Lazav, the Multifarious | Graveyard Shapeshifting Voltron

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

I played a game this evening. My opponent cast a turn 2 Rest in Peace. That feels reaaaaaaally bad let me tell you. The game stalled out until my Avacyn, Angel of hope opponent cast Armageddon and I responded with Reins of Power. The next turn I cast Aetherspouts when he tried to race me with his angels. That felt pretty good. Although, it took me forever to actually kill them since Lasav was a 1/3 the entire game. The other player got beat to death by Royal Assassin which is pretty hilarious.

Other highlights include my opponent casting a turn three Hushbringer so I cast a turn 4 Eater of Days. It ate Prison term and then swords to plowshares.

Pulse of the Grid did a ton of work since the game went so long. Daring Thief continues to be good too, I had Survivors' Encampment in play just for it and it was great.

None of the new cards really came out to play except Rites of Refusal but it did exactly what I expected. It's a swingy hyper mana leak with discard synergies.

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Post by Toshi » 4 years ago

In:
+ Cavern Harpy
+ Phyrexian Soulgorger*
+ Rotting Regisaur
+ Spectral Sailor
+ Chronic Flooding
+ Rites of Refusal*
+ Geier Reach Sanitarium

Out:
- Carrion Feeder (Used this way too seldomly)
- Putrid Imp (See above)
- Stinkweed Imp* (Too much mana for the evasion, outclassed by other mill options)
- Wight of Precinct Six (Struggled too much, if my opponents weren't creature heavy)
- Tolarian Winds (Neither does it wheel my opponents nor does it allow me to filter)
- Rewind*
- Island

*Pending shipments
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
Daring Thief continues to be good too.
If only it weren't so hard to find cuts already, i would consider including it as well...
I will still have to find slots for Hunted Horror and Mesmeric Orb somehow soon.

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote:
4 years ago
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
Daring Thief continues to be good too.
If only it weren't so hard to find cuts already, i would consider including it as well...
I will still have to find slots for Hunted Horror and Mesmeric Orb somehow soon.
I get the feeling that your deck is noticeably more powerful than mine. I think I'm a bit more board control focused and you wheel into 1-shotting people a bit more. Daring Thief might be fairly underwhelming for you.

I just saw Cabal Pit. That card is almost certainly worth a slot here.
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote:
4 years ago
+ Spectral Sailor
+ Chronic Flooding

Out:
- Tolarian Winds (Neither does it wheel my opponents nor does it allow me to filter)
I'm surprised Tolarian Winds hasn't been doing it for you. That card is constant fire for me. Although, my deck is built around more of a discard synergy than straight milling. It and Archfiend of Ifnir feel great.

Mesmeric Orb is way more powerful than Chronic Flooding. It'll probably get killed a lot more because of that though. That seems like the obvious cut to me.

Hunted horror is just a straight upgrade to Nyxathid

I'm pretty sure Spectral Sailor should be Kefnet the Mindful. Unless you really really use Spectral Sailor as jump a lot. Two mana more is a lot, but having the ability to turn lasav indestructible and also turning him into a non-negligible 5/5 threat are both huge upsides.

