God-Eternal Oketra

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 4 months ago

Posting a few more of my decks for anyone interested in browsing. This has been my only mono-white commander deck in my career, and it is doing very well for me. I like tinkering with this deck more than most and the amount of white value creatures is astounding. Almost every creature in the deck is designed to create value or trigger something else to create value, or both. Makes the typical mono-white weakness of card advantage a thing of the past if you lean into whites color pie strengths.

Strategy of the deck is to create value engines around creatures and creature tokens. Oketra provides pressure to life totals, triggers equipment, and pumps out relevant tokens to trigger other engine pieces. I don't have a bunch of blink synergy, but a few things that interact well with ETB creatures, so there are a handful of ETB guys to trigger Oketra and other engine pieces like Tocasia's Welcome and Welcoming Vampire.

Typical white creature-based value deck with token making, board wipe protection, and a bit of recursion. Nothing very profound here, but the amount of creatures that are being printed that create recurring value has fleshed out this deck at amazing speed. Quantity combined with Quality gives me good staying power into the late game. I focus on keeping a board presence throughout the entirety of the game, getting card draw engines online, and keeping the pressure on. 5 ways to protect my board from Wrath of God is key. I can purposfully over extend to bait the board wipe, then when everyone's field is clear I can send the team in for maximum effect.

The ramp package is what I am most impressed with. Not Deep Gnome Terramancer, who has been quite underwhelming, but Sword of the Animist, Sword of Hearth and Home, Archaeomancer's Map, Oketra's Monument, and Cartographer's Hawk. I am able to ramp pretty hard, which is great when the other 60% of my deck is built around making value.

God-Eternal Oketra
Approximate Total Cost:

Favorite Cards
Rabble Rousing card I wanted to try and has been great every time I see it. Allows me to swing with small creatures with abandon, knowing I make them back immediately. Hideaway provides a bit of card advantage that triggers quite easily with this deck since the ability triggers before the attacking creatures get blocked. While not game breaking, it did surpass my expectations
Akroma's Will: Good card is good, but I just like what this card offers and I like that I have a finisher + protection piece in one.
Tocasia's Welcome this is one of the best white card draw engines I have found. Goes in several of my decks and blows Smuggler's Share out of the water in terms of value almost every time I have seen it.
Master of Ceremonies: all 3 modes are valuable to me, so I really don't care what my opponents pick. Fun little mini-game that give me value no mater what.
Sword of the Animist and firends Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus Sword of Forge and Frontier and Sword of Hearth and Home: With these equipment I have out ramped the entire table. This makes catch-up ramp that white is known for much weaker if I just out ramp most everyone naturally, but I don't care because pumping my commander is awesome too and everyone knows double triggering swords is peak Commander.

Noteable Engines
Rumor Gatherer + Whitemane Lion + God-Eternal Oketra
Rumor Gatherer + Whitemane Lion + Oketra's Monument
Bennie Bracks, Zoologist + Whitemane Lion + God-Eternal Oketra
Bennie Bracks, Zoologist + Whitemane Lion + Oketra's Monument
Tocasia's Welcome + Whitemane Lion
Mentor of the Meek + small creatures ;)

I think I need a tutor for Whitemane Lion :rofl:
Last edited by PrimevalCommander 2 days ago, edited 6 times in total.


User avatar
cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
Posts: 450
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: NRW / Germany

Post by cheonice » 4 months ago

Looks fun! If you're looking for a second copy of Whitemane Lion, Stonecloaker could be great. I play them in Ephara, God of the Polis and both cards are pretty good. Even if the gargoyle costs 3.

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 4 months ago

cheonice wrote:
4 months ago
Looks fun! If you're looking for a second copy of Whitemane Lion, Stonecloaker could be great. I play them in Ephara, God of the Polis and both cards are pretty good. Even if the gargoyle costs 3.
Thanks. I am aware of Stonecloaker, but have not added it yet. With all the "once each turn" triggers in white, having a reuseable flash creature to trigger all these has more value than I gave them credit for. I will heavily consider it, however Whitemane at 2 mana fits my curve better and allows me an extra cast each turn cycle over Stonecloaker. I think I'm a bit flush on 3 drops, but having those engines going is very important for my plan.

