30+ Creature Type Changeling Tribal

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materpillar
the caterpillar
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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Tribal Tribal
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Unfortunately, "teenager" isn't a creature type in magic, so you'll have to settle for mutant ninja turtles


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Home of the fearsome 1/1 Ally Angel Beast Demon Dragon Dwarf Elemental Elephant Elf Faerie Giant Goblin God Human Insect Rat Spider Squirrel Merfolk Minotaur Ninja Cleric Warrior Pirate Rogue Scarecrow Sliver Snake Shaman Treefolk Unicorn Vampire Wizard Wolf Zombie

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Most recent decklist

Commander (1)

Ally (1)

Beast (1 + land)

Dalek (1)

Doctor (1)

Dwarf (1)

Elemental (1 + Land)

Elephant (land)

Faerie (1+ Land)

Goblin (land)

God (land)

Golem/Phyrexian (1)

Horror (1)

Insect/Rat/Spider/Squirrel (Land)

Mercenary (1)

Minotaur (1)

Ninja (1)

Scarecrow (1)

Soldier (land)

Treefolk (Land)

Vampire (1)

Wizard (1 + Land)

Zombies (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

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Deck Philosophy

I've been playing Magic the Gathering constantly for over a decade, seriously jumping into the game when Shards Of Alara was released. It only took me one standard tournament of getting my face bashed in by Faeries and Jund that I realized the spike life wasn't for me. Merely being competitive and winning at all costs brings me no joy. I am competitive and I want to win, but I need to win with style. The more cards that my opponents have to read because they've never seen them before the better. Anyone can win with Craterhoof Behemoth, I'm not here for that. I have transcended such trite win conditions, I'm here to cause concessions with a Didgeridoo trigger. If I win a game and my opponents aren't vaguely confused and quite amused I have failed.

This deck's philosophy is extremely simple, every card in the deck must require me to declare a creature type upon casting, entering the battlefield, ability activation or otherwise buffing a specific creature type. Another way to say this is that every card must increase the amount of relevant creature types each of my Changelings has which means I'll play Dire Tactics but not Rend Flesh.

Rigerously following this constraint means that an example line of play is tap Ally Encampment for U which can only be used to cast an Ally Amoeboid Changeling which only cost U because it's a Dragon. Also, because I just cast a Spirit, Elder Pine of Jukai triggers. Then, since a Scarecrow entered the battlefield Reaper King triggers. Now because Amoeboid Changeling is a Knight it has haste because of Khorvath Brightflame. So I'll tap Amoeboid Changeling to turn my Elder Pine of Jukai into all creature types so that when I cast Peer Pressure naming "Praetor" I can steal my opponents Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur since I control more Praetors than he does.

On top of my previously mentioned restriction I also have a hard limit of 4 non-land cards per tribe to maximize the variety of represented tribes, otherwise this deck would rapidly turn into a Sliver/Dragon deck held together with Changelings and a smattering of other tribes. My build of this deck is a slave to these constraints. This means that Thunderherd Migration is strictly better than Rampant Growth because Thunderherd Migration allows me to say "Dinosaur" whereas Rampant Growth does not, even though in every other deck Rampant Growth is the strictly better card. You will not see Sol Ring in my build of this deck ever. I've helped several other people build different flavors of this deck and rarely does anyone stick quite as religiously to this constraint as I do. Again, I want to win with as much style as possible and constraints only maximize style. However, you might not be nearly as driven by this desire so don't be afraid to make the deck your own as there's a ridiculous amount of choices available while constructing this deck. I also have several preferences in regards to what I find "fun" that flavor my card choices. For example, I cut Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign purely because while resolving it often resulted in me winning the game, I found myself lightly storming off and monopolizing game time whenever it resolved.


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Building Your Own Deck

So you want to build your own Changeling tribal tribal deck. You have a few questions to answer before you even select your first card.

How hard do you want to stick to your tribal theme. Where do you draw the line on goodstuff? Are Sol Ring and other mana rocks too good to pass up? What about off-theme removal, wraths or other interaction? How many off-theme utility cards that tutor, discard or sacrifice? Most people don't stick as rigorously to theme as I do, so get a vague idea of where you want you deck to fall on the spectrum of power level vs theme. For example, I'm running as many non-basic lands as possible that do relevant things with my Changelings and it definitely negatively affects my win %. Every now and again I have cards stranded in my hand, and I'm less willing to run certain cards because of their mana cost. I find these to be acceptable sacrifices for the ability to run Swarmyard, Elephant Graveyard and a slew of other utility lands in my 5c deck. Are you ok with that or do you want a more stable mana base?

Do you want your deck to lean towards combo or combat damage? Do you want lean towards control, mid-range or aggression? One of the delights of this deck is that the deck plays wildly differently from game to game. Some games you go wide and murder everyone with Mirror Entity. Sometimes you infinite combo out your opponents turn 8. Sometimes you control the board with removal and close out the game with general damage. However, you'll probably want to select which one you primarily want to build towards. My build is leaning towards a being a disruption filled mid-range deck that closes out the game with infinite combos.

The next question you need to ask yourself is which of the following cards are you most interested in; Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, Hibernation Sliver or Shared Animosity? I've found three main synergies that inform deckbuilding;
  • Sacrifice/Aristocrat.
  • Blink/Bounce.
  • Token/Go-wide.
Picking between these three cards will give you a point to focus and lean towards. I'm personally building a more blink-centric deck so I'm having a difficult trying to find a place for Najeela, the Blade-Blossom since I have almost no token payoffs. I'm also running zero sacrifice outlets that would be required to make Haakon, Stromgald Scourge shine.




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A Brief Budget Aside

I first built this deck when the only Changelings were the Lorwyn ones. I was jamming Amoeboid Changeling, Skeletal Changeling and Fire-Belly Changeling. Didgeridoo was $5. Knowledge Exploitation was a quarter bin card. Skyshroud Poacher was a couple of bucks. Then along came cards like Anowon, the Ruin Thief, Lathril, Blade of the Elves, and Moraug, Fury of Akoum. As a result a bunch of the cards in my current build that started out as pure jank are now substantially more expensive.

One of the joys of this deck is that there are no unreplaceable cards. I played a game where the following happened
T2 - Mistwalker
T3 - Magda, Brazen Outlaw + Guardian Gladewalker
T4 - Mana Rock, Dragon Tempest, Masked Vandal, Universal Automaton killing two utility creatures (opponent scooped to losing both his mana dorks)
T5 - Mirror Entity (using mana rock and single leftover treasure) to kill a blocker, swing 50 (5 creatures, now with 10/10s from dumping 5 mana from lands + 5 mana from treasures generated on attack into Mirror Entity) to kill the second player.

At the time of writing Magda, Brazen Outlaw is $1, Dragon Tempest is $2.25, Mirror Entity is $2.5 and the 4 Changelings are <$1.00. Dragon's Hoard is $5 but completely interchangeable with any other mana rock. That's an incredibly inexpensive grouping of cards to blowout the table turn 5. This line of play was using The Ur-Dragon (who is currently $30), but my deck is built to exploit his eminence ability. There are plenty of potent generals who are <$5 that can helm the deck but they'll likely require different card choices to take advantage of their strengths.

What I'm trying to say is that an extremely functional and deadly tribal tribal deck can be built with only <$5 cards. Everything in this deck is about context. I own Skyshroud Poacher so I lean heavier into an elf sub-theme with Priest of Titania, Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves and the like. If you don't have access to Skyshroud Poacher you'll just need to be aware that Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves might not be strong enough to make your 99 without the ability to tutor him at instant speed. At one point I ran a mini-combo of Elephant Graveyard + Contested Cliffs + Venomous Changeling. Without Elephant Graveyard/Swarmyard the value Venomous Changeling offers will drop dramatically.

There's currently 21 common Changeling creatures, they should always be extremely inexpensive. Throw those Changelings into a pile with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge/Hibernation Sliver/Shared Animosity (or equivalent cards if these have spiked for some strange future reason) and then build your deck outwards to contain whatever synergy cards your budget allows. Your deck will be fully functional even without any high-ticket items.


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Picking Your Commander

Once you've got a rough idea of what themes you want to lean towards you can start thinking about which commander you want and there's actually at least 8 reasonable choices.

The Ur-Dragon - The Ur-Dragon is my personal choice. Since my deck is based around generating as much ETB value as possible, I want to be able to cast and bounce my Changelings as often as possible. Hence, mana reduction is extremely powerful. I also find that it is very easy to give The Ur-Dragon +1/+1 so he two-shots people, opening up an easy alternate win-condition. In addition to being a source of mana advantage he also provides massive card draw if he's ever cast. The final reason being he's extremely easy to cast. That doesn't seem right at first glance but Morophon, the Boundless is on the battlefield, The Ur-Dragon only costs 4 for his massive onboard presence.






Morophon, the Boundless - You'd think that Morophon would have been the more obvious choice but my opinion The Ur-Dragon's eminence not requiring him to be on the battlefield makes him much stronger. That being said Morophon is much easier to get on the battlefield and keep on the battlefield with random things like Rattlechains or Knight Exemplar. Morophon also being a Changeling is significant upside over being only a Dragon. Once on the battlefield Morophon provides mana advantage with non-Changelings (like The First Sliver) and combos with Jodah, Archmage Eternal to make creatures of one type cost 0 which are other upsides over The Ur-Dragon. I personally prefer the Ur-Dragon's consistency and more impactful battlefield presence.





Reaper King - Having a vindicate in the command zone is great. Reaper King is also a strong choice. I prefer mana reduction and card advantage from the command zone instead of removal. I've never personally tested him, but the anecdotal evidence that has been presented to me is that he draws far too much hate to be worth it.








Sliver Overlord - Having a repeatable Changeling tutor in the command zone is an extremely strong source of card advantage. It also synergizes extremely well with Amoeboid Changeling, Maskwood Nexus and Unnatural Selection. I personally find it to be a touch slow and to draw a lot of hate as a commander though. Definitely a strong choice.







Other Commander Options... There's a surprising amount
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Scion of the Ur-Dragon - I'm sure this can do filthy things turning into Mirror Entity, Khorvath Brightflame, or Morophon, the Boundless. However, Scion's got a pretty hefty target on him as a combo machine. People are going to be expecting more shenanigans if you sit down with him as a general. For this reason alone I haven't seriously considered testing him myself. That being said if you're going the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge route, Scion of the Ur-Dragon will do wonders putting Changelings into the battlefield and even getting Haakon there with something like Maskwood Nexus.

Karona, False God - Karona was this deck's original general before The Ur-Dragon was printed. She's pretty good at smashing face. However, my deck has evolved away from face smashing and more towards combo wins. If your deck is much more on the token plan she could definitely be respectable. I'd have to imagine she'd get people real dead in combination with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom.

General Tazri - Did you want Mirror Entity from the command zone? That's actually an incredibly good option. Mirror Entity does a lot of work in this deck.

Atogatog - I'm not memeing here. Atogatog in the command zone is actually a legitimate choice. He can 21 damage people very easily with a Mirror Entity. Having an instant speed sacrifice outlet as your general is very very strong. Atogatog is pretty criminally underrated. I used to use Atogatog with Mirror Entity and Eternal Witness to loop Cruel Ultimatum. However, my current build doesn't value sacrifice outlets highly at all but I can see him doing massive work with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge or Faces of the Past.

Horde of Notions - I've not seriously considered Horde of Notions because his activation cost is so expensive, but if he speaks to you he won't be awful.

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom - She actually goes infinite pretty easily with Maskwood Nexus and various Magda, Brazen Outlaw effects. A great choice if you're feeling like you'd like to go wide. I imagine she'd draw a fair amount of hate as she's known to be incredibly strong.

The First Sliver - This card is crazy strong in the 99. I imagine it would only be the same as a general. I just dislike how long cascade takes to resolve. Also, I can only believe that it draws a fair amount of hate.

Sliver Legion - If you want to go hard on tokens, this might be playable. It seems pretty boring and 1-note as a general to me though. You're asking to over commit into a wrath with no way to recover in the command zone.

