Those who should play Kruphix & the deck's strengths
- You'll like this deck if you like drawing cards, value engines, and playing interaction
- You'll have political leverage the first few turns since drawing everyone cards buys you favor
- Can be played as a Hug-turned-control/combo deck or a straight Hug deck
- Kruphix is rarely a Creature thus is resilient to removal
- This deck scales well with bigger pods
- This is a mid-power casual deck that, if it lasts 7 turns, consistently wins
- You'll dislike this deck if you like attacking, relying on your Commander, or having a linear gameplan
- If your playgroup is against infinite combos then you need to swap some cards
- Commander-reliant: in most games you'll need Kruphix to outpace opponents
- This deck is neither fast nor interactive enough to compete with cEDH decks
a) Gaining political favor,
b) Helping other players just enough to keep each other in check while outpacing them,
and c) Hugging the right way.
While Kenrith gives you access to , he invites you to build around other Hug lines such as enabling and encouraging combat, recursion shenanigans, and lifegain. He also worries players since he's an infinite mana outlet in the command zone. Kynaios and Tiro ramp your opponents, and I prefer not to. Finally, the Hippo is similar to Kenrith. Kruphix is harder to remove than these commanders and less scary to new opponents.
Edric is closest to Kruphix re: drawing cards but he's notorious for leading extra turns decks. Rashmi is powerful, enables consistent card advantage, and benefits from powerful on-board threats—thus Rashmi draws too much heat. Pir and Toothy can create explosive Lab Man-enabled wins and kill people with combat damage (not interested). Omnath is mechanically the most similar to Kruphix, yet Omnath decks are often Stompy and/or Storm lists (like Selvala builds). More threatening still is Kydele & Thrasios, a potent pair for fast Combo Why Kruphix is an ideal Hug/Combo commander: I'd rather look like a bank than its robbers.
This was the first deck I built from the ground up: no EDHRec, no primers, no tappedout lists, nada. Just me, scryfall.com, and variations on a one-word query: draw.
At first I wanted to build a straight Group Hug deck that would draw opponents a lot of cards. After about 20 games piloting the deck, I slotted in some "uhhh, there's a little too much pressure in this Hug, bud" cards like Forced Fruition. After another 40-ish games with that build, I knew I wanted a deck that could operate consistently either in pure Hug mode or deceptive Hug mode. So my revisions included compact infinite mana combos, protection, and recursion.
The current version of this deck is consistent, and consistently fun. If you live 7 turns, you will probably draw most of your deck. You will very likely have many more cards in hand than your opponents a few turns earlier. And you will certainly have a more resilient Commander than your opponents. What you do with that power is up to you.
My final stipulation for this deck: run no tutors. Why? Because it profanes the God of Horizons to tutor when you can instead draw many, many cards.
My revisions to the deck adhere to three principles:
- Lower the average CMC;
- Improve the deck's consistency (without making it linear);
- Replace cards with color pips (to prevent Kruphix from being a Creature via devotion to ).
Here's an in-depth look at the each card in the deck. If you have questions or recommendations, please reply to this thread! And for a budget build, check this sub-$200 list.
- Basalt Monolith - Infinite mana with any of the enablers above. Also an efficient mana rock.
- Blue Sun's Zenith - Targeted draw for you, targeted kill for your opponents, or targeted hug for an underdog. It's typically better to keep 7-10 banked with Kruphix after you resolve this targeting yourself. (Note: spend a Boseiju, Who Shelters All mana banked with Kruphix to pay into in order to make this uncounterable. Yes: mana that comes with "riders" or special conditions will keep those riders when banked with Kruphix.)
- Braingeyser - See above.
- Consecrated Sphinx - This triggered ability disgustingly good. Extremely efficient card draw with Temple Bell (in a 4-person pod, tap an Artifact to draw 7 cards) and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. (Those situations are improved greatly by Seedborn Muse—but what situation isn't?) Or cast Windfall and draw roughly 40 cards. Sphinx is a nice trap for opponents who want clone or copy it, since with two Sphinxes on the field you and the cloning opponent can draw as many cards as y'all want. Note that this ability is a may, not a must.
