the Blade-Blossom - probably the best commander available if you want a Warrior tribal deck.

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Decklist

Decklist by Function
Approximate Total Cost:


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Card Discussion

a brief note on card choices and budget
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Something to note when looking over these cards is that I have a self-imposed budget restriction of $2 per card, with exceptions for things I happen to already own or trade for. As a result, when looking over the card choices, I will recommend focusing more on the categories of cards than the individual selections. I do keep an eye on more expensive cards though - I try to call those out when applicable, and I'll encourage running them if you have access to them.

This deck does get a lot of its power from some more expensive cards (such as Maze of Ith and Mirari's Wake), and there are a lot of creatures with powerful tap abilities I'm not running due to price (such as Captain Sisay and Stoneforge Mystic). If you want suggestions for what to look out for, take a look at the 'other options' sections.
tap enhancement
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When one untap step just isn't enough
This deck is built around utilizing tap abilities. Most creatures with tap abilities are on the weaker side, since WotC is often conservative with repeatable card advantage. As a result, one important component ability of the deck is focused on making tap abilities stronger - either by granting haste (so the creature can be tapped immediately) or untap effects (allowing our creatures to be tapped multiple times).
  • Basilisk Collar - tuns any ping ability into actual removal.
  • Quirion Ranger - one of the most efficient untap effects available. Works well with Burgeoning to allow an untap (or landfall trigger) whenever an opponent plays a land.
  • Illusionist's Bracers - allows us to double-dip on tap abilities. Can be equipped to a specific creature that we plan to use a bunch, or to Samut so we can spread around the triggers. Can also function as a combo piece.
  • Magewright's Stone - another untap effect. Being on an artifact makes it a bit more resilient for removal.
  • Scryb Ranger - as with Quirion Ranger, it's an efficient untap effect. Flying and protection also allow it to serve as a decent blocker sometimes, since this deck is a bit light on removal and fliers.
  • Seeker of Skybreak - another really useful untap effect. It is also unique in that it is a 1-card infinite combo, since you can tap it to untap itself. Combo piece.
  • Elmar, Ulvenwald Informant - provides untaps and card draw to fuel further untaps.
  • Halo Fountain - I'd run this card just for the 'untap two creatures' ability, and this throws in the ability to generate tokens and draw cards for some additional value. The final mode probably won't come up often, but it's not impossible either.
  • Saryth, the Viper's Fang - untaps creatures (and lands), gives pingers deathtouch, and protects our stuff - a wonderful collection of extremely useful abilities.
  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - clones any nonlegendary creature, which can allow for a ton of value in the form of more tap abilities. Also an extremely powerful combo piece when built around.
  • Seedborn Muse - capable of dominating games on its own. This deck doesn't abuse it to its full potential due to a lack of instants and mana sinks, but even just giving us extra usages of our tap abilities is already really powerful.
  • Moraug, Fury of Akoum - turns landfall triggers into untaps, allowing for a lot of activations. Moraug can also represent a ton of raw damage if you attack with Samut or another beater repeatedly.
other options
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  • Thousand-Year Elixir - serves as a backup Samut, granting pseudo-haste and an untap. An excellent inclusion.
  • Quest for Renewal - very easy to turn on, and it provides a lot of extra untaps.
  • Staff of Domination - capable of untapping creatures, among other things. This deck doesn't have any mana critters that can tap for enough mana to go infinite with it, but it is capable of generating large amounts of mana in other ways. Consider it if you want to play more mana critters.
  • Thornbite Staff - turns any creature into Goblin Sharpshooter. If you want to build around it, consider running creatures with deathtouch (or Basilisk Collar to grant it). Also a potent combo piece alongside sacrifice outlets, although a bit pricy to get going.
  • Puppet Strings, Sword of the Paruns, Umbral Mantle and other untap effects - all reasonable inclusions. I recommend trying to stick to cheaper activation costs when possible, since you'll want to be using these often.
  • Rhythm of the Wild - one of the better haste-granting effects available - it still does something if Samut is out by providing a +1/+1 counter. Enchantment makes it hard to kill, and can't-be-countered clause is also quite relevant.
  • Anger, Fires of Yavimaya, Urabrask the Hidden, and other haste effects - Samut is usually sufficient, but having a backup isn't a terrible idea.
  • Village Bell-Ringer, Benefactor's Draught, and other one-shot untap effects - usually not worth it in my opinion, but they do open up some interesting lines. Village Bell-Ringer can function as a combo piece alongside Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker if you're running it, and any mass untap effects can function as powerful rituals if you have enough creature-based mana production.
  • Aggravated Assault - some decks care about the extra combat steps, but we mostly care about untapping all our creatures. Goes infinite with sufficient mana production from creatures. Getting extra Sun Titan or Etali, Primal Storm triggers is pretty strong though.
  • Aurelia the Warleader and Combat Celebrant - again, they're usually better if you have ways to make use of the extra combat steps, but they also untap all our creatures.
ramp
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Yes, this can pull out half the basics in the deck.
In some ways, this deck is secretly a storm deck - it wants to generate a lot of mana, draw a lot of cards, then win by pinging its opponents for 1 damage a very large number of times. More mana lets you do more things per turn, at which point your actual win condition becomes sort of arbitrary.