User avatar
cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
Posts: 450
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: NRW / Germany

Post by cheonice » 4 months ago

I'm still wating for a second Whitemane for Ephara... Stonecloaker is just the next best option, but nontheless a strong one.

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 weeks ago

Decklist update after doing some reading on the various voltron decks around and some reflecting on how much I love the equipment in this deck with my doublestriking commander.

IN Moonshaker Cavalry >> OUT Avacyn, Angel of Hope , as mentioned above. I cast Avacyn twice in one game. Once it got bounced and second got countered. Had it been Moonshaker, the first cast would have won me the game. I just didn't like seeing Avacyn in my hand much.

IN Stoneforge Mystic >> OUT Inspiring Overseer, tutoring is better than a draw, and Stoneforge will have 6 targets of various utility to the deck. Including Lion Sash for grave hate, which is key since I'm only playing 2 pieces. Can be tutored off Recruiter of the Guard to chain tutor for specific things.

IN Umezawa's Jitte >> OUT Prismatic Lens I found myself having plenty of ramp and wanted another equipment in the deck. I think this will be a good piece of utility, and I had been looking for some life gain to help get me through the late game. This can make Oketra a 2-hit kill, or just pop a chump blocker. Having a go-tall and go-wide plan really helps me diversify my threat level and attack opponents where they are weakest.

IN Stroke of Midnight >> OUT Return to Dust, I don't like holding up 4 mana. 3 is better and this is a little more flexible. Return is good, but Stroke is more flexible and easier to cast.

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 weeks ago

Lots of convergent evolution in our decks, but some things you may enjoy tech-wise in my build:

https://deckbox.org/sets/3303697?s=c&o=a

Probably the most notable is the Ranger of Eos package.

Crashing Drawbridge is a leet piece of tech for team haste I have enjoyed.

Kor Skyfisher is sorcery speed whitemane lion, which is usually good enough. I like this one because it's an engine in itself like whitemane, and can also reset whitemane.

The Thraben Inspector guys have been super good for smoothing out early game draws, and I'm still working on finding a place for Wall of Omens again :D

Nesting Dovehawk is a legit engine that helps you not need to overcommit and adds a lot of flying power

Martyr's Cause is a deceptively powerful sac outlet that can curttail damage sweepers and also play hell with combat math, and also make you really hard to kill.

Windshaper Planetar is a pretty hilarious hoser that has been good for me. Especially with the Whitemane Lion effects you can set up loops with it fairly easily.

Dust Elemental is old school Ephara tech that has been very good for me. Just a huge body that can reset itself and Whitemane Lion.

(note, my manabase is still budget and I am definitely going to yoink some of yours...and eventually find another Archaeomancer's Map :D )

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 weeks ago

@pokken Thanks for the suggestions. Some good ones I will take a close look at. I see a lot of low cost creatures in your list, where mine is a bit more top heavy. The mission statement is "Creature Value", which I prioritize over absolute mana efficiency. You can see this in my 4 and 5 drops that will look to create some sort of draw or other value. Mondrak is a bit less card advantage, but is a creature that triggers things.

Kor Skyfisher is a good callout that I forgot about. Sorcery Whitemain at 2 mana vs. Stonecloaker at 3 mana. One of these should get a slot for redundancy. Probably won't make space for both. Dust Elemental just looks too costly to bounce 3 creatures when I'd be bouncing 2 or more utility guys that probably cost 3 mana each. Your list has a lot more , , and cost creatures that are trivial to redeploy; my deck, less so.
Dovehawk was on my buylist for a while, but never made it in a cart. Now it is creeping up in price and I'm not sure the once per turn populate is worth the slot without any way to make a token of the Hawk itself. That seems to be the most effective way to leverage that ability into a winning board-state. I wish I bought it at $2.50 :\
I like me some Martyr's Cause, and play it in another deck. If I want a sac outlet for this deck it is high on my list. Spawning Pit is another one that I like for token decks.

