Ezuri, Claw of Progress - Five Counter Death Punch

Finale of Revelation
Posts: 3
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Finale of Revelation » 4 years ago

Copy-pasting from MTGS for now



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Ezuri, Five-Counter Death Punch Combo



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Want to play Simic Colors? Throw lots of Creatures onto the Battlefield?
And have a Great Chance at Winning?
THIS is the Deck for You!



Table of Contents
  • [alink=analysis]Why Ezuri?[/alink]
  • [alink=about]About the Deck & Deck History[/alink]
  • [alink=currentdecklist]Current Decklist[/alink]
  • [alink=strategy]Deck Strategy[/alink]
  • [alink=matchup]Matchup Strategy[/alink]
  • [alink=cardchoice]Card Choice Discussion[/alink]
  • [alink=changelog]Change Log[/alink]



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Why Ezuri?
Ezuri is a powerful commander that allows for very fast wins. The buildup of experience counters is normally extremely fast, and most games will end before opponents know what hit them.

Unlike Zegana, the deck doesn't require you set up before casting your general, and unlike Edric, Ezuri is able to win the game quickly instead of trying to attack for 12 turns. While Edric's card advantage is generally superior, it's sometimes unable to do anything aside from drop a bunch of Flying Men onto the battlefield, and this deck's creature diversity gives it a better toolbox approach. The +1/+1 counters easily allow you to play a fair tempo/midrange game if you're unable to combo off, though this is not recommended since the deck is not built for longer, grindy games, and will scoop if it gets board-wiped twice.

Prime Speaker Vannifar is another good Simic commander that utilizes a toolbox approach. However, it skews too far in that direction; in testing, Vannifar had to mulligan far more often than Ezuri due to drawing combo pieces in the opening hand, as well as having more situational cards and CMC 5+ cards in the opener. Ezuri normally only mulligans if it doesn't have enough mana sources/accelerants.

If you like fast games with numerous lines of play available every turn, this is the deck for you. If you aren't a sequencing expert and don't enjoy creatures or combo wins, I wouldn't recommend this deck. Seriously, if you pick up this deck, you'll want to spend a few hours goldfishing before playing it against others. Many turns will involve you taking 6+ actions, and whether or not you're able to go off depends on being able to sequence perfectly.
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About the Deck & Deck History
The central premise of this deck is to get four experience counters, then stick Sage of Hours to get the fifth experience counter and take all the turns. ~80% of games are won this way. Cultivator of Blades is responsible for most other wins. Ideally, you won't cast either of these creatures without some way of protecting them; however, Cultivator is often useful to build up counters and draw removal away from Ezuri. Only use Cultivator to bait removal if you know you'll be able to stick Sage of Hours shortly thereafter. Your win conditions are valuable and are not to be thrown around with impunity.

An ideal opening hand consists of 2-3 land (with at least 1 source of each color), 1-2 accelerants (these need to cost 1-2 mana; midgame mana creatures do not count), 1 protection spell/counter, and 1-2 other creatures/tutors. Building experience counters is fairly easy; the creature base is built with a "creatures beget creatures" philosophy. If you are able to untap with Ezuri on the battlefield, it shouldn't be hard to go off that turn or the following turn.

The deck is able to recover from most board wipes fairly quickly; it's the Wildfire/Cataclysm effects that will wreck you. Don't run too many creatures out if you fear a board wipe and are unable to go off. You don't need more than five experience counters, ever.
Deck History
I built this deck because I wanted to build a competitive deck that wasn't Stax. I've had tons of success with Stax and reanimator, but wanted to challenge myself to build with creatures and still win on turn ~4. I've been playing Magic since Masques block and EDH since 2011, so I trusted myself as a builder and dismissed most of the recommendations from EDHREC - most people's lists aren't as tuned as mine. In fact, I was unable to find a polished, competitive build for this commander at all. The resulting brewing culminated in a deck that wasn't too far off from where it is today.

