Elsha of the Infinite - Kung-Fu Fighting with Expert Timing

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

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Decklist

Commander

Enchantment mana or draw

Land searches

Top of Library (instant/sorcery)

1 Opt

Top of library (enchantments)

Top of library (creatures)

Graveyard recovery

Approximate Total Cost:



One of the most important element of cards put into an Elsha of the Infinite deck is...

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Elsha can't cast creatures and put lands into play off the top of your library. So straight away we know that our creature base selection has to be premium and that lands can be a liability.

Searching for lands

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

Every deck has to have lands right? Well I have built a 3 land deck before in commander..but we definitely want to be playing lands. However every time we see a land on top of our library it's going to stop our flow of action. So the deck is designed to mitigate this in a number of ways.

First of all there is a very low land count. However there is a lot of artifact mana to help with mana sources. Being able to sequentially cast off the top of your library means that you can be very liberal with non-creature spells and artifact mana is perfect for our cause.

There is also searching the deck for lands and either putting them into our hands or into play. This has the effect of both thinning the deck of potential land bottle-necking the top of the deck, but also as a shuffle effect to retry for another spell.

Mana Severance is the ultimate in thinning your deck of lands, and once you get a firm mana base, you can remove almost all of them if you want. Often I will remove all of them if I feel that I am setup well enough.
Top of library manipulation

"When in doubt, go to the library."

We also have a bunch of cards that allow us to manipulate the top of your library to free it from bottlenecks, whether that be lands, or just spells you don't/can't cast.
Sensei's Divining Top, Codex Shredder, Pyxis of Pandemonium, Wand of Vertebrae, are all artifacts that have ways of dealing with the top of you library.
Codex Shredder and Pyxis of Pandemonium are also excellent to use against opponents who are looking to use top of library tutors, which is a very underrated interaction in commander.

Sensei's Divining Top along with a cost reduction cards like Helm of Awakening, Cloud Key, Semblance Anvil will allow you to draw as many cards as you want, and add to your storm/triggers count.

Ancestral Knowledge allows you to really set up the top of your library, easily exiling all the lands within the top ten or anything else that seems bad to cast at the time.

Artificer's Assistant and Burning Prophet are absolute all-stars in the deck and you can almost certainly avoid getting top-blocked with these creatures in play. Expect insane amounts of triggers with these, all to your advantage however.

Thought Lash is the ultimate combo card with Elsha, expect to sequence a win with this in play. Honestly the worst that could happen is if you exile win conditions before you get enough mana to cast them, but this has never happened and is very unlikely to.

Jeskai Ascendancy has a role of both being a way to prevent getting bottlenecked on top of library and a way to give your creatures additional power and toughness during a big turn.

Cantrips
There are a bunch of cantrip cards to massage the top of your deck, Gitaxian Probe, Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, Portent, Opt, Frantic Search.

With Elsha ability to cast cards on your library at instant speed, you can use Brainstorm to put cards like artifacts, enchantments and sorcery from your hand on top so that you can cast them during opponents turns.

Search library for cards (shuffle).
There are other cards that search your library for other card types besides lands, and these will shuffle your library as a bonus effect of getting new looks at top card.
Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Enlightened Tutor will put cards on top which you can cast immediately.
Gamble will put the card into your hand, and then be random whether you keep it or not.

Combos and ways to win

With being able to cast so many cards each turn (if not infinite) Aetherflux Reservoir provides a way to gain huge amounts of life and then one-shot your opponents to death.

Unwinding Clock is another way get a lot more access to mana each turn, and with Elsha ability to cast non-creature spells with flash from the top of your library, this is perfect for getting use out of artifacts you untap.
There is a lot of artifact mana in the deck, and there are even artifact lands with Ancient Den, Great Furnace, Seat of the Synod, that will untap each players upkeep.

Underworld Breach combined with Brain Freeze on yourself and then eventually opponents to mill them out.