Other non-WUBRG options I've considered... Not being able to play Morophon, the Boundless in the 99 is rough but these still might be worth it.
Edgar Markov or Inalla, Archmage Ritualist for a token support build.

Arahbo, Roar of the World is probably also possible, but GW will be really limiting and +3/+3 isn't that great

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - I've played against a tribal tribal Yuriko deck. She's probably better as a just straight ninja deck with tiny Changeling synergies though.

Wort, Boggart Auntie - Could be go in a heavy aristocrats Haakon, Stromgald Scourge build.


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Construction Details and Strategy
Note, my thoughts on specific cards (including various Changelings) are in a later section. This section is more about the cards that synergize with your Changelings at various points in the game.

Early Game
Once you've got a guesstimate of your themes, commander and general gameplan, it's time for card choices. The starting spot here is ramp to power through the early game.

The best ramp spells in this deck are Harabaz Druid, Manaweft sliver, Gemhide sliver, Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Dragon's Hoard. If you're not running these cards you should have a very good reason for it. I personally think that Priest of Titania is fantastic but she depends on how g intensive you are. Some other solid ramp spells are Elvish Archdruid, Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, Altar of the Pantheon, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Bounty of Skemfar, Herald's Horn, Katilda, Dawnhart Prime, Rivaz of the Claw and Thunderherd Migration.


If you're going off theme Faeburrow Elder and Bloom Tender are incredibly strong choices.


Mid-Game
It's time to start assembling value engines. Everything is either a Changeling or profits off Changelings, so start pulling together an unholy abomination of value. Your specific flavor of value will be based on the theme you're leaning to.

For a bounce strategy you'll be leaning into cards like Hibernation Sliver, Wirewood Symbiote, Emiel the Blessed, Walker of Secret Ways, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Reflections of Littjara, Naban, Dean of Iteration and Molten Echoes to generate Changeling ETB triggers.

For Haakon, Stromgald Scourge you'll be getting Haakon into play (surprise surpise) using things like Entomb, Buried Alive, Birthing Pod, Pyre of Heroes, Belbe's Portal, Cryptic Gateway, Cryptbreaker or Maskwood Nexus/Arcane Adaptation and Moggcatcher/Skyshroud Poacher/Seahunter. Once he's in play you'll wreck the board with Crib Swap/Nameless Inversion or loop Changelings with a sacrifice outlet.

With tokens you'll be establishing a board presence with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, Notorious Throng, Rooftop Storm, The First Sliver, Atla Palani, Nest Tender, Turntimber Ranger, Rin and Seri, Inseparable, Avenger of Zendikar, Elvish Warmaster and Wirewood Hivemaster.

You'll be combining these engines with cards that generate value like Risen Reef, Wirewood Savage, Kindred Discovery, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid, Elder Pine of Jukai, Dragon's Hoard, Species Specialist, Orah, Skyclave Hierophant, Xathrid Necromancer, Rotlung Reanimator, Merrow Reejerey, Faces of the Past, Skemfar Avenger, Undead Augur, Vanquisher's Banner, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Kindred Summons and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow.

You can also combine the engines with generate removal with cards like Harmonic Sliver, Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves, Ayula, Queen Among Bears, Spit Flame, Tuktuk Scrapper, Dragon Tempest, Qasali Slingers, Scourge of Valkas, General Kudro of Drannith, Be'lakor, the Dark Master and Reaper King.



Late-Game
Part of the joy of this deck is that it has a multitude of lines of play to approach victory while also having only incredibly minimal deck manipulation. As such it is really hard to nail down a specific line of play you take every game as you're working towards whatever engine you have on hand. Eventually these value engines will stumble their way into a way to end the game. Sometimes your opponents will just scoop as a result of Reaper King triggers. Sometimes you'll use one of a handful of cards that are primarily there for their value but also act as win conditions like Liliana's Contract, Mirror Entity, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid, Dragon Tempest and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Maybe you'll draw into a card that is just so powerful upfront that it can easily overwhelm your opponents like Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Avenger of Zendikar and The Scarab God. Token decks will have a bunch of cards that can deal massive damage like Shared Animosity, Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury, Coat of Arms, Stoneforge Masterwork, Crucible of Fire, Kindred Charge, Door of Destinies, Sliver Legion, Knights' Charge, Sylvia Brightspear, Kinsbaile Cavalier, Patron of the Vein, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Sometimes you'll kill people with commander beats.

The last consistent win conditions worth mentioning are the multitude of on theme infinite combos. If it generates infinite Changeling ETB triggers, these will be lethal with basically everything (for example Reaper King or Dragon Tempest) and with a single draw engine will draw into a lethal card.


Combos

Changeling Titan + Changeling Berserker + Changeling Hero
With Changeling Beserker already on the battlefield, put Changeling Titan onto the battlefield. Titan exiles Beserker. Next put Changeling Hero onto the battlefield, it enters the battlefield and exiles Titan. Titan leaves the battlefield, returning Beserker to the battlefield. Beserker exiles Hero. Hero leaves the battlefield, returning Titan. Loop and infinite number of times for an infinite number of Changeling ETB triggers. Note this also generates infinite mana with Gemhide Sliver/Manaweft Sliver effects since Changeling Berserker has haste and can be tapped for mana with champion triggers on the stack.

Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity/Maskwood Nexus changing creature type effect + Harabaz Druid/Priest of Titania multiple mana generating creature.
Turn Wirewood Symbiote into an Elf. Bounce itself to untap the multiple mana generating creature. Recast Wirewood Symbiote for infinite mana.

Hibernation Sliver + Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves + Universal Automaton (or another free Changeling effect)
Cast the Changeling and gain 3 life. Pay 2 life to return it to hand and cast it again. Gain infinite life and Changeling ETB triggers.

Turntimber Ranger + Maskwood Nexus
Generate infinite Wolves and a very large ranger.

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge + Merrow Reejerey + 1 mana Changeling + free sacrifice outlet

Emiel the Blessed + Mana Echoes + a Changeling and 2 other creatures.
Both generate infinite Changeling ETBs by being mana neutral to flicker/cast a Changeling.

There's way more combos than I can list but sometimes you just randomly stumble on one and go "huh..."
Wirewood Symbiote + Harabaz Druid + Morophon, the Boundless + Changeling Titan + Changeling Hero = Infinite Changeling ETBs, add one more Changeling for infinite mana


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Deck Weaknesses
Cards you really don't want to see
Since this deck is extremely creature heavy it can get blown out by wrath spells. Thus great emphasis should be put on avoiding over committing to the board. That being said cards like Hibernation Sliver, Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, Sliver Hivelord, The Scarab God, Knight Exemplar, Crested Sunmare, and Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can help to mitigate this risk. There's also Patriarch's Bidding and Haunting Voyage to recover.

Another weakness the deck has is being exploited by repeatable pinging. The worst examples of this are The Scorpion God and Marath, Will of the Wild. These matchups are extremely rough since you're running so many tiny utility creatures that they just eat up.

The deck also struggles against aristocrats builds since the deck lacks meaningfully ways to interact with the graveyard. These decks also usually run Grave Pact and can repeatedly boardwipe you with their recursion. Patron of the Vein excels in this situation. General Kudro of Drannith and The Scarab God can also help.

The deck also doesn't have a ton of great ways to interact with the stack, so anyone playing spell slinger/storm is basically impossible to interact with other than drawing a good hand to aggro them down. There's some counterspells like Wizard's Retort, Voidmage Prodigy, Sage's Dousing, Psychic Trance, Silumgar's Scorn and Spellstutter Sprite but none of them are particularly strong.

The final issue this deck has is Humility/Overwhelming Splendor. I strongly recommend against doing anything other than immediately conceding if these resolve as your only out is Knowledge Exploitation for a disenchant effect or someone else killing the player who cast them. Torpor Orb is also rough but not nearly as impossible to deal with. If for some reason you run into both these cards frequently you can also slot in Rootgrapple.


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How to Evaluate Cards

Changelings
What Changelings you play in your deck will depend heavily on what commander you're running and what themes you end up building towards. I basically am running as low a curve as possible unless the Changelings do something very significant. I'm personally not running Unsettled Mariner because it costs two mana as opposed to the 1 mana of Guardian Gladewalker.

For me, I view Guardian Gladewalker more as a sorcery that reads "G: trigger all tribal synergies" than as a creature. This means I prefer Guardian Gladewalker to Chameleon Colossus even though the Chameleon Colossus has a much larger impact on the board. I'm not using my Changelings to attack with the intent of threatening my opponents' life total. Their base power/toughness rarely matters to me. I find mana efficiency to be significantly more valuable to me than some chip damage. The best example of this is that I'd rather run Fire-Belly Changeling than Taurean Mauler. I found that even when Taurean Mauler became a 10/10, it wasn't worth the extra 1 I spent to cast it.

Changelings with evasion are extra valuable because they can more easily trigger Magda, Brazen Outlaw and cards with damage triggers like Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow or Ingenious Infiltrator.

I personally run Changeling Titan, Changeling Berserker, Changeling Hero because they go infinite and are extremely synergistic with a bunch of cards in my deck. For example. Skyshroud Poacher, Moggcatcher, and Seahunter can all find the infinite champion Changeling loop by themselves. Anything that allows me to put the champion Changelings into play at instant speed (like the Moggcatcher cycle I just mentioned or other cards like Didgeridoo), means that I can put the champion Changeling onto the battlefield in response to removal or wrath to save a key creature. These Changelings also allow me to double up on ETB triggers. For example, if I have Wirewood Symbiote and another Changeling. Casting any other Changeling and bouncing it results in one ETB triggers. Casting a champion Changeling and exiling the other Changeling results in an ETB. Then, bouncing the champion Changeling results in the original changeling returning to the battlefield resulting in a second ETB trigger.


Tutors
I personally dislike unconditional tutors and avoid them as I find that they tend to make games significantly more repetitive, especially because this deck has so many ways to go infinite. As such I lean towards only running tutors that I never have a clear best target.
Specific Tutors
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Skyshroud Poacher, Moggcatcher, and Seahunter all have great synergy with the champion Changelings. I also have always have at least 1 non-Changeling target for them to hit that adds even more utility to each. They also allow my deck to play more reactively and commit less to the board until I need to. They all find Morophon, the Boundless which allows me to cast The Ur-Dragon for only 4! Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero and other Rebels occupy a similar niche to the catcher cycle but significantly more mana intensive.

Cateran Summons has a floor of being a Changeling that costs b (finding Universal Automaton). It can also be removal by finding Crib Swap or Masked Vandal. It can be recursion when finding Graveshifter.

Coveted Prize - Build your own Demonic Tutor with upside. This card is great but I dislike its unconditional nature. It's definitely worth running if that isn't something you're bothered by. Being able to find and cast Maskwood Nexus for B is exceptionally strong.

Goblin Recruiter/Dwarven Recruiter have gone way up in value with Realmwalker since you can tear through the entire stack of Changelings in the next turn (plus any dwarves or goblins that are in your deck.

Knowledge Exploitation is an incredibly versatile card. Early game it is ramp. Mid-game it is a board wrath, spot removal or card draw as necessary. Heaven forbid your opponents are playing Expropriate or something of that nature. It is a bit meta-game dependent but I've found it to be very strong.

Higure, the Still Wind is a repeatable but slow tutor, that can also return an attacking unblocked Changeling to your hand so you can replay it. 2UU is just a lot for his effect. I'd highly recommend him in a slower, more battlecruiser style meta.


Tribal Lands

The World Tree, Contested Cliffs, Elephant Graveyard, Flamekin Village, Swarmyard and Sliver Hive are the best utility lands in the deck. I would highly recommend running all of them budget permitting. I find they all get activated frequently.
Other On Theme Lands
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Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore is a Changeling that's also a land. I would strongly advise running this card.

Riptide Laboratory is decent but not as strong as the previously mentioned lands.

Haven of the Spirit Dragon and Ally Encampment I have only activated once in my entire time owning this deck.

Unholy Grotto I never wanted to activate so I cut it. I didn't have Realmwalker in my deck at that time though, which makes it significantly stronger. It might eventually make its way back into my deck only because of this synergy.

