About 4 years ago, I went into Walmart looking to purchase my first pre constructed deck, so I could begin playing with my friends. There were a lot of different choices, but I saw a dragon on the front of the box and was instantly drawn in. After purchasing the deck, I spent almost 2 years tweaking and redesigning the deck over and over until I thought I was satisfied. Then some problem would come up and I'd go back to the drawing board. After some time, I threw in the towel, to only pick up the pieces of this project about a year later. I tested a 60 card version of the deck for about 6 months, then finally decided to convert it into an EDH deck over the course of 3 weeks of design and 2 months of testing; call me obsessive. The deck that finally came out of the wood works had a 22-3 record for the first 25 games. Not bad. The deck ran like a well-oiled machine and I was very proud. I present you, Teneb, the Harvester.
General: Teneb, the Harvester
Creatures (assume 1x): Spells:
Phyrexian Tower
Miren, the Moaning Well
Godless Shrine
Brushland
Windswept Heath
Murmuring Bosk
Caves of Koilos
Tectonic Edge
Graypelt Refuge
Marsh Flats
Llanowar Wastes
Volrath's Stronghold
Stirring Wildwood
Krosan Verge
Verdant Catacombs
Fetid Heath
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Wooded Bastion
Temple Garden
High Market
Overgrown Tomb
Command Tower
Twilight Mire
Bojuka Bog
Sunpetal Grove
Saltcrusted Steppe
5x Swamp
4x Forest
3x Plains
(it took forever to tag all these cards. you're welcome)
So, some of the picks are pretty self explanatory. I initially built the deck as a Reanimator deck, keeping Teneb's triggered ability in mind, and have stayed true to that strategy as long as the deck has been alive. It's been through many changes, focusing on discard, destroying the board, and cheating dudes into play. I finally settled on a sacrificing strategy that allows me more control on what creatures I put in my graveyard so I can recur them when they are necessary.
A few differences make this deck very original from other builds I've seen. The one thing is that this deck was built for multiplayer and to have a good time. I avoided using Survival of the Fittest, Primeval Titan, Strip Mine/Wasteland, Entomb, Sensei's Divning Top, Yawgmoth's Will, and other quick finishers out of the deck to keep it from going completely over the top and give it more focus on the flavor. Furthermore, a lot of this deck is originally built and the synergies were innovated over time. Although some of the synergies will commonly show up online, I like to think that I created them. I know I didn't =[ I've seen quite a few Teneb builds on MTG Salvation, Youtube and other Magic resources and did my best to make mine unique. Another key difference is the inclusion of Birthing Pod. I haven't seen many EDH/Commander decks run Birthing Pod and I'm not too sure why. I think the card is very strong and allows you to tutor for a lot of creatures in your deck. I did have to adjust some of the numbers to get Birthing Pod to work (increase the number of 4 mana creatures, apparently I initially didn't have that many), but once it's grinding dudes and giving your opponent a hard time, it's awesome.
Sacrificing creatures gives you an interesting advantage in multiplayer. If your opponents attempts to Threaten your creature or gain control of it using Control Magic, or Mind Control, you can easily sacrifice it to some outlet that gives you a bit of upside and helps prevent your opponents from using them against you. Also, if your opponent attempts to exile your creatures using Swords to Plowshares, the ability to sacrifice them and 'keep them in the game,' so you can continue to recur your creatures.
The one combo in the deck is between Reveillark, Karmic Guide, and any x target, that usually includes Necrotic Sliver, along with Phyrexian Altar. With Karmic Guide and Necrotic Sliver in your graveyard and Reveillark and Phyrexian Altar on the battlefield, you can sacrifice Reveillark to generate mana, with the leave play trigger targeting the Karmic Guide and Necro Sliver in your graveyard. When Karmic Guide enters the battlefield, you target Reveillark to recur. Then sacrifice Karmic Guide and Necrotic sliver to generate 2 more mana. Rinse and repeat as many times as you like and use the mana and dump it into Necro Sliver's ability and destroy all of your opponents' targetable permanents. I like this combo because it allows you to end games quickly when you need to and it requires 4 unique cards (although you can usually accomplish this without specific cards) to work properly so it isn't guaranteed every time. I never play a game to activate the combo, because I'm not a combo player in the least, but when a game goes past 2 hours, sometimes you just want to end it.