- Finale of Revelation - Big card draw that doubles as graveyard recursion and ramp. An excellent spell. I usually wait to cast it until = 10.
- Folio of Fancies - Giving your opponents no maximum hand size is a risk, but the intensity of the Horizon Effect (see below) increases when you do this; this card's risk is hedged by that phenomenon. That said, this also hoses strategies that rely on discarding down to hand size (e.g. Brallin, Skyshark Rider and The Gitrog Monster). A great source of draw with Seedborn Muse. I've never once activated the mill ability, though it is an out to anti-draw replacement effects (like Abundance).
Font of Mythos - A static, -friendly, and devotion-friendly Hug effect that is wise to play out early since it gains you political leverage. - Grim Monolith - This doesn't create infinite with Kinnan, but Mana Reflection and Nyxbloom Ancient will let it. Also a great Turn 2 play since it'll enable a Turn 3 Kruphix. (Don't be afraid to tap it for .)
- Howling Mine - See the reasoning behind Font of Mythos.
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy - You'll rarely if ever use his mana sink ability, but he turns Basalt Monolith into an infinite source and improves your mana rocks.
- Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix - Thematically appropriate, but also a combo piece with Staff of Domination. All you need to do is draw 5+ cards in a turn, activate Kydele for , untap her with Staff of Domination for , untap Staff for , netting in the process. Repeat. Otherwise, Kydele can tap for a bunch of after a big draw spell.
- Library of Leng - Protects your hands against wheels and other discard effects, but more importantly, it also turns your late-game Windfall into a win con (since you can put down your hand on top of your library then pick it up again). Note: if an effect causes you to discard one or more cards at random, Library of Leng allows you to look at them before deciding where they go.
- Mana Reflection - A combo piece that helps your lands and rocks bank more with Kruphix.
- Mikokoro, Center of the Sea - Good with Seedborn Muse and Awakening as a draw engine. Potent with Consecrated Sphinx. Also a nice builder of political leverage. Try to use it during the end step before your turn.
- Mind Spring - An underwhelming rare to pull from booster packs, sure. Yet spending 12 mana to draw 10 cards ain't bad. One of the deck's scalable draw sources.
- Minds Aglow - Despite not being able to make this spell uncounterable via Boseiju, Who Shelters All mana, this is my favorite draw spell in the deck. Convincing other players to spend their mana—and tap out, often—to draw you cards is just so satisfying. Plus this spell creates a psychological effect in your opponents: they've spent their resources to draw everyone cards, so they feel more fond towards you since your deck and strategy does the same! Deceptively good.
- Nyxbloom Ancient - See the reasoning behind Mana Reflection. Particularly impactful with Ancient Tomb, Simic Signet, and Flooded Grove, since they'll net 6 and 5x respectively. Plus he's a decent attacker and blocker.
- Prosperity - An equitable draw spell. If =100 or is an arbitrarily large number, you'll need Abundance's replacement effect in order to win. Typically it's best to use equitable draw sources when you can keep 7-10 banked with Kruphix after they resolve. This spell is particularly efficient since it requires only one pip (a ).
- Pull from Tomorrow - A mana-efficient Instant speed draw spell. I usually try to save casting this spell until the last minute; it's a good way to dig for interaction (like Arcane Denial). Though if I'm confident I'll have enough to win after this resolves, I'll cast it at Sorcery speed.
- Rings of Brighthearth - Yes, you can use this to copy a Thrasios activation. But most importantly, this creates infinite mana with Basalt Monolith. All you need is Monolith untapped and . How? Tap Basalt for . Use to put its untap ability on the stack and triggering Rings of Brighthearth's ability. Hold priority and pay to copy Basalt's untap ability. When the copied ability resolves, Basalt will be untapped. In response to the next untap ability, float with Basalt. At the end of this sequence, Basalt Monolith will be untapped and you'll have spent to generate (or: you'll net 1 colorless mana). Repeat. Note: if you control Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, Rings also works with Grim Monolith since it can tap and untap for the same cost ().
- Staff of Domination - Lets you generate infinite mana, draw your deck, gain infinite life, and tap down other creatures indefinitely. In a pinch, you can use your non-infinite banked to draw cards, tap down attackers, or gain life.
- Stroke of Genius - The mana-friendliest Instant speed targeted draw spell.