Interaction

Because you have perfect knowledge of the top of your deck and you have so many ways to change what that card is, Counterbalance provides a way to counter opponents spells given the right circumstance.
Because you can cast cards at instant speed, you can even just cast cards off your library in response to a spell to keep digging to find something with same converted mana cost.

You'll notice that there are no counterspells in the deck even though we are in blue. This is because they require opponents to have spells on the stack to use, and so at other times will be a bottleneck for you.
You can use Unsubstantiate to counter spells in a way, as these cards can be cast alternatively.

Creature removal includes Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Pongify.

Artifact or enchantment removal with Wear // Tear getting artifacts as well.

Some catch all are Expel from Orazca and Cyclonic Rift. Expel from Orazca can also be used as a way to protect one of your permanents by putting back on top of your library and then Elsha ability will allow you to cast it immediately if you want.

Graveyard recovery

Underworld Breach is another of the main ways to win with the deck. It's unparalleled in its ability to get value from your graveyard, and we combo this with Brain Freeze to put as much of our library into the graveyard.
This in turn gives you an alternative win condition as you can then point the Brain Freeze at your opponents to mill them out.
Once you have access to most of your library, you can use Dramatic Reversal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Frantic Search or Snap to provide mana needed to keep casting spells.
When you cast Brain Freeze you get a lot of looks at new cards on top of library as well, so this in itself is a powerful interaction.

Drafna's Restoration is perfect with Elsha top of library casting, as you can just stack it and literally cast them all out in a row.

Academy Ruins is a land that allows you to put an artifact back on top of library from graveyard, and be able to cast it immediately with Elsha.

Codex Shredder can get back any card from your graveyard and if you combine with Academy Ruins you can just keep doing this every turn.
Wand of Vertebrae will allow you to shuffle back any key cards that you might want to cast into if they have gone into your graveyard.

Last edited by darrenhabib 3 years ago, edited 28 times in total.

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benjameenbear
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Post by benjameenbear » 4 years ago

The omission of Kykar is odd. It's a token generator that converts said tokens into more mana to fuel the Sensei's Top synergies?

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

benjameenbear wrote:
4 years ago
The omission of Kykar is odd. It's a token generator that converts said tokens into more mana to fuel the Sensei's Top synergies?
I was like .."what's a Kykar?". Forgot about this gal thank you. That mana from saccing spirits can go a loooooooong way.
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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Well I've finally managed to give Elsha a whirl over the last couple of days. Magic Online didn't release her until Throne release as they hadn't programmed it until a few days ago (was buggy apparently).

It was the Commander 2019 that I wanted to play the most as well.

Well lots to talk about. Some things from my original list worked and some didn't. Lots and lots of changes.

The first thing is that I completely underestimated the "flash" element of Elesh ability, and how much it dictates the power of what she is capable of.
I've played plenty of decks that stack an impressive amounts of triggers, including my Feather, the Redeemed deck, but this is on another level.

What do I mean? Well this image is an example of the type of stack that happens often. I mean at least once a game if you get setup.

Image

The thing is that once you have ways to manipulate your library, whether that is top mill, scry or whatever, you can just keep fishing for new spells and of course the artifacts help to just keep paying for more as you cast new ones.

What didn't work?
The first things that I didn't like are the creatures. Even though I had ones that manipulated the library, you really want to avoid creatures altogether, unless they are absolutely premium.
So I ended up cutting; Sai, Master Thopterist, Weathered Wayfarer, Dreamscape Artist, Orcish Librarian, Trinket Mage, Phyrexian Devourer.
The creatures that I have left in because they've proven to be amazing are; Artificer's Assistant, Monastery Mentor, Auriok Salvagers. Just 4 creatures total in the deck including Elsha.

I found that in my first configuration I had too much top deck manipulation and not enough mana. So mana was more the bottleneck, rather than lands.
I already had a good lions share of the good artifacts, but I added some more and also some of the red rituals.
Everflowing Chalice, Lotus Petal, Astral Cornucopia, Rite of Flame, Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual, Seething Song, Smothering Tithe.