Innistrad brings a few new things to the table. To make a long story short, my eyes were on Unburial Rites, Sever the Bloodline, Bloodgift Demon, Woodland Cemetery, Isolated Chapel, Reaper from the Abyss, and Gavony Township.
A couple things I found playing the deck was the power of Dread Return. When you run out of ammunition, sometimes you just need to recur a creature to help yourself stay in the game. Even in the graveyard, Dread Return gives you some options if you have 3 dudes to offer up. Unburial Rites works the same way. Giving you some power if you need it in the late game, to recur two guys for 9 mana or use it once and save another copy for the later in case your opponent wraths your board away. Finding cards to cut can be difficult, but I try to find cards that are functionally similar, so they can be easily swapped. I decided to cut Deadwood Treefolk because they functionally do the same thing (bring a dude back from the graveyard). Unburial Rites gives you a 'second' spell with the flashback ability, so it seems strong. I'll usually never hunt Deadwood Treefolk with Birthing Pod, since the deck offers have Sun Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Geth, Yosei, and Duplicant; and sacrificing Deadwood Treefolk to Greater Good usually gives only a minimal benefit.
Another really cool card I wanted to add was Bloodgift Demon. Ever since this card was spoiled, I knew exactly where it would be going. I already know the power of Graveborn Muse and drawing extra cards, so Bloodgift Demon was an easy addition. I wanted to cut something with the same mana cost, so I could keep the Birthing Pod ratios about the same. I looked in the 5 slot and found Ghave, Ghuru of Spores not doing as much work as I hoped. By losing Ghave, we have a weaker Dread Return flashback, no fun Puppeteer Clique interaction, lose an awesome Reveillark target, and don't have an additional sacrifice outlet. I usually never need Ghave nor generally want a 5/5 on turn 5, so he unfortunately got the axe. I hope to incorporate him back in the deck because I think he has a lot of potential, but for now, he'll have to sit on the sidelines.
As for Sever the Bloodline, I really liked this card because it has really good synergy with Terastodon when you want to wipe away the elephant tokens. It also helps you remove indestructible creatures that I generally have a problem dealing with. I initially put in Duplicant and Chainer's Edict to take care of those giant Blightsteel Colossus or Stuffy Doll. I felt like Chainer's Edict wasn't as strong as I'd like it to be; however it's very good against opponent's early Sol Rings when they run all of their giant creatures on the board. I like Sever the Bloodline because it also has flashback for the same cost, exiles instead of forces a sacrifice, and can take down armies of tokens if you need it. Although Edict can take care of creatures holding a Lightning Greaves, I think I'll try out Sever instead and see how it goes.
Some obvious choices are the lands. The Innistrad dual lands are awesome and I needed to make room for them. I dropped Saltcrusted Steppe, because I never found it any good in the early game when I'm usually flooded on green and white mana. I also dropped Volrath's Stronghold because it wasn't doing as much work as I thought it would. With Genesis in the deck already, I didn't feel I needed another 'lifting' ability (recurring a creature card to your hand). Also, having a lot of colorless mana producing lands had been hurting my fixing in the early game and dropping two of them seems like it would be helpful.
The cards I didn't get a chance to add were Reaper from the Abyss and Gavony Township. I don't feel I run enough creatures or token generators to really abuse the land and I only have 1 persist creature to have synergy with it. If I decide to run more token generators or Kitchen Finks and other persist guys, then the deck might warrant it. As for Reaper, I really like the card and it solves problems the deck has by not having a lot of point removal; however, my the 6 mana creature slot is clogged and I don't know if reaching bbb mana is easy enough in a 3 color deck. Time will tell.