Animal Sanctuary is funny to have but it's effect is basically worthless. I never activated it and was really hurt by its colorless nature on multiple occasions.

Tyrite Sanctum is extremely useful for protecting Morophon, the Boundless or another key Changeling. Tapping for colorless is rough so it might not be worth running if you're not running Morophon as your commander.

Murmuring Bosk, Wanderwine Hub, Secluded Glen, Auntie's Hovel, Gilt-Leaf Palace, Fortified Beachhead and Ancient Amphitheater, I run because they're super on theme. For a strict power upgrade fetches and duals are stronger.

Seaside Haven/Starlit Sanctum are both strong if you're going more of a sacrifice theme.

Griffin Canyon and Wirewood Lodge are both too narrow for my build but could be useful with some more attention spent on abusing them.


Miscellaneous Cards

I rarely find any lords that give +1/+1 and a minor ability to be worth running. +1/+1 isn't worth very much, so the other ability needs to pull a lot of weight. That doesn't seem to usually be the case. For example, I found Scion of Oona and Lord of the Unreal to be very underwhelming because no one ever tries to burn removal on my non-Morophon Changeling creatures.
Additional Thoughts on Specific Card Choices
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I have been told only good things about Cloudshredder Sliver. Haste and Evasion are both key words that the Changelings in this deck really benefit from. It should be seriously considered.

If you're leaning into Morophon, the Boundless to make your Changelings cost 0, Ragemonger and Edgewalker can offer some redundancy.

You should be playing Maskwood Nexus. If you need redundancy there is also Unnatural Selection/Conspiracy (this overrides creature types though)/Artificial Evolution/Unnatural Selection and Arcane Adaptation.

Cryptic Gateway and Didgeridoo - These cards give all my Changelings flash and uncounterable which helps me play a more reactive game and stop me from overextending. They also allow me to flash in the champion cycle of Changelings to protect a creature from removal which is incredibly useful, especially with The Ur-Dragon since he has a huge target on his head. The ability to play a more reactive game is extremly strong as the deck can get so punished for overextending.

Peer Pressure is a really funny card and a very solid removal spell. Stealing an opponent's commander can often cripple their early game plans. Then, late game you can steal a huge amount of creatures with Mirror Entity and a bunch of creatures.

Glimpse the Cosmos is basically scry 6, draw 2 for 1UU which is exceptional. It finds you lands and ramp early in the game or action late. This just smoothes out draws extremely well.

Crib Swap, Spit Flame and Dire Tactics are the best inexpensive and on theme removal spells. Deadly Plot is a cute removal spell that can also get Morophon, the Boundless back.

If you're going wide and need extra bursty draw then Distant Melody, Mass Appeal and Pact of the Serpent are all good choices.



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Deck Skeleton of Highest Impact to $$ Cost Cards


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Changelog
Specific Changes + Reasons
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January 29, 2024
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November 9, 2023
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+1 Roaming Throne
-1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
I already have 37 lands and I never really found myself casting this card. Roaming throne seems busted with Reaper King and friends.

+1 Progenitor's Icon
-1 Altar of the Pantheon
Altar is super cute but giving Changelings flash is better than 1 life.
[spoiler=October 31, 2023
+1x Exterminate!
-1x Knowledge Exploitation
Not sure on this one. Knowledge Exploitation is really good if your opponent have big CMC spell bombs but I feel like that is less and less the case now. Usually this just found a wrath and Exterminate! will somewhat cover that case.

+1x Poetic Ingenuity
-1x Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
Really sad about this. Sachi is super cool, but Poetic Ingenuity is 1 cmc cheaper. Guess I'm not 100% on this one either.

+1x The Eleventh Hour
-1x Vedalken Aethermage
The Eleventh Hour is a Changeling + Ramp + Clone. That's just way better.

+1x Hakbal of the Surging Soul
-1x Liliana's Contract
I feel like Hakbal of the Surging Soul will just draw more cards for less mana. I've only ever one with Liliana's Contract once, it usually just draws a ton of aggro.

+1x Intrepid Adversary
-1x Conjurer's Mantle
This is just a super easy swap. Adversary is ramp and card advantage.
July 10, 2023
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+1x Sauron, the Dark Lord
-1x Sea Gate Loremaster
Played a game where Sea Gate Loremaster was bounced 3 times. It never untapped to draw cards. It was miserable, out it goes.

+1x Flame of Anor
-1x Ohabi Caleria
Flames is just a draw 2 + kill something. That's just an insane floor. Ohabi is cute but just not nearly that consistent. More removal is always great.
June 4, 2023
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+1x Unsettled Mariner
-1x Avian Changeling
Flying is super nice for getting it hits with stuff like Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator/Magda, Brazen Outlaw but as decks get faster this seems like it'll be better and better.
May 15, 2023
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-1x Kibo, Uktabi Prince
+1x Sigarda, Font of Blessings
This change is probably pretty greedy. Cutting a mana dork for more protection/CA. This'll help keep the other mana dorks alive. I like Sigarda's art a lot too.
April 25, 2023
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+1 Darksteel Splicer
-1 Psionic Ritual
Psionic ritual is a little too expensive and too meta dependant. Darksteel Splicer just seems busted.

+1 Conjurer's Mantle
-1 Liliana, Untouched By Death
Liliana seems great in theory... I've just literally never drawn her in over a year. Maybe she is good. Cuts gotta happen.
November 16, 2022
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+1 Fortified Beachhead
-1 Exotic Orchard
New tribal land!
Sept 26, 2022
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Tuktuk ScrapperOhabi Caleria Tuktuk has been underwhelming me recently. 4cmc feels like more and more. Repeated artifact removal is nice, but casting this just feels so sluggish.
MoggcatcherSeahunter Tuktuk Scrapper is the only goblin in my list so I'm swapping over to Seahunter for mana reasons.
Azami, Lady of ScrollsSea Gate Loremaster Azami is way stronger than Sea Gate Loremaster. That being said, UUU is rough. Being able to tutor for this with Seahunter is the main reason I'm making the swap though.
Grolnok, the OmnivoreRivaz of the Claw I've only stuck Grolnok once and he was great. I'm just really weary of Grolnok eating almost immediate removal and being underwhelming. Rivaz is ramp and more consistent card advantage.
Silumgar, the Drifting DeathBe'lakor, the Dark Master Not confident in this swap. ETB draw cards + additional removal seems cute though. Just want to give it a test. Need to cut a dragon for Rivaz to find his way in.
August 25, 2022
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+1 Evelyn, the Covetous
-1 Spawning Kraken
Honestly, I never cast Spawning Kraken but Evelyn, the Covetous was highly praised so I'm giving her a test whirl. She seems more in line with my deck bounce strat.

+1 Black Market Connections
-1 Realmwalker
More wrath resistance, ramp, card draw and roughly the same amount of changelings.
July 2, 2021
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+1 Liliana, Untouched by Death
-1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
I've found the tap 7: to be both winmore and a pretty big feels bad moment when I actually have the chance to use it. The draw a card off cast is nice but not being on ETB is actually a pretty decent downside. It's nice to be able to search off of Skyshroud Poacher, but searching for Wirewood Savage basically does the same thing. Feels bad to lose my only Druid card though. Liliana, Untouched by Death will provide more removal (which I'm always a fan of), some ability to recover from wraths (which is always needed), and is an awkward infinite outlet (which I really love). I'm just worried she'll be too easy for my opponents to deal with. Her +1 is also pretty lackluster. Only really synergizing with Spit Flame and Glimpse the Cosmos.

+1 Unholy Grotto
-1 Tyrite Sanctum.
I've found sacrificing lands just always feels bad. The only card I really ever want to make indestructible is Morophon, the Boundless or maybe Mirror Entity. I cut Unholy Grotto a while back, but I think Realmwalker and Graveshifter give it enough flexibility to get another shot.
May 26, 2021
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-1 Endemic Plague
+1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
Feedback in my primer thread told me that Silumgar was overperforming for people. Also, I didn't notice that he had hexproof which made me way way more interested in him. Felt like an upgrade to Endemic Plague by making the wrath onesided despite how much I like casting Endemic Plague

-1 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
+1 Spawning Kraken
Since Silumgar was coming in, I needed to cut a dragon to keep my dragon count low. Lathliss is the weakest and Spawning Kraken does a very similar thing.

-1 Kindred Discovery
+1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
On a straight power level analysis Kindred Discovery is likely better. I find I like Azami more from a card design perspective. I only cut her because of her UUU cost but I've dramatically increased the quality of the mana base since then. Kindred Discovery is certainly strong enough it might find its way back in.

-1 Bounty of Skemfar
+1 Vedalken Aethermage
Spellstutter sprite has been overperforming as has Cateran Summons. This is an instant speed version of Cateran Summons but it also finds Azami, Lady of Scrolls and has some niche applications bouncing my own Changelings.

+1 Gaea's Cradle
-1 Grand Coliseum
Card is good and I'm lucky enough to own one. It wasn't in because PlayEDH banned it in lower powerlevels but playing games in person is starting up again.
Aug 2020 to Mar 2021
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-1 Sigil Tracer
+1 Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Sigil Tracer is a pet card of mine but it's really hard for me to refuse to run more ramp.

-1 Ayula, Queen Among Bears
+1 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Ayula never really impressed me but Magda is busted.

-1 Molten Echoes
+1 Moritte of the Frost
This is a testing change.

-1 Impostor of the Sixth Pride
+1 Guardian Gladewalker
+1/+1 counter is slight upside. Mostly this is because G is easier on the manabase than W

-1 Skeletal Changeling
+1 Cateran Summons, effectively a Changeling of the same cost but also tutors a wider variety of Changelings

-1 Feline Sovereign
+1 Mistwalker
This wasn't the exact exchange but this happened at some point.

-1 Venomous Changeling
+1 Realmwalker
Card advantage seems stronger than deathtouch

-1 Taurean Mauler
+1 Masked Vandal
A mana discount and a Disenchant effect!

-1 Cairn Wanderer
+1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
A mana reduction and extra land drop. More flexibility, and I cut most of the cards that synergiesed with the wanderer

-1 Widespread Brutality
+1 Spellstutter Sprite
I'd rather prevent wraths than cast them.

-1 Elvish Archdruid
+1 Bounty of Skemfar
Testing. Less explosive but more consistent ramp with card advantage.

-1 Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
+1 Kindred Discovery
Resolving Unesh triggers just takes so long. I think Unesh is probably stronger of the two.

-1 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
+1 Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate
I found Yuriko always got a lot of hate. Linvala should do the opposite by protecting my board instead of getting people to kill it.

-1 Seahunter
+1 Emiel the Blessed
Frees up deck slots since I don't have to run a random merfolk. Does a similar thing but also protects my board from removal.

-1 Unnatural Selection
+1 Maskwood Nexus
Does the same thing, but modifies decks and creatures creature tokens

-1 Chromatic Lantern
+1 The World Tree
On theme chromatic lantern that is also a land.

-1 Higure, the Still Wind
+1 Glimpse the Cosmos
Similar amounts of card advantage but Glimpse is significantly cheaper and smooths out draws much better.

-1 Primal Beyond
+1 Tyrite Sanctum
Primal beyond was always underwhelming. Adding another greedy land instead.

-1 Vivid Crag
-1 Vivid Creek
-7 Basic Lands
+1 Windswept Heath, Misty Rainforest, Wooded Foothills, Polluted Delta
+1 Watery Grave, Steam Vents, Overgrown Tomb, Ketria Triome, Hallowed Fountain, Breeding Pool, Godless Shrine
I rarely deal with non-basic hate. Changing my mana base this way allows me to play more greedy on theme utility lands.
Aug 23, 2020
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-1 Unholy Grotto
+1 Elephant Graveyard
Dramatic power improvement utility landwise.
-1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
The UUU is just too scary. If she had even 1 less u in her cost I'd throw her back in. She might find her way back it sometime.
-1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
She just is too mana inefficient.
-1 Sylvia Brightspear
She was on the chopping block for Dragon Tempest testing as it came highly recommended

+1 Dragon Tempest
+1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
+1 Molten Echoes
Aug 19, 2020
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+1 The Scarab God
-1 Patriarch's Bidding
Patriach's Bidding's symmetric effect always scared me. Scarab God does the same late game wrath protection while also acting as graveyard hate for my opponents.
Jul 24, 2020
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-1 Seafloor Oracle
I never found myself drawing enough cards with this.
-1 Realm-Cloaked Giant
I find that I don't really want wraths very much in this deck.
-1 Khorvath Brightflame
Basically this was only in here because it was a free card for Sylvia Brightspear. She was about to get cut.
-1 Harmonic Sliver
Trying to trim down my number of slivers.