- Temple Bell - Hug in a pinch. A little draw engine with Seedborn Muse or Unwinding Clock. If you can't untap it every turn, it's usually best to activate its ability on the end step before your turn.
- Thrasios, Triton Hero - A cEDH staple and scourge of Simic value haters. While we don't run Training Grounds or any way to reduce this fish's cost, he's an easy infinite mana outlet to draw you into your real win conditions. If you don't have infinite , I recommend using his ability when you're in the 20–60 range (a common occurrence). Also helps Seedborn Muse's benefit scale each turn, since the lands you put into play will tap for more mana on the next turn, which pays for more Thrasios activations, etc.
- Windfall - Best played early when you've run out of gas, or played late when you need to dig for an answer. Otherwise it's a compact win condition in the mid-game with Library of Leng.
- Abundance - The deck's only draw replacement effect so you can't be made to lose the game by drawing cards with an empty library. Also good in the early game to filter your draws. Ridiculously useful with a big (10+) draw spell.
- Aetherspouts - An Instant speed boardwipe (of sorts) that can give you an excellent tempo advantage.
- Arboria - Let's read the errata'd text: "Creatures can't attack a player unless that player cast a spell or put a nontoken permanent onto the battlefield during their last turn." Since you'll rarely have blockers, this protects you from damage. But what about my land drops? Burgeoning gets around that. But what about developing my board state on my turn? Vedalken Orrery, Leyline of Anticipation, and Alchemist's Refuge get around that. This also incentivizes opponents who don't want to be attacked from developing their boards, which is excellent for us since we're playing an interactive, value-based Simic deck.
- Arcane Denial - A counterspell that draws you and your opponent some cards. Thematic and generically good!
- Beast Within - For pesky Stax pieces like Narset, Parter of Veils, Gaddock Teeg, and Spirit of the Labyrinth. Our only out to permanents which shut this deck down, so try to cast this wisely.
- Boseiju, Who Shelters All - As mentioned before: "If unused mana in your mana pool has any restrictions or riders associated with it (for example, if it was produced by Cavern of Souls), those restrictions or riders will remain associated with that mana when it becomes colorless." (source) So while playing, keep track separately of the "special" mana banked off Boseiju and then the other mana you bank.
- Cyclonic Rift - The most flexible and mana-friendly boardwipe in this deck. A cliché of the format, it's so good. It also pairs nicely with Windfall, particularly if opponents greedily put their Commanders in their hand. Overload it when you want the game to end (because you'll win) or in an emergency.
- Dream Fracture - See the reasoning for Arcane Denial above.
- Evacuation - You don't want to cast this if you control Seedborn Muse, but this deck rarely has more than two Creatures on the board when it wins, so don't sweat it too much if you have to pop them back to your hand in order to stave off death.
- Fierce Guardianship - This deck relies on its commander so much that this is an auto-include. Free spells are generically good!
- Forbid - I've gone back and forth on including this card. On the one hand, it becomes oppressively controlling if you've got 20+ cards in hand and plenty of mana. It's even worse/better if you can bank and use Boseiju mana every turn. On the other hand, it's what I just said. Ultimately, the frequency with which I recur it makes this card a key piece of control. It's just too good in this deck to sit on the sidelines.
- Glacial Chasm - This deck's most resilient piece of protection. It'll save you against every strategy except for being milled out and life loss (e.g. from Blood Artist-type effects.) Opponents typically run plenty of Creature removal, and even plenty of nonland permanent removal, but because of the anti-land destruction prejudice in this format, your Glacial Chasm will often protect you until you can safely and easily win. I've played it on Turn 2 then won. I've cheated it into play with a Growth Spiral on Turn 9 in response to a giant attack then won. It's just so good. Don't be afraid to run it out early, because 5 turns of its cumulative upkeep will only cost you 30 life. And 5 turns (assuming you play Chasm around Turn 3) is all it'll take to win, typically.
- Growth Spiral - This can get Glacial Chasm into play at Instant speed, or it can be used as a generic draw and ramp spell.
- Heroic Intervention - Curve-friendly protection. You should cast this in a critical moment (e.g. when someone is either targeting your combo pieces, wants Seedborn Muse dead, or is attempting an asymmetrical boardwipe like Vandalblast).