Notably, this deck leans towards a land-based ramp strategy, playing no mana rocks and almost no mana critters. An alternative version of this deck that could be worth pursuing is an elfball-style deck, focused on using creatures like Priest of Titania and Marwyn, the Nurturer to produce very large amounts of mana. This does make you more vulnerable to board clears, but can potentially be even more explosive.
  • Burgeoning - enables some very explosive starts if you draw it early, but can be an awkward topdeck. Synergizes with effects that bounce lands to hand.
  • Exploration - similar to Burgeoning, it can enable some very explosive starts. Works well with Ramunap Excavator and other ways to get more lands to play.
  • Armored Scrapgorger - a mana dork combined with some grave hate.
  • Budoka Gardener - another way to ramp out lands. Spawns giant tokens when it flips, making it still useful when you already have a bunch of lands.
  • Nature's Lore - efficient ramp, particularly if you have nonbasic Forests to fetch.
  • Nylea's Intervention - a toolbox card - we're running a suite of utility lands to fetch up. The more utility lands you're running, the more this goes up in value, and the more you'll want to consider other ways to fetch those lands. Can also fetch up cycling lands to turn into card draw.
  • Shigeki, Jukai Visionary - a repeatable ramp option that also fills the graveyard. In the lategame, you can channel it for a very strong (and uncounterable) recursion effect.
  • Cultivate - one of the better ramp spells available. Ramps one into play, and lets you hit your next land drop too.
  • Harvest Season - one of the most dramatic payoffs for a tap-based strategy, and capable of pulling very large numbers of basics out of the deck. Note that it also works well with haste, since you can play a creature, attack (or tap) with it immediately, and then get an extra land.
  • Knight of the Reliquary - as mentioned previously, we're running a suite of utility lands it can tutor up. Also fills a bunch of other functions - serving as a large beater/blocker, feeding Ramunap Excavator, providing a little acceleration (the land it fetches is untapped), etc.
  • Kodama's Reach - see Cultivate. Also an arcane card, not that we have any synergies with that.
  • Krosan Restorer - taps to untap lands, so we can maximize our theme. Also works very well alongside any mana doublers and any effects that fill the graveyard. Combo piece with Maze of Ith.
  • Tireless Provisioner - turns land drops into treasure or food, and works well with fetchlands and other landfall enablers.
  • Keeper of Progenitus - one of the more unique payoffs for playing Naya colors. Note that this effect is symmetric, so you may want to hold back on it if there are other decks at the table that will benefit from it. Note also that this cares about basic land types, but doesn't only affect basic lands - we want to run a high count of these lands to support it.
  • Ley Weaver - as above, fantastic with mana doublers, and a combo piece.
  • Oracle of Mul Daya - provides a bit of card advantage and ramp. Works well if we need to bounce many of our lands to Quirion Ranger. You could build into it more with a top-of-deck matters theme, with cards like Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library, and Dryad Greenseeker.
  • Pir's Whim - mostly here to fetch up utility lands, but providing some incidental hate for artifacts and enchantments (or making a friend) is also useful.
  • Stone-Seeder Hierophant - lets you untap lands when you ramp, which makes it particularly useful with stuff like Thawing Glaciers.
  • Mirari's Wake - another mana doubler, which also pumps the team. Works well with land untap effects.
  • Perilous Forays - turns excess bodies (or tokens) into more lands. Again, can fetch nonbasics. Also serves as a sac outlet, which can be useful if you are expecting a board wipe. It's also a powerful landfall enabler if you're running cards like Rampaging Baloths or Lotus Cobra.
  • Mana Reflection - another mana doubler, which actually doubles your mana. This is also somewhat unique in that it increases mana from creatures, and not just lands. Beware of Damping Sphere.
  • Boundless Realms - when you want to get all the basics out of your deck, no questions asked. Try to keep track of how many basics you have remaining, and prioritize fetching nonbasics when possible - it is possible to run out. Also a way to turn on Hermit Druid.
  • Zendikar Resurgent - yet another mana doubler. Also turns creatures into cards, which is powerful when you're running a lot of creatures.
other options
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  • Expedition Map - a toolbox card - we're running a suite of utility lands to fetch up. The more utility lands you're running, the more this goes up in value, and the more you'll want to consider other ways to fetch those lands.
  • Farseek, Wild Growth, and other cheap ramp - all good options if you want to be a bit faster. I generally value reaching larger amounts of mana (12+), hence all the mana doublers, but ramp packages often come down to personal preference - this deck doesn't need to ramp out its general on turn 3 to function.
  • Sakura-Tribe Elder, Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, and other creature-based land ramp - we have cards like Skullclamp that care about expendable bodies and creatures in general. A bit off-theme, and can run into some tension if you're running Torpor Orb though.
  • Sakura-Tribe Scout, Llanowar Scout, and Walking Atlas - more ways to get lands from hand into play, which work well with ways to get lands into hand.
  • Argothian Elder - Ley Weaver #2.
  • Arbor Elf, Priest of Titania, Marwyn, the Nurturer, Joraga Treespeaker, and other mana elves - I made an explicit choice when building this deck to avoid making an elfball deck. However, these cards all work very well with untap effects, and could result in a faster deck. Some can also go infinite with untap effects like Umbral Mantle.
  • Overgrowth - powers up any land untapping effects, and also just a good ramp spell if you're heavy on green.
  • Selvala, Explorer Returned - generates mana, gains life, and draw cards. Symmetric draw can be awkward, but you'll never run out of gas.
  • Somberwald Sage - produces a lot of mana, although only for casting creatures.
  • Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder - these are mana-postive when untapped by Samut, which makes them even more potent mana producers.
  • Shaman of Forgotten Ways - another mana critter, with a side helping of Biorhythm. This makes taking your opponents out via combat damage significantly easier.
  • Nylea's Intervention - not ramp, but it fetches a pile of utility lands. Good if you have ways to accelerate your land drops. Also kills fliers in a pinch.
  • Realms Uncharted, Crop Rotation, Sylvan Scrying, and other ways to fetch nonbasic lands to hand - again, these go up in value when you have more utility lands worth fetching.
  • Elvish Reclaimer, Tempt with Discovery, Hour of Promise, and ways to fetch nonbasics to play - more solid inclusions, especially if you want to build more around utility lands.
  • Weathered Wayfarer - another way to fetch up nonbasic lands, assuming you can stay behind on total lands. Consider running karoos like Selesnya Sanctuary and friends as a way to artificially decrease your land count.
  • Growing Rites of Itlimoc - cantrips and generates a lot of mana. A very powerful option to untap.
  • Thaumatic Compass - hitting land drops is good. The flipside is also relevant, since most of our creatures are small and bad at blocking.
  • Sol Ring, Gruul Signet, and other mana rocks - this deck has many synergies with lands and creatures, so it currently isn't running any mana rocks. Running Sol Ring is probably a reasonable choice though. On the other hand, not relying on mana rocks opens up options like Bane of Progress, Stony Silence, Collector Ouphe, and other mass artifact hate spells.
  • Rude Awakening, Early Harvest, Mana Geyser, and other rituals - can be useful if you find yourself wanting one-shot effects, but this deck isn't particularly well built to take advantage of them - you really want to have a lot of mana sinks to make use of them.
  • Elvish Piper - doesn't generate mana directly, but it does allow us to cheat in expensive creatures at an incredibly efficient rate.
  • Svella, Ice Shaper - acts as a repeatable ramp spell by generating a bunch of Icy Manaliths. Can also act as a mana sink if you have excess mana.
draw and other card advantage
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1RW: draw 4. Seems totally in color pie.
If we're making a lot of mana, we want to have card advantage to go along with that mana. Additionally, a lot of the time, we're looking for one of some specific subset of cards - whether it be a useful tap ability, and untap effect, or removal. More card draw and card advantage makes finding those cards more consistent.
  • Eladamri's Call - running lots of creatures makes this a very powerful tutor - we have a lot of good targets.
  • Hermit Druid - actually being played relatively fairly here, since Naya doesn't have something like Laboratory Maniac to just win off an empty library. Still, it helps hit land drops, and feeds the graveyard for our various recursion options. Keep track of how many basic lands you've gotten out - this card is capable of milling the entire deck in a couple of turn cycles, and it is a very powerful graveyard enabler.
  • Humble Defector - Sometimes, you can use this to make a friend. Most of the time, you'll give it away to draw six to eight cards, and never see it again. Not a bad deal for two mana in red.
  • Pride Sovereign - not card draw by itself, but it feeds into a few synergies with cards like Skullclamp and Mentor of the Meek. Alternatively, just use it to flood the board (or make chump blockers) - extra 1/1 bodies will always find a use.
  • Tireless Tracker - works well with all our land-based ramp to draw a lot of cards. Very silly with stuff like Quirion Ranger that helps us trigger landfall.
  • Guardian Project - turns creatures into card draw at an efficient rate.
  • Jaxis, the Troublemaker - somewhat similar to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, although with less combo potential. Still, it provides a bit of nice card filtering and the ability to generate some silly piles of value.
  • Krenko, Mob Boss - gets special mention as a token producer due to producing exponentially more tokens per untap, which means that winning by attacking with 1/1 tokens is actually a fairly realistic possibility.
  • Escape to the Wilds - five mana for five cards is a pretty good deal, even if it is time-limited. A free extra land drop is also nice.
  • Etali, Primal Storm - not technically card draw, but free spells are close enough. Also works really well with haste. Plus, who doesn't love dinosaurs?
other options
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  • Skullclamp - we're running a lot of small creatures, and cashing them in for cards is sometimes their best usage. Alternatively, find a sacrifice outlet or token production.
  • Mentor of the Meek - we're running a lot of small creatures, and turning them into card draw is quite useful.
  • Genesis Wave - my general heuristic is that Genesis Wave is like Blackjack - if you resolve one for 21, you win. It's a very powerful payoff for a ramp strategy, but casting it for X=7 or so is also capable of providing a significant tempo boost.
  • Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - a repeatable tutor on legs. We're not built around it as much as a dedicated deck may be, but it's still possible to go very far up the chain in a single turn cycle. Note that putting a counter on is part of the cost, not on resolution, which means you can do some interesting tricks by untapping in response to an activation.
  • Magus of the Library - not as good as the real Library of Alexandria, but if you can keep a full hand, it's one of the most efficient card draw engines available. Also taps for mana in a pinch.
  • Atla Palani, Nest Tender - another token producer, who happens to work really well with sacrifice outlets.
  • Sunbird's Invocation - generates a lot of value and digs through the deck pretty quickly if it sticks around.
  • Thraben Doomsayer - repeatably makes tokens, but with a free activation cost.
  • Harmonize, Shamanic Revelation, and other green card draw spells - if you find yourself in need of more card draw, there are many good options.
  • Sylvan Library, Mirri's Guile, Sensei's Divining Top, Gilt-Leaf Seer, and other filtering effects - there are some interesting tap abilities that care about the top card of your deck, such as Dryad Greenseeker and Bloodline Shaman, plus cards like Zoologist, Nylea, Keen-Eyed, and Call of the WIld. Consider it as another direction the deck could take.
  • Dryad Greenseeker and Fa'adiyah Seer - Greenseeker only draws lands, but Seer also works with Life From the Loam.
  • Rummaging Goblin, Dismissive Pyromancer, and other looting effects - improves card quality and fills the graveyard for any recursion we have available.
  • Syr Carah, the Bold - taps to effectively draw a card. Can also ping down utility creatures.
  • Deal Broker - fuels graveyard interactions and filters through the deck so we can find what we're looking for.
  • Beast Whisperer, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, and other creature-based draw effects - more ways to capitalize on our high creature count.
  • Ulvenwald Mysteries - turns dead creatures into card draw (and tokens!). Softens the blow of board wipes like Wrath of God, since we can use the clues to recover, but it also works well with sacrifice outlets.
  • Worldly Tutor, Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Captain Sisay, and other tutors - if you want something specific, efficient tutors are a good way to get it. Consider adding more silver bullet targets if you go heavier on tutors.
  • Birthing Pod, Tooth and Nail, Green Sun's Zenith, Finale of Devastation, and other tutor-into-play effects - again, useful if you want to go even heavier into a dedicated combo deck, or if you are playing more silver bullets.
  • Godsire, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, Rhys the Redeemed, Rakka Mar, and other token producers - we're not a dedicated token deck, but we can definitely get value from them. Larger tokens can also serve as a win condition.
  • Stoneforge Mystic - we run a few pieces of equipment as combo pieces, and these are a great way to tutor them up. This deck would function very well with an equipment package - either for voltron-ing Samut, or giving pingers deathtouch with Basilisk Collar.
  • Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order - rummages to provide card selection or just cheats out cheap spells on the front half, while Augusta acts as an untapper on the backside.
  • Stonehewer Giant - tutors up equipment as necessary. This deck has a nice selection of options, and it's possible to lean in by running even more equipment - Samut is fantastic at carrying swords.
  • Treeshaker Chimera - play it with haste, take out some blockers, then draw some cards. A nice package of abilities.
  • Bag of Tricks - cheats random creatures into play for a fair price. Hard to predict what you're going to get, but it's possible to control it somewhat by only running 1-2 creatures at a given mana value.
  • Experimental Frenzy - capable of generating a lot of card advantage, assuming you don't run into too many lands and have plenty of mana. Works well with extra land drops and Burgeoning effects.
interaction
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Solve target problem.
Interaction broadly breaks into two categories: protecting our stuff, and dealing with our opponents' stuff. Our deck is particularly vulnerable to persistent creature hate, such as Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Cursed Totem, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - if those are prevalent in your meta, you'll want to pack more answers to them.
  • Swords to Plowshares - cheap and efficient spot removal. This deck struggles with certain creatures such as Linvala, Keeper of Silence, so it's nice to have answers.
  • Goblin Sharpshooter - pings down X/1s, and acts as a Plague Wind if you can give it deathtouch.
  • Heliod's Intervention - shoots down as many problems as you have mana for.
  • Decimate - flexible removal. It can be awkward if a card type (usually enchantment) is missing, but blowing up a spent Burgeoning or Exploration can be okay in a pinch.
  • Aerial Extortionist - it isn't permanent removal, but it does provide a bit of nice disruption and card advantage.
  • Bladegriff Prototype - requires a bit of diplomancy, but it can provide a repeatable Vindicate effect if someone is willing to help you out.
  • Brash Taunter - a janky rattlesnake, or a way to burn out your opponents (assuming they have something big to fight).
  • Tragic Arrogance - a semi-asymmetric board wipe. Keep your favorite stuff, while your opponents can keep something less useful.
  • Inferno Titan - a big pinger, capable of mowing down hordes of small creatures.
  • Kogla, the Titan Ape - fights something on ETB, then chews through artifacts and enchantments. Kogla can also protect your humans, including Samut.
  • Living Inferno - capable of eating all sorts of small creatures repeatedly. As always, works well with untap effects - this isn't a fight effect, so the damage is dealt even if the Inferno dies.
  • Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins - a board wipe that an also be a lands in the early game. This deck doesn't like having its board wiped, but it also runs enough land-based ramp to not be set back too far.
other options
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  • Mother of Runes - makes our stuff very resilient to targeted removal and damage-based removal. Also works well with haste and untap effects.
  • Goblin Bombardment - an option to ping down small creatures. Also a great combo finisher.
  • Scavenging Ooze - one of the better graveyard hate cards available - grows bigger and gains a bit of life in the process.
  • Intrepid Hero - repeatable removal for large creatures. Works well as a rattlesnake to point attacks in different directions.
  • Mangara of Corondor - deals with any permanent. Works well with untap effects to deal with multiple problems, and sacrifice effects to occasionally be recurred.
  • Glissa Sunseeker - more artifact removal. Free activation is nice, but needing to have mana floating can make things sort of weird.
  • Kamahl, Pit Fighter - bolting things is an upgrade to pinging - Kamahl's damage can add up very fast.
  • Torpor Orb, Hushwing Gryff, and Hushbringer - unlike most creature-based Commander decks, we're pretty light on enters-the-battlefield effects, which gives us access to these very powerful hate cards.
  • Decimate, Hull Breach, and other one-shot spells - if you find yourself having difficulty sticking creatures, consider more spell-based interaction.
  • Austere Command and other board wipes - we don't necessarily want to blow up all of our own creatures, but there are some flexible options that can keep our important stuff alive.
  • Path to Exile and other creature removal - if you find yourself having difficulty dealing with creatures, consider more removal.
  • Aura Shards - a very powerful tool, capable of keeping artifact and enchantment-based strategies in check by itself.
  • Boros Charm, Heroic Intervention, and Teferi's Protection - if you want to protect your stuff, consider more protection. As a deck that relies on having a lot of creatures in play, we really dislike board wipes.
  • Nullmage Advocate - deals with problematic artifacts and enchantments, and can occasionally mess with reanimation. Note that you can untap it and target the same cards in a graveyard repeatedly, or exile them with grave hate. It's also a potent political tool - give an opponent a counterspell in response to Torment of Hailfire, or removal for a problematic permanent. Note that you can untap and target the same cards in a graveyard in response to its ability.
  • Starke of Rath - deals with a variety of things, and works well with untap effects.
  • Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile - capable of warding off many attacks, especially backed by untap effects.
  • Prodigal Pyromancer and other pingers - these cards often get better in multiples. Consider adding more ways to grant deathtouch if you want to build into this.
  • Martyr's Cause - another option for a free sacrifice outlet, but can also negate particularly large attacks.
  • Turn the Earth - a cheap way to shuffle key cards in a graveyard back into their owner's library. Also a combo piece with Hermit Druid.
recursion
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The afterlife will have to wait.
Sometimes, things die, or they get milled, or they countered. For those times, we want a bit of redundancy to be able to get them back. Recursion also greatly increases the value of any self-mill you have available, and makes board wipes less painful. We don't have access to black's mass reanimation effects, but there are still a lot of ways we have to benefit from a well-stocked graveyard.
  • Life from the Loam - hit all your land drops alongside any fetchlands, or draw cards with cycling lands. It's on the slow side, but it provides a lot of card advantage. Consider running Buried Ruin or Haunted Fengraf if you want more recursion, or any other lands that sacrifice themselves.
  • Feldon of the Third Path - creates token copies of any creatures we may want. Excellent way to get a Sun Titan or Etali, Primal Storm into play. Also works well with Mangara of Corondor, since we don't care about losing the token.
  • Ramunap Excavator - another way to recur lands - usually fetches or cycling lands, but can also grab back utility lands that have been destroyed.
  • Sevinne's Reclamation - recurs lands, small creatures, and other cards of value. It also has flashback, which opens up some interesting options, such as going all-in on Hermit Druid.
  • Conduit of Worlds - lets you replay lands from the graveyard, plus you can recur a nonland card once per turn. It works well if you have other mana sinks, or stuff to cast on your opponents' turns.
  • Dusk // Dawn - front half kills big things, back half recurs little things. A lot of our creatures are on the smaller side to take advantage of this.
  • Adarkar Valkyrie - can't grab things that were already in the graveyard, but does a good job at protecting our stuff. If an opponent's creature is going to die, we can also steal it with the Valkyrie if we target it beforehand.
  • Seasons Past - a fantastic recursion spell, which also tucks itself back in for the future. Note that it doesn't target, so it is difficult to stop with targeted exile such as Scavenging Ooze.
  • Sun Titan - reanimates small things, including our equipment and lands. Works well with haste.
other options
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  • Rally the Ancestors - a very strong mass reanimation effect, with some significant limitations due to the exile clause. Fortunately, we have plenty of access to haste to make full use of those creatures.
  • Storm of Souls - a very powerful mass reanimation effect. The creatures are just 1/1s, but their tap abilities aren't affected. Win condition alongside Hermit Druid.
  • Regrowth, Restock, Wildest Dreams, Reap, and other one-shot recursion effects - they vary in efficiency and power, but worth a look if you find yourself needing something specific.
  • Praetor's Counsel - grabs back your entire graveyard. Expensive, but you get what you pay for.
  • Eternal Witness, Den Protector, Greenwarden of Murasa, and other creature-based recursion - we have synergies with creatures, and have ways to recur them.
  • Hua Tuo, Honored Physician - card disadvantage, but we have ways to cycle through creatures to make up for it (or just replay a creature that generates card advantage directly).
  • Angel of Glory's Rise, Grave Sifter, and other tribal-based recursion - if you run enough of the appropriate tribes, these can be powerful cards when built around.
  • The Mending of Dominaria - grabs back creatures, then grabs back lands. It's also a way to shuffle arbitrary cards back into our deck that we don't have recursion for, if we expect to be able to tutor them back up.
  • Splendid Reclamation, World Shaper, and Crucible of Worlds - several additional ways to recur lands. If you're running them, consider running more ways to dump lands (or other cards) into your graveyard.
  • Emeria Shepherd - turns any ramp spell into recursion. Also works very well alongside Perilous Forays.
  • Genesis - a bit slow, but it grabs back whatever creature we care about every turn.
  • Restoration Specialist - not quite as versatile as Eternal Witness, but it also grabs two cards. Most of our recursion is for just creatures, so having some variety is appreciated.
utility lands
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it's not efficient, but it works
We're running several cards capable of fetching up lands, which means we also want to run some silver bullets for various situations. If you have particularly valuable nonbasic lands to fetch up, consider running more spells capable of fetching them. Alternatively, if you find yourself running out of useful lands to fetch, consider running more utility lands.
  • Arch of Orazca - card draw on a land. A bit expensive, but it serves well as a mana sink.
  • Emeria, the Sky Ruin - a repeatable reanimation engine if you can get enough Plains onto the battlefield. Works well with cards like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, of just recur Krosan Verge a few times.
  • Kessig Wolf Run - a mana sink that can turn any creature into a threat, and very, very scary alongside Samut. Can also be used politically, if an opponent is attacking another opponent. Some other niche uses if you have power-based removal like Intrepid Hero.
  • Thawing Glaciers - a bit slow, but it works great with untap effects and extra land drops. Also a good landfall enabler.
other options
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There are many, many possible utility lands you could include. One thing to note is that we do care about how many basics lands (and lands with basic land types) we run due to all of our land-based ramp. As a result, we don't want to just run every utility land we have access to. However, due to all the fixing we're running, we can afford some colorless utility lands.
  • Maze of Ith - a solid defensive option, if you want to stop your opponents from hitting you. It also has a secret mode of untapping our own creatures. Combo piece, and a strong reason to run a bunch of land tutors in the first place.
  • Shivan Gorge - pings opponents for a bit of damage. It's also a potential win condition if you can untap it infinite times.
  • Opal Palace - we're not a dedicated voltron deck, but it's capable of turning Samut into a 3-shot or 2-shot kill.
  • Strip Mine, Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, Field of Ruin, and Dust Bowl - there are a lot of ways to trade our lands for our opponents' utility lands. Backed up by recursion and extra land drops, these are also capable of locking opponents out of the game, if you're into that sort of thing. Usually will be sent after Cabal Coffers or other high-value lands.
  • Flamekin Village - another way to grant haste if we really need it. We're not running many elementals though, so will usually enter tapped.
  • Gavony Township - a way to pump your entire team. Can protect utility creatures from some damage-based removal.
  • Mistveil Plains - bringing it up here to mention that this deck doesn't run enough white permanents to support it. However, it can be worth consideration in a version that it heavier on white cards. Mistveil Plains is also particularly useful if you plan to mill yourself out with Hermit Druid.
  • Buried Ruin, Haunted Fengraf, Petrified Field - recursion on a land.
  • Wirewood Lodge - we're not running enough elves, but it is a powerful tool in an elfball version of the deck. Can act as a combo piece with land untappers such as Argothian Elder.
  • Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage, Field of the Dead - several options for land-based win conditions.
mana lands
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When one color just isn't enough.
Various lands that we run for fixing. We have many cards which care about fetching basic lands and lands with basic land types, so those are generally prioritized. Other than that, we favor cards which enter untapped or produce more colors of mana, but we also have some cards which synergize with lands being in our graveyard, which encourages us to run fetchlands and cycling lands.
other options
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More than any other category, your manabase is going to be affected by budget. Use what you have access to.