+1 Sigil Tracer
+1 Sliver Hivelord
+1 Ayula, Queen Among Bears
+1 Feline Sovreign
Jan 26, 2020
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-1 Sigil Tracer
+1 Altar of the Pantheon
Sigil Tracer is a pet card of mine that I really like, but more ramp is more ramp.
Oct 13, 2019
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-1 Seaside Haven
+1 Tournament Grounds
I never wanted to activate seaside haven because of a lack of graveyard synergies.
Sept 15, 2019
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-1 Myr Galvanizer
The myr was basically only good while combing with Shapesharer and that's just not enough flexibility for a slot.
-1 Sliver Overlord
I found this cost too much mana to cast and then activate.
-1 Seshiro the Anointed
6 mana was just so much, it just didn't draw enough cards.
-1 Vivid Crag
Adding a greedy land instead.

+1 Risen Reef
+1 Patriarch's Bidding
+1 Unholy Grotto
+1 Qasali Slingers
Jul 19, 2019
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+1 Morophon, the Boundless
-1 Loam Dweller
I never had enough lands in hand for Loam Dweller to consistently provide ramp.
Jun 14, 2019
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+1 Hibernation Sliver
-1 Sliver Hivelord
Similar ability to protect my board, but Hibernation sliver has the upside of bouncing Changelings for more ETBs.

+1 Wirewood Symbiote
-1 Artificial Evolution
I never actually cast Artifical Evolution. It was also brought to my attention that Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity + Priest of Titania = infinite green mana. Walker of Secret Ways always over-performs for me and this also does a fine imitation of her. Plus the symbiote will be fantastic with Graveshifter

-1 Chameleon Colossus
+1 Irregular Cohort
I never really wanted to search for the colossus. I've played one game and already been way happier with the cohort.

-1 Moonglove Changeling
+1 Venomous Changeling
Having natural deathtouch and a 1/3 body is way better. I originally thought that Venomous Changeling was only 2 mana, not 3.

-1 Fire-Belly Changeling
+1 Impostor of the Sixth Pride
Imposter is always a 3/1 and the Fire-belly needs to be pumped. More on specific Changeling cuts later.

-1 Ghostly Changeling
+1 Changeling Outcast
I never pumped the moonglove in any game. 1-mana reduction and unblockable is great.

-1 Wort, Boggart Auntie
+1 Graveshifter
Wort never got me back more than one creature, I was never happy with her. Graveshifter is going to be fantastic with Unholy Grotto (which I can't find anywhere)

-1 Woodland Changeling
+1 Universal Automaton
I thought about this for a long time, Woodland Changeling's body is effectively non-existent. I decided I'd rather have Cairn Wanderer because it can be a 4/4 flying, lifelink, deathtouch, haste. All of which are relevant. I think Skeletal Changeling's regeneration is more relevant than +1/+1. I think an extra mana for flying is worth it on Avian Changeling. Mothdust Changeling's kinda flying is also better. Taurean Mauler actually affects the board outside of being a Changeling. Amoeboid Changeling has a bunch of tiny synergies.
May 9, 2019
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+1 Cavern of Souls
-1 Vivid Marsh
Probably a strict downgrade in terms of actual mana-fixing for the trade off of uncounterable general and Changelings.

+1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
-1 New Blood
I knew I wanted to put in Tolsimir since I saw him spoiled as this deck really needed some incidental lifegain. He also wraths most of the board with the oblivion ring loop (7/7 titan fighting everything) while gaining infinite life. He's also tutorable with Skyshroud Poacher. New Blood is kinda neat, but I never really cast it and it doesn't enable truly stupid plays, which is more what I'm looking for.

-1 Rakdos, the Showstopper
+1 Widespread Brutality
Widespread Brutality is just a much more consistent card. It does require a Changeling to be truly a wrath. However it has much cooler synergies like Mirror Entity making it one-sided, Moonglove Changeling to for sure kill everything, and Changeling Hero to gain 6 health per creature.
Apr 24, 2019
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+1 Loam Dweller
-1 Mana Reflection
All credit to tstorm823 for pointing out this card to me. Loam Dweller is much worse as a ramp spell than Mana Reflection, however Loam Dweller lets me say "Spirit" while ramping. So, all things considered, this was an incredibly easy cut.

+1 Priest of Titania
-1 Defiant Falcon
I already have Lin-Sivvi, the three moggcatcher cycle searchers, Sliver Overlord, and Higure to tutor up Changelings. This deck can be super mana hungry (like all my decks) so I figured I'd cut a mana sink for a mana producer. Defiant Falcon is the worst of all my tutors, so out it goes.
Apr 22, 2019
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+1 Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
-1 Marwyn, the Nurturer

Slight tweak. I just remembered that Yuriko is a card. I haven't really cast Marwyn all that much and I've enough combos with the oblivion ring-Changeling loop that she's a bit unnecessary now. The correct cut still might have been Seafloor Oracle as these occupy the same space but I like have a tutorable card advantage card with Seahunter. There's a good chance I might cut Seafloor Oracle for Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. Although, I've also been thinking about sticking in a Wanderwine Prophets. I think that really needs haste to excel though and its really hard to give it haste.
Apr 4, 2019
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-1 Kodama's Reach
+1 Thunderherd Migration
The initial thought behind this switch was to change "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (3)" to "Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (2)" but upon some consideration, removing Kodama's Reach freed me up to remove several basic lands from my deck and replace them with multi-color lands. As a result I think this decks mana-base is actually slightly better even though Migration is a worse mana fixer than Kodama's Reach. Also, now I have dinosaur synergy and truly that is what is most important

-1 Plains
+1 Seraph Sanctuary
This deck actually only runs seven white non-Changeling and 4 of them are multi-colored cards. This deck is very light on needing white mana so this change makes the mana base only slightly worse, but Seraph Sanctuary gains me infinite life with the 3 champion Changeling loop. I was also looking for incrimental life gain because the deck doesn't have any of that which I noticed was hurting me. Most importantly, now I have angel synergy.

-1 Mountain
+1 Vivid Grove
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration. Deck needs green mana a lot more than red.

-1 Swamp
+1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
Only need 1 of each basic for thunderherd migration, that's the last of this cycle of lands that I needed.
Mar 30, 2019
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-1 Cultivate
+1 Elder Pine of Jukai
Cultivate might be the slightly better card, but Elder Pine should hopefully dig for lands for me and play a similar role in the deck. Also, it can get back a Changeling when it dies. So lots of card advantage potential here.

-1 Urza's Incubator
+1 Harabaz Druid
Most of my Changelings are extremely cheap and don't need to get cheaper. I'd have Harabaz Druid to ramp out multiple different 6 drops instead of just one. Also, it is color fixing.

-1 Goblin Warchief
+1 Khorvath Brightflame
Similar role of combo enabler, but Khorvath also grants evasion, is significantly less of a dead card on its own, and adds the knight subtheme.

-1 Angel of Flight Alabaster
+1 Sylvia Brightspear
Gotta play the second half of the partners. Unfortunately, it is another dragon synergy card bringing me up to 4 but I'm not playing Khorvath Brightflame by himself. Angel of Flight Alabaster I found to just have too little of an impact and cost too much mana.

-1 Goblin Trashmaster
+1 Patron of the Vein
I think I need creature removal more than artifact removal. It also will make all my Changelings into pretty decent threats eventually. Trashmaster's biggest flaw was that it made me sacrifice Changelings and I never wanted to do that at all.

-1 Sage of Fables
+1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Similar card draw role, with an added win-con and less mana inefficient.
My list from July 2019
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The Ur-Dragon, Changeling Tribal: Sorted by Creature Type Synergy

Commander (1)

Angel (Land)

Beast (1 + land)

Bird (Land)

Demon (1)

Dinosaur (1)

Druid (1)

Elemental (Land)

Faerie (Land)

Giant (Land)

Goblin (1 + land)

Human... most frequently (Land)

Insect/Rat/Spider/Squirrel (Land)

Knight (1)

Merfolk (2 + land)

Minotaur (1)

Myr (1)

Scarecrow (1)

Snake (1)

Spirit (1)

Treefolk (Land)

Vampire (1)

Boring Manabase Greed Reduction (1)

Approximate Total Cost:



.
Other Decklists

ISBPathfinder's List
Sefir's List
offspring's List
Gentle Giant's List
DrKillenger - Token/Combo
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A Tribe Called Changeling
Approximate Total Cost:

MeowZeDung - Ally/Flicker Focus
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General Tazri - Changeling Allies

Commander (1)

Artifacts (2)

Sorceries (3)

Approximate Total Cost:

darrenhabib, more goodstuff
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darrenhabib's deck

Commander

Dinosaurs

Spirits

Sacrecrows

Merfolk

Knights

Top deck manipulation

Help with activation/mana

Approximate Total Cost:

Staper's Deck, More wraths
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Stapler's Deck

Commander

Goblins

Scarecrows

Merfolk

Dinosaurs

Beasts

Approximate Total Cost:

narglfrob, pod-haakon
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Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by materpillar 1 month ago, edited 101 times in total.

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materpillar
the caterpillar
Posts: 1299
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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

WIP
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The Ur-Dragon
Home of the fearsome 1/1 Ally Angel Beast Bear Cat Bird Dog Goat Ox Demon Demi-God Dinosaur Dragon Druid Elemental Elf Elephant Faerie Giant Goblin God Human Insect Rat Spider Squirrel Merfolk Minotaur Ninja Rogue Scarecrow Sliver Shaman Snake Sphinx Spirit Treefolk Vampire Wizard Wolf Zombie creature



.
Table of Contents



.
Introduction

I've been playing Magic the Gathering constantly for over a decade, seriously jumping into the game when Shards Of Alara was released. It only took me one standard tournament of getting my face bashed in by Faeries and Jund that I realized the spike life wasn't for me. Merely being competitive and winning at all costs isn't for me. I am competitive and I want to win, but I need to win with style. The more cards that my opponents have to read because they've never seen them before the better. Anyone can win with Craterhoof Behemoth, I'm not here for that. I have transcended such trite win conditions, I'm here to cause concessions with a Didgeridoo trigger. If I win a game and my opponents aren't vaguely confused and quite amused I have failed.



.
Deck Philosophy

This deck's philosophy is extremely simple, every card in the deck must require me to declare a creature type upon casting, entering the battlefield, ability activation or otherwise buffing a specific creature type. Another way to say this is that every card must increase the amount of relevant creature types each of my changelings has. This results in lines of play like the following

A result of my constraint is an idea line of play is tap Ally Encampment for U which can only be used to cast an Ally Amoeboid Changeling which only cost U because it's a dragon. Also, because I just cast a spirit, Elder Pine of Jukai triggers. Then, since a scarecrow entered the battlefield Reaper King triggers. Now because Amoeboid Changeling is a knight it has haste because of Khorvath Brightflame. So I'll tap Amoeboid Changeling to turn my Elder Pine of Jukai into all creature types so that when I cast Peer Pressure naming "Praetor" I can steal my opponents Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur since I control more Praetors than he does.