- Holistic Wisdom - This one's been in and out of the list. Its recursion is uniquely helpful for two reasons: 1) it's -friendly and 2) it's Instant speed. An Enchantment that would be horribly inefficient in decks that only have 7-ish cards in their pilots' hands becomes powerful and consistent in Kruphix.
- Krosan Grip - One of the best anti-combo cards printed. It's not as efficient as Nature's Claim, but it shuts down the stack and gets the job done.
- Mana Drain - I've seen players waste off a Mana Drain so many times. With Kruphix, you don't have to!
- Narset's Reversal - Best when used to bounce to your hand a big -cost draw spell or piece of protection. Its second-best use is as a counterspell of sorts. Its third best use is to copy someone's ramp spell. Its Magical Christmas Land use—from which I've benefitted before—is to copy and bounce someone else's overloaded Cyclonic Rift.
- Noxious Revival - Pay the life. Essentially-free recursion on the end step before your turn, or before a Temple Bell activation resolves, is great.
- Obscuring Haze - Not as valuable as Propaganda, ultimately, but free 99% of the time. It also prevents damage from Creatures, not just combat damage—a clause which has saved my skin before.
- Regrowth - Downside: Sorcery speed. Upside: can use Boseiju mana to make it uncounterable.
- Swan Song - Generically good protection.
- Veil of Summer - This gets better against more interactive decks. But one mana to protect your stack, maybe your permanents, and potentially draw a card? Too efficient and thematic not to play.
- Alchemist's Refuge - This deck benefits greatly from accruing value with Flash, since this deck is built to accrue resources on every player's turn. Potent with Seedborn Muse.
- Ancient Tomb - The damage can feel risky, but most Commander games in my meta end before Turn 8, so the ramp is more helpful than the damage is harmful.
- Arcane Signet - Generically good.
- Awakening - While this deck doesn't have many Creature mana dorks, it can outramp many opponents. Far inferior to Seedborn Muse, but the risk pays off most of the time. This also can dissuade opponents from attacking. Play up how Huggy this is (in order to not be attacked). Beware playing this into a player whose commander has an activated ability.
- Burgeoning - Its power scales with the size of your pod. Great early (for a Turn 2 or 3 Kruphix); excellent in the mid-game (to accelerate your rate of banking with Kruphix). You can also use this to sneak Glacial Chasm onto the battlefield—just ask your opponents, "Have you played your land for turn?"
- Chromatic Orrery - Turn your banked into . Immediately filters your mana, so your opponent can't cast Krosan Grip until you've put that first spell or ability on the stack. Plus it taps for 5 right away, making it essentially cost only 2 mana. And it can draw you two cards in an emergency.
- Cultivate. - Generically good.
- Doubling Cube - A lovely ramp engine that pairs well with Mana Reflection ("double" means "quadruple") and Nyxbloom Ancient ("double" means "sextuple"). And of course this pairs well with Seedborn Muse or Unwinding Clock. Note: this also doubles your Boseiju mana, distinct from your mana.
- Flooded Grove - Pairs well with the mana doublers and triplers in the deck.
- Leyline of Anticipation - This deck runs the most smoothly when you do everything at the last possible minute. You want as many resources ( and cards in hand[/card]) as possible when you make your move to win. So I run every source of Flash I can, except for Tidal Barracuda (which gives opponents too much power for my taste) and Emergence Zone (which I cut only to maximize sources, though reconsider/add back to the deck frequently).
- Mana Crypt - Aggressive, expensive, generically good. I added this because I dismantled a few decks and had this to spare. Since this deck relies on a 5-CMC commander, we need all the aggressive ramp we can get.
- Mana Vault - See above. Turn 2 Kruphix is ideal. (I've rarely spent to untap it.)
- Mirage Mirror - This card is sneakily good. Most often I use it to copy a mana doubler, but I've also turned it into one of my Lands, opponents' Creatures, my Chromatic Orrery or Wilderness Reclamation (since, unlike Seedborn Muse, Wilderness Rec is a triggered ability), and more. It's also resilient to removal since opponents often make the mistake of trying to destroy it in response to putting its ability on the stack—and with Kruphix, you'll have enough to put another activation on the stack in response.