The original build of the deck had a slightly higher curve, topping out with a 6-drop (Prime Speaker Zegana) and some 5-mana tutors for Sage of Hours (Primal Command, Bring to Light). All of those cards were too clunky and left Ezuri too exposed, so they were replaced by additional ramp sources and protection creatures. Llawan, Cephalid Empress was added because everyone plays blue cards.

Since late 2017, I'd say the build has been fairly optimized. I've toyed with different card choices for different environments, but the core of the deck remains the same.
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Current Decklist
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:

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Deck Strategy
You'll need an accelerant in your opening hand; it's only acceptable to cast Ezuri later than turn 3 if you've set up protection for him. Normally you'll want to cast him turn 2 or 3. Follow him up with a protection creature and some way to disrupt an opponent. You'll want to cast Ezuri before you dump most of your hand in order to build experience counters.

This deck is much faster than most and has a high degree of redundancy, so your draws will be more consistent than other decks. You are always trying to win on or before turn 5. This will happen often, but as with any variance-based game, sometimes it won't. If it doesn't, shift your game plan toward drawing cards. Once you have a couple counterspells available, you shouldn't be as worried if the game goes long - you can still win, though the deck isn't designed for there to be a late game.

If you don't have a way to tutor for Sage of Hours, focus on building experience counters and disrupting opponents. If you can find Sage of Hours and have four or more experience (with Sage being the fifth), focus on comboing. Ideally you'll have a counterspell of some sort to protect the Sage from instant-speed disruption. If you know an opponent will be able to disrupt Sage, use Cultivator of Blades or a card-draw creature like Fathom Mage to bait the removal.

Don't be too upset if opponents target your tutoring-related noncreature permanents. If you aren't able to go off (or generate overwhelming advantage from it) the following turn, it's likely not worth it to get into a counter war over a Birthing Pod. Save your counters to protect your resources, your commander, and your combo.

The library is the safest place for Sage of Hours. Don't grab it until you know you can win with it. When you're ready to combo, ideally you'll have at least one counterspell ready to protect Sage against countermagic or disruption. It's best to wait for at least one opponent, preferably a blue one, to tap out before trying to go off. You can't win a multi-player counter war; don't try. Hold off on comboing if you know multiple players have countermagic up; instead, force them to answer other cards until you've run them out of answers.

If the game does go longer, try to get Skullclamp and a token generator going. This should allow you to quickly dig through your library, build experience, and find a way to win.

Torpor Orb is this deck's worst nightmare, as are Wildfire effects. Counter these when they are cast; you will not be able to win if they resolve.

Should You Keep?

One of the toughest decisions involved with this deck is whether or not to keep an opening hand. Remember, an ideal opener contains 1-2 pieces of acceleration, 1-2 forms of protection/counters, ideally 3 mana sources, and some way to generate card advantage, massive experience, or tutor. I intentionally excluded hands that look like "nut draws" or zero-landers.

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Hand A has one land, which only produces one color. It has a mana dork, but even on 2 mana, you're only able to drop a Duskwatch Recruiter. Mulligan.

Hand B has both colors of mana, but the green source you need effectively comes in tapped. This delays you by a whole turn, which often spells doom for this deck. Plus, you don't need both Nissa and Cultivator of Blades; they serve the same purpose, so you've effectively mulliganed already. Mulligan.

Hand C has mana sources, but it's not without its flaws. It also requires that you use your Worldly Tutor to find an accelerant if you hope to curve out properly. Defensible to keep, but I'd mulligan. The deck can do better.

Hand D is great. You get your dork and protection online in the first two turns, you have 5 experience built in (Deranged Hermit), and Glen Elendra Archmage can land the turn before you cast Ezuri if needed, so you can keep presumably mana open the following turn to protect Ezuri when you cast him. Keep.

Got the hang of it? Now four more.

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Hand A is obviously stellar. The ideal sequence depends on the matchup; if you think your opponent(s) will have removal, play both Elves on turn 2. If not, you can cast Ezuri on turn 2, then follow him up with the Priest. Keep.