On top of my previously mentioned restriction I also have a hard limit of 4 non-land cards per tribe to maximize the variety of represented tribes, otherwise this deck would rapidly turn into a Sliver/Dragon deck held together with changelings and a smattering of other tribes. My build of this deck is a slave to these constraints. This means that Thunderherd Migration is strictly better than Rampant Growth because Thunderherd Migration allows me to say "Dinosaur" whereas Rampant Growth does not, even though in every other deck Rampant Growth is the strictly better card. You will not see Sol Ring in my build of this deck ever. I've helped several other people build different flavors of this deck and rarely does anyone stick quite as religiously to this constraint as I do. Again, I want to win with as much style as possible and constraints only maximize style. However, you might not be nearly as driven by this desire so don't be afraid to make the deck your own as there's a ridiculous amount of choices available while constructing this deck. I also have several preferences in regards to what I find "fun" that flavor my card choices. For example, I cut Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign purely because while resolving it often resulted in me winning the game, I found myself lightly storming off and monopolizing game time whenever it resolved.



.
My Changeling Tribal List
Most recent decklist

Commander (1)

Angel (Land)

Beast (1 + land)

Demon (1)

Druid (1)

Dwarf (1)

Elemental (1 + Land)

Elephant (land)

Faerie (Land)

Goblin (1 + land)

Human... most frequently (1 + Land)

Insect/Rat/Spider/Squirrel (Land)

Merfolk (2 + land)

Minotaur (1)

Ninja (1)

Scarecrow (1)

Snake/Shaman (1)

Spirit (1)

Treefolk (Land)

Vampire (1)

Wizard (Land)

Zombies (1)

Approximate Total Cost:




.
Building Your Own Deck

So you want to build your own changeling tribal tribal deck. You have a few questions to answer before you even select your first card.
  • How hard do you want to stick to your tribal theme. Where do you draw the line on goodstuff? Are Sol Ring and other mana rocks too good to pass up? What about off-theme removal, wraths or other interaction? How many off-theme utility cards that tutor, discard or sacrifice? Most people don't stick as rigorously to theme as I do, so get a vague idea of where you want you deck to fall on the spectrum of powerlevel vs theme. For example, I'm running as many non-basic lands as possible that do relevant things with my changelings and it definitely negatively affects my win %. Every now and again I have cards stranded in my hand, and I'm less willing to run certain cards because of their mana cost. I find these to be acceptable sacrifices for the ability to run Swarmyard, Elephant Graveyard and a slew of other utility lands in my 5c deck. Are you ok with that or do you want a more stable mana base?
  • Do you want your deck to lean towards combo or combat damage? Do you want lean towards control, mid-range or aggression? One of the delights of this deck is that the deck plays wildly differently from game to game. Some games you go wide and murder everyone with Mirror Entity. Sometimes you infinite combo out your opponents turn 8. Sometimes you control the board with removal and close out the game with general damage. However, you'll probably want to select which one you primarily want to build towards. My build is leaning towards a being a disruption filled mid-range deck that closes out the game with infinite combos.
  • The next question you need to ask yourself is; Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, Hibernation Sliver or Shared Animosity? I've found these three main synergies that inform deckbuilding are sacrifice/aristocrat, blink, or token/go-wide. Picking between these three cards will give you a point to focus and lean towards. I'm personally building a more blink-centric deck so I'm having a difficult trying to find a place for Najeela, the Blade-Blossom since I have almost no token payoffs. I'm also running zero sacrifice outlets that would be required to make Haakon, Stromgald Scourge shine.



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Picking Your Commander

Once you've got a rough idea of what themes you want to lean towards you can start thinking about which commander you want and there's actually at least 8 reasonable choices.

The Ur-Dragon - The Ur-Dragon is my personal choice. Since my deck is based around generating as much ETB value as possible, I want to be able to cast and bounce my changelings as often as possible. Hence, mana reduction is extremely powerful. I also find that it is very easy to give The Ur-Dragon +1/+1 so he two-shots people, opening up an easy alternate win-condition. In addition to being a source of mana advantage he also provides massive card draw if he's ever cast. The final reason being he's extremely easy to cast. That doesn't seem right at first glance but Morophon, the Boundless is on the battlefield, The Ur-Dragon only costs 4 for his massive onboard presence.

Morophon, the Boundless - You'd think that Morophon would have been the more obvious choice but my opinion The Ur-Dragon's eminence not requiring him to be on the battlefield makes him much stronger. That being said Morophon is much easier to get on the battlefield and keep on the battlefield with random things Rattlechains or Knight Exemplar. Morophon also being a changeling is significant upside over being only a dragon. Once on the battlefield Morophon provides mana advantage with non-changelings (like The First Sliver) which is another upside over The Ur-Dragon. I personally prefer the Ur-Dragon's consistency and more impactful battlefield presence.

Reaper King - Having a vindicate in the command zone is great. Reaper King is also a strong choice. I prefer mana reduction and card advantage from the command zone instead of removal. I've never personally tested him, but the anecdotal evidence that has been presented to me is that he draws far too much hate to be worth it.

Scion of the Ur-Dragon - I'm sure this can do filthy things turning into Mirror Entity, Khorvath Brightflame, or Morophon, the Boundless. However, Scion's got a pretty hefty target on him as a combo machine. People are going to be expecting more shenanigans if you sit down with him as a general. For this reason alone I haven't seriously considered testing him myself. That being said if you're going the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge route, Scion of the Ur-Dragon will do wonders putting changelings into the battlefield and even getting Haakon there with something like Maskwood Nexus.

Karona, False God - Karona was this deck's original general before The Ur-Dragon was printed. She's pretty good at smashing face. However, my deck has evolved away from face smashing and more towards combo wins. If your deck is much more on the token plan she could definitely be respectable. I'd have to imagine she'd get people real dead in combination with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom.

General Tazri - Did you want Mirror Entity from the command zone? That's actually an incredibly good option. Mirror Entity does a lot of work in this deck.

Atogatog - I'm not memeing here. Atogatog in the command zone is actually a legitimate choice. He can 21 damage people very easily with a Mirror Entity. Having an instant speed sacrifice outlet as your general is very very strong. Atogatog is pretty criminally underrated. I used to use Atogatog with Mirror Entity and Eternal Witness to loop Cruel Ultimatum. However, my current build doesn't value sacrifice outlets highly at all but I can see him doing massive work with Haakon, Stromgald Scourge or Faces of the Past.

Horde of Notions - I've not seriously considered Horde of Notions because his activation cost is so expensive. The amount of value he provides is worth at least briefly considering.

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom - She actually goes infinite pretty easily with Maskwood Nexus and various Magda, Brazen Outlaw effects. A great choice if you're feeling like you'd like to go wide. I imagine she'd draw a fair amount of hate as she's known to be incredibly strong.
.
Piloting my Deck
Early Game
Once you've got a guesstimate of your themes, commander and general gameplan. It's time for card choices. The starting spot here is ramp to power through the early game.

The best ramp spells in this deck are Harabaz Druid, Manaweft sliver, Gemhide sliver, Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Dragon's Hoard. If you're not running these cards you should have a very good reason for it. I personally think that Priest of Titania is fantastic but she depends on how g intensive you are. Some other solid ramp spells are Elvish Archdruid, Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro, Altar of the Pantheon, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Bounty of Skemfar, Herald's Horn and Thunderherd Migration.

If you're going off theme Faeburrow Elder and Bloom Tender are incredibly strong choices.
Mid-Game
It's time to start assembling value engines. Everything is either a changeling or profits off changelings, so start pulling together an unholy abomination of value. Your specific flavor of value will be based on the theme you're leaning to.

For a bounce strategy you'll be leaning into cards like Hibernation Sliver, Wirewood Symbiote, Emiel the Blessed, Walker of Secret Ways, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Reflections of Littjara, Naban, Dean of Iteration and Molten Echoes to generate Changeling ETB triggers.

For Haakon, Stromgald Scourge you'll be getting Haakon into play (surprise surpise) using things like Entomb, Buried Alive, Birthing Pod, Belbe's Portal, Cryptic Gateway, Cryptbreaker or Maskwood Nexus/Arcane Adaptation and Moggcatcher/Skyshroud Poacher/Seahunter. Once he's in play you'll wreck the board with Crib Swap/Nameless Inversion or loop changelings with a sacrifice outlet.

With tokens you'll be establishing a board presence with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, Notorious Throng, Rooftop Storm, The First Sliver, Atla Palani, Nest Tender, Turntimber Ranger, Rin and Seri, Inseparable, Avenger of Zendikar and Wirewood Hivemaster.


You'll be combining these engines with cards that generate value like Risen Reef, Wirewood Savage, Kindred Discovery, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid, Elder Pine of Jukai, Dragon's Hoard, Species Specialist, Merrow Reejerey, Faces of the Past, Skemfar Avenger, Undead Augur, Vanquisher's Banner, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Kindred Summons and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow.

You can also combine the engines with generate removal with cards like Harmonic Sliver, Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves, Ayula, Queen Among Bears, Spit Flame, Tuktuk Scrapper, Dragon Tempest, Qasali Slingers, Scourge of Valkas, General Kudro of Drannith and Reaper King.
Late-Game
Part of the joy of this deck is that it has a multitude of lines of play to approach victory while also having only incredibly minimal deck manipulation. As such it is really hard to nail down a specific line of play you take every game as you're working towards whatever engine you have on hand. Eventually these value engines will stumble their way into a way to end the game. Sometimes your opponents will just scoop as a result of Reaper King triggers. Sometimes you'll use one of a handful of cards that are primarily there for their value but also act as win conditions like Liliana's Contract, Mirror Entity, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid, Dragon Tempest and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Maybe you'll draw into a card that is just so powerful upfront that they can easily overwhelm your opponents like Lathliss, Dragon Queen, Avenger of Zendikar and The Scarab God. Token decks will have a bunch of cards that can deal massive damage like Shared Animosity, Shared Animosity, Coat of Arms, Crucible of Fire, Kindred Charge, Door of Destinies, Sliver Legion, Knights' Charge, Sylvia Brightspear, Kinsbaile Cavalier, Patron of the Vein and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Sometimes you'll kill people with commander beats.

The last consistent winconditions worth mentioning are the multitude of on theme infinite combos. If it generates infinite changeling ETB triggers, these will be lethal with basically everything (for example Reaper King or Dragon Tempest) and with a single-draw engine will draw into a lethal card.

Example Late-Game Combos
Changeling Titan + Changeling Berserker + Changeling Hero
Titan exiles Beserker. Hero enters the battlefield and exiles Titan. Titan leaves the battlefield, returning Beserker to the battlefield. Beserker exiles Hero. Hero leaves the battlefield, returning Titan. Loop and infinite number of times for an infinite number of changeling ETB triggers. Note this also generates infinite mana with Gemhide Sliver/Manaweft Sliver effects since Changeling Berserker has haste and can be tapped for mana with champion triggers on the stack.

Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity/Maskwood Nexus changing creature type effect + Harabaz Druid/Priest of Titania multiple mana generating creature.
Turn Wirewood Symbiote into an elf. Bounce itself to untap the multiple mana generating creature. Recast Wirewood Symbiote for infinite mana.

Hibernation Sliver + Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves + Universal Automaton (or another free changeling effect)
Cast the changeling and gain 3 life. Pay 2 life to return it to hand and cast it again. Gain infinite life and changeling ETB triggers.

Turntimber Ranger + Maskwood Nexus
Generate infinite wolves and a very large ranger.

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge + Merrow Reejerey + 1 mana changeling + free sacrifice outlet
Emiel the Blessed + Mana Echoes + a changeling and 2 other creatures.
Both generate infinite changeling ETBs by being mana neutral to flicker/cast a changeling.

There's way more combos than I can list but sometimes you just randomly stumble on one and go "huh..."
Wirewood Symbiote + Harabaz Druid + Morophon, the Boundless + Changeling Titan + Changeling Hero = Infinite changeling ETBs, add one more changeling for infinite mana




.
Deck Weaknesses

Since this deck is extremely creature heavy it can get blown out by wrath spells. Thus great emphasis should be put on avoiding over committing to the board. That being said cards like Hibernation Sliver, Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, Sliver Hivelord, The Scarab God, Knight Exemplar, Crested Sunmare, and Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can help to mitigate this risk. There's also Patriarch's Bidding and Haunting Voyage to recover.