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Post by Toshi » 4 years ago

materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
I think I'm a bit more board control focused and you wheel into 1-shotting people a bit more. Daring Thief might be fairly underwhelming for you.
You are certainly right on this one. I'm aiming to set up a kill quickly - Crypt Rats, Jace's Archivist, Maralen of the Mornsong, Notion Thief, Withered Wretch and the likes are only included if the game drags on and i need specific solutions.
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
I'm surprised Tolarian Winds hasn't been doing it for you. That card is constant fire for me. Although, my deck is built around more of a discard synergy than straight milling. It and Archfiend of Ifnir feel great.
I'm not saying it hasn't been working - at all. It's just that Ancient Excavation, Frantic Search and Careful Study allow me to sculpt my hand and Dark Deal, Whispering Madness, Windfall and Jace's Archivist all supercharge my graveyard based win cons on top of disallowing others to sculpt hands.
Tolarian Winds does neither and there are only so few slots available unfortunately.
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
Mesmeric Orb is way more powerful than Chronic Flooding. It'll probably get killed a lot more because of that though. That seems like the obvious cut to me.
I'm not thinking of it being a decision between the two of them. I really wanna play both. Mesmeric Orb is as good as it gets when it comes to filling graveyards fast and comes with the risk of enabling others' graveyard shenanigans. But its way too good to pass on and i love when things escalate quickly.
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
Hunted horror is just a straight upgrade to Nyxathid
As with the above thought, i want to go for redundancy and hit 3 turn clocks consistently. I'm not yet sure what to ditch for it, but it's unlikely to be another beater or protective option.
materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
I'm pretty sure Spectral Sailor should be Kefnet the Mindful. Unless you really really use Spectral Sailor as jump a lot.
There are several things that i like about Spectral Sailor. It has Flash to be a surprise chump blocker, is a cheap evasion spender and in case i desperately need cards i might as well use its mana sink.
Kefnet the Mindful is a tricky one. I only very rarely have 7 or more cards in hand, CMC 3 for evasion is a lot, it doesn't pack a big punch and i prefer Persist/Undying over indestructibility for my Commanders' ETB effect.

I've been thinking of running an unblockable package consisting of Gudul Lurker, Mist-Cloaked Herald, Slither Blade and Triton Shorestalker instead of more mana heavy/less reliable ones.
Changeling Outcast(Swarmyard?) and Tormented Soul would be hilarious, unfortunately they aren't able to chump block themselves to my graveyard.

ps. I wouldn't say my deck is noticeably more powerful than yours. Mine is aiming to be more reliable but might lack flexibility in comparison.

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote:
4 years ago
Kefnet the Mindful is a tricky one. I only very rarely have 7 or more cards in hand, CMC 3 for evasion is a lot, it doesn't pack a big punch and i prefer Persist/Undying over indestructibility for my Commanders' ETB effect.
Remember you can attack with Lasav, then after declaring him an attacker turn him into Kefnet. The attack/block clause isn't really relevant all that much. If you're playing the pirate as a jump, the pirate will be better. If you're playing the pirate to draw cards I think Kefnet will be better.
Kefnet can't block for himself but he can do way better offense and your opponents probably won't ever kill it if you cast it. Depends a bit on what you're looking for.

I also find that I don't have my persist/undying creatures in the graveyard nearly often enough.
I think this is worth is just for the one time you blow someone out.

Got some changes.

-1 Wipe Away
+1 King Macar, the Gold-Cursed
I've never been particularly happy with wipe away. It never really did enough. The tempo gain always felt too weak. Since Daring Thief has overperformed here's another inspired man.

-1 Chaos Wand
+1 Null Brooch
Chaos wand was lulzy, but Null Brooch is even more hardcore. I've got a couple of synergy cards coming up.

-1 Forbidden Alchemy
+1 Oath of Scholars
Forbidden Alchemy always felt like a desperation cast, it was always super reactive and never pro-active. Since I discard so many cards, this Oath seems like gas. No one will expect it either.

-1 Hedron Archive
+1 Ghirapur Orrery
Hedron Archive is in way too many decks on EDHrec. I need to replace it with a card that sees much less play. Here we are. It also ramps, it also card advantages.

-1 Necroplasm
+1 Rotting Regisaur
Continuing on the discard theme. I'll keep an eye on the token strats in my metagame. If they come back hard he'll find a slot again.

-1 Isolated Watchtower
+1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
I don't have enough basics for the watchtower to be good. Sanitarium for the discard synergies.

-1 Guildmages' Forum
+1 Cabal Pit
I found the +1/+1 counter to be anti-synergistic with all the undying creatures. This is a holdover from my attempt at proliferating days. Removal on a land seems way better.

I really want a Holdout Settlement. I wonder if Yahenni, Undying Partisan would be good enough. It gives haste, protection, and +1/+1 counters.

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Consuming Aberration has somewhat under-performed for me because my deck cares so much less about opponent's graveyards than yours. I recently drew it with rest in peace on the battlefield and that felt terrible. I've been wanting to smash Havengul Lich into a deck forever. I wonder if it might be worth a try here just to give me some more reach.