Hand B is missing an accelerant, and does nothing until turn 3. Mulligan.

Hand C has literally everything you want, but it's missing one land. If your Birds of Paradise can survive, you'll be able to ramp again. However, it's risky, and you don't need both Fathom Mage and Cold-Eyed Selkie, so you're already effectively down a card. Keeping is defensible, but I'd mulligan because the deck can do better.

Hand D is amazing and you shouldn't hesitate to keep it.

Sequencing Scenarios

Now for the real fun. Assume you are at zero experience counters and in your first main phase in each of these scenarios.

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Goal: Control Glen Elendra Archmage with enough mana to activate it.
Solution
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Tap Devoted Druid and the Forest to cast Nest Invader, creating an Eldrazi Spawn and getting you two experience counters. At the beginning of combat, put two +1/+1 counters onto Devoted Druid. One will cancel out the -1/-1 counter, and the other will be placed onto it. Postcombat, tap the Devoted Druid, then untap it and tap it, then sacrifice the Eldrazi Spawn. Cast the Glen Elendra Archmage using the Island, the two mana from Devoted Druid, and the one mana from the Eldrazi Spawn.
Goal: Draw four cards and have two forms of protection up for Ezuri.

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Solution
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Crack Misty Rainforest for a basic Island. Using the Tropical Island and 1 mana from the Ancient Tomb, cast Earthcraft. You now have colorless floating. Tap the basic Island, then untap it using Ezuri and Earthcraft. You now have 1U floating. Tap the Birds of Paradise and the Island to cast Fathom Mage. You now have 1 experience counter and zero mana floating. Tap Fathom Mage using Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to cast Siren Stormtamer, then use it to untap the basic Island. You now have 2 experience. Cast Sidisi's Faithful, untapping the basic Island with Earthcraft with the exploit trigger on the stack. You now have three experience. Sacrifice the Faithful to bounce the Stormtamer, then recast the Stormtamer. You now have four experience. Tap the Stormtamer with Earthcraft to untap the basic Island to keep mana up to activate its ability. At the beginning of combat, put four +1/+1 counters on Fathom Mage to draw four cards.
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Matchup Strategy
Matchup Strategy

Against stax strategies, aim for an opening hand with multiple mana dorks to ensure you can power out your commander quickly. Having a counterspell is also crucial since they'll likely tutor for Fire Covenant or Toxic Deluge, as stax pieces alone are generally unable to keep up with the mass of creatures this deck spews out.

Against Teferi Stasis, the goal is to find and resolve Manglehorn. Counterspells are good here, but being able to disrupt two mana rocks will normally lead to victory. These decks keep pace with each other very well, so try to stay at mana parity to avoid falling behind.

Against reanimation strategies, being able to disrupt the creature is key. If you are unable to counter the reanimation spell, make sure you can tutor for Sidisi's Faithful or make a big enough Walking Ballista. If your meta is reanimation-heavy, add Scavenging Ooze to the deck in place of something slow like Beast Whisperer.

Against storm strategies (Jhoira 2, Yidris, etc.), disrupting the commander will often buy enough time to go off. Storm is heavily impacted by variance and will likely spend the first few turns hand-sculpting and putting out mana rocks, so if you can stick Llawan, Cephalid Empress to shut off a creature-based card advantage source, that will often slow them down enough.

Against combo-control decks (Breya, etc.), save your countermagic to protect Ezuri and mana dorks. These are not favorable matchups since they have both spot and mass removal. Creatures that provide incremental advantage, such as Trygon Predator and Cold-Eyed Selkie, are good here.

My meta doesn't have Hulk decks, so I haven't gotten any real testing in against those.



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Card Choice Analysis
Creatures

Accelerants

These creatures are included to help get Ezuri out on turn 2-3. In the later game, you should be pitching these to Survival of the Fittest/Fauna Shaman/etc.