Another weakness the deck has is being exploited by repeatable pinging. The worst examples of this are The Scorpion God and Marath, Will of the Wild. These matchups are extremely rough since you're running so many tiny utility creatures that they just eat up.

The deck also struggles against aristocrats builds since the deck struggles to meaningfully interact with the graveyard. These decks also usually run Grave Pact and can repeatedly boardwipe you with their recursion. Patron of the Vein excels in this situation. General Kudro of Drannith can also help.

The deck also doesn't have a ton of great ways to interact with the stack, so anyone playing spell slinger/storm is basically impossible to interact with other than drawing a good hand to aggro them down. There's some counterspells like Wizard's Retort, Voidmage Prodigy, Sage's Dousing, Psychic Trance, Silumgar's Scorn and Spellstutter Sprite but none of them are particularly strong.

The final issue this deck has is Humility/Overwhelming Splendor. I strongly recommend against doing anything other than immediately conceding if these resolve as your only out is Knowledge Exploitation for a disenchant effect or someone else killing the player who cast them. Torpor Orb is also rough but not nearly as impossible to deal with.



.
Staples and Miscellaneous Card Thoughts

What changelings you play in your deck will depend heavily on what commander you're running and what themes you end up building towards. I basically am running as low a curve as possible unless the changelings do something very significant. I'm personally not running Unsettled Mariner because it costs two mana as opposed to the 1 mana of Guardian Gladewalker.

Changelings with evasion are extra valuable because they can more easily trigger Magda, Brazen Outlaw and cards with damage triggers like Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow or Ingenious Infiltrator.

I personally run Changeling Titan, Changeling Berserker, Changeling Hero because they go infinite and are extremely synergist with a bunch of cards in my deck. For example. Skyshroud Poacher, Moggcatcher, Seahunter are exceptionally strong. They all find Morophon, the Boundless which allows me to cast The Ur-Dragon for only 4!. They can all find the infinite champion changeling loop by themselves. They can also find any of the champion changelings in response to a removal spell to save a creature. I always have at least 1 non-changeling target for them to hit that adds even more utility to each. They also allow my deck to play more reactively and commit less to the board until I need to. Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero and other rebels occupy a similar niche to the catcher cycle but significantly more mana intensive.

Another two cards that synergize with the champions are Cryptic Gateway and Didgeridoo. These cards give all my changelings flash and uncounterable which helps me play a more reactive game and stop me from overextending. They also allow me to flash in the champion cycle of changelings to protect a creature from removal. This happens with The Ur-Dragon a lot.

Knowledge Exploitation is an incredibly versatile card. Early game it is ramp. Mid-game it is a board wrath, spot removal or card draw as necessary. Heaven forbid your opponents are playing Expropriate or something of that nature. It is a bit meta-game dependent but I've found it to be very strong.

Coveted Prize is very strong but I don't care for unconditional tutors especially with the amount of infinite combos this deck has.

Peer Pressure is a really funny card. It's great to steal the board with Mirror Entity and a bunch of creatures.

You should be playing Maskwood Nexus. If you need redundancy there is also Unnatural Selection/Conspiracy (this overrites creature types though)/Artificial Evolution/Unnatural Selection and Arcane Adaptation.

The World Tree, Contested Cliffs, Elephant Graveyard, Flamekin Village, Swarmyard and Sliver Hive are the best utility lands in the deck. I would highly recommend running all of them budget permitting. Riptide Laboratory, Haven of the Spirit Dragon, and Ally Encampment only rarely get activated.

Glimpse the Cosmos is a fantastic value. It should definitely be run.



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Deck Skeleton to Build From
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darrenhabib, more goodstuff
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darrenhabib's deck

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materpillar
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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Spoiler time!

ATLA PALANI, NEST TENDER. I'm not sure how, but this card has to be extremely breakable in this deck somehow. There isn't really any sacrifice outlets or any combos jumping out at me. I do really really want to use Unnatural Selection to turn him into an egg when he dies so I can trigger his ability though. I'm pretty sure that works.

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to use this deck much recently. I did manage Widespread Brutality + Changeling Hero and I must say it feels fantastic.

I ordered some cards online and had a handful of changes.

-1 Vivid Crag
+1 Unholy Grotto
I'm starting to get extremely concerned about the amount of lands I have that tap for colorless mana. Casting Azami, Lady of Scrolls and Widespread Brutality is actually noticeably difficult.

-1 Seshiro the Anointed
+1 Patriarch's Bidding
Seshiro was good, but costing 6 mana made him stick in my hand more than I like. Patriarch's Bidding should give me some resilience to wrath spells which this deck is currently extremely weak to.

-1 Sliver Overlord
+1 Qasali Slingers
Sliver Overlord is great and has some awesome synergies (Unnatural Selection/Amoeboid Changeling) but it was just so mana intensive. 5 to cast followed by 3 to tutor is a ton. If I'm spending that much mana on something, I might as well just cast The Ur-Dragon. Sliver Overlord was also the worst sliver in my deck by a significant margin and so I don't mind trimming my number of slivers.

Spoiler time yet again!
Tournament Grounds - I look forward to jamming this into my deck and making it even more impossible to cast my non-changeling spells. I might actually cut Seaside Haven. It's really mana-intensive and this deck doesn't want its changelings getting killed. I'll ponder this more.

Robber of the Rich - More card-advantage on a cheap body is very welcome. I'm a bit worried that he'd be terrible mid-late game and wiffing would really stink.

Witch's Vengeance - I'm 100% going to lose at least one game to this card. I've already had someone cast Crux of Fate naming "dragons" against me before. That was a bit awkward. This will be that + killing all my tiny value creatures. -.-
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Post by 75chan » 4 years ago

I think I've said it before, but I really, really like this deck. It's a very nice way to run a lot of cool synergistic cards that wouldn't see much play otherwise and it seems to have a ton of fun interactions you'd only see when playing with or against the deck. Patriarch's Bidding seems like a great inclusion. Imame, Life Aspect is a way worse, but possibly (probably not) playable form of wrath defense. Fullmoon's Rise might be okay though, but it doesn't save you from Wrath of God or exile wraths. Rotlung's Reanimator is a card, albeit probably not very good.

Descendant's Path isn't super on theme, but it's a pet card of mine that I'd totally play if I made a deck like this.

I must say Patron of the Vein looks like a weird can to run. Maybe it's a lot better in practice than it seems to me, but the tribal aspect of it doesn't seem that strong and 6 mana ETB removal is... not amazing.

I'm assuming Birthing Boughs is too expensive, but it seems in theory to be okay in slower games. Valiant Changeling and Chameleon Colossus are cards I would've expected you to run.
I swap decks a lot
wr Avacyn with defensive blinking
ur OG Jhoira spellslinger without MLD or eldrazi
and some other stuff that are more or less messy


Best card

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

75chan wrote:
4 years ago
I think I've said it before, but I really, really like this deck. It's a very nice way to run a lot of cool synergistic cards that wouldn't see much play otherwise and it seems to have a ton of fun interactions you'd only see when playing with or against the deck.
:grin: This is probably my favorite EDH deck I currently play.
75chan wrote:
4 years ago
Patriarch's Bidding seems like a great inclusion. Imame, Life Aspect is a way worse, but possibly (probably not) playable form of wrath defense. Fullmoon's Rise might be okay though, but it doesn't save you from Wrath of God or exile wraths. Rotlung's Reanimator is a card, albeit probably not very good.
Funny thing about Patriarch's Bidding is because I run so many random creature types I'll probably benefit from the creature types my opponents name also. Unfornately, Wrath spells are so hard on the deck because a wrath on turn 4-5 usually sets me back 2-3 mana (a couple changlelings plus gemhide sliver or something similar) while everyone else's mind stones and cultivates are unaffected.
75chan wrote:
4 years ago
Descendants' Path isn't super on theme, but it's a pet card of mine that I'd totally play if I made a deck like this.

I must say Patron of the Vein looks like a weird can to run. Maybe it's a lot better in practice than it seems to me, but the tribal aspect of it doesn't seem that strong and 6 mana ETB removal is... not amazing.
Descendants' Path is super cool. My deck is almost exactly 50% creatures so on average every other turn it puts something into play. That's fine, but my personal preference is to limit RNG like that. Wiffing is just personally harder for me to deal with. I wouldn't fault anyone for running it though.

As for Patron of the Vein, since my theme is so specific it's pretty hard to get good removal. My current suite is as follows.
Instant Speed Contested Cliffs, Crib Swap, Spit Flame
Sorcery Speed Peer Pressure, Endemic Plague, Knowledge Exploitation, Widespread Brutality
Sorcery Speed-ish (Moggcatcher) Reaper King, Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves, Harmonic Sliver, Qasali Slingers

Everyone else who builds this deck almost always snap cut Patron of the Vein but I'm pretty happy with him. Looking at him purely as a 6-mana sorcery speed removal spell he looks pretty mediocre. Purely by that metric he's probably worse than New Blood. However, Patron of the Vein is also a pretty high priority threat for my opponents. Usually I'll cast Patron, he'll kill something. I'll get a trigger or two and then someone will burn removal on him because unchecked he can get very threatening. In addition to that his exile on death clause is actually extremely relevant. It's the only graveyard interaction that I have in the entire deck which is a huge weakness the deck has. I still need to pick up a The Scarab God for additional graveyard hate.
75chan wrote:
4 years ago
I'm assuming Birthing Boughs is too expensive, but it seems in theory to be okay in slower games.

Valiant Changeling and Chameleon Colossus are cards I would've expected you to run.
Birthing Boughs is too slow. This deck has a ton of similar mana sinks already in various lands. Valiant Changeling is competing directly with Cairn Wanderer and Taurean Mauler for a spot. I think Cairn Wanderer has higher upside in terms of gaining evasion and lifelink for Widespread Brutality. It actually might be better than Taurean Mauler because doublstrike is fantastic with Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. I'm just pretty scared of the WW and the downside of being horribly overcosted without a changeling on the battlefield.

I ran Chameleon Colossus until the newest set of changelings came out. I think I only ever pumped him once, and protection from black is just way less relevant than costing 0 or 1 mana, being two triggers or having evasion.

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

is far and away the card I've been most excited for in the last several sets. This decks mana is atrocious and there's almost no mana rocks that are playable in this deck. Having another one is a godsend.

I cut Sigil Tracer for it. Sigil tracer is a pet card of mine, but it's just so blue mana-intensive and my changelings always want to be attack or tapping for something else. I'll try to slip it back in eventually.

I'm also testing Realm-Cloaked Giant over Widespread Brutality. I think brutality is the better card in my deck but there's been several times it sat in my hand uncastable because of its mana cost.


I recently played against a Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow aggro-ninja deck. I managed to get 3 changelings on the boards plus another creature on board. One of the changelings was Amoeboid Changeling, which allowed me to cast Peer Pressure naming "ninja" to steal his general plus two other ninjas. That felt faaaaantastic.

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Post by Nimbaway » 4 years ago

The deck is definitely demanding on mana, as had that same experience running my changeling tribal list. So far I tried to mitigate it a bit by limiting the amount of red cards I'm running, which makes things awkward as Deathbellow War Cry could be such a fitting finisher but that mana cost...

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Nimbaway wrote:
4 years ago
The deck is definitely demanding on mana, as had that same experience running my changeling tribal list. So far I tried to mitigate it a bit by limiting the amount of red cards I'm running, which makes things awkward as Deathbellow War Cry could be such a fitting finisher but that mana cost...
Do you have a link to your list? I'd be curious to see it.

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Post by Nimbaway » 4 years ago

This is the list as I currently have it sleeved up. I ended up moving Reaper King to my command zone since it was hard to find cuts and having removal sit there just felt more useful, compared to what Ur-Dragon did for me. Did end up slotting in Deathbellow War Cry, but I feel the casting cost might make it a dead card a lot of the times, so will have to see how that pans out.
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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Nimbaway wrote:
4 years ago
This is the list as I currently have it sleeved up. I ended up moving Reaper King to my command zone since it was hard to find cuts and having removal sit there just felt more useful, compared to what Ur-Dragon did for me. Did end up slotting in Deathbellow War Cry, but I feel the casting cost might make it a dead card a lot of the times, so will have to see how that pans out.
Our decks have slightly different slants, yours seems slightly more combat/combo focused while mine leans much heavier on ETB triggers/engines.

