Copy/Paste Personal EDH Philosophy Bit
In building my decks, my end goal is "strong but fair". In other words, I want to win, yes, but not at the expense of fun. For me, that means:
- No infinite combos
- No MLD
- Very few discard/countermagic/tutors
- Try to limit format staples only to decks they fit mechanically or thematically
Well, this was far more impressive on the old mtgcommander.net site where I was the first to make a Titania deck. I actually made the deck right when she got spoiled and surprised some people with it. Of course, it's the current year and Titania is a known commodity now. Full disclaimer, this is probably the most cutthroat deck I'm regularly playing ATM. Still adhering to my rules described in the box on the right, so it's not table-breaking, but it is very much capable of getting out of control almost out of nowhere. It's also very emotionally draining for me to play this deck, so I can't do it for too long in a given session. IDK, something about constantly abusing my own lands just upsets me, even if it relatively often leads to me stomping my opponents to the ground. Let's see the list:
Angry Dirt
Approximate Total Cost:
As our general does things when lands die, the list has a lot of lands that do exactly that, and for the lands who can't suicide, we have some nonland cards that "help" them pass through the veil anyway. Speaking of suicide lands, you can see the push I gave this deck just by seeing all four applicable fetches in the list of a monocolor deck. Unfortunately, I somehow haven't yet gotten around to getting Fabled Passage and Prismatic Vista for this deck.
Titania is all about pressure. The basic plan is to use ramp to get the commander out as early as possible, hopefully make use of her recursion ETB trigger, then start churning out tokens and never let go. There are not many creatures in the deck and those who are there are almost all utility dorks. This is because for some reason, the developers thought that it's fair and balanced to make Titania's tokens 5/3. Since nothing Titania does requires mana, it's very easy to make some tokens the turn she comes into play, especially if there's a fetchland in the graveyard or something. And if she dies, well, we're always ramping, so recasting her is not a problem. If we get Command Beacon, good times follow. Point is, the decklist might give the impression that the deck is maybe too commander-dependent, but it's not such a problem in practice. Let's get into specific cards:
- Edge of Autumn — Along with Crop Rotation and Harrow, instant land sacrifice from hand can seriously scare people. Edge of Autumn gets extra points for being free and replacing itself.
- Lotus Cobra — This card is nothign new in Commander, but still I wanna highlight it here because of how positively absurd it can get in this specific deck deck. Imagine casting it early, then cracking a fetch to play Titania, getting the fetch back and cracking it again and casting another card with the mana from the Cobra. And its value doesn't go down much if I draw it late, trust me. I love my Rainbow Snake.
- Natural Balance — This is a completely obscure ancient card you've very probably never seen in your life...unless you've already met a Titania player. Basically, if you cast it early, it's a ramp for everyone. If you cast it late, it's a global land reduction. Of course, with Titania, all those dead lands on your side turn into fatties, so...
- Nature's Revolt — Commander is a format where Wrath effects are frequent and inevitable. In such a situation, it's not surprising that most decks avoid Nature's Revolt like a plague. Once again, Titania is not most decks. In practice, this card is a Wrath repellent. I have yet to see the fool who Wraths the board with this and Titania on the table. Now take all that I've written about this card and read Natural Affinity. Yeah...
- Possessed Portal — While I did say that Titania is all about pressure, in EDH, it always pays to have options. This is my Get Out of Stuck Board card. It can be oppressive, I'm admitting that, but it really fits into the deck's plan and the game tends to end quickly after it hits the table and the grind starts. And once again, Titania makes this card wildly unbalanced.
- Terastodon — Hugelephant is a classic card of rampy stompy decks, I'm just mentioning it here for all the cases when I've targeted three of my own lands with it. That's 33 power spread among 7 creatures. Yes, I've done this withConcordant Crossroads on the board. Yes, it was glorious. Also, shout out to Ghost Quarter, which I use to destroy my own lands at least as often, if not more, than my opponents' lands.
- Command Beacon — Land grabs commander, commander grabs land. Tax? What tax?
- Dryad Arbor — Love this so much. As with Nature's Revolt, living lands lose their drawback when Titania's around. Dryad Arbor chumps a fattie, evolves into a 5/3 token. The single target animation effects like the various Nissas and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa work similarly.
- Glacial Chasm — There is probably not a more ideal deck for this land than Titania. It comes in, makes a token, makes me almost unkillable. Then, when I have a good position, I can just not pay upkeep, get another token, and go ham again.
Truth be told, there is a part of me that wants to go all-in and get Gaea's Cradle for this, but that price tag is just insane. Expletive Reserved List =(
Antis, out.