- Misty Rainforest - This can find Tropical Island or Breeding Pool.
- Mox Opal - Aggressive ramp that's generically good. We've got a high density of Artifacts, so this should be "on" most games.
- Nature's Lore - This can find Tropical Island or Breeding Pool, as well! Low-CMC ramp that can later be exiled to Holistic Wisdom to recur a big draw spell.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - A bit of a nonbo since we try to keep our devotion to as low as possible, but too flavorful to pass up.
- Prismatic Vista - Another useful fetchland, since early fixing is important (you don't want to miss casting Kruphix because of your mana base).
- Seedborn Muse - Love: sing, goddess, of the love that Kruphix players have for their beloved Seedborn Muse. More seriously: combine Kruphix, Seedborn Muse, and a scalable draw source for just one turn cycle, and you'll typically have enough mana to win on your turn. This deck's most powerful enabler, by far. Do all you can to protect this Creature, since this effect is the best method by which you can assemble enough mana to win. With a Flash enabler like Vedalken Orrery, Seedborn Muse allows you take take your turn on everyone else's turns. So powerful.
- Simic Signet - Fine on its own; excellent with Nyxbloom Ancient.
- Sol Ring - Generically good!
- Talisman of Curiosity - I rate this over Fellwar Stone since having access to is so important in the early game. Worth the points of pain.
- Teferi's Ageless Insight - This might seem worse than Alhammarret's Archive since it has in its cost and increases your devotion to , thus risking Kruphix becoming a Creature (and becoming more fragile to exile effects). But I've found that the one CMC difference often translates to a one turn difference, and that tempo advantage can be majorly impactful. Disgustingly good with Consecrated Sphinx; less good but still impactful with Howling Mine and Font of Mythos.
- Three Visits - Another copy of Nature's Lore.
- Unwinding Clock - A recent addition that has provided solid ramp with this deck's numerous mana rocks. The more "untap _____ each turn" effects we can jam into this deck, the better.
- Vedalken Orrery - A -friendly source of Flash. Try to play it as early as possible because the less threatening you can appear on board, the better.
- Waterlogged Grove - Fixing and an emergency source of card draw.
- Wilderness Reclamation - A potent source of ramp that allows you to deploy -making permanents on your turn then untap with a) interaction and protection available or b) a solid bluff that you have interaction and protection available.
- Breeding Pool - Fetchable! Most of the time it's correct to pay the 2 life.
- Command Tower - Generically good.
- Hinterland Harbor - A useful checkland that I've never had enter tapped.
- Reflecting Pool - Another source of fixing.
- Tropical Island - Generically good. Not at all necessary for this deck to function well!
- Yavimaya Coast - Another source of fixing. The pain is worth it.
- 8 Forests & 9 Islands - This hews closely to the deck's color pip ratio.
- Laboratory Maniac, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, & Thassa's Oracle - Two words: too easy.
- Scroll Rack & Sensei's Divining Top - I ran these for awhile. Both feel a bit too selective, i.e. they feel like quality over quantity cards. And Kruphix is definitely a quantity over quality deck.
- Anvil of Bogardan - I ran this for awhile but noticed many opponents feel bad (and take a lot of time) when asked to loot.
- Sylvan Library - Generically good! But the temptation to lose 8 life per turn is a little too aggressive for this deck—which rarely has enough Creature presence to block early aggression.
- Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - This and all the other big Eldrazi would be easy inclusions for a Timmy deck that wanted to win via combat and that wanted to draw more heat from its opponents. But Eldrazi can't be reasonably presented as Group Hug cards.
- Alhammarret's Archive & Thought Reflection - See my thoughts above on Teferi's Ageless Insight.
Most Commander players will have fun while accessing most of their tools (read: cards) instead of a couple handfuls of their tools. Kruphix is designed to enable that access—and then win regardless (or not, if you'd like to just Hug).
I've noticed an important and recurring psychological effect that this deck creates in its opponents. I'll coin a term to describe this phenomenon: the Horizon Effect.
When your opponents are so excited to play the cards they've just drawn that they ignore you in order to play those cards and develop their own board states—even if they're totally aware of how your deck wins.