[edit]: I just saw Phyrexian Devourer. Seems reaaaaaaally good. Stack a bunch of deck munchy triggers and then turn Lasav into something else so he loses the die static effect.

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Post by materpillar » 4 years ago

Image

I managed to get a Oath of Scholars + Curious Obsession + Mask of Memory to draw 6 cards a turn.
I also had Oath of Scholars + Drake Haven going.

At the end of the game I had <35 cards left in my library. I didn't see Hunted Horror, Rotting Regisaur, Wake Thrasher, Archfiend of Ifnir, Havengul Lich, Eater of Days or Phage the Untouchable. I wasn't really attacking with my drakes and I think if I had I might have done enough chip damage to pull a win.

In other news playing against The Scarab God feels real bad. I advise against that. >.>

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Post by Yuuki » 3 years ago

materpillar wrote:
4 years ago
Image

I managed to get a Oath of Scholars + Curious Obsession + Mask of Memory to draw 6 cards a turn.
I also had Oath of Scholars + Drake Haven going.


In other news playing against The Scarab God feels real bad. I advise against that. >.>
Do you have a decklist with your most recent cards?

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

Decklist

Commander (1)

Sorcery (2)

Approximate Total Cost:

Here's my current list. I am intentionally running as many "sub-optimal" cards and cards that have immensely low playrates on EDHrec as possible. I also try to keep everything in the deck very inexpensive (outside of training grounds and a handful of lands).

I'm probably going to cut all of the cycling lands for basics as I've never wanted to cycle any of them ever.

I just added Sea-Dasher Octopus, Phyrexian Devourer, Havengul Lich and King Macar, the Gold-Cursed. I imagine they'll all stick around for a while outside of Havengul.

I wish Bontu the Glorified was Thassa, God of the Sea.
Yuuki wrote:
3 years ago
Do you have a decklist with your most recent cards?
If you have any questions about any specific cards, I'd be more than happy to answer questions.

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Post by Toshi » 3 years ago

Due to Covid i haven't been able to tinker and play as much, as i usually would. For the last few weeks we cautiously started playing within our playgroup again.
I'm very happy to see the ongoing discussion, btw! Below are my latest adjustments.

In:
+ Faerie Impostor (Due to being able to sac itself an all upside package)
+ Ghostly Pilferer (Somewhat of a 2nd Cephalid Inkshrouder with occasional card draw)
+ Hunted Horror (Aside from Phyrexian Dreadnought the deck now includes all ≥7 power, ≤3 CMC options)

Out:
- Nimble Obstructionist (Both an overcosted Stifle against Bojuka Bog and the likes and an overcosted evasion spender)
- Withered Wretch (Too few graveyard based match ups, most of them a lot less scary/fast)
- Hero's Downfall (Most of the times it turned out to be a Murder, unfortunately)

Side note: Since Wall of Blood and Phage the Untouchable turned out to be too scary for some weaker pods, i've started swapping in Eater of Days and Traxos, Scourge of Kroog for them for them at times.

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

I've been playing some games on playEDH and my list has been doing fairly well at the mid level. I must say Oath of Scholars has been massively overperforming for me. It basically says "at your upkeep draw 3" since I have so much discard support with Cephalid Inkshrouder, Rotting Regisaur, Masticore, Null Brooch and the like. I think it might be one of the strongest cards in my deck now.

The last game I won off the back of King Macar, the Gold-Cursed. Repeated removal after everyone else had burned out most of their resources sealed the game up for me.

The amount of times I hope to top-deck Reins of Power is crazy.

I cut all my cycling lands because I found that I never, ever wanted to cycle them.

Treacherous Pit-Dweller has been exceptional. I'm never sad to cast it. If it dies to an opponent's battlefield, it usually still only continues to help me since I'm never the archenemy with this deck. Then, Homeward Path and Torpor Orb completely negate its downside. Finally, having it in the graveyard is just gravy for Lazav.