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Strategy

step 1: get lost in the maze.
step 2: ???
step 3: win
Some decks have a consistent gameplan based off their general - if you have a general that cares about lands like Tatyova, Benthic Druid or Omnath, Locus of Rage, you'll want to ramp and generate value. If you have a commander that wants to attack like Zurgo Helmsmasher or Skullbriar, the Walking Grave, you'll fill your deck with ways to clear out blockers and get in for damage. These decks are like travelers following a well-worn road and heading for a landmark far in the distance - they know what direction they're going, and if they keep going in that direction, they will eventually reach their destination.

In contrast, the lines on Samut we care about the most are her support abilities: Other creatures you control have haste and Untap another target creature. As a result, while we may plan to play out Samut and use our other creatures' tap abilities repeatedly, our exact gameplan is going to vary wildly depending on what tap abilities we have available - a game where we can utilize Magus of the Library or Humble Defector repeatedly to draw cards is going to look very different from a game where we're ramping repeatedly with Budoka Gardener or Krosan Restorer, or trying to control the board with Kamahl, Pit Fighter and Glissa Sunseeker. Sometimes we'll have a more graveyard-focused game with Hermit Druid and Feldon of the Third Path, while other games we won't touch our graveyard at all.

Fundamentally, we're not heading for a landmark - we're navigating a twisty set of back-alleys, and while we may be generally headed for some point, we won't always know how far away it is, or what paths we'll be taking to get there. Our journey is going to be further complicated by how often our path branches - if we have a bunch of tap abilities available, a limited amount of mana, and a limited number of untap effects, we'll need to determine the best way to spend our mana and untaps to achieve our goals.

So instead of focusing on the journey, I'll actually recommend starting by looking at the map from a bird's-eye view and working backwards from your destination: what do you need to win? How do you get to that position? And if we're not sure what the best path to take is, how can we make our path easier to travel?

Phrased differently and working backwards, our overall strategy can be broken into three components:
  1. Identifying a win condition - whether it be assembling a combo, attacking with an army of tokens, or something else
  2. Digging for that win condition - whether it be via pure card draw, tutoring for individual pieces, or filling our graveyard and recurring what we want
  3. Accelerating our digging - whether it be by ramping so we can spend more mana digging, or playing untap effects so we can use our creatures to dig faster.

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Navigating the Game

Opening Hand
For our opening hand, we'll usually want 2-4 lands and some form of acceleration or ramp. In a best-case scenario, we'll also have a creature with a tap ability that we can use to generate some repeatable card advantage. At this point in time, don't worry too much about combo pieces or expensive spells - we can draw into them later. Untappers are also useful to have - your gameplan going forward will often depend on what tap abilities you have access to, and untap effects will make those abilities much more useful.
Sample hand 1
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Pretty sketchy, but keepable. We may have to use Skullclamp on the Ranger or the Hero to hit land drops, but Seasons Past means we can recur them later. Quirion Ranger can also function as a mana dork in a pinch - if you fetch a Forest with Evolving Wilds, you can bounce and replay it with the Ranger to give access to a third mana.
Sample hand 2
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Mull. If we draw a land, Somberwald Sage can theoretically get us to Adarkar Valkyrie, which could do interesting things with Goblin Bombardment... but we don't have any source of card advantage, and Boundless Realms and Goblin Bombardment are dead cards without support.
Sample hand 3
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This hand looks sweet. Turn 1 Burgeoning lets us ramp into a Turn 3 Mirari's Wake if we hit any land, and Turn 4 Zendikar Resurgent. At that point, we'll have a ton of mana, and every creature draws us more cards. It could wither and die if we don't draw anything (or, more likely, our opponents have removal for our enchantments), but this is a hand where we'll be happy drawing any land or any creature.
Early Game
sol ring: elf edition
Focus on hitting land drops and doing some ramping. We run a large amount of ramp - not because we want to cast more expensive spells (although we do certainly have some expensive things in the decklist), but because a lot of the activated abilities we want to use are mana-hungry, expecially when activated repeatedly. It's alright to play out some early creatures, but not critical - if they cost mana to activate, we won't have the resources necessary to do so until later. If you do choose to play out creatures, prioritize playing out mana accelerants, followed by creatures with free tap abilities.

We run a lot of cheap acceration, but a lot of it comes with card disadvantage - Exploration, Budoka Gardener, and Burgeoning let us jump quickly into the midgame, but will usually result in us being empty-handed when we get there. If you have some way to recoup that lost card advantage (such as Tireless Tracker or Magus of the Library), consider slowing down a bit to prevent this situation.

Mid Game
a bit of card advantage to keep our hand full
Once you reach around 5 mana, consider deploying Samut - she makes the rest of the deck significantly better. Activating our creatures' tap abilities immediately and multiple times per turn is a massive boost to them. At this point in time, mana starts to become more of a concern - using Samut or another untapper will be a tax on our mana, so try to continue ramping while extracting as much value from tap abilities as possible. Card draw is also pretty valuable here. Alternatively, try to stick a mana doubler to turbo-charge future turns.

At this point in time, board wipes like Wrath of God may start to get played. If you're expecting them, consider prioritizing card advantage or noncreature spells. We do have some ways to recur our creatures, but losing them still hurts. Still, it may be worth extending into a board wipe if you have Perilous Forays or another way to benefit from those creatures. Sometimes, activating a creature's tap ability once is all you need.

Late Game
do something sweet, then do it again
Once you have enough mana, start to focus in on how you intend to close out the game. If you have several combo pieces in hand, try digging for whatever you're missing. If you have Genesis Wave, deploy a mana doubler and set up for a big turn. If you have card draw, then use that to dig through your deck, then redeploy if your board gets dealt with. If you're missing all of the above, just find a useful tap ability and activate it a bunch of times - even something like Thaben Doomsayer will win the game given sufficient activations (although you'll hopefully be able to find something a bit more impactful).

At this point in time, our deck can start to resemble a storm deck - between Skullclamp, Mentor of the Meek, Zendikar Resurgent, and other draw effects, we have a lot of ways to chain creatures into each other. Similarly, with mana doublers and untap effects, we're capable of generating a lot of mana off Krosan Restorer and other mana creatures. Add in all the tapping and untapping we do, and board states can get pretty complicated. Try to keep track of what tools you have available, and identify the best path to victory.

Things to Watch Out For
This deck is a bit light on interaction, and most of its interaction is in the form of tap abilities on creatures. As a result, there are some cards and situations that can give us a headache. We can recover from most of them, but if they come up often in your meta, consider running more answers.

Fortunately, this deck tends to not be particularly threatening - most of our creatures are small, we don't threaten to lock our opponents out, and we aren't as obviously graveyard-focused as a reanimator deck. As a result, it's possible to keep a low profile and not draw too much hate. We can be pretty threatening if we do a ton of ramping and play out a mana doubler though. Consider holding back resources if you expect your opponents to throw removal at your stuff before you can benefit from it.

If your board gets wiped: in an ideal situation, we'll have already drawn cards from our creatures off Mentor of the Meek or some other effect. Otherwise, hunt for a recursion spell like Genesis or Dawn.

If a combo piece gets exiled: we have some redundancy, but not a ton. This is usually best dealt with via prevention - don't play out combo pieces if you don't have a plan for them. Otherwise, switch gears to a different win condition.

If Samut gets stolen: not that big of a deal. We're not that reliant on Samut - losing haste certainly slows us down, but only by a turn cycle. Still, if this is a recurring problem, consider running more sacrifice outlets or something like Homeward Path. Note also that Samut has flash, so we can hold off on playing her if we expect sorcery-speed interaction.

If an opponent plays scary things: Maze of Ith is one of the better defenses here, since we're a bit light on interaction - otherwise, find some tokens to chump block with. Mangara of Corondor is always an excellent rattlesnake, at least.