This Horizon Effect makes playing and replaying Kruphix in familiar pods and regular playgroups a continually surprising experience: if you're playing in Hug mode, you get to watch 3+ other decks duke it out with nearly all their resources; if you're playing in Win Mode, you get to see just how much opponents will succumb to greed (and thus disregard your mid-to-late-game pattern of winning).
If you'd prefer to not run infinite combos, then you can instead assemble big amounts. To do so, replace these combo pieces: Grim Monolith, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix, and Basalt Monolith.
Piloting this deck presents this danger: since this deck can shift gears from "value engine" to "bottomless pool of resources" so quickly, opponents who become familiar with Kruphix will often spend a disproportionate amount of their resources to slow you down. Because of this, you might be tempted to lie. Why? Because one well-timed lie (somewhere between turns 4-7) can persuade your opponents not to interact with one key piece of the Kruphix puzzle. And if they don't interact with that key piece, you'll win. My word of advice: don't lie. If you're playing this deck with your regular playgroup who know the deck well, tell them on Turn 0 what you plan to do—win or strictly Hug—then stick to that plan.
If you're playing with a new pod, reassure the table that this is not Eldrazi Kruphix, that this is Hug Kruphix, that you just love drawing cards, and that this deck is built to help everyone do just that. (In a brand new pod of strangers, you needn't say at this point whether or not you intend to win. A little suspense is fun.)
In this phase, keep up if you can 1-3 to cast interactive spells. Keep Kruphix offline as a Creature and build up a supply of 10+ mana to use on your turn. When you find a big draw spell like Prosperity or Stroke of Genius, cast it. A safe amount of mana to keep banked with Kruphix after a big draw spell is 7+ . The ideal next step is to play a Flash-enabler then PASS THE TURN. Note: wait to play your land for turn until after you've drawn a bunch of cards. You never know what you might draw into. And I'll repeat: ideally, after drawing 10+ cards, you do nothing and pass the turn. This inaction will make your opponents worry much more about the other 2+ opponents if you've drawn them the same amount of cards since those opponents will immediately be deploying their newly-drawn threats. Play it safe in this phase.
If you're playing with a new pod, tell them your intentions: you plan to win or you plan to Hug.
If you're playing in your regular meta, downplay your resources. Draw attention to other players' threats. Don't play table police. Bluff not having a counterspell for an opponent's bomb. And above all: protect yourself. Just protect, recur, replay, and keep banking more and more mana.
- Hugging too much. Since drawing the table 10+ cards will help modestly-tuned decks become explosive, it's a good practice to have at least 1-2 pieces interaction up immediately afterwards. Typically most tuned casual decks rely on 1-2 powerful spells resolving per turn in order for their engine run. If you can interrupt one of those spells then an opponent will likely be able to stop the other. (Don't be the table's cop unless you absolutely have to.) Remind your opponents that you just drew them a ton of cards! The least they can do is repay you by removing that one permanent over there…
- Hugging at the wrong time. If one of your opponents has been drawing 3+ cards per turn and is holding up mana, you should read this as a signal that they've draw control magic and want to interrupt others' plans before deploying their own. Don't play into control spells. If you see two untapped Islands and you've got no counterspell of your own, wait until the control player is tapped out—and if they've got 0- or alternate-cost counterspells, then keep your equitable -cost draw spell at a modest amount: say 5–8 cards. This will let you keep mana available that you can use to deploy nonland permanent threats.
- What equitable draw spells do to Control players. Control decks typically have a low curve/low average CMC. This means they don't run much ramp. So drawing 4 players 10+ cards will certainly draw the Control player into more countermagic and/or combo pieces, but this won't also advance their on-board resources. And because you've just helped the other three players find spells that the control player will want to answer, you'll usually be left alone by said control player as the other three duke it out. Thus the control player will sometimes counter your big equitable draw spells (because they don't want to be overwhelmed by threats from 3 players). However: the Horizon Effect applies even here; control players will often let their greed overwhelm their better judgement.