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

I've won 3 of the 4 games I've played with this deck on PlayEDH. I just fly under everyone's radar playing junky cards until it's me against one other person and then they just awkward realize they're actually dead to Cephalid Inkshrouder + Phage the Untouchable from the deck that they thought was utterly worthless trash. It's pretty fun.

Because Oath of Scholars has been doing so much work for me that I'm adding Recall into the deck just to recur it. I'm also throwing in Tome of Legends because it seems like it'll draw me a ton of cards. I'm cutting Dimir Cluestone since I think consistent card draw for consistent land-drops is much more valuable for me than ramp. I'm also adding Recall over Gurmag Swiftwing because I never found the need for the Gurmag Swiftwing's haste which is primarily the reason it's in the deck.

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Post by Toshi » 3 years ago

All of that sounds just great!
Love hearing about your matches - unfortunately i can't add any reports lately. I'm hoping for things to get better by the beginning of the year and then get some games in again.
materpillar wrote:
3 years ago
I'm also adding Recall over Gurmag Swiftwing because I never found the need for the Gurmag Swiftwing's haste which is primarily the reason it's in the deck.
Yeah, "just" adding haste hasn't been too much value. I'm down to 2 sources of haste.
Lightning Greaves obviously doubles up by granting haste and protection, Nether Traitor comes with haste and a lot better evasion. It's rather pricey for a niche role player though.

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote:
3 years ago
All of that sounds just great!
Love hearing about your matches - unfortunately i can't add any reports lately. I'm hoping for things to get better by the beginning of the year and then get some games in again.
I've mostly been playing on webcam with PlayEDH. It's not nearly as nice as in person but people are pretty chill because the deck is so random.

I found a fair amount of my wins are based on getting Oath of Scholars, then an evasive Lazav, the Multifarious with stuff like Sea-Dasher Octopus/Mask of Memory to draw 5/6 cards a turn and absolutely blow through my deck. Usually drawing that many cards draws a ton of hate, but I'm constantly going hellbent and casting Fog Bank/Gingerbrute so no one really gets concerned about my deck at all even though I'm tearing through it. This whole time I'm consistently hitting land-drops to get to my more lethal triple lazav transformations. I'm also answering scary cards my opponents are playing (Rites of Refusal on a Jokulhaups felt great) which usually only earns me more goodwill from the non-archenemy players.

Since the power of each hard-cast creature in this deck is so low its rare that any removal or interaction is thrown at my stuff which means my opponents constantly wearing each other down since they figure they can easily 1v1 my deck. Then once it's 1v1, whoops lasav is a 21/21 Invisible Stalker.

Opponents when I explain that interaction:
image.png

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Post by Toshi » 3 years ago

Just some minor land tweaks and a slight adjustment in protection.
Usually around this time of the year, my friends and i get together to get the most games in between a friday afternoon and the following sunday evening - our record is something around 50 hours of MTG. Just thinking about it makes me melancholic, yet glad that so far all of us and our loved ones remained healthy.

In:

+ Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
+ Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
+ Ipnu Rivulet

Out:

- Unwind
- Island
- Swamp

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Post by Toshi » 3 years ago

While working on some other decks i've put some finishing touches on the mana base, as for fixing and self-mill.

In:
+ Dakmor Salvage
+ Nephalia Drownyard
+ Sunken Ruins

Out:
- Sunken Hollow
- Temple of Deceit
- Swamp

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

I played a game a couple days ago vs Sisay, Weatherlight Captain (shrines) and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait (sea monsters).

In other news, Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is really strong. I'd highly recommend copying one with Stolen Identity and then killing the original by copying Kogla, the Titan Ape. Stolen Identity has been great for me and since we have a ton of Invisible Stalkers to put it on. I've been really happy with Sea-Dasher Octopus and Curious Obsession also.

I immensely enjoy piloting this deck. Everyone is so underwhelmed by it that they focus everyone else, then we get down to 1v1 and I just brutally murder whoever is left.

Cephalid Inkshrouder is amazing. It's been so good I'm considering slotting in Putrid Imp.