If an opponent plays a hate card: Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Cursed Totem, Humility, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite... there are a lot of cards that make us miserable, and, again, we're somewhat light on interaction. We do have access to stuff like Swords to Plowshares and Beast Within - if these are common cards in your meta, adapt your interaction to deal with them.

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Notable Interactions and Combos

This deck is built around one of the most fundamental actions performed in magic: tapping and untapping permanents. As a result, there are a lot of synergies and interactions to be aware of when piloting the deck. Depending on the exact contents of your deck, different interactions may or may not be present - there are a lot of strong creature-based synergies available in Naya colors.
  • Samut, Voice of Dissent + creatures with summoning sickness - arguably the interaction the entire deck is built around. Being in the command zone isn't particularly subtle, but flashing her out to let us activate something like Mother of Runes in response to removal is pretty relevant.
  • Samut, Voice of Dissent + tapped creatures - again, flash allows us to get another activation out of a tapped creature in response to removal. Alternatively, use her to untap a blocker, or use her as a blocker directly - you'd be amazed how often people just attack into Samut mana because they forgot about flash.
  • Samut, Voice of Dissent (tapped) + Goblin Bombardment or another sacrifice outlet - flash lets us sacrifice Samut and replay her untapped, which is relevant if she gets locked down by something like Frost Titan. Again, useful if we really need a blocker or to untap something.
  • Seeker of Skybreak + Illusionist's Bracers - Seeker can, uniquely, target itself. If you copy its ability, you can have Seeker untap both itself and another creature, giving you infinite untaps.
  • Thornbite Staff + Thraben Doomsayer, Adarkar Valkyrie, or another token producer + Goblin Bombardment (or another sacrifice outlet) - tap creature, generate token, sacrifice token, untap creature. Valkyrie operates similarly, but also lets us use any tap abilities our sacrificed creature may have.
  • Seeker of Skybreak + Adarkar Valkyrie + sacrifice outlet - similar to above, but with Seeker functioning in place of Thornbite Staff. Samut also works here, although untapping costs a mana.
  • Krosan Restorer or Ley Weaver + Maze of Ith - attack with the creature, then use Maze to untap it, and the creature to untap Maze and another land. Allows infinite untapping of your lands. Note that this provides infinite mana, but only during combat, which means you'll need some sort of mana sink for it.
    Add in Illusionist's Bracers and you can untap Maze of Ith twice, allowing you to untap all your attacking creatures.
    Add in Arch of Orazca to draw your deck.
    Add in Shivan Gorge to ping your opponents to death.
  • Burgeoning + Quirion Ranger / Scryb Ranger - return a land you control in response to the Burgeoning trigger and replay it. This allows you to get a free untap any time your opponents play a land (once per turn).
  • Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - putting a verse counter on Yisan is done as part of the cost, not the resolution. This means you can untap Yisan and activate him again in response to his ability to fetch multiple creatures with the same mana cost. Yisan is also a one-card combo engine, albeit one that takes a lot of mana and untaps to use.
    The default Yisan chain is Quirion Ranger → Seeker of Skybreak → Knight of the Reliquary (who grabs Maze of Ith + Shivan Gorge) → Ley Weaver, which is enough to win with the Maze of Ith combo above.
    If you need redundancy, protection, or recursion, consider fetching Mother of Runes, Scryb Ranger, or Feldon of the Third Path.
    Scavenging Ooze, Mangara of Corondor, and Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile are fantastic surprises to flash in.
    If you already have a bunch of counters on Yisan, grabbing Adarkar Valkyrie in response to a board wipe is a way to rebuild quickly.
  • If you're running them, Fauna Shaman, Captain Sisay, and Stoneforge Mystic are also all powerful cards for expanding a tutor chain.
  • Mangara of Corondor, Living Inferno, and Humble Defector - all of these go away on resolution of their abilities, which means there is no downside to activating them multiple times in response to the first activation, or sacrificing them before those abilities resolve.
  • Life from the Loam, Deal Broker, Hermit Druid, and other ways to fill our graveyard + Ramunap Excavator, Genesis, Sun Titan, and other recursion - we're not a totally graveyard-based deck, but we do have a fair number of ways to generate card advantage using our graveyard.
  • Hermit Druid + no basics left in deck = mill your entire deck. From there, you can use Turn the Earth to shuffle Storm of Souls back in, which will allow for you to reanimate all the milled creatures - reanimating everything will usually be enough for a combo win.
    Another line is DawnRestoration Specialist to get back any important artifacts / enchantments. Assuming Samut is out and all other creatures are in your graveyard, one potential line that wins with 11 lands is:
    DawnKeeper of ProgenitusKrosan Restorer → untap 6 lands (with Restorer and Samut) → Restoration Specialist → Illusionist's Bracers + Seeker of Skybreak → any useful tap ability.

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Change Log

changelog
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7/25/2019 - initial version
8/16/2019 - tweaking formatting
2/1/2020 - THB swaps
2/12/2020 Tuning for my meta
8/24/2021 Tuning for a new meta
9/28/2021 MID changes, and a bunch of others
10/2/2022 Shifting gears
1/22/2023 reducing Hermit Druid support
3/26/2023 Cutting Maze of Ith
Last edited by Mookie 2 months ago, edited 38 times in total.

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benjameenbear
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Post by benjameenbear » 4 years ago

Cool deck idea! Is Hermit Druid really that necessary for your deck? It seems a nice way to do nothing.

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

benjameenbear wrote:
4 years ago
Cool deck idea! Is Hermit Druid really that necessary for your deck? It seems a nice way to do nothing.
I'm actually playing it fairly here - there aren't a lot of tap abilities in these colors that generate card advantage, and Hermit Druid guarantees a land drop every turn. The deck could probably use a bit more recursion to take advantage of it though - I've been meaning to add Genesis to the deck for ages, for example.

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Throne of Eldraine is out, so going through and logging my thoughts on the various new cards. The set doesn't have a ton of tap abilities, but still some interesting cards.

The Great Henge - the average creature size in this deck is pretty small, so not a ton of reduction. On the other hand, drawing cards and tapping for mana is pretty good.

Syr Carah, the Bold - effectively taps to draw a card, which seems excellent. I'm not the biggest fan of impulsive draw, but still worth testing - likely the best card from the set for this deck.

Escape to the Wilds - still not a huge fan of impulsive draw, but five cards for five mana (plus an extra land drop) is a very good deal. There may be better options for raw card draw though.

Castle Garenbrig - should usually enter untapped, and effectively taps for two mana. Worth testing, at least.

Fabled Passage - another fetchland option, and a strict upgrade from Evolving Wilds.

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

I know your deck is mostly creatures-that-tap, but have you considered Concerted Effort or Odric, Lunarch Marshal as some exceptions? The keyword soup on Samut seems really good, and sharing them also seems like good fun.

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Sinis wrote:
4 years ago
I know your deck is mostly creatures-that-tap, but have you considered Concerted Effort or Odric, Lunarch Marshal as some exceptions? The keyword soup on Samut seems really good, and sharing them also seems like good fun.
I have, yes. The issue with those cards in this version of the deck is that my average creature size is really small - there are only five creatures in the deck with 4+ power (with another three if you count the ones that can grow). Granting double strike to a bunch of 2/2s and 1/1s is fine, but not particularly effective. Would definitely be powerful if I were more beatdown-focused though.

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Post by sadgasm » 4 years ago

Have you considered Viashino Heretic? The activation cost is admittedly steep but it has always put in a ton of work for me in decks that couldn't abuse it.

I love the deck! I have been looking at this theme for Samut as well and expect to refer back to this several times before I finish a list.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

sadgasm wrote:
4 years ago
Have you considered Viashino Heretic? The activation cost is admittedly steep but it has always put in a ton of work for me in decks that couldn't abuse it.

I love the deck! I have been looking at this theme for Samut as well and expect to refer back to this several times before I finish a list.
Viashino Heretic was actually part of the most recent round of cuts - I'm currently running Starke of Rath and Mangara of Corondor over it. It's a solid choice, but I found the activation cost to be somewhat awkward, and I didn't want to overload on artifact removal. Depends somewhat on how much you need a mana sink and how many artifacts are in your meta though.

Glad to hear you like the list! If you want me to take a look once you finish putting things together, feel free to give me a shout.

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Post by Tevesh » 4 years ago

A friend of mine built this deck over two years ago. There were two tricks that burned into my mind as PTSD flashbacks from his build: He used Erratic Portal to abuse Mangara of Corondor. The other was using Grafted Exoskeleton. The Exoskeleton and Samut makes for very dead people. Godo, Bandit Warlord could fetch the Exoskeleton, Samut gives everybody Haste, so he'd equip Exoskeleton to Samut and swing - Samut one shots a player with Exoskeleton, Godo untaps all Samurai and Samut having Vigilance gets to get in again. Combine with Rogue's Passage or Key to the City for maximum silliness.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Tevesh wrote:
4 years ago
A friend of mine built this deck over two years ago. There were two tricks that burned into my mind as PTSD flashbacks from his build: He used Erratic Portal to abuse Mangara of Corondor. The other was using Grafted Exoskeleton. The Exoskeleton and Samut makes for very dead people. Godo, Bandit Warlord could fetch the Exoskeleton, Samut gives everybody Haste, so he'd equip Exoskeleton to Samut and swing - Samut one shots a player with Exoskeleton, Godo untaps all Samurai and Samut having Vigilance gets to get in again. Combine with Rogue's Passage or Key to the City for maximum silliness.
Ha, lovely. Well, for some definition of lovely.

I don't think I'd put Erratic Portal in this build - there are so few creatures with ETB effects to recur that I'm actually running Torpor Orb. There are definitely some interesting things that can be done with Mangara of Corondor though - I've seen it in a Rasputin Dreamweaver blink deck before, where it was pretty nasty.

I've deliberately avoided adding any Voltron elements to the deck, but Samut does work really well with them. I could definitely see an alternate build running Stoneforge Mystic, Godo, and Stonehewer Giant. I have been wanting to add Aurelia, the Warleader to the deck though. Mostly because she untaps all my creatures on attack, but there definitely exist some powerful beatdown builds of Samut to take better advantage of the extra combat - I'm already running Etali, Primal Storm, but Inferno Titan and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames would also be excellent includes.

...I wish that Captain Sisay fit into my budget limit - there are a ton of sweet legends to tutor up, and stuff like Godo and Yisan the Wanderer Bard allow for some very powerful tutor chains. But fetching up interaction in Mangara / Starke of Rath / Glissa Sunseeker is also really powerful.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

First time I've updated this deck in a while - it was actually in storage for the last few months, so I haven't been able to play it. Still, got a few new things to try out.

Sadly, Theros: Beyond Death didn't bring many goodies for the deck - there weren't many creatures with tap abilities in the set, total.

Adds:
  • Hua Tuo, Honored Physician - I've been wanting to try him out for a while, since I feel like I want more recursion. A bit slow (going to top of deck is unfortunate), but I have several ways to chain creatures into each other. No idea how it will function in practice.
  • Genesis - see above re: me wanting to try out more recursion. It's also a payoff for milling myself a bunch with Hermit Druid
  • Syr Carah, the Bold - tap abilities that generate card advantage are pretty much always worth consideration. Temporary window only though, so we'll see how things go...
  • Feldon of the Third Path - more recursion, I guess? There are some very strong cards to recur, but most of my creatures are small. Again, testing.
  • Heliod's Intervention - testing. A one-sided, instant-speed Fracturing Gust seems like it could be good, but I may already have enough answers to artifacts and enchantments.
  • Nylea's Intervention - draws a pile of utility lands, which seems intriguing. Killing fliers is also relevant.
Cuts:
  • Goblin Bombardment - it doesn't really fit with what the deck is doing, and is here entirely as a combo piece, which has felt a bit awkward.
  • Martyr's Cause - as above. I don't have enough expendable token production to take advantage of it outside comboing.
  • Thornbite Staff - without the free sacrifice outlets, this gets a lot worse. Would be sweet if I were playing black and had access to Visara the Dreadful and friends, but actually killing stuff with tap abilities is often difficult. It's also really expensive to equip.
  • The Mending of Dominaria - I don't feel like I consistently throw enough lands in the graveyard to take advantage of the land reanimation. I'm also adding a bunch of other recursive cards to test out, so it's a little redundant.
  • Thaumatic Compass - I'm playing green, so hitting land drops consistently isn't as much of a problem.
  • Goblin Sharpshooter - there's an alternative build out there that runs a bunch of pingers and Basilisk Collar effects, but my current build isn't quite there.