- What equitable draw spells do to Combo players. If you can pilot this deck without drawing dedicated Combo players cards, do hat. Combo decks are the format's most explosive decks, and if your meta is light on removal and/or interaction (as most casual metas are), then drawing Combo players lots of cards for free will often mean the game will end and they will win. If you're in a pod with 1+ dedicated combo players, try to only draw yourself 10+ cards at a time. Since those big draw spells are threatening to your opponents in terms of card advantage but don't threaten to end the game on their own (unlike some 5-10 mana two card combo), your opponents will often save their interaction for the combo players' spells.
- What equitable draw spells do to Aggro & Voltron players. Not much! Good Aggro decks are typically fast and don't rely on too much card draw, so if they have more cards in hand, they'll only be a little faster. If their decks are Krenko-level in their speed and consistency, Kruphix will have a hard time not getting swarmed anyway (unless you draw into Glacial Chasm in the first few turns).
- What equitable draw spells do to Battlecruiser players. It'll make them very, very happy. And then they'll gleefully play their big spells (that mostly won't threaten a win that turn). The battlecruiser clock is typically 8+ turns, so if you can give yourself Flash with a hand of 20–30 cards, you'll be able to remove key threats or protect yourself from less interactive and more durdly decks.
- Kruphix's worst enemy? Other flash-loving Simic decks! The Rashmi, Eternities Crafter's of the world will recognize what you plan to do immediately, in my experience, and their plan to "play Magic on everybody's turn" will conflict with yours. Sometimes they'll have a bigger proportion of interactive spells in their decks—so you'll often struggle to sneak into the late game. My recommendation: become their ally! Appeal to the inherent creativity and power and goodness of Simic decks! Compliment their shirt! Whatever! Just get on their good side so you don't have to fight this battle.
- How much mana is enough? Drawing the table or just yourself 10+ cards will be enough to propel you into the next portion of your plan. Ideally you have 7+ left over to use on the new cards you've drawn. A good rule of thumb: try to bank ≥15 with Kruphix before drawing yourself or the table a bunch of cards. A typical Kruphix progression looks like this: cast Kruphix on Turn 2–4; don't play anything on your following turn, banking 5–6 mana during your last opponent's end step; then play out a value piece (like Seedborn Muse, Wilderness Reclamation, Awakening, or Mana Reflection and pass; by the time you reach your next turn, which will be Turn 6-7, you should have 15+ mana to play with. At that point, burn a big draw spell and hope you (and/or your opponents) find what you need.
- What if opponents get worried about the fact that you use d100 dice to track your mana? Remind them: you are here to draw them cards. In either of the deck's modes, this statement is and will be true. That said, if your opponents play with you regularly and know Kruphix, they'll be worried. And you can't honestly allay their worries. The best thing about Kruphix as a Commander, though, is that he is so resilient to removal spells: if he's not a Creature, only two boardwipes touch him (All Is Dust and Merciless Eviction, but in the latter case, who in the hell is going to spend 6 mana to pick the mode Enchantments?!), mono- decks have essentially no targeted way to kill him, and much of the other exile-based removal is either or Orzhov, so you should be able to see it coming and plan for it. Also, players are typically more worried about big threatening permanents than they are about big threatening spells. Maybe this is because some "out of sight, out of mind" principle applies to Instants and Sorceries once they've left the stack whereas scary nonland permanents stick around, constantly reminding people of what they can do. You'll be surprised at how often you can fly under the radar.
- To draw the table a lot of cards, or to draw yourself alone a lot of cards? This depends on your threat assessment. If you choose an equitable draw spell, here's the worst case scenario: you draw your opponents into cool ways to win, they win, and then you've learned one of the ways their deck wins. If this happens in your regular meta, you'll know more about your opponents' patterns of play; you'll know more about their habits and what routes they'll pursue over others. If this happens in a pod of strangers, you'll learn something about a new deck on top of banking good will that doesn't empty from your pod's spiritual mana pool game-to-game. It's win-win! Also consider that an equitable draw spell in my experience is less likely to be countered than a targeted draw spell, since a) greed is a feeling that even Control players feel and b) Narset's Reversal doesn't do jack to equitable spells.
- Narsets and Notion Thieves and Spirits of the Labyrinth, oh my! They hurt you. They hurt you so much. Counter them, destroy them, single-target Rift them (see below for more guidance). Just get rid of them. They ruin your fun. But, luckily, your opponents will also probably hate them (since most players dislike Stax) and will try to remove them on their own. This will let you bank more mana to let loose upon the world once you've been freed.