Building an EDH deck can be a difficult task. Choosing from over thousands of cards to find synergies between them and condensing it into a singleton 100 card deck is very time consuming and often, can be discouraging. How can I ensure that my deck is both strong on the card table and fun to play with and against it? The best advice I have for players wanting to build fun and strong commander decks is to use themes. Having a theme to your deck helps condense card choices and gives your deck a personality that can be interactive and engaging for you and your opponents. Whether you're trying to mass tokens or assemble a combo for semi-infinite mana, keep the idea simple enough so you know what role you'll be playing (similar to building a character in a Role Playing Game or a board game). Another thing I look for is for each card to do a lot of work. More specifically that each card can generate card advantage, cause effective disruption to multiple players, or can help facilitate the assembly of my win condition. If a card cannot push its own weight, then I heavily consider cutting the card for something that can interact with my strategy more effectively and give me more reach (ability to recover) when opponents attempt to disrupt my strategy. A healthy balance of card draw, strong creatures, and board control can really push a deck from mediocre to a threatening powerhouse.
Finally, we've reached -Deadwood Treefolk, -Ghave, Ghuru of Spores, -Chainer's Edict, -Saltcrusted Steppe, and -Volrath's Stronghold for +Bloodgift Demon, +Sever the Bloodline, +Unburial Rites, +Woodland Cemetery, and +Isolated Chapel.
I hope that this article gave a bit of insight into the deck and an idea how to approach incorporating new cards into your EDH/Commander or casual deck. I hope you guys are innovating some sick creations and I can't wait to play against them. Until the next deck insider, Magic players!
Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!
-David J.
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Miren, the Moaning Well
Godless Shrine
Brushland
Windswept Heath
Murmuring Bosk
Caves of Koilos
Tectonic Edge
Graypelt Refuge
Marsh Flats
Llanowar Wastes
Volrath's Stronghold
Stirring Wildwood
Krosan Verge
Verdant Catacombs
Fetid Heath
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Wooded Bastion
Temple Garden
High Market
Overgrown Tomb
Command Tower
Twilight Mire
Bojuka Bog
Sunpetal Grove
Saltcrusted Steppe
5x Swamp
4x Forest
3x Plains
(it took forever to tag all these cards. you're welcome)
A few differences make this deck very original from other builds I've seen. The one thing is that this deck was built for multiplayer and to have a good time. I avoided using Survival of the Fittest, Primeval Titan, Strip Mine/Wasteland, Entomb, Sensei's Divning Top, Yawgmoth's Will, and other quick finishers out of the deck to keep it from going completely over the top and give it more focus on the flavor. Furthermore, a lot of this deck is originally built and the synergies were innovated over time. Although some of the synergies will commonly show up online, I like to think that I created them. I know I didn't =[ I've seen quite a few Teneb builds on MTG Salvation, Youtube and other Magic resources and did my best to make mine unique. Another key difference is the inclusion of Birthing Pod. I haven't seen many EDH/Commander decks run Birthing Pod and I'm not too sure why. I think the card is very strong and allows you to tutor for a lot of creatures in your deck. I did have to adjust some of the numbers to get Birthing Pod to work (increase the number of 4 mana creatures, apparently I initially didn't have that many), but once it's grinding dudes and giving your opponent a hard time, it's awesome.
Sacrificing creatures gives you an interesting advantage in multiplayer. If your opponents attempts to Threaten your creature or gain control of it using Control Magic, or Mind Control, you can easily sacrifice it to some outlet that gives you a bit of upside and helps prevent your opponents from using them against you. Also, if your opponent attempts to exile your creatures using Swords to Plowshares, the ability to sacrifice them and 'keep them in the game,' so you can continue to recur your creatures.
The one combo in the deck is between Reveillark, Karmic Guide, and any x target, that usually includes Necrotic Sliver, along with Phyrexian Altar. With Karmic Guide and Necrotic Sliver in your graveyard and Reveillark and Phyrexian Altar on the battlefield, you can sacrifice Reveillark to generate mana, with the leave play trigger targeting the Karmic Guide and Necro Sliver in your graveyard. When Karmic Guide enters the battlefield, you target Reveillark to recur. Then sacrifice Karmic Guide and Necrotic sliver to generate 2 more mana. Rinse and repeat as many times as you like and use the mana and dump it into Necro Sliver's ability and destroy all of your opponents' targetable permanents. I like this combo because it allows you to end games quickly when you need to and it requires 4 unique cards (although you can usually accomplish this without specific cards) to work properly so it isn't guaranteed every time. I never play a game to activate the combo, because I'm not a combo player in the least, but when a game goes past 2 hours, sometimes you just want to end it.