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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

The deck in general is right up my alley. I love me Naya and tapping and untapping creatures in tricky ways for advantages is the sort of thing I like to do, especially in response to what opponents might be doing.

I do however think there are a few alterations that I would make personally.

The mana production to advantages ratio seems heavily skewed towards mana. That is you can produce a lot more in general and not have the payoffs to always warrant the effort.

Advantages don't just need to be "draw". You do mention Fauna Shaman, Captain Sisay, in your other options in card choices, but I'd also extend this to Selvala, Explorer Returned and Atla Palani, Nest Tender, Weathered Wayfarer.
Land draw only, Dryad Greenseeker, Fa'adiyah Seer.
Card filtering (discard and draw) with some elements of the deck is beneficial. For example can fuel Life from the Loam, Genesis, Krosan Restorer (threshold), Feldon of the Third Path, Sun Titan, Genesis.
These could be Deal Broker, Dismissive Pyromancer, Rummaging Goblin.

I feel like there is a slight disconnect between cards that benefit from multiple creatures, and your actual ability to produce multiple creatures.
For example Skullclamp, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Perilous Forays.
The thing is that often your creatures are providing advantages in the first place so putting Skullclamp on Quirion Ranger, Budoka Gardener, Hermit Druid, etc can be done, but it's not often that you want to do this. So it's a bit of a false sense of actual meaningful targets in the deck.
In this same way Ulvenwald Mysteries and Perilous Forays only seem really beneficial when you specifically face a board wipe AND you have the mana available to activate them.
You do mention Godsire, Pride Sovereign, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter in your other option card choices, but I would actually included at least one or two further options into the deck for my reasoning.
Further options are Hangarback Walker, Herald of Anafenza, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Krenko, Mob Boss, Rakka Mar, Rhys the Redeemed, Steward of Solidarity, Tolsimir Wolfblood, Atla Palani, Nest Tender.

Just going back to mana producing, you've gone for the more safe option of land ramp specifically, but you've forgone some more synergistic options in actually playing mana creatures.
You have Seeker of Skybreak + Illusionist's Bracers, but then only back this up with, Krosan Restorer, Argothian Elder, Magus of the Library (colorless) as actual infinite mana producers.
Some additional mana creatures will just help smooth out your early plays, as well as play into combos.
Birds of Paradise, Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder are options I would look at.

Also if you look at creatures instead of instant/sorcery as land ramp, you can benefit from Skullclamp, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Perilous Forays, Guardian Project, Sun Titan, Dusk // Dawn, Genesis, Adarkar Valkyrie, Hua Tuo, Honored Physician, Feldon of the Third Path, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, Harvest Season.
So Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad, Farhaven Elf, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Springbloom Druid, Solemn Simulacrum, Viridian Emissary.
Admittedly Torpor Orb would work against these, but you have to weigh up your matrix of synergies and I think it clearly points towards playing creature land ramp over things like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Skyshroud Claim, Pir's Whim, Boundless Realms.

I'm excited to build a deck very close to your build, just with some of the changes I suggested. That is I would build towards more of a mid-range vibe, forgoing total over the top mana production, with more mid-range card advantages and replacing land ramp with creatures instead of sorcery cards.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

@darrenhabib - thanks for the thoughts! The deck is certainly fun to play once it gets going, so I'll encourage testing it out. There are definitely a lot of possible directions to take this style of deck, so I'll also encourage putting your own spin on it - if you do end up building it, let me know how it goes!

Addressing individual points...
darrenhabib wrote:
4 years ago
Advantages don't just need to be "draw". You do mention Fauna Shaman, Captain Sisay, in your other options in card choices, but I'd also extend this to Selvala, Explorer Returned and Atla Palani, Nest Tender, Weathered Wayfarer.
Land draw only, Dryad Greenseeker, Fa'adiyah Seer.
Card filtering (discard and draw) with some elements of the deck is beneficial. For example can fuel Life from the Loam, Genesis, Krosan Restorer (threshold), Feldon of the Third Path, Sun Titan, Genesis.
These could be Deal Broker, Dismissive Pyromancer, Rummaging Goblin.
I find it somewhat interesting that you bring up Selvala and Dryad Greenseeker - they were actually in older versions of the deck, but I eventually cut them due to feeling a bit awkward. Selvala because I wasn't a big fan of the symmetric draw, and Greenseeker because the high miss rate led to a lot of feel-bad situations. I know I got a Fa'adiyah Seer to test out, but can't recall whether or not I ever actually did.

I had some miscellaneous looting in older versions of the deck, but wasn't running enough recursion at the time to justify their inclusion. Adding Feldon and Genesis does make it more attractive though - I'll keep an eye on it while testing.

Atla Palani is actually going to be in the next build of the deck - I ordered one, but it didn't arrive until after the cards in the last update. I'm not entirely sure how it will do now that I've cut most of my sacrifice outlets, but should be interesting at least.

Re: Skullclamp - I actually find myself cashing in creatures for cards pretty aggressively - something like Budoka Gardener or Hermit Druid is great when I have excess or too few lands, but sort of low-impact otherwise. On the other hand, it was definitely better when I was running Pride Sovereign and a bunch of token producers.... but my lack of payoffs for tokens meant that I cut most of the token producers over time. I think Skullclamp is still worth consideration just from raw power level, but it may be appropriate to reexamine Perilous Forays. Ulvenwald Mysteries is sort of a pet card though, and made more sense in my previous meta, which was very heavy on board wipes.
darrenhabib wrote:
4 years ago
Some additional mana creatures will just help smooth out your early plays, as well as play into combos.
Birds of Paradise, Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder are options I would look at.
As mentioned above, my previous meta was fairly heavy on board wipes, hence why I'm light on creatures that tap for mana. That said, Faeburrow Elder is probably a good inclusion. I've mentally excluded Bloom Tender from my mindspace due to price though.

On the other hand, creature-based land ramp is probably a good call. I've excluded them primarily to maximize Torpor Orb, I will admit that doing so is likely not optimal. On the other hand, Torpor Orb doesn't shut down Sakura-Tribe Elder or some of the other options, so not really any downside there. I vaguely recall considering it for the initial version of the deck, but can't remember why it didn't make the cut. May have been before I added Guardian Project? Hmmm... (I do wish Frontier Guide were more efficient though)

I'll probably spend some time this weekend updating the 'other card options' sections.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Played a bunch of games since the last update, to somewhat mixed results. I think that those results were partially because of the meta of the LGS I was playing at, which is pretty different from metas I've played at previously. For one, there are a lot less board wipes - in the ~6 or so games I played, I think there were maybe two board wipes, one of which was my own Dusk // Dawn (and even then, I was casting it primarily so I could access the recursion half). There also seems to be a lot less grave hate.

However, the reason why there are so few board wipes I would say to be because the meta is significantly spikier than the metas I'm used to - Mana Crypt and Mana Vault are all over the place, and games are regularly ending around turn 6 or 7 from spell-based combo decks (one of the games I played was against 3x Kykar, Wind's Fury, which went about as well as one could expect). That makes it a bit difficult for this deck to compete - it isn't particularly disruptive, and it's also not that fast.

With that in mind, I'm making a few changes in an effort to adapt to the meta. Adding some cheaper ramp to try to speed things up a bit, and also adding a bit more filtering to try to be more proactive. One nice thing about there being fewer board wipes is that I can rely on my creatures more, which means that token-based strategies are more feasible. I unfortunately couldn't find my copy of Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, but running the other cards I had on hand - a lot of these cards were actually in earlier versions of the deck, but cut based on the meta I was in. Will see how things go and continue to tune based on my results.

Cuts:
  • Tragic Arrogance - as mentioned, it feels like there are a lot of spell-based combo decks, which makes board wipes less valuable. It's pretty common for people to have no creatures other than their generals.
  • Ulvenwald Mysteries - no board wipes makes this less valuable as wrath insurance, which was its primary purpose.
  • Syr Carah, the Bold - I had it in hand a few times, but never cast it - I had better things to do with my mana than maybe cast a spell off the top.
  • Nullmage Advocate - it's fine, and I appreciate the diplomatic aspects, but trying to make the deck a bit more proactive (and less reactive)
  • Hua Tuo, Honored Physician - I did enjoy testing it, and recursion is great, but the card disadvantage was definitely felt. Maybe I'll have more topdeck synergies someday...
  • Starke of Rath - again, trying to be more proactive. Trimming sacrifice outlets also made him feel worse.
  • Nylea's Intervention - I've noticed that my deck has a lot of ways to get access to extra lands, but only a few ways to actually get those lands in play. Didn't ever feel like a good time to cast it.
  • Skyshroud Claim - trying to trim down my curve a bit. May come back depending on how the new ramp options feel.
  • Torpor Orb - I didn't notice that many ETB creatures being played, so cutting for now. It is a powerful hate piece, but going to wait until I have a better grasp of the meta before I add it back.
  • Quest for Renewal - awkwardly, while I really like untapping my creatures, untapping them on other peoples' turns isn't quite as valuable. A lot of my creatures either are redundant to untap (such as Mangara of Corondor), or require mana activations (such as Feldon of the Third Path), which makes them expensive to activate repeatedly without also untapping lands.
  • Flamekin Village - I don't think I've ever actually activated it.
  • Forest - trimming a land - as mentioned, feels like I often have more lands than I can play.
Adds:
  • Goblin Bombardment - if there was one thing I felt most from my testing, it's that I needed another win condition. Adding a bit more token production to support it.
  • Thornbite Staff - as above, really felt like I wanted another combo to close out games. This card still isn't great without a sacrifice outlet, but there being fewer board wipes makes me feel better about actually equipping it.
  • Pride Sovereign - adding another token producer. I'd prefer something scarier, but this will do for now.
  • Atla Palani, Nest Tender - another token producer! May require another sacrifice outlet to support fully. Also a Shaman for Thornbite Staff, which is too serendipitous to not take advantage of.
  • Sunbird's Invocation - testing out as another way to dig through the deck.
  • Joraga Treespeaker - Sol Ring elf seems like a good way to speed things up a bit.
  • Overgrowth - testing out as a faster ramp spell
  • Somberwald Sage - testing out as another way to speed up the deck.
  • Eladamri's Call - instant speed way to tutor for a huge percentage of the deck.
  • Deal Broker - testing out as a way to filter through my deck faster.
  • Restoration Specialist - another thing I noticed is I really wanted a way to recur my artifacts and enchantments that died. One game I managed to mill the majority of my deck with Hermit Druid, but had no way to grab back the cards I actually needed to win. This seems like a potent engine alongside Genesis.
  • Selesnya Sanctuary - making up a little for the trimmed land, but actually here because I want to boost my land-untappers. We'll see how it feels...

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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
Played a bunch of games since the last update, to somewhat mixed results. I think that those results were partially because of the meta of the LGS I was playing at, which is pretty different from metas I've played at previously. For one, there are a lot less board wipes - in the ~6 or so games I played, I think there were maybe two board wipes, one of which was my own Dusk // Dawn (and even then, I was casting it primarily so I could access the recursion half). There also seems to be a lot less grave hate.

However, the reason why there are so few board wipes I would say to be because the meta is significantly spikier than the metas I'm used to - Mana Crypt and Mana Vault are all over the place, and games are regularly ending around turn 6 or 7 from spell-based combo decks (one of the games I played was against 3x Kykar, Wind's Fury, which went about as well as one could expect). That makes it a bit difficult for this deck to compete - it isn't particularly disruptive, and it's also not that fast.

With that in mind, I'm making a few changes in an effort to adapt to the meta. Adding some cheaper ramp to try to speed things up a bit, and also adding a bit more filtering to try to be more proactive. One nice thing about there being fewer board wipes is that I can rely on my creatures more, which means that token-based strategies are more feasible. I unfortunately couldn't find my copy of Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, but running the other cards I had on hand - a lot of these cards were actually in earlier versions of the deck, but cut based on the meta I was in. Will see how things go and continue to tune based on my results.
Yeah you can tell your deck had been built around trying to go "safe" routes, but you lose in speed and synergy.

Take full advantage of the fact that you are playing against less board wipes and run more creature synergies for sure.