The Ranger of Eos package I'm kicking around in my mind right now. Novice Inspector will be purchased on my next order. I have seen Ranger-Captain of Eos a couple times and just happened to run out of decent targets that game. With only 3 one-drops, even Ranger-Captain's utility is lessened. I have a Skrelv, Defector Mite on my buy list as well since I traded my Giver of Runes. If I cut Wall of Omens and Spirited Companion for Novice Inspector and Skrelv, that boosts my target pool enough to make a Ranger Package attractive. I also see people getting a lot of use out of Weathered Wayfarer now that there are so many good utility lands. And Lotus Field as tutor target #1 sets up the next 2-3 activations. I'll think on this the next time I get to play this deck.

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 weeks ago

PrimevalCommander wrote:
2 weeks ago
If I want a sac outlet for this deck it is high on my list
Something specific I've noted is that having a sac outlet available to protect God-Eternal Oketra from Gilded Drake effects (or other types of semi-permanent removal) is very nice, and tends to synergize with a significant number of tokens.
PrimevalCommander wrote:
2 weeks ago
Kor Skyfisher is a good callout that I forgot about. Sorcery Whitemain at 2 mana vs. Stonecloaker at 3 mana. One of these should get a slot for redundancy.
one downside to skyfisher is not being recruiterable, but all things considered I think this deck isn't that concerned with flash so mana efficiency (plus being able to bounce Archaeomancer's Map and other fringe uses) is probably paramount. the diff between W and 1W with Oketra's Monument is significant.
PrimevalCommander wrote:
2 weeks ago
The mission statement is "Creature Value", which I prioritize over absolute mana efficiency. You can see this in my 4 and 5 drops that will look to create some sort of draw or other value. Mondrak is a bit less card advantage, but is a creature that triggers things.
I think my deck tends to straddle the line between typical Oketra and yours; I run a lot of the biggies you do, just curve is overall a little lower to the ground to support Enduring Renewal and Cloudstone Curio combos. I enjoy your build since there's a lot less air than mine and seems like you can win without zombies if needed which is also cool. I dig the slight voltron option

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 weeks ago

pokken wrote:
2 weeks ago
I dig the slight voltron option
The double strike on Oketra was something that I couldn't ignore when building the deck. My equipment are primarily chosen for the utility (mainly ramp) but with the secondary ability of making Oketra extra deadly. Adding Jitte is the first card I added mainly just to leverage the doublestrike on Oketra. This may be something that doesn't create as much value as I'm hoping, but I want to try it. I killed a player the last time this deck was fielded with commander damage with the help of an equipped Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus. It's not something I want to lean any harder on, because I don't want a big(er) target on Oketra, but it is a sub-theme that complements my aggressive go-wide plan.

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 weeks ago

yeah I think Sword of Forge and Frontier and Sword of Hearth and Home in particular are really good; massive amount of ramp and also protection. Unfortunate that it doesn't make a 2 turn clock but it is what it is :D

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 weeks ago

The primary advantage of Stonecloaker over Kor Skyfisher is in combination with the following cards that all read "once each turn" or "each end step", this allows me to trigger them once on my turn while advancing my board casing regular things and hold Stonecloaker / Whitemane for triggering on other players turns. While I could make more 4/4 zombies with Skyfisher, I could draw more cards with many of my engines with Stonecloaker. Along with some auxiliary grave hate, and leaving mana open for instant speed interaction.

Tocasia's Welcome
Welcoming Vampire
Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
Rumor Gatherer works in a similar way, capping the draw to once each turn.