Birds of Paradise / Elvish Mystic / Llanowar Elves / Fyndhorn Elves / Joraga Treespeaker / Kiora's Follower / Devoted Druid / Priest of Titania / Sakura-Tribe Elder / Arbor Elf / Incubation Druid / Nest Invader (also useful when going off since it provides 2 experience counters).

Note that Duskwatch Recruiter can also accelerate, but don't play this over other ramp creatures in the first couple turns unless you have no other acceleration.

Misc.

Trinket Mage

Note that Trinket Mage can fetch you a 0-mana experience counter (Walking Ballista) and Skullclamp in addition to the usual mana artifacts. However, it will normally fetch Mana Crypt.

Protection

These creatures are included to keep Ezuri alive against spot removal. Ideally, you will have one of these on the battlefield before you cast Ezuri; however, don't let the absence of one of these prevent you from bringing him out. Tutor for one as soon as possible unless you're immediately able to go off or are otherwise able to draw removal away from Ezuri.

Sylvan Safekeeper (you will [card]Chord of Calling for this creature often!) / Eladamri, Lord of Leaves / Mausoleum Wanderer / Siren Stormtamer / Plaxmanta / Wirewood Symbiote / Glen Elendra Archmage

Disruption

Your deck is trying to win in the first few turns. Most creature-based decks will not be able to disrupt or kill you quickly enough, so you should focus your disruption on noncreature permanents (and spells) to try to cut players off of colored mana/accelerants. The creature interaction in here is mainly to keep problem generals like Zur off the battlefield. You'll normally cast one of these the turn after you cast Ezuri.

Sidisi's Faithful / Trygon Predator / Viridian Corrupter / Reclamation Sage / Walking Ballista (who said Simic can't have one-sided board wipes?) / Llawan, Cephalid Empress / Manglehorn / Collector Ouphe

Advantage

Because drawing cards matters.

Fathom Mage / Duskwatch Recruiter (the best mana sink in the deck) / Cold-Eyed Selkie

Win Conditions, Tutoring, Combo Pieces

Sage of Hours / Cultivator of Blades / Yisan, the Wanderer Bard (get Sylvan Safekeeper or Sidisi's Faithful on 1 verse counter, then Sage of Hours on 2) / Fauna Shaman / Shrieking Drake (infinite experience counters with Earthcraft and a basic Island)

The creatures that produce tokens are great Eldritch Evolution choices because they fuel the convoke spells.

The five most important creatures are Sage of Hours, Fauna Shaman, Sylvan Safekeeper, Wirewood Symbiote, and Cultivator of Blades.

Wirewood Symbiote Subsection
Symbiote Strategy
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Wirewood Symbiote is an interesting creature that initially made the cut to protect Ezuri - casting it from the hand for 4 is a lot easier than casting it from the command zone for 6 (or more.) However, the card has proven to be one of the best creatures in the deck.

With Reclamation Sage and Viridian Corrupter, you can kill an artifact every turn. Use the untap ability to untap a creature that produces multiple mana, such as Joraga Treespeaker or Priest of Titania.

Don't forget - every time you recast an Elf aside from Ezuri, you'll get an experience counter. Don't be afraid to bounce your mana dorks to untap other mana dorks and recast what you bounced - you'll build experience really quickly!
Noncreatures

Accelerants
Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault (use this with Kiora's Follower for extreme acceleration), Green Sun's Zenith (this is normally cast with X=0 for Dryad Arbor), Earthcraft (turns your protection creatures into mana sources)

Protection

Steely Resolve (set this to Warrior), Dense Foliage, Lazotep Plating

Experience

Combine any of these with Skullclamp for a hand refill.