I also tried played different cost reduction cards like Etherium Sculptor, Herald of Kozilek and Ugin, the Ineffable.
In the end I'm trying Cloud Key and Semblance Anvil as my cost reduction.
Of course Etherium Sculptor and Herald of Kozilek are creatures so better avoided.
I was playing The Immortal Sun, as I liked the +1/+1 to help with the March of the Machines combo I was trying with Jeskai Ascendancy as an alternative to Paradox Engine. In the end I never played March of the Machines as I always had too many zero cost artifacts in play (so would die straight away). I ended cutting both The Immortal Sun and March of the Machines.
I had Tezzeret the Seeker in the deck for versatility, but also had the [-5] make artifacts 5/5 creatures in mind for the purposes of the Jeskai Ascendancy combo. But I've really reduced the cost of the deck, so most of the cards that are 5 or more got the chop in the end.
This included Possibility Storm which is an awesome card for the deck, but I just found myself winning without it and it's a bit too much mana to invest.

The next thing I wanted to do was change up how I interacted with opponents a little bit. Because I don't want any strictly counterspell only in the deck as I don't want them top blocking me, I've worked around it with some alternative spells that can be cast pretty much at any stage.
Unsubstantiate, Izzet Charm, Expel from Orazca, Pyroblast.
I replaced Unexpectedly Absent with Expel from Orazca as the two white is harder to cast.
Pyroblast can target non-blue cards, so is a freebie if on top of library.
I removed some permanent based removal for them cutting Fragmentize and Reality Shift.

Then I wanted more protection spells, especially for Elsha.
Boros Charm, Mizzium Skin, Lightning Greaves, Turn to Mist.

I removed a lot of the search and shuffle effects because they were too expensive or just didn't work out, cutting Expedition Map, Long-Term Plans, Intuition, Artificer's Intuition, Surveyor's Scope.

To make up for some of these I added some cheaper top deck stuff; Gitaxian Probe and Opt.
Also added Gamble.

Finally my land was based around Land Tax and From the Ashes, and in the end I wanted more color fixing and not worry about basics so much.
So the land base I've changed to have more non-basics and fetch-lands and cut From the Ashes. Also any of the utility lands for top deck manipulation like Soldevi Excavations and Isolated Watchtower were not good at all, as mana is normally the bottleckneck as well, so tapping lands for these never happened.
The only land like this that has worked out really well is the Academy Ruins and I'll explain why..

What's the best card in the deck (besides Elsha)? I would have to say it's the Unwinding Clock. Without Paradox Engine in the format, mana is your biggest bottleneck and because Elsha allows you to cast the cards at instant speed, Unwinding Clock is one of the most sure fire ways to cast out millions of cards.
Enlightened Tutor is next level in an Elsha deck, but often I'm putting Unwinding Clock on top to cast, and it just snowballs from there.
Getting back to the Academy Ruins I've used this as insurance against removal on the Unwinding Clock as if opponents remove it, I can then just use Academy Ruins to put it back on top and start untapping artifacts again. Opponents have fallen for this trap a few times.

I do have a reasonable amount to talk about how to play the deck, the timing of everything actually has been more of a surprise to me than I ever imagined.
Hence I've even changed the title of the thread to "Kung Fu Fighting with Expert Timing" lol.

Quickly your often wondering if you should play out your spells in your own turn, or wait until opponents turns? Really the main reason to play spells in your own turn is to specifically get Unwinding Clock in play, so that you can get rewarded by untapping straight away.
But obviously you need a lot of mana already to start fishing in this sort of manner.
Even with cards like Enlightened Tutor and Mystical Tutor in the deck to help get you there, it's a bit of an ask to specifically risk casting your spells main phase to fish for one specific card in the deck.
So most of the time I will cast spells in opponents turn waiting for the right time, whenever that is.
But this is a complicated subject I'll try and explain later on in more depth in the original thread when I add sections like "Playing the deck".