If you are moving into Goblin Bombardment + Thornbite Staff combo then you really need creatures that don't require mana to produce tokens.
So Pride Sovereign is not really where you want to be at.
Creatures that don't require mana are; Steward of Solidarity, Kazandu Tuskcaller, Godsire, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Krenko, Mob Boss, Tolsimir Wolfblood.
Splinter Twin also does it.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker has the advantage that you don't have to equip the Thornbite Staff because he is a Shaman.
Krenko, Mob Boss allows you to potentially create infinite tokens as well and with Samut haste enabler that's a same turn kill with any sacrifice outlet, not just Goblin Bombardment.

Unfortunately Perilous Forays as a sacrifice outlet suffers from actually investing mana, which if you were to hope for infinite's is something to consider.
Cryptolith Rite and Song of Freyalise can be used to give you additional mana with token generators.

Other combos you have that can be supported further.
Additional creatures you can run with the Maze of Ith combo are; Hope Tender, Magus of the Candelabra, Ley Weaver.
Now Hope Tender and Magus of the Candelabra will only produce you mana if you have a mana doubler in play.
For example Magus of the Candelabra would require spending two mana to untap a land and the Maze of Ith, so you would need a land to produce 3 mana to get gain mana.

On this train of thought, speeding up the deck with Utopia Sprawl, Fertile Ground, Wild Growth will help.
You have to move away from the "land ramp is safest" mentality and acknowledge a faster meta.
Thus Boundless Realms, Kodama's Reach, Cultivate, Pir's Whim, should be cut in favor of the Auras.

You can additionally add speed and synergy to these with Voyaging Satyr and Arbor Elf. And once again I'll point out that these work better with the rest of your deck.
They provide advantages with Mentor of the Meek, Skullclamp, Guardian Project, Perilous Forays, Harvest Season.
As well as being further targets for your "Tap Enhancement" cards, including additional combo pieces for Seeker of Skybreak + Illusionist's Bracers.

Wirewood Lodge can be used with Argothian Elder and a land that taps for at least 2 mana to produce infinite mana.

If you wanted to go deep then Mirror Entity would allow you to make Hope Tender, Magus of the Candelabra, Ley Weaver, Krosan Restorer also "elves" for that combo.
Mirror Entity can also be used with Atla Palani, Nest Tender to make your creatures "Eggs" and so when they die, you'll get to put a creature into play ability.

Other lands you can look at to help with Maze of Ith combo are Geier Reach Sanitarium, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, Kessig Wolf Run, Springjack Pasture, Castle Ardenvale, Kher Keep, Kjeldoran Outpost, Urza's Factory, Westvale Abbey.
Admittedly letting your opponents draw cards is risky, but depending on how much disruption your meta has, Grand Abolisher could be a good bet anyway, although it does cost $$.
I like the Castle Ardenvale because its a colored mana source. You don't want to be running too many colorless lands in a 3 color deck.
Geier Reach Sanitarium is also nice to setup graveyard.

Combat Celebrant is great with haste, and because you get to untap it with Samut, you can use it every turn. This just means that you can double up on your tap creatures for the turn.

If you put a lot more stock into the mana creatures (which you 100% should be), then Aggravated Assault is also a combo enabler.
If you had one mana doubler like Mirari's Wake and two creatures like Hope Tender and say Faeburrow Elder then that's infinite mana.
Even something like Argothian Elder and Arbor Elf with a Utopia Sprawl on a land, is going to allow infinite untaps. What I'm trying to point out that is that you can easily come up with 5 mana if you have the support for it.
Obviously combine with a tap creature for infinite's as well, say Mangara of Corondor to exile all your opponents permanents, or Humble Defector to draw most of your deck.

The more stock you put into the combos then Illusionist's Bracers and Thornbite Staff become more valuable.
So you can look at Steelshaper's Gift and Open the Armory as cheap tutors.
Plus as you move into more token generators, Skullclamp becomes a major source of draw.
Godo, Bandit Warlord is also a top end play and in a deck with lots of untap, the additional attack is good.
Stonehewer Giant is also up there.

One of my new favorite cards is Reconnaissance. You can use this with Samut to untap him because the vigilance means he can attack without tapping allowing you to untap a creature twice.
Its also a way to just allow you to attack with all your creature freely, because you can untap ones that would get killed, and most importantly you can use a trick that you can untap your creatures after damage has occurred, so you still get to do damage then untap your tap creatures for further use.

Congregation at Dawn is also going to allow more consistency. You can even set it up and Life from the Loam to put all those creatures into your graveyard if wanting to use with Feldon of the Third Path or Sun Titan.

On that note however, how have you really found the Life from the Loam in the deck? Life from the Loam is easily in my top 10 commander cards of all time, and I abuse it a lot.
The thing is that you are missing all the good fetch-lands that make using Loam consistent at getting you land drops. Plus the recursion packages are fairly minimal and a bit slow as well. Dawn // Dusk, Genesis, Seasons Past all return to hand, which isn't exactly how you envision abusing graveyard strategies.
The reality is that are you willing to give up your draw for the dredge? Often times I'm going to say probably not.
This is just from experience having literally decks dedicated to Life from the Loam, you need to have a really good support system to warrant the skip draw.

I'm just going to be totally honest and I think your deck is trying to do too many things, and thus spreads itself too thin on doing specific things well.
When I focus on dredge I want big payoffs. That might be Splendid Reclamation, Replenish, Living Death or whatever fits the core of the deck.
I'm just not really seeing "big payoffs" in this deck, so the question does need to be answered.
And then it's not as simple as just adding a World Shaper/Splendid Reclamation, as you want these to synergies as well, in that you want lands to be meaningful other than just mana, whether that might be landfall or major things to invest the mana into.
An example might be that you aim for Emeria Shepherd or Admonition Angel triggers with a big play like this.

This leads me into another thing with the build that I question. You still have a Battlecruiser vision with Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, Boundless Realms, Zendikar Resurgent, Genesis Wave, Keeper of Progenitus, Sunbird's Invocation.
There are expensive cards in the deck like Adarkar Valkyrie, Seasons Past, Sun Titan, Kamahl, Pit Fighter, Living Inferno, but it's not that many, and can you really afford to take a turn off if you had one of these in hand already?
If you want to stick with reanimation then this should be your way to get Adarkar Valkyrie, Sun Titan, Kamahl, Pit Fighter, Living Inferno into play instead of trying to generate tons of mana.

I guess this is my long winded way of saying this deck should aim to be more focused, rather than spread itself out. If you want to generate tons of mana, then great, but dedicate more to payoffs, and vise versa with the graveyard recursion.

Anyway all food for thought. The reason I've made this post so long is that I'm clearly interested in the deck, so hopefully you take it as a compliment, rather than me just being picky about card selection. Like its definitely inspired me to make a version so I'm just as much thinking out loud what changes I'd make.

As far as cuts, there are definitely some easy changes in my opinion.
Expedition Map is great...in all non-Green decks. Green is just King of land searches, so Crop Rotation is going to be much better here and allow you to get combos at instant speed.
Also relying less on artifacts in the face of artifact lock-down cards. Magewright's Stone is an easy cut.

I do think that Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile and Intrepid Hero are a bit too situational.

I will say that the land base is a bit awkward given some things you want to do. It obviously would be nice to have the shockland duels, Temple Garden, Stomping Ground, Sacred Foundry.
It'll just help makes things like Keeper of Progenitus, Knight of the Reliquary better.

From experience Genesis is just far too cumbersome and slow to feel like a good card. I've always ended up cutting in my own decks after trying to make it a good fit.

I've already mentioned cutting land ramp Kodama's Reach, etc for mana creatures.

Battlecruiser cards could be cut, Mana Reflection, Boundless Realms, Zendikar Resurgent, Genesis Wave, Sunbird's Invocation.
Maybe leave in Mirari's Wake and Keeper of Progenitus as your mana doubler enablers.

One last thing had you ever considered calling the thread "Samut: Double Tap"? Zombieland reference...just seems perfect.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

@darrenhabib Well, that is... an intimidating wall of text. It's clear you've been thinking about this for a while! So it only feels fair that I counter back with my own wall of text that I've been thinking about for a while. :P
lots of thinking
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One thing I'll preface things with is that a large percentage of the cards I've included in this deck are here due to budget reasons - I have a personal rule that I try to avoid spending more than $2 per card. I believe that I made an exception for this deck for Mother of Runes and Knight of the Reliquary (who were both around $3 when I got them), but I otherwise generally have held to it - the cards in the deck that are more expensive are either ones I traded for, opened, got from a precon, or had in another deck.

For some of my decks, this is a pretty negligible restriction. My Sharuum the Hegemon deck isn't running Urza, Lord High Artificer, and my Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck isn't running Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. I do believe that those decks would be better if those cards were included, but there is also enough redundancy in those themes (artifacts and creature/sacrifice synergies, respectively) that I have a plethora of card options.

In this deck? Not so much. That's largely because if we look at the number of creatures with tap abilities printed, that number is tiny - looking at the number of creatures in Pioneer with ETB abilities, we have over a thousand (1059), while only 283 creatures with tap abilities - around 10 per set. And if we strip out the creatures that just produce mana and the ones that have to sacrifice themselves (due to redundancy and inability to be untapped, respectively), that drops to around 162. (THB, for example, only has one creature with a tap ability that isn't a mana ability: Blood Aspirant)

And as for the reason why so few tap abilities get printed, I'd probably point to New World Order - tap abilities add a lot of complexity to the board state, which means they rarely show up at common. Simultaneously, they lead to repetitive game states and can be difficult to balance - the gap in value between an Arcanis the Omnipotent that sticks around for three turns and one that dies immediately is massive, while the value of a Mulldrifter over time is pretty flat. As a result, tap abilities tend to be pretty conservatively costed - either they have expensive activation costs, or they have minor impact. Cards with unique and powerful abilities are really, really rare. And even when they are printed, they tend to be too underpowered or slow to actually see play. Looking at the top 100 creatures on EDHREC in the last week, I see a mere 15 creatures with tap abilities, of which only 4 aren't cheap mana dorks (Samut, Mother of Runes, Kiora's Follower, and Magus of the Wheel... and Kiora's Follower is honestly sort of iffy).

As a result, there is a pretty small card pool for cards I can choose from if I want specific effects from tap abilities. For example, if I were to look at creatures that tap to destroy an enchantment, I would see 13 total results. Of these, only three don't sacrifice or destroy themselves on resolution, and only one actually generates card advantage (Ethersworn Adjudicator, with Devout Witness and Nullmage Advocate having hefty costs).

This, in turn, is why the deck can feel like it lacks focus - there are a lot of unique tap effects (like Knight of the Reliquary and Seeker of Skybreak) that don't have many alternatives. I'd love to be able to to focus in on token production to abuse Skullclamp, or have a massive utility land package for Knight of the Reliquary, or a reanimator package for Feldon of the Third Path, but the fact that there is so little redundancy makes it hard to justify going all-in on any one synergy.

That said, I do believe that the card pool is deep enough to do some powerful things with tap abilities. However, I also feel like I've mined out the majority of the card pool available within my budget restriction of $2/card, largely because the card pool isn't that big.
tl;dr: the card pool for tap abilities isn't that big, and me limiting myself to cards under $2 imposes some pretty hefty restrictions on my deckbuilding.