Squirrel Nest (infinite Squirrels and experience counters with Earthcraft if this enchants a basic land), Scatter the Seeds, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Tutoring & Advantage

Worldly Tutor, Kiora, Master of the Depths, Survival of the Fittest, Eldritch Evolution, Sylvan Library, Finale of Devastation, Chord of Calling, Brainstorm, Neoform, Muddle the Mixture (this will often be a counterspell, but sometimes you'll use it to find Sage of Hours or Earthcraft to go off) / Mystic Remora

The three most important non-mana-rock noncreature permanents in the deck are Survival of the Fittest, Earthcraft, and Dense Foliage.
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Changelog
Current chopping block:

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - slow
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - mana-intensive, clunky, but very good if it gets going

I want to test Crop Rotation but it's a $100 foil for a common, which is dumb. Also, Mystical Tutor, Nature's Claim, and Natural State are cards that look good for a competitive meta.

(4/17) (7/17)
SPOILER
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-Nissa, Steward of Elements (too slow)
+Mausoleum Wanderer (good to dump +1/+1 counters on, provides protection)
-Animation Module (I rarely used the second ability, and the first ability was slow)
+Deranged Hermit (It's an Elf for Wirewood Symbiote, helps Gaea's Cradle and Skullclamp, and immediately lets you Chord of Calling for 2 aka Sage of Hours upon resolution of the trigger. It also immediately puts you to 5 experience counters.)
(10/17)
SPOILER
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-Gyre Sage (too slow, did not immediately accelerate)
+Siren Stormtamer (it's a 1-drop that protects Ezuri)
(11/17)
SPOILER
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-Rishkar, Peema Renegade - I want mana creatures on 1 or 2, not 3.
-Old Man of the Sea - The old man was good at baiting spot removal, but that's really it.
+Bloom Tender - finally got a foil. I expect tapping for GU will make this card a long-term inclusion.
+Elvish Spirit Guide - I like turn 2 Ezuri.
(1/18)
SPOILER
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-Elvish Spirit Guide - I didn't need this to be explosive.
-Lumbering Falls - ETB tapped.
-Temple of Mystery - ETB tapped.
+Mox Diamond - My turn 0 mana should stick around.
+Opposition - Good with Squirrel Nest etc, locks opponents out
+Island - More moon effects have been showing up, and I need these for Earthcraft.
(5/18)
SPOILER
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-Mystic Snake - Clunky, easy to read, never desirable in my opening hand
+Manglehorn - Artifact disruption and tempo advantage are good
(9/18)
SPOILER
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(2/19) (5/19) (6/19)
SPOILER
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-Beast Whisperer - 4 mana and no guaranteed same-turn advantage
-Birthing Pod - normally I only need to activate once, and Collector Ouphe was added
-Trygon Predator - slow and unreliable
-Vedalken Aethermage - hard to tell if this or Yisan should go, but the ceiling on Yisan is higher
-Forest
-Island
+Mystic Remora
+Finale of Devastation - normally this will get Dryad Arbor for GG, but can also get Sage of Hours
+Collector Ouphe
+Deep Forest Hermit
+Waterlogged Grove
+Windswept Heath




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benjameenbear
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Post by benjameenbear » 4 years ago

I'm glad to see you migrate over here, [mention]Finale of Revelation[/mention]! The post needs a lot of coding work but I'll be happy to review it and help where I can!

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Ardeyn
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Location: Germany

Post by Ardeyn » 4 years ago

I'm glad to see, you adopted Finale of Devastation into your list. I've been really impressed with it so far.

It seems you run next to no creature removal in your list, except for Ballista. Has this ever been a problem? In my playgroup I'd definitely regret this.

Regarding your play scenarios: in the second one, you'd actually draw five cards, since Sidisi's Faithful will trigger the Evolve on Fathom Mage.
Thanks for this little exercises.

Ardeyn
"A single spark of passion can change a man forever."

Finale of Revelation
Posts: 3
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Finale of Revelation » 4 years ago

I can get away with having less creature removal because of all the tutoring - it's rare that a creature is what's keeping me from winning, and I can always get Faithful/Llawan/Ballista if needed.

Spy231
Posts: 1
Joined: 4 years ago
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Post by Spy231 » 4 years ago

Do you have any gameplay video? I would even love to see some gold fishing sessions.

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