I have a couple of recommendations / questions.
How have you found Valiant Changeling? I'm worried about it getting stuck in my hand if I don't have another changeling. Doublestrike is great in this deck but not being able to cast it intimidates me.
What do you primarily use Arcane Adaptation / Artificial Evolution for? Is it mostly to maximize Reaperking and to combo with Turntimber Ranger? Do you ever use them for anything other than that? I don't have them in my list because I'm worried they just won't do enough.
Have you lived the dream with Star of Extinction and Spiteful Sliver? The sliver seems like it'd be really weak on its own.
How's Najeela, the Blade-Blossom been? I keep meaning to pick one up but haven't gotten around to it.
How's Atla Palani, Nest Tender been? I've considered it but I just don't know what I'd cut.
Brimstone Trebuchet seems pretty winmore as it's primarily a combo-finisher and you already have reaper king to accomplish that. Does it do much else?
Why don't you play Sylvia Brightspear since you have Khorvath Brightflame?
Where do you get the mana reduction to go infinite with hibernation Sliver, life gain cards and a changeling?
Any thoughts on Realm-Cloaked Giant vs widespread brutality

On the recommendation side of things
I'd strongly recommend slotting in Morophon, the Boundless. He cast make your general cost 0 mana and is easily tutor-able with Seahunter and friends.
I added Didgeridoo as a meme card. However, it has consistently over-performed, especially with reaperking. It's mana reduction is ok. It also makes your changelings uncounterable which is nice. The main thing is it gives all your changelings flash. This is massive with the champion changelings because you can flash them in to protect your general from removal. It also makes your sorcery speed vindicates into instant speed vindicates with reaperking which is MASSIVE. Cryptic Gateway does similar things, but is much more of a removal magnet itself. I'd strongly recommend giving it a test.
I know Reclamation Sage is tutor-able with Skyshroud Poacher but harmonic sliver has so much value in being able to trigger it multiple times. Although, accidentally killing reaperking is kinda lame.
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign is disgusting. I think he's even better than Azami. I'd find a slot for him as you seem light on card-draw.

I'm glad you're giving this deck a whirl. It is massively enjoyable.

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Post by Nimbaway » 4 years ago

materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
How have you found Valiant Changeling? I'm worried about it getting stuck in my hand if I don't have another changeling. Doublestrike is great in this deck but not being able to cast it intimidates me.
The double white is often more awkward than not having another changeling around for me, but I've recently adjusted my ramp package a bit so it might have become easier for me now. That said it's not a card to be married to since it is conditional and I might replace it with Morophon.
What do you primarily use Arcane Adaptation / Artificial Evolution for? Is it mostly to maximize Reaperking and to combo with Turntimber Ranger? Do you ever use them for anything other than that? I don't have them in my list because I'm worried they just won't do enough.
Arcane Adaptation is definitely a situational card, what I name is usually depending on board state and/or hand. So far Elf, Sliver and Dragon haven been rather common choices for me. I certainly hate seeing it in my opening hand, but can help finish games.

Artificial Evolution is extremely useful, it can change your creature tutors around so you can fetch any non-Changeling you might need for example.
Have you lived the dream with Star of Extinction and Spiteful Sliver? The sliver seems like it'd be really weak on its own.
Only once, but several times it got overlooked by opponent's playing Blasphemous Act so it's a good rattlesnake card for that.
How's Najeela, the Blade-Blossom been? I keep meaning to pick one up but haven't gotten around to it.
I haven't used it to combo off with, but I've had good uses out of it for rebuilding after boardwipes.
How's Atla Palani, Nest Tender been? I've considered it but I just don't know what I'd cut.
It's one card I've yet to see in action, I mainly included it as another way to make boardwipes more awkward.
Brimstone Trebuchet seems pretty winmore as it's primarily a combo-finisher and you already have reaper king to accomplish that. Does it do much else?
It's definitely a finisher and far more unassuming on the table. Reaper King simply has a huge target on it when it hits and been in spots where I couldn't use it. I do consider it to be a card that is high on the potential cuts lists, as it only targeting opponents makes it's effect limited.
Why don't you play Sylvia Brightspear since you have Khorvath Brightflame?
The double strike hasn't been too relevant for me and thus I ended up cutting her to try other cards.
Where do you get the mana reduction to go infinite with hibernation Sliver, life gain cards and a changeling?
It mostly acts as a source of protection, letting me bounce some cards back to my hand if needed. But by adding Morophon this could change.
I run Crux of Fate and the giant is pretty much a color shifted version with some upside. For me I could see switching those two out, since black is the least represented color in my list. So first of all it would depend on whether your deck makes double red or double white more easily, since this is still a five color deck. Ignoring that for a bit I'd give the Giant the nod for being the more consistent wipe. As the only real other reason to consider Brutality is when you have Changeling Hero to pick as your army creature.

On the recommendation side of things
I'd strongly recommend slotting in Morophon, the Boundless. He cast make your general cost 0 mana and is easily tutor-able with Seahunter and friends.
I could certainly see some benefits here and with the additional ramp I added casting it should be less of an issue, so I'm certainly looking to add it to my list.
I added Didgeridoo as a meme card. However, it has consistently over-performed, especially with reaperking. It's mana reduction is ok. It also makes your changelings uncounterable which is nice. The main thing is it gives all your changelings flash. This is massive with the champion changelings because you can flash them in to protect your general from removal. It also makes your sorcery speed vindicates into instant speed vindicates with reaperking which is MASSIVE. Cryptic Gateway does similar things, but is much more of a removal magnet itself. I'd strongly recommend giving it a test.
I ran it in the past but overlooked the flash aspect it adds, so might have to give it another try.
I know Reclamation Sage is tutor-able with Skyshroud Poacher but harmonic sliver has so much value in being able to trigger it multiple times. Although, accidentally killing reaperking is kinda lame.
I had Harmonic Sliver hit my Chromantic Lantern and Rhystic Study a few times, so know how painful it can be. But having tutor-able removal has been more key to me than doing it repeatedly.
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign is disgusting. I think he's even better than Azami. I'd find a slot for him as you seem light on card-draw.
Thanks for the advice on this one, as card draw is indeed a bit light at the moment. So might try it out and see how it performs for me.

I'm glad you're giving this deck a whirl. It is massively enjoyable.
It's definitely a fun deck in the months I've been playing it. I initially built mine roughly built on the lists in your thread on Salvation, then tweaked it to be closer to my preferred play style. And along with that it's just a fun opportunity to try out different tribal cards.

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Post by Yuuki » 4 years ago

What are your thoughts on running seedborn muse in this deck? This would allow multiple activation of seahunter and friends as the turn goes around the table

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Yuuki wrote:
4 years ago
What are your thoughts on running seedborn muse in this deck? This would allow multiple activation of seahunter and friends as the turn goes around the table
I'm personally not going to run it because I adhere extremely strictly to my theme. That being said Seedborn muse would probably make the deck stronger.

The deck has a lot of mana dumps that it'd work well with including Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Didgeridoo, Cryptic Gateway, Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, Contested Cliffs, Skyshroud Poacher and friends. Plus Sliver Overlord if you're running him.

Mostly, I expect that would act like something of a finisher. If you're in a decent position and it goes unanswered it'll win you the game in about a single turn cycle.
Nimbaway wrote:
4 years ago
The double strike hasn't been too relevant for me and thus I ended up cutting her to try other cards.
Ah, that makes sense. Now that I think about it I primarily use Sylvia Brightspear to make The Ur-Dragon a double-striker. As you have Reaper King I can see her being way worse for you. If you're not running her you probably want to swap Khorvath Brightflame for Cloudshredder Sliver as it does basically the same thing for 4 mana less. It's just hard to keep the density of slivers down in this deck.
Last edited by materpillar 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

Elywood
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Post by Elywood » 3 years ago

Any thoughts on the new CMDR20 and Ikoria cards? There seem to be a bunch of human tribal cards that could be fairly solid here

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

Elywood wrote:
3 years ago
Any thoughts on the new CMDR20 and Ikoria cards? There seem to be a bunch of human tribal cards that could be fairly solid here
Oh sure, I'd be happy to.

I briefly considered Of One Mind, Species Specialist, and Everquill Phoenix but they all felt a bit too low impact. Winota, Joiner of Forces I thought about a bit more. There's 26 hits in the deck right now so there's a good chance any non-human attacker will flip a human. However, there's only 21 non-humans and most of them are things like Gemhide Sliver that really don't want to be attacking. She's probably worth considering, but she doesn't fit into my build super well.

Kogla, the Titan Ape is a card that I really really want to find a slot for. I really like this card. It's creature removal, which is awesome. It's artifact/enchantment removal, which is awesome. I'm running Walker of Secret Ways purely for the same ability to bounce a changeling. Kogla's bounce protects him and can be used on any turn which is fantastic. I'm just really scared of the 3GGG mana cost. That's a lot of Gs, I'm worried he'd get stuck in my hand a ton. That being said if you play a real mana base and not every colorless tribal land you can get your hands on, he's almost certainly worth a slot. I'm thinking of cutting Realm-Cloaked Giant // Cast Off. Frankly speaking, I've never drawn it. This deck doesn't really want wraths, it wants to cause other people to wrath.

Molten Echoes also seems fantastic. I'm sure it goes infinite with a half-dozen things in this deck. I'm thinking of cutting Unnatural Selection for it. Unnatural Selection is more control/removal oriented, whereas this is much more value oriented.

I'm strongly considering Dire Tactics. The stronger your meta-game the more important instant speed/exiling removal is. This card is boring but cards that help you avoid losing are important. I've no idea what to cut.

General Kudro of Drannith is also getting a slot. His sacrifice ability is actually not super useful. If I'm saccing Changelings it means that I'm putting myself way behind., but when something needs to die it needs to die. On the other hand, my deck's only graveyard hate is Patron of the Vein, and it only kinda does that. Graveyard hate is extremely important in EDH, so more of it is welcome. I'm thinking of cutting Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero, which is a shame because she's old and awesomely nostalgic. She's the worst of the changeling tutors in the deck though because she can't really efficiently find Morophon, the Boundless. Alternatively I could cut Seahunter and Seafloor Oracle. I'm not sure.

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

Finally got around to making a bunch of changes.


-1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
+1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
Azami would easily win the game for me. If I could cast her. If she stuck for more than a turn cycle. Often she was just 2UUU: Draw 3. I'm giving Kogla a shot because he's easier to cast by quite a bit (Elvish Archdruid and Priest of Titania). He also does every this deck wants. Creature/Artifact/Enchantment removal while be resilient and being a bounce outlet for my changelings.

+1 Molten Echoes
-1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
Lin Sivvi was ok. I'm really sad to cut her because then I lose the Rebel subtype and the rebel subtype is awesome. She was just slow and way less impact than the Moggcatcher cycle. I'm giving Echoes a trial run but I'm not positive it'll actually be better.

-1 Sylvia Brightspear
+1 Dragon Tempest
Sylvia was mostly used to make The Ur-Dragon deal 20. However, dragon tempest lets him swing for almost the same amount of damage (since before he'd have to wait around with summoning sickness). It also doubles as effective removal, is lethal with my infinite combos and a haste outlet for a changeling or two.

-1 Patriarch's Bidding
+1 The Scarab God
There's enough tribal and graveyard abuse decks running around that I'm always afraid the symmetric effect will blow me out. Also, I've almost no graveyard hate to mitigate that downside. The scarab god gives this deck wrath resilience while also some pseudo graveyard hate.

+1 Animal Sanctuary
-1 Tournament Grounds
Basically this swap is just because animal sanctuary is way cooler. I think it might actually make my deck worse by slightly decreasing the ability for the deck to cast changelings.

-1 Unholy Grotto
+1 Elephant Graveyard
Saving the best change for last. I never activated Unholy Grotto ever while Swarmyard over-performs constantly. I'm super excited to slot this bad boy into my deck as I've wanted it for a couple of years now.