Funny thing is I'm already using both Stonecloaker and Whitemane Lion in my Rocco deck for similar reasons leveraging the self-bounce + Flash to great effect. Planechase was awesome :grin: .

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 weeks ago

PrimevalCommander wrote:
2 weeks ago
The primary advantage of Stonecloaker over Kor Skyfisher is in combination with the following cards that all read "once each turn" or "each end step",
My finding historically with that is that costing 3 makes that rarely good enough, and Oketra's Monument + Tocasia's Welcome + Stonecloaker is magical christmas land. You need to be running ~5 of each effect before you see them regularly together even in pairs.

I lean hard toward skyfisher because it's good by itself, and paying 3 for a zombie is a really mediocre rate.

That said, stonecloaker's grave hate is legitimately good.

I'd say if you have 4-5 cost reducers I'd lean toward Stonecloaker.

Maybe you could swap Pearl Medallion in for Mind Stone to help that?

And you could probably justify cutting Soul-Guide Lantern for Stonecloaker if you wanted to try to fit both :)

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 2 weeks ago

Good points. Pearl Medallion is a good one since Oketra's Monument has done so well for me. I need one of those.

Tocasia's Welcome comes up often since I tutor for it regularly with Moon-Blessed Cleric often with Enlightened tutor also. My enchantment package is weak right now, so Moon-Blessed Cleric may be on the cut list for the next synergy piece. Only 4 tutor targets makes the Cleric less "effective" than Stoneforge with 6 targets, but better than Ranger-Captain of Eos with only 3 targets, hmmm.

I need another 1 drop, Skrelv, Defector Mite, Weathered Wayfarer, or Novice Inspector

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 weeks ago

PrimevalCommander wrote:
2 weeks ago
I need another 1 drop, Skrelv, Defector Mite, Weathered Wayfarer, or Novice Inspector
I think your land package is strong enough to make Weathered Wayfarer the best option but multiple Mother of Runes effects you can't go wrong with either (so you could add Giver of Runes).

I think Signal Pest is also deceptively powerful. and Ornithopter's ability to wield swords is always pretty cool and worth thinking about.

Novice Inspector's main value is as an on curve one drop that helps fix bad hands, but I like it obviously :D

And a kinda weird one on my list to try is Forum Familiar; it's a decent amount of mana, but because I have so many ranger targets having one I can use to chain ranger is intriguing.

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 week ago

Just placed an order for Pearl Medallion, Get Lost, Wojek Investigator, and Novice Inspector

IN Pearl Medallion >> OUT Mind Stone: as discussed above for synergy with the self-bounce creatures.
IN Get Lost >> OUT Fateful Absence: Side grade removal spell. Fateful Absence might come in again for Generous Gift if I need the lower mana cost. I just wanted a Get Lost to add to my removal spell options.

The other two I'm still thinking about. I made a mention of Moon-Blessed Cleric being a bit weak with my small enchantment package. Wojek Investigator is the same cost, better stats, and has a decent draw ability. Pretty much everything I like in this deck. But Stonecloaker/Kor Skyfisher needs a spot too. :thinking:

I think Thraben Inspector will come out for Skrelv, Defector Mite when I can trade my friend for one as he pulled 3 of them :grin: Though that leaves Novice Inspector out in the cold, which I'll get over. ;)

Arebennian
Posts: 100
Joined: 2 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Arebennian » 1 week ago

What do people think of cards like Throne of Eldraine and Sceptre of Eternal Glory as ramp in mono coloured creature based strategies? Necessary restrictions aside, they likely lets you also play a creature the turn you play them but obviously wide open to removal. Faster than the equipment but more vulnerable?

Also, I noted Pokken was suggesting sacrificing Oketra to avoid the god being stolen. This got me thinking. In general, do you have it go to your library when it dies or do you put it into the command zone?