Innistrad brings a few new things to the table. To make a long story short, my eyes were on Unburial Rites, Sever the Bloodline, Bloodgift Demon, Woodland Cemetery, Isolated Chapel, Reaper from the Abyss, and Gavony Township.
A couple things I found playing the deck was the power of Dread Return. When you run out of ammunition, sometimes you just need to recur a creature to help yourself stay in the game. Even in the graveyard, Dread Return gives you some options if you have 3 dudes to offer up. Unburial Rites works the same way. Giving you some power if you need it in the late game, to recur two guys for 9 mana or use it once and save another copy for the later in case your opponent wraths your board away. Finding cards to cut can be difficult, but I try to find cards that are functionally similar, so they can be easily swapped. I decided to cut Deadwood Treefolk because they functionally do the same thing (bring a dude back from the graveyard). Unburial Rites gives you a 'second' spell with the flashback ability, so it seems strong. I'll usually never hunt Deadwood Treefolk with Birthing Pod, since the deck offers have Sun Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Geth, Yosei, and Duplicant; and sacrificing Deadwood Treefolk to Greater Good usually gives only a minimal benefit.
Another really cool card I wanted to add was Bloodgift Demon. Ever since this card was spoiled, I knew exactly where it would be going. I already know the power of Graveborn Muse and drawing extra cards, so Bloodgift Demon was an easy addition. I wanted to cut something with the same mana cost, so I could keep the Birthing Pod ratios about the same. I looked in the 5 slot and found Ghave, Ghuru of Spores not doing as much work as I hoped. By losing Ghave, we have a weaker Dread Return flashback, no fun Puppeteer Clique interaction, lose an awesome Reveillark target, and don't have an additional sacrifice outlet. I usually never need Ghave nor generally want a 5/5 on turn 5, so he unfortunately got the axe. I hope to incorporate him back in the deck because I think he has a lot of potential, but for now, he'll have to sit on the sidelines.As for Sever the Bloodline, I really liked this card because it has really good synergy with Terastodon when you want to wipe away the elephant tokens. It also helps you remove indestructible creatures that I generally have a problem dealing with. I initially put in Duplicant and Chainer's Edict to take care of those giant Blightsteel Colossus or Stuffy Doll. I felt like Chainer's Edict wasn't as strong as I'd like it to be; however it's very good against opponent's early Sol Rings when they run all of their giant creatures on the board. I like Sever the Bloodline because it also has flashback for the same cost, exiles instead of forces a sacrifice, and can take down armies of tokens if you need it. Although Edict can take care of creatures holding a Lightning Greaves, I think I'll try out Sever instead and see how it goes.
Some obvious choices are the lands. The Innistrad dual lands are awesome and I needed to make room for them. I dropped Saltcrusted Steppe, because I never found it any good in the early game when I'm usually flooded on green and white mana. I also dropped Volrath's Stronghold because it wasn't doing as much work as I thought it would. With Genesis in the deck already, I didn't feel I needed another 'lifting' ability (recurring a creature card to your hand). Also, having a lot of colorless mana producing lands had been hurting my fixing in the early game and dropping two of them seems like it would be helpful.The cards I didn't get a chance to add were Reaper from the Abyss and Gavony Township. I don't feel I run enough creatures or token generators to really abuse the land and I only have 1 persist creature to have synergy with it. If I decide to run more token generators or Kitchen Finks and other persist guys, then the deck might warrant it. As for Reaper, I really like the card and it solves problems the deck has by not having a lot of point removal; however, my the 6 mana creature slot is clogged and I don't know if reaching bbb mana is easy enough in a 3 color deck. Time will tell.
Finally, we've reached -Deadwood Treefolk, -Ghave, Ghuru of Spores, -Chainer's Edict, -Saltcrusted Steppe, and -Volrath's Stronghold for +Bloodgift Demon, +Sever the Bloodline, +Unburial Rites, +Woodland Cemetery, and +Isolated Chapel.
I hope that this article gave a bit of insight into the deck and an idea how to approach incorporating new cards into your EDH/Commander or casual deck. I hope you guys are innovating some sick creations and I can't wait to play against them. Until the next deck insider, Magic players!
Interested in more Magic content? Check out every series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!
-David J.
Follow us on Facebook!