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Post by Yuuki » 3 years ago

Changeling tribal has been my most favorite EDH deck to play so far and this thread has helped me a lot!

I initially ran Reaper King as the commander, but realized that very quickly it will become a war of attrition unless I draw another value engine in the early turn.

When I tried swapping it with the Ur Dragon following the suggestions here, I get a completely different fun line of play.
My most recent play consists of:
1. Ramping super hard with priest of titania/harabaz druid or with the rebel cycle to have morophon out by turn 4 and ur dragon by turn 5. Not hard to achieve at least 50% of the time
2. Have a draw engine on the board, either Unesh, Wirewood Savage, or Chulane
3. Once ur dragon is out, attack with a bunch of changeling to draw cards
4. At this point most of the changeling is free or almost free to cast, so I keep casting changeling to draw more changeling and other cards. This is typically a long turn 7-8 until I draw into eerie interlude and dragon tempest
5. Cast dragon tempest and then eerie interlude all the changeling/dragon, which would allow me to deal sweet ~100+ damage to my opponents from 11 changeling ETB

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

Yuuki wrote:
3 years ago
Changeling tribal has been my most favorite EDH deck to play so far and this thread has helped me a lot!

I initially ran Reaper King as the commander, but realized that very quickly it will become a war of attrition unless I draw another value engine in the early turn.

When I tried swapping it with the Ur Dragon following the suggestions here, I get a completely different fun line of play.
My most recent play consists of:
1. Ramping super hard with priest of titania/harabaz druid or with the rebel cycle to have morophon out by turn 4 and ur dragon by turn 5. Not hard to achieve at least 50% of the time
2. Have a draw engine on the board, either Unesh, Wirewood Savage, or Chulane
3. Once ur dragon is out, attack with a bunch of changeling to draw cards
4. At this point most of the changeling is free or almost free to cast, so I keep casting changeling to draw more changeling and other cards. This is typically a long turn 7-8 until I draw into eerie interlude and dragon tempest
5. Cast dragon tempest and then eerie interlude all the changeling/dragon, which would allow me to deal sweet ~100+ damage to my opponents from 11 changeling ETB
I'm glad to hear this thread helped! :D

The last time I piloted this deck I wiped the table turn 7 with Dragon Tempest and Mirror Entity. Dragon tempest has definitely impressed me a lot.

I noticed you didn't mention Risen Reef. Are you running that alongside the others? Card is great.

I'd be curious to know what list you settled on.


As far as Zendikar Rising goes the only card I'm excited about is Glasspool Mimic so far.

Zareth San, the Trickster and Anowon, the Ruin Thief are playable. Orah, Skyclave Hierophant is going to be super strong in some builds but not mine. I was very stoked about the party mechanic but it hasn't produced anything I'm interested in other than maybe Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate.

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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Thoughts on Tazri, Beacon of Unity for changeling tribal? There's probably some other card in ZNR that cares about wizard/warrior/cleric/rogue that could be worth including, but new Tazri is the first that popped out at me. She will sometimes be a 4/6 for and is a repeatable 4 mana draw two changelings.
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Post by Stapler » 3 years ago

MeowZeDung wrote:
3 years ago
Thoughts on Tazri, Beacon of Unity for changeling tribal? There's probably some other card in ZNR that cares about wizard/warrior/cleric/rogue that could be worth including, but new Tazri is the first that popped out at me. She will sometimes be a 4/6 for and is a repeatable 4 mana draw two changelings.
+1 recommendation for Tazri. I'm cutting Sliver Overlord for her in my build, as 4 mana to draw 2 is both more interesting and fun than 3 mana to tutor for 1.

I also think you may have overlooked Coveted Prize in your evaluation of the party cards, as I do think it's amazing for this deck. At 2 changelings, 3 mana for a tutor isn't the worst, at 3 changelings it's Demonic Tutor which is one of the best cards in EDH, and when you have a full party, which isn't ridiculous to achieve in this deck, its essentially a 0 mana Demonic Tutor slapped on to a Black Lotus, which is absurd. Getting to cast Molten Echoes or Peer Pressure for 1 mana seems like it could lead to some crazy turns. The card will definitely vary wildly in terms of consistency, but personally I think it's worth the risk.

For another card that's strong to cast with Coveted Prize, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Rin and Seri, Inseparable yet. It's triggers work such that you get 2 tokens per changeling cast, so their ping ability can scale really high really quickly, and making a bunch of tokens for Mirror Entity and such can be fairly strong. For a cut, I might suggest Feline Sovereign, since most changelings don't have evasion and the payoff for getting in unblocked isn't as high as cards like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow IMO.
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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

MeowZeDung wrote:
3 years ago
Thoughts on Tazri, Beacon of Unity for changeling tribal? There's probably some other card in ZNR that cares about wizard/warrior/cleric/rogue that could be worth including, but new Tazri is the first that popped out at me. She will sometimes be a 4/6 for and is a repeatable 4 mana draw two changelings.
Stapler wrote:
3 years ago
Thoughts on Tazri, Beacon of Unity for changeling tribal? There's probably some other card in ZNR that cares about wizard/warrior/cleric/rogue that could be worth including, but new Tazri is the first that popped out at me. She will sometimes be a 4/6 for and is a repeatable 4 mana draw two changelings.

+1 recommendation for Tazri. I'm cutting Sliver Overlord for her in my build, as 4 mana to draw 2 is both more interesting and fun than 3 mana to tutor for 1.
I imagine Tazri is probably fine. In my experience if I've stuck 4 changelings I've probably already won or at least I have a monstrous board position. Statistically, she's probably closer to a draw 1 then draw 2. One of this decks biggest weakness is Wrath of God effects, the problem with party is that it incentives you to commit more heavily to the board which only makes you more vulnerable to wrath spells.

I definitely like her more than Sliver Overlord, I found Overlord to be way too slow personally. She's directly competing with Sliver Hivelord, The Scarab God, Moggcatcher cycle and Higure, the Still Wind. I have a hard time imagining that she would do more than these cards. I also don't usually find myself in need of a mana-sink because the deck is absolutely loaded with them already.
Stapler wrote:
3 years ago
I also think you may have overlooked Coveted Prize in your evaluation of the party cards, as I do think it's amazing for this deck. At 2 changelings, 3 mana for a tutor isn't the worst, at 3 changelings it's Demonic Tutor which is one of the best cards in EDH, and when you have a full party, which isn't ridiculous to achieve in this deck, its essentially a 0 mana Demonic Tutor slapped on to a Black Lotus, which is absurd. Getting to cast Molten Echoes or Peer Pressure for 1 mana seems like it could lead to some crazy turns. The card will definitely vary wildly in terms of consistency, but personally I think it's worth the risk.

For another card that's strong to cast with Coveted Prize, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Rin and Seri, Inseparable yet. It's triggers work such that you get 2 tokens per changeling cast, so their ping ability can scale really high really quickly, and making a bunch of tokens for Mirror Entity and such can be fairly strong. For a cut, I might suggest Feline Sovereign, since most changelings don't have evasion and the payoff for getting in unblocked isn't as high as cards like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow IMO.
Coveted Prize is a pass for me mostly because I don't like unconditional tutors. A lot of the draw for this deck for me is its widely ranging play patterns depending wildly on the draws. All the tutors this deck plays are very narrow.

That being said Coveted Prize is probably worth a slot if that doesn't bother you. Its upside is very high.

Feline Sovereign is currently in the testing slot over Harmonic Sliver so that I can run Sliver Hivelord and keep my sliver count at <5. This deck is really hungry for artifact and enchantment removal at the moment.

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

There's some spicy effects in commander legends.
I considered Merchant Raiders as repeatable removal. I'm just a bit worried it'll draw a lot of hate and die immediately.
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer looks interesting. I wish there were more evasive changelings though. I find it's pretty hard to swing through clogged boardstates a lot of times.
Miara, Thorn of the Glade is solid for a more aristocrats build, but is too manahungry for my tastes.

Coercive Recruiter is interesting because it goes infinite with Priest of Titania/Harabaz Druid and Kogla, the Titan Ape/Walker of Secret Ways plus a changeling. I'm constantly looking for cards that to relevant stuff to the board ontop of randomly comboing. I think I'll probably give it a test, not sure what I'll cut for it though.

Malcolm Keen-Eyed Navigator is for sure going in. The deck is extremely mana-hungry and anything that ramps is wanted. Feline Sovereign has massively underperformed and is going to be cut for it.


I've been playing this deck a fair amount on PlayEDH's mid-level. It's 3/14 there which is a 21% winrate which is just a hair lower than I'd like but pretty respectable since it's got such massive deckbuilding restrictions. I've found it draws a lot of hate. The best way to win in EDH is to slowly build up your board and then explode and kill everyone. This deck has to pretty aggressively overextend for value so you get a lot of hate pointed at you. Also, don't play against Marath, Will of the Wild because that matchup is atrocious.

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Post by WolfWhoWanders » 3 years ago

Ever consider Haakon, Stromgald Scourge? Probably have to squeeze in Buried Alive and/or Entomb to get him to the yard. I imagine even drawing enough cards and ditching him would work too. Just started to brew up a changeling deck and he was one of the first things I thought of because I used to have him as a general. Thanks for the nice write up.
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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

WolfWhoWanders wrote:
3 years ago
Ever consider Haakon, Stromgald Scourge? Probably have to squeeze in Buried Alive and/or Entomb to get him to the yard. I imagine even drawing enough cards and ditching him would work too. Just started to brew up a changeling deck and he was one of the first things I thought of because I used to have him as a general. Thanks for the nice write up.
A massive part of the charm of this deck is how aggressively I stick to the theme. Every non-land cards outside of Chromatic Lantern is a changeling or allows me to verbally state a creature type out loud when I cast a changeling/or use the card's ability. As such I won't add Buried Alive or Entomb. No other enablers I've found are strong enough by themselves to make him usable in my deck.

Haakon, Stromgald Scourge is certainly strong enough if you're willing to bend on theme though. He goes infinite with Rooftop Storm or Morophon, the Boundless + 1cc changeling and a sacrifice outlet. He's also extremely great with Crib Swap.

DrKillenger's list uses Haakon to strong affect. I know he runs Birthing Pod and Fauna Shaman as enablers. His build is more of a pro-active token/aristocrat focused whereas mine leans towards a more reactive mid-range control.

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Post by shifthappen1 » 3 years ago

What a great deck! its fun to see both the difference in commander (The Ur Dragon vs Morophon) but also the difference in approach, bouncing vs sacrificing for value.

Were there any recent updates on the list?

Would Fist of Suns be worth considering?

How about Grim Captain's Call, or, March FromThe Tomb for some recursion?

Were Admiral Beckett Brass, Captivating Vampire , Pheres-Band Warchief and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove ever tested in your list? did they perform somewhat well, or, why were they not tried if you didnt think them worthy?

The dryad makes the lands be different lands so it feels like its still on theme, you'd tap your "forest" (which was an ally encampment) and such. Its not a lord, but it does transform stuff into other stuff. Fellwar Stone also fits for mana. its a mana stone thats actually your opponents land. its sorta on theme, along with Exotic Orchard

I feel like trample and vigilence are worthy of consideration with Pheres-Band Warchief. Attacking with things and still having them untapped to tap for mana for x or y reason later feels like it could help sometimes.

Captivating vampire and the admiral both steal stuff, so its an interesting form of control thats not desctruction, not sure how good they may or may not be. Feels like Coercive Recruiter does the stealing better when it matters however

Coercive recruiter feels like it begs for a sac outlet to not let the opponents get their stuff back.

With the amount of creatures you got, is Sigil Tracer performing well? might be worth cutting for Coercive recruiter, maybe.

I'm not so sure about Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator being worth including. its one treasure per turn since you have very few ways to have your changeling army deal direct damage to players. Any sort of other mana ramp of sort would feel more useful, I think. Unless I misinterpretted the card.

Posted a similar thing in Drkillenger's thread.

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