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Post by Toshi » 3 years ago

materpillar wrote:
3 years ago
Cephalid Inkshrouder is amazing. It's been so good I'm considering slotting in Putrid Imp.
I've played Putrid Imp for a while and it was really good for what it is. My pick for a (kind of) second Cephalid Inkshrouder is Ghostly Pilferer, better not sleep on this one!

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Post by materpillar » 3 years ago

Toshi wrote:
3 years ago
materpillar wrote:
3 years ago
Cephalid Inkshrouder is amazing. It's been so good I'm considering slotting in Putrid Imp.
I've played Putrid Imp for a while and it was really good for what it is. My pick for a (kind of) second Cephalid Inkshrouder is Ghostly Pilferer, better not sleep on this one!
I'm running Ghostly Pilferer, it has so much text I forget it is a discard outlet. I keep thinking I want it to draw cards off opposing commanders and then I end up casting other stuff instead. XD

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Post by Toshi » 2 years ago

Just to give you a little heads-up; i'm more or less on MTG hiatus for the moment - solely because i'm bored with playing Paper MTG via online plattforms.
Luckily, things are heading in the right direction, so i might be able to play more in person games in the near future and be more active on here as well.

What i can say though is, that i really like Necrogoyf and Dauthi Voidwalker for voltron and toolbox builds respectively. The goyf will surely get included the next time i'm ordering cards.

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Post by materpillar » 2 years ago

Toshi wrote:
2 years ago
Just to give you a little heads-up; i'm more or less on MTG hiatus for the moment - solely because i'm bored with playing Paper MTG via online plattforms.
Luckily, things are heading in the right direction, so i might be able to play more in person games in the near future and be more active on here as well.

What i can say though is, that i really like Necrogoyf and Dauthi Voidwalker for voltron and toolbox builds respectively. The goyf will surely get included the next time i'm ordering cards.
Makes sense. I haven't gotten any games in with Lazav at all recently. I'll probably give Necrogoyf a test if I get the chance. I'm really excited for Vorpal Sword. It's great with Invisible Stalker and Masticore.

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Post by Toshi » 2 years ago

materpillar wrote:
2 years ago
I'm really excited for Vorpal Sword.
Oof, completely missed that one!
Who cares if Phage the Untouchable gets exiled, when all your creatures are Phage the Untouchable, rite?

ps. It's "combat damage" though, so Masticore isn't exactly the best fit.

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Post by materpillar » 2 years ago

Toshi wrote:
2 years ago
materpillar wrote:
2 years ago
I'm really excited for Vorpal Sword.
Oof, completely missed that one!
Who cares if Phage the Untouchable gets exiled, when all your creatures are Phage the Untouchable, rite?

ps. It's "combat damage" though, so Masticore isn't exactly the best fit.
It gives deathtouch base, so I can Masticore can machine gun down the board very easily.

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Post by materpillar » 2 years ago

Just drafted some convention packs. I'm slotting in Form of the Mulldrifter because it's hilarious. It also goes along with what my deck is trying to do almost exactly by easily getting creatures into the bin.

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Post by Toshi » 2 years ago

In:

+ Baleful Strix
+ Cabal Initiate
+ Gingerbrute
+ Necrogoyf
+ Arcane Signet
+ Resculpt
+ Sol Ring
+ Tolarian Winds
+ Training Grounds
+ Unmarked Grave
+ Island
+ Swamp

Out:

- Cavern Harpy
- Faerie Impostor
- Jace's Archivist
- Notion Thief
- Dark Deal
- Library of Leng
- Mnemonic Betrayal
- Sudden Spoiling
- Thran Turbine
- Unstable Obelisk
- Fetid Pools
- Ghost Quarter

This time around i mostly tweaked the noncreatures and stream-lined the mana base. Cutting Notion Thief has been quite a relief. While it's not Hullbreacher, it is still a card that never had an interesting impact on the course of the game.
Necrogoyf is yet another beefy bastard and Cabal Initiate provides both another discard option as well as lifelink to survive a little longer, just in case.
materpillar wrote:
2 years ago
I'm slotting in Form of the Mulldrifter because it's hilarious.
That one gave me a good grin and perfectly fits your deck!
Last edited by Toshi 2 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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