Anyway....
  • Thornbite Staff - I cut it originally because it requires a lot of support - you need both free token producers and free sacrifice outlets, and I don't think this deck has enough density of either to justify building around (especially when there aren't really any substitutions for the Staff if I don't draw it or it gets killed). The primary reason I added it back was just to have another way to close out a game. I'd actually prefer to win games via vaaaaalue and not combo, but I unfortunately don't have the cards on hand at the moment that would make that feasible.
  • Cryptolith Rite - I actually found there to be a bit of tension with this card, since almost all of my creatures have tap abilities I would like to utilize. That said, it works really well with token production and Quest for Renewal, but I don't know if I have enough card density to support it.
  • Combat Celebrant - I've considered it before, but found it a bit too fragile - it's hard for it to survive combat.
  • Open the Armory - it was in an earlier build of the deck as a way to fetch combo pieces, but it always felt sort of awkward - I never felt like just casting it for a combo piece unless I was in a position to win immediately. The fact that I don't have that many options also makes it hard to toolbox with. But ultimately, its sin was not being Stoneforge Mystic.
  • Reconnaissance - this was actually the card that inspired me to consider Johan as the original commander. That said, it's not particularly useful for untapping my non-Samut creatures because they have to tap to attack. I suppose just untapping Samut herself may be worth it though.
  • Life from the Loam - I've generally been happy with it - I don't have all the fetchlands, but between Knight of the Reliquary, Hermit Druid, and the fetch/cycling lands I do have, I generally have enough targets for it. It's also one of the best way to recur Maze of Ith if it gets killed. I don't dredge it every turn, but I'm fine with doing so once every few turns to hit my land drops.
  • Reanimation, mass or otherwise - unfortunately, without black mana available, my options are limited. I've considered Angel of Glory's Rise, but by Teysa deck is already doing that and I don't want the redundancy. Meanwhile, my Tasigur deck is doing all of the land recursion effects much better than this deck ever could. I suppose MLD → land recursion is a potential line, but I'd prefer to not go that route. May be worth running more ways to fill the graveyard + more recursion, but not sure if that is a direction I want to go.
  • Battlecruiser stuff: partially here to justify how much ramp I'm running, but yeah, can definitely feel clunky if I don't draw my ramp.
  • Magewright's Stone - actually one of the better untappers in the deck - I'd never consider cutting it. I also haven't run into any artifact lockdown stuff. I have considered running Stony Silence and friends myself, but I'm too reliant on artifacts for comboing to do so.
  • Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile - she's a little sketchy, yeah. Definitely on the chopping block, but I want to test her a bit more.
  • Intrepid Hero - I've actually generally been happy with it. There aren't a lot of options for creature removal in these colors, unfortunately, so I have to make do with what I can get. Unless I wanted to just run Swords to Plowshares, but that has zero synergy with the rest of the deck.
  • Genesis - was added to be 'literally any payoff for Hermit Druid'. I've been fine with it so far, but I definitely recognize it to be a slow card. I only added it a week or two ago, so not looking to cut it quite so soon. >.>
  • Deck name: the original name of the deck was actually 'A Simple Plan (play dudes, turn sideways)'. I've been debating whether I actually want to use that name again.
....I'll see if I can put together a list of cards I'd run if not for budget constraints. I know Captain Sisay, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Stoneforge Mystic, and Godsire are at the top of it, but it's pretty extensive.

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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
One thing I'll preface things with is that a large percentage of the cards I've included in this deck are here due to budget reasons - I have a personal rule that I try to avoid spending more than $2 per card. I believe that I made an exception for this deck for Mother of Runes and Knight of the Reliquary (who were both around $3 when I got them), but I otherwise generally have held to it - the cards in the deck that are more expensive are either ones I traded for, opened, got from a precon, or had in another deck.
Oh yeah, my suggestions were all with a budget in mind otherwise it'd would be Stoneforge Mystic, Enlightened Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Gaea's Cradle, Bloom Tender, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds as auto includes.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Was able to play a few more games today, and generally felt happy with the changes. I didn't test out all the new cards, but was generally happy with what was added, and didn't find myself missing what I cut that badly. May want to add back Torpor Orb and more interaction at some point, but speeding things up definitely felt more appropriate for the meta. I do find myself running out of gas a bit faster, but that is also sort of canceled out by games ending faster.

Highlights: Going to be testing this deck a bit less intensely in the coming weeks, but I'll say I've generally been happy with the way I've been able to adapt to the new meta. Can't say I'm necessarily happy with the meta itself (I prefer a bit of a lower power level), but that's sort of out of my control.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Haven't been able to play much this last month due to various real-life things making it infeasible to play in paper. However, C20 previews are out! Not a ton of stuff for this deck due to there not being a ton of theme overlap (and being wedge colored instead of allied/shard also limits how many things can go in this deck), but there are a few options. I'll have another review up for Ikoria when it's out.
  • Cartographer's Hawk - mildly interesting due our ability to grant it haste. I suspect we'll usually have too many lands to trigger it... but if you play it turn 2 and are later in the turn order, it's effectively Rampant Growth, which isn't bad.
  • Flawless Maneuver - interesting to compare with Boros Charm / Heroic Intervention - it looks pretty solid. I'm not sure if I would run it in my current meta due to a lack of board wipes, but protecting Samut or another creature from spot removal is still really good, so I may try to test it out. Free interaction makes it a lot safer to tap out to go for a combo.
  • Verge Rangers - as with the Hawk, I suspect I'll have more lands than my opponents most of the time. This deck also already has access to Courser of Kruphix, which is a more consistent effect.
  • Deflecting Swat - as with Flawless Maneuver, free interaction is good. I think that indestructible is usually going to be better than redirection, but it depends on how many board wipes are in your meta vs how much spot removal gets pointed at your noncreatures - using this to protect Zendikar Resurgent or another mana doubler is pretty good.
  • Fireflux Squad - could be interesting for a different Samut build with scarier things to cheat out - turning a token into Inferno Titan sounds sweet, even if you don't get the attack trigger.
  • Glademuse - makes Samut cantrip. This deck doesn't run enough instants to benefit from it, but could be sweet in a flash-based Samut control deck.
  • Obscuring Haze - free fog is fine, but weaker than the other two. Could be a meta call if there is a lot of attacking in your meta, but much weaker in combo-based metas.
  • Manascape Refractor - very intriguing. I suspect Thespian's Stage or Vesuva is better if you want to copy land abilities, and we don't have any ways to untap artifacts, but it seems like a powerful rock alongside a bunch of utility lands.
  • Bonder's Ornament - I've tested Magnifying Glass in decks before, and this looks to be an almost-strictly-better version. This deck doesn't really want 3 mana rocks though.
  • Molten Echoes - this looks.... extremely intriguing, and a potential build-around. This deck already has a bit of a Human subtheme, to the point that I've considered Angel of Glory's Rise (and Devout Chaplain) for it. Unfortunately, a lot of the cards I would most like to copy with it (Mangara of Corondor, Starke of Rath, Etali, Primal Storm) are legendary (and that gets even more amplified if you're running Captain Sisay). Still, it's a powerful build-around - effectively grants haste, while also producing tokens to sacrifice, and giving a free tap ability activation on the turn you play a creature.
    Also some implications with stuff like Adarkar Valkyrie, since you could recur a creature and then copy it - it actually goes infinite when recurring Samut (due to the legend rule making Samut die when she is cloned) and using her to untap the Valkyrie + Krosan Restorer (or another creature that can generate 3+ mana, 2 of which is white). Note that if you do run it, you'd want to swap out Argothian Elder for Ley Weaver, which is somewhat amusing.
    There are similar effects available already - Flameshadow Conjuring and Minion Reflector, but being free makes it a lot easier to work with.
Overall, I think that Molten Echoes and Flawless Maneuver are the cards I'd consider for my decklist, but there are some interesting options for alternative builds.

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Ikoria is... interesting for this deck. There's a bit of a humans subtheme, but it's mostly in black/white. Meanwhile, Mutate doesn't work with humans at all, which are a substantial number of the creatures in this deck. Ability counters are largely negligible, since most of them are combat-focused. The main exception of note is deathtouch (since you can throw it on Goblin Sharpshooter or another pinger), but that isn't really available in Naya. We also don't have much synergy for cycling. So, not a ton of inherent synergy between this deck and the set. Wedge factions also clash with our own shard faction.

On the other hand, the set also brought the Companion mechanic. There are two legal companions in our colors, but Kaheera, the Orphanguard is immediately disqualified, which leaves us with Zirda, the Dawnwaker. Who, as a creature that enhances activated abilities, is quite appropriate for this deck.... if not for the fact that almost all of our tap abilities are free to activate, and the cards without abilities (such as Seedborn Muse) are pretty good too.

I will believe that a sweet Zirda tap ability deck could be built, but it would definitely require some substantial modifications. Still, I may look into shifting this deck if I get the chance. There is some tension though - Zirda works best with abilities that cost 3-4 mana to activate, but if you're untapping your creatures repeatedly, you really want cheaper abilities. On the other hand, having access to Zirda as a companion means you can build around it more, so it may be worth just assuming you have access most of the time, and running some recursion in case it dies. Cutting the permanents without activated abilities is definitely a real cost, but switching them into more interaction or spell-based ramp isn't an inherently terrible idea (or just swapping them with cards with slightly expensive activated abilities).

Anyway, evaluating individual cards...
  • Luminous Broodmoth - mostly calling it out as a sweet card, and a powerful enabler for sacrifice-based combos.
  • Drannith Magistrate - a very potent hatebear(d). Worth considering if you want to lean into the hate... and also worth consideration if you find yourself running into it a lot and wanting more removal.
  • Kogla, the Titan Ape - looks awesome for Samut decks. Removal, saves our humans, and blows up artifacts and enchantments. Easy include.
  • Footfall Crater - mostly interesting as a cheap and repeatable way to grant haste.
  • Winota, Joiner of Forces - another intriguing inclusion, since we actually have a pretty even split between humans and non-humans. Cheating cards into play in Boros is a pretty sweet ability, but most of our non-humans aren't exactly good attackers. At its best if you have evasive non-human tokens.
  • Quartzwood Crasher - mostly calling out as another good card with Samut. Doesn't go in this deck, but exponential growth is always sweet.
  • Bonders' Enclave - mildly interesting as an alternative to Arch of Orazca as a draw engine. Most creatures in this deck are small though, so I wouldn't expect it to be consistently active.
Of these, Kogla is the card I'm most interested in for this deck, although Winota may also be worth testing. Zirda seems extremely powerful, but is also more of a build-around.

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Full spoiler for M21 is out, and there are a lot of sweet cards in it, both old and new. Not necessarily a ton of cards for this deck specifically, but there are certainly a few considerations.
  • Mangara, the Diplomat is interesting as a card draw engine in white. This deck has access to green card draw, so not quite as necessary, but still interesting.
  • Fiery Emancipation count be interesting if I were running a bunch of pingers - turning Prodigal Pyromancer into a Lightning Bolt slinger sounds amusing. Not so great for my current build though. I suppose that Torbran, Thane of Red Fell would do a similar job.
  • Elder Gargaroth is a tasty enough pile of beef that I'm tempted to run it. At the very least, it's another pull for a more beatdown-focused Samut build. Sneaky reach is good anti-flier tech, but drawing cards (or doing other stuff) on attack is the real draw.
  • Terror of the Peaks is a cool card, but the average creature size is too small here to justify running a Pandemonium effect.
  • Brash Taunter is a fun Stuffy Doll variant. Fight effect is a little expensive, but hitting an opponent for 5+ damage on activation is pretty beefy, and adds up fast when activated multiple times per turn. Also an interesting engine with Chandra's Incinerator, although I don't believe I have enough burn effects to justify the latter.
  • Garruk's Harbinger is another interesting inclusion for a more beatdown-focused build. I've been contemplating running Oakhame Adversary as a draw engine in a few decks, and this looks comparable.
  • Conspicuous Snoop is potentially very powerful, but I'm not running enough Goblins to justify it. I could absolutely see it being a powerful build-around though. I don't think this deck would ever go full Goblins, but Goblin Recruiter → Snoop → Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is sort of just good enough, and Krenko, Mob Boss is a card I was already interested in running.
  • Idol of Endurance is fascinating. A little different from Dusk // Dawn, but casting creatures from the graveyard is pretty solid. I don't know if I quite have the self-mill or card density necessary to abuse it, but it's certainly sweet.
  • Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner is a very cool draw engine if you're running a bunch of small creatures or tokens. And potentially absurd if untapped a few times. I may have to give her a shot. Discarding your hand is a very steep cost, but if your curve is low enough, that doesn't really matter.
  • Speaker of the Heavens has a very powerful tap ability, but this deck doesn't really have the lifegain necessary to abuse it. There are options though - Oracle of Nectars and Wellwisher can gain a fair amount of life.
  • Tempered Veteran is pretty inefficient here, since there aren't many +1/+1 counter synergies in the deck.
  • Rin and Seri, Inseperable are one of the few strong tap abilities in the set, but there aren't nearly enough Cats or Dogs in this deck to support them. Could be amusing alongside Pride Sovereign as a way to gain a lot of life though.
  • Radha, Heart of Keld is somewhat interesting as a significant upgrade over Courser of Kruphix. Hits land drops, big beater, works with shuffle and mill effects to manipulate topdecks.
  • Leafkin Avenger can tap for very large amounts of mana in the right shell. More effort to make work than something like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds though.
  • Mazemind Tome is a cute little draw engine. Not something I think this deck needs, but not bad either.
Reprints:
  • Azusa, Lost but Seeking is a fantastic ramp engine alongside any land recursion. However, I've also been considering out splitting out some of the lands stuff in this deck into a separate landfall-focused deck.
  • Heroic Intervention is a strong protection spell for metas that are heavy on board wipes.
  • Fabled Passage is a fetchland that I've been wanting to pick up.
Overall, lots of interesting stuff, although a lot of them require a specific shell. Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner is probably the card I'm most interested in testing out, but Elder Gargaroth and Brash Taunter also look like a lot of fun.