User avatar
PrimevalCommander
Posts: 871
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by PrimevalCommander » 6 days ago

Arebennian wrote:
1 week ago
What do people think of cards like Throne of Eldraine and Sceptre of Eternal Glory as ramp in mono coloured creature based strategies? Necessary restrictions aside, they likely lets you also play a creature the turn you play them but obviously wide open to removal. Faster than the equipment but more vulnerable?

Also, I noted Pokken was suggesting sacrificing Oketra to avoid the god being stolen. This got me thinking. In general, do you have it go to your library when it dies or do you put it into the command zone?
Thanks for the comment.

These "super rocks" have been falling out of favor for me recently. I don't own either of these, but I have played Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo for many years and I don't think I have them in any decks any more. The above mentioned cards are better than those old staples, but the vulnerability turns me off. Though I don't find myself really wanting to point removal at mana rocks when the power creep of artifacts and enchantments is so high, but if feels so bad when they get swept up as collateral damage.

Oketra is playing more like a midrange aggro deck for me, so I either want mana earlier in the game, or the ramp to do more auxiliary work for me. You make a good point about the equipment, since I'm not getting mana out of them until I put the or , or into them to cast+equip, but what I like about them is the added benefit of A) the other trigger on some of the swords B) the protection they grant to my commander, and C) the power boost to get Oketra to a 3 turn clock. The equipment can also be split-cost to cast turn 3 and equip turn 4 for a quick trigger. I'm not saying they are "optimal" but I'm having fun with this strategy right now. Throne of Eldraine looks pretty good on paper, especially with the powerful draw engine for when you play out all your cards with the mana boost, but I'm not willing to spend the $$ to prove it out. Looks like a lightning rod to me, which the swords can be too, but I'm not playing the "mean" swords that people love to hate :)

When Oketra dies I usually put it in the Command Zone. I want immediate access to Oketra and I don't want to spend the time, and the card, to redraw her. So far I have not used the tuck trigger on her at all, but it is nice to have if I have a strong draw engine in play so I can dig fast and save the mana. The stars have not aligned on that situation yet. I also don't play against a ton of theft effects. There is 1 deck in my playgroup that does a lot of creature stealing, but much of it is from graveyards, not field, so that situation is not prevalent enough for me to spend deck space on sac outlets. They don't do much for me otherwise here.

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6276
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 4 days ago

re: ramp

One thing I will re about "rocks" is Gold Myr and Palladium Myr have been super strong for me. Ups the creature count for late game and palladium in particular brings oketra out two whole turns early. I think these are probably right to play in most oketra builds.

The less conventional guys I run are Burnished Hart and Canoptek Wraith and they are both very, very good at setting up Emeria, the Sky Ruin (which is why they're in the deck...even though I forgot I was out of emerias when I built it and have one on order from cardtrader zero which is slow as dirt :D).

The interesting thing about Oketra is while it's fine to drop her on curve you are often happier if you can drop her plus a dude, so the sequencing of turn 3 burnished hart, turn 4 crack it, turn 5 have 7 lands (ideally) and be able to get a dude plus oketra is very nice. And even if you miss a land drop on 4 or 5, 3 + hart gets you to oketra which is nice. The deck can run on 5 mana so it's convenient.

In any case I would absolutely never play a single mana rock other than the busted five (crypt vault ring mox mox) - and even those I don't play because it's really not necessary for the power level I'm operating at. Unless there was a rock that somehow got you a creature/drew cards (see discussion on throne later)- Oketra's Monument and Pearl Medallion are worth the squeeze imho. I need to get a pearl medallion in there, just they'd gotten kinda expensive and I forgot :D

as a general strategy, I think oketra should prefer creature based ramp because the deck doesn't actually topdeck that well [PC's more than mine since he has a higher density of better dudes], and most of what you want to draw are creatures.

That said: Throne of Eldraine has some advantages in it draws cards, so I think that's worth thinking on. I think on the balance it's a better topdeck than Burnished Hart or Palladium Myr but much worse early game.

Cards are, in my experience, the #1 place my build is choked on. I'll noodle on this one :)

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Decklists”