I didn't make all these changes at once, say a few cards different each game, so although it's lots of changes I manged to get a feel for each card and how they performed.

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Just a few changes. I did some research as I wanted some more top deck manipulation and found Burning Prophet and Thought Lash.
Burning Prophet is just like Artificer's Assistant in that you can just keep stacking up spells and casting anything ontop before the scry resolves for each spell if it seems advantages to cast it and then you just scry away anything that isn't good. Honestly with at least one of these creatures in play you'll never be stuck on spells to cast.

Thought Lash is the quintessential card for freeing up the top of your library and often you can just win on the spot as you can go for a win condition. As long as you can muster up enough mana to cast Aetherflux Reservoir before it presents itself (ontop of library) then you can just win the game.

I've removed Scroll Rack as it isn't as good as you think in the deck. Often putting cards from your hand on top of library isn't that appealing, as you don't want to put lands ontop obviously. I also find that I'm often emptying my hand anyway.



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xeroxedfool
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Post by xeroxedfool » 4 years ago

I like Ghoulcaller's Bell quite a lot in this deck, nice addition. I built and played a version of Elsha one time at my local shop. It was miserable for my opponents so I took it apart. Still an awesome deck though.
They're both Griffith, get it?

Shantu
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Post by Shantu » 4 years ago

I like the deck a lot and I intend to play something similar but with a lower power level and budget. Elsha seems like a good fit for the jank I have in mind, even if adding it is completely suboptimal.
You mentioned adding a few protection spells but I no longer see them - are they no longer needed? Also is Jeskai Ascendancy worth it without the token makers?

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the deck and its current state.

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 4 years ago

Shantu wrote:
4 years ago
I like the deck a lot and I intend to play something similar but with a lower power level and budget. Elsha seems like a good fit for the jank I have in mind, even if adding it is completely suboptimal.
You mentioned adding a few protection spells but I no longer see them - are they no longer needed? Also is Jeskai Ascendancy worth it without the token makers?

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the deck and its current state.
Yeah I made changes recently, but just been lazy about updating the written thread content. I really need to just start from scratch and do a proper primer, but I got a lot on my plate at the moment. But I'll get there.

What I've done is take out most of the creature combos, and the main win condition is actually using Underworld Breach with Brain Freeze to have access to the entire deck.

I took out creature protection, just because its so situational.

If you notice I still have the creatures that do the card filtering (scry) as a testimony to just how good they are and Jeskai Ascendancy is still the same in that it allows you to just get so many additional looks. Honestly having these in play is almost the equivalent of having Thought Lash in play, meaning you never get bottlenecked.
So I do think its still worth it.

This is definitely one of my alpha decks as far as competitive results. These are the changes I've made over the last couple of weeks.


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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Well with the modal spell/lands in Zendikar Rising there is a chance to potentially use them as a way to avoid more lands on top bottlenecks.

However we don't want creature ones and we have to weigh up having tapped lands verses others.
There is also the issue with are they really be able to be cast in a timely manner so that you can keep casting spells?
The example is that you can play Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave and say Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn, but will you ever really have the 7 mana to cast them to avoid a bottleneck?

If we look at the Jeskai modal spell/lands then I've identified which ones are at least castable at certain stages; These are the ones that I think are too costly; The next step is to think about if these can replace existing lands? To literally up the spell count in the deck and reduce land bottlenecks I'm going to try and replace existing lands.
With this in mind I'm going to remove all but one of the basics and this means that Land Tax and Wayfarer's Bauble are no longer viable.

Another thing with this is that Mana Severance no longer can remove all the lands, because model spell/lands are considered just spells while you are looking through you library.
However when they are on top of you library with Elesha in play you can play them as a land for your one land a turn limit.


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