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Following up on M21, Jumpstart brings even more new stuff. No dedicated tap ability / activated ability theme, unfortunately, which means there aren't really any new cards for this deck. However, there are a few fun reprints for the deck that I'll hope drop sufficiently in price - specifically Krenko, Mob Boss and Mikaeus, the Lunarch. I'll also call out the Linvala, Keeper of Silence reprint as something to be aware of.

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

No new cards in 2XM, but some interesting reprints worth picking up. My budget means I'll skip on a lot of these, but there are some interesting options I'm hoping to get (especially in the equipment category).
  • Sneak Attack is mildly interesting for Samut decks in general. I don't think it goes in this build, because the average creature size is so small. However, I could see it in a build with bigger, stompier creatures. Not great with tap abilities though, since their primary strength is getting multiple activations (and sacrificing the creature prevents that).
  • Blasphemous Act is a very solid board wipe option, while Austere Command is a very flexible one.
  • I've contemplated running Blood Moon before, but it's hard to run enough basics to make it asymmetric in a 3-color deck, even with a ton of basic land fetching. Shutting off Maze of Ith and other utility lands is also a significant downside.
  • Chord of Calling is a solid tutor, even if it doesn't work particularly well with tap abilities.
  • Exploration is already in my build of the deck, and an excellent inclusion. Same with Mana Reflection, if you want to go big.
  • Stoneforge Mystic can fetch up anything in an equipment package, and is an excellent inclusion. Stonehewer Giant is probably also worth running. These two reprints may actually catalyze a bunch of tweaks to the deck - being able to fetch up a specific piece of equipment on demand both enables running more niche equipment and running more creatures that benefit from that equipment. I'll also call out Godo, Bandit Warlord as another option.
  • Speaking of equipment, there are a ton of solid reprints. Basilisk Collar is the biggest one - I cut most of my pinger package because it felt wrong to run them without a consistent source of deathtouch. Throw in Collar and some tutors, and things look much more attractive.
  • Lightning Greaves is also a a reasonable option as yet another source of haste (and a sweet trick with Stonehewer Giant). Protecting important creatures is also relevant.
  • And of course, all of the Swords of X & Y are good choices, and really scary when thrown on Samut. Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Feast and Famine are the two strongest, but all of them are good.
  • I wouldn't expect this deck to be running enough equipment to justify Puresteel Paladin, but may be interesting for a dedicated Samut Voltron deck.
  • Sunforger is also a potential option, although my current build doesn't have nearly enough instants to justify its inclusion.
  • Grim Lavamancer is a solid pinger if you can consistently fill the graveyard. Fun with fetchlands, Hermit Druid, and other self-mill.
  • On a similar note, Mesmeric Orb + Seeker of Skybreak is a thing. There isn't an obvious way to win with an empty deck in these colors (no Laboratory Maniac), but I assume there's something broken to do.
  • Crop Rotation is interesting as a way to fetch up various utility lands, and likely worth including here.
  • Rhys the Redeemed is an interesting token producer, especially when compared with Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter. Three mana for a token is pretty expensive, but if you start doubling your tokens things can get pretty silly.
  • I'm not entirely sold on including Fire-Lit Thicket, Wooded Bastion, or Rugged Prairie in the manabase of this deck - the color requirements aren't that steep, and it already has good fixing. Still, worth noting their existence.
  • Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage is a potential win condition in the land slot, which can be interesting.

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

I usually wait until the full set is spoiled, but Zendikar Rising already has a few cards I'm extremely interested in for this deck.

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild looks excellent as both a ramp effect and as a combo piece alongside Krosan Restorer and Argothian Elder. Unlike Maze of Ith, it can be activate outside of combat... and even more importantly, it lets our untappers untap other creatures too.

Moraug, Fury of Akoum doesn't function as a combo piece due to its wording... but 'landfall: untap your creatures' is still pretty absurd for this deck. It also seems like a pretty easy inclusion. It can also grant extra combat steps for Etali, Primal Storm, which I suppose is a thing.

I'm not sure whether Murasa Rootgrazer would make the cut - I've really appreciated Budoka Gardener // Dokai, Weaver of Life and would sort of like a second instance of the effect, but I'm not sure I have enough landfall synergies to care about bouncing my own basics, in which case Sakura-Tribe Scout would be better due to its ability to put any land on the battlefield. Hmmm...

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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Alright, time to do a more comprehensive review of ZNR. Overall, lots of interesting stuff - both for this build of the deck in particular and Samut decks in general. I haven't gone all-in on the landfall theme for this deck, but it's definitely a thing that could be done... and if you did want to, the new Land's Wrath EDH precon is an excellent starting point to reference.

Mechanics:
  • Landfall - returning, and already supported by this deck by virtue of running a bunch of ramp... but we also have enablers like Burgeoning, Budoka Gardener // Dokai, Weaver of Life, Knight of the Reliquary, and Scryb Ranger. I'm not currently running a lot of payoffs for landfall (I think just Tireless Tracker?), since it's more lumped into the general ramp strategy of the deck. However, it's very easy to slot in more payoffs.
  • Modal double faced cards - extremely powerful mechanic, but I don't know how many I'll run in this deck. For one, being a tricolor deck limits how many non-fixing lands I can run. Additionally, because of all the land fetching, I want to maintain a high basic land count, so I can't just swap out basics. It's certainly possible to swap out spells instead, but... Ultimately, it's going to come down to whether or not the MDFC can stand on its own by the merit of its spell half. You really want to be casting that half a significant percentage of the time (although not 100%, since then you would be better served by just playing a better spell instead).
  • Party - Samut is a warrior, and the deck actually includes a decent number of clerics, wizards, and rogues already. However, it definitely isn't built around this mechanic, so I wouldn't count on having a very large party consistently. I think this mechanic makes a lot more sense to build around when you have a party card in the command zone - otherwise, you won't have a payoff consistently enough to be worth building around. As with other mechanics, I would evaluate these cards primarily on their own merits, and assume that this deck has 1 or 2 party members with some regularity.
  • Kicker - a mana sink mechanic. This deck has a lot of ramp built in, but it also has a fair number of mana sinks and card draw options already. So, will mostly depend on the merits of the individual cards. As a general rule, I'm not a huge fan of kicker cards in EDH because they don't work very well with recursion - if you reanimate or flicker a creature with kicker, you don't get the effect. Not a huge issue for this deck, but still something to note.
Cards:
white
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  • Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave - the opportunity cost for running this is low but nonzero. I don't think this deck cares about the spell half that much, although proactively protecting your board from an expected board wipe can be good. Worth consideration if you don't mind going down a basic.
  • Felidar Retreat - mostly interesting as a landfall payoff, but it does generate a pretty impressive army by itself.
  • Archon of Emeria - an interesting hate piece. Rule of Law can be somewhat annoying for this deck, but I don't think it's affected that much by it. Get much better with a bunch of flash enablers.
  • Maul of the Skyclaves - mildly interesting for a Samut voltron deck.
  • Ondu Inversion - a powerful board wipe, or a land. That said, I don't think this deck wants it - it runs enough artifacts and enchantments it would rather stick around.
  • Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau - mildly interesting as a conditional removal spell // land for a go-wide deck.
  • Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier - mildly interesting as a flexible protection spell // land.
red
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  • Moraug, Fury of Akoum - as mentioned in my previous post, this thing looks absurd, and is worth going into a heavier landfall theme for. Extra untaps are really good, although the timing can be a bit awkward.
  • Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass - it's not Comet Storm, but the flip side is still a very solid removal spell given sufficient mana. I'd definitely consider this over a basic (or over another removal spell).
  • Nahiri's Lithoforming - I don't know that I would run Braingeyser in this deck.... but this looks like an extremely powerful landfall enabler, especially if you can power it up with Ramunap Excavator (or even just Life from the Loam). This could be extremely silly if you throw in a few mana doublers to cast it for X larger than the number of lands you actually have, at which point it becomes a janky ramp spell.
  • Magmatic Channeler - looks a bit better than most other rummagers due to the filtering, but I'm not a big fan of this effect. This looks like more of a Standard/Modern card, where the 4/4 body is relevant.
  • Valakut Exploration - an interesting draw engine, assuming landfall support. Also works well with extra land drops, since you can play lands off it (but only if you haven't already played one this turn).
  • Roiling Vortex - a mildly interesting hate card, if you're concerned about free spells or lifegain.
  • Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge - a respectable filtering option, or a land if you're happy with your hand. I think that a Tormenting Voice effect would be better due to graveyard synergies, but... flexibility is good.
  • Kazuul's Fury // Kazuul's Cliffs - Fling effects are fun with theft effects like Brion Stoutarm if you're running them.
  • Cleansing Wildfire - not really on theme for this deck, but a very potent land hate option. You can also hit your own land with it to trigger landfall.
  • Tuktuk Rubblefort - welp, I guess we don't need Samut anymore, if we can get Fervor on a common!
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  • Ancient Greenwarden - laaaaaaandfaaaaaaall! Anyway, this looks like a very powerful enabler for landfall... or just another Crucible of Worlds effect that can double as a big body. The more of this effect you have, the better fetchlands and self-mill become.
  • Ashaya, Soul of the Wild - as mentioned in my previous post, this goes infinite with creatures capable of untapping multiple lands, while also being a very potent landfall enabler. If you're running it, you'll want pretty much every Krosan Restorer effect you can find. Green has a ton of ways to untap lands, and turning those into creature untaps is sort of absurd.
  • Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood - this looks pretty solid. A bit worse in this deck because the average creature is so small, but very fun if you can cheat out giant beaters.
  • Lotus Cobra - calling out the reprint as another landfall payoff. It can generate a lot of mana.
  • Scute Swarm - another landfall payoff, although you'll want a way to benefit from the tokens. May I suggest Perilous Forays?
  • Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary - possibly my favorite of the MDFCs, because Regrowth is already such a solid card. Although if you're always casting it for recursion, maybe you should just run Regrowth or Reap instead? Hmmm...
  • Roiling Regrowth - it's not Harrow, but it is another solid landfall enabler.
  • Tangled Florahedron // Tangled Vale - I find this to be a very cute MDFC.
  • Vastwood Surge - not the greatest ramp spell, but pumping the team lategame makes it an upgrade over most Explosive Vegetation variants.
other
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  • Akiri, Fearless Voyager - very sweet for a dedicated equipment deck. I wouldn't run it here, but there are definitely Samut builds that can support Akiri (especially any voltron builds).
  • Phylath, World Sculptor - a very interesting Avenger of Zendikar variant for landfall beatdown decks.
  • Yasharn, Implacable Earth - more of a value card, but fetching two lands to hand while also being a respectable hateboar is pretty good.
  • Murasa Rootgrazer - as mentioned in the previous post, it's a solid landfall enabler... but I don't know if I would run it without a landfall theme. It can sort of function as a mana dork if you're missing land drops though, which can be relevant. Also works well with Quirion Ranger effects.
  • Lithoform Engine - a very interesting ability. I don't think this deck can particularly abuse it, but it does have a ton of activate abilities to copy. Still, I'd probably favor just running Rings of Brighthearth.
  • Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway (and the other Pathways) - definitely worth consideration as fixing lands, since they enter untapped and can produce two colors, which mean they're great for making sure you have access to every color you need. I think they're pretty good here - this deck doesn't have super strict color requirements, so not being able to produce WWW and GGG at the same time isn't as big of an issue.
  • Trove Warden from the commander precon also looks very good, as both a landfall payoff and a recursion engine. Unfortunately, this deck doesn't have that many ways to sacrifice it on demand, which makes it a bit vulnerable to bounce / exile. Still seems strong though.
....I think there are a few things that haven't been spoiled yet, but I'll update this if anything pops up. Definitely a lot of cards worth consideration for this deck, even if you don't want to go all-in on landfall (although that is definitely a thing that can be done). As mentioned in the previous post, Moraug, Fury of Akoum and Ashaya, Soul of the Wild are the two biggest standouts, but there are a lot of interesting cards (to the point that I needed to use spoilers for this review).

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