- Damping Sphere? Winter Orb? You'll have the mana to pay for the storm tax, and you don't need to double up your lands' mana production to go infinite. No biggie. And Seedborn Muse says "nah" to all Winter Orb-style effects.
Removal effects by type (destroy): 14% hit enchantments
- 65 "Destroy target enchantment"
- 199 "Destroy target artifact"
- 208 "Destroy target creature"
- 9 "Exile target enchantment"
- 23 "Exile target artifact"
- 136 "Exile target creature"
- 15 "exile target permanent"
- 18 "exile target nonland permanent"
- 5 "sacrifices an enchantment"
- 10 "sacrifices an artifact"
- 82 "sacrifices a creature"
- 12 "sacrifices all"
Aggro decks: If you can persuade the Aggro player(s) to attack your opponents long enough to find Glacial Chasm or Arboria, you can typically survive long enough to find a board wipe and/or combo out.
Voltron decks: see above—or turn Kruphix into a Creature as soon as possible and use his Indestructible butt to block. Though this is very risky.
Control decks: Typically Control players love drawing cards, so you can buy them enough favor to leave you alone and let you build your board. What Control decks that aren't heavy on infinite combos lack, though, is big resource generation. Instead they rely on low-CMC spells and cantrips. So if you can draw the Control player enough cards to convince them to leave you alone, you can outpace them.
Anyone who knows what Seedborn Muse does for your deck: Beg, plead, promise, cajole. Or just let Seedborn Muse die then recur it. If Seedborn Muse gets got, don't stress too much: that's why redundant (but less powerful) cards like Wilderness Reclamation, Awakening, and Unwinding Clock are in the deck.
People allergic to Hug decks: Even the most distrustful of Hug decks can be broken by drawing into answers in a pinch—so if you know you have one of those players in your pod, target them with a targeted draw spell when they seem disappointed or frustrated. Even if they don't find an answer in that moment, they'll appreciate your attempt (and you can later use that appreciation to your advantage, if you'd like!).
- Reset - A strange old card that's a mana-efficient tool to bank more mana with Kruphix.
- Skyshroud Claim - A good spell, but Reset fulfills the principle of lowering this deck's average CMC.
- Chromatic Orrery - Immediately filters. Only costs 2 if it resolves. Plus it says "Draw a card" on it somewhere!
- Obscuring Haze - A surprising asymmetrical fog that shuts of all damage, not just combat damage.
- Veil of Summer - Lean mean protection that also draws you a card.
- Noxious Revival - Excellent, aggressively-costed recursion.
- Narset's Reversal - Counter someone's spell (essentially) or copy one of your medium-to-big draw spells. Flexible.
- Turnabout - Ramp or protection. Can put you about a turn ahead in your gameplan or save your skin.
- Return to Nature - Modular removal. Plus it can be uncounterable via Boseiju, Who Shelters All mana!
- Skyshroud Claim - Solid ramp that finds your dual or shock and puts the lands into play untapped so you can bank mana.
- Reflecting Pool - Another source of .
- Venser's Journal - Too slow, too costly.
- Heartwood Storyteller - A longtime favorite, but it winds up drawing the more competitive decks too many cards for my taste.
- Simic Charm - The requirement was more awkward than I'd like. I might change my mind and throw this back in.
- Holistic Wisdom - Another longtime favorite, but I rarely found myself needing to recur more than 2 cards per game. So to reduce Kruphix's chance of becoming a Creature via devotion and to make this deck's curve a bit lower, out it goes.
- Forbid - My most controversial (in my mind, lol) cut. I love Forbid, but it feels a little too oppressive in the mid-to-late game, to be honest. A little to easy.
- Gemstone Array - Chromatic Orrery is nearly strictly better.
- Swan Song - A solid counterspell that I might throw back in.
-1 Island
- Mystic Remora - A little too efficient and tax-reliant to feel appropriate for this deck, which is more about quantity than quality.
- Glademuse - This rarely drew me cards.
- Folio of Fancies - A great card and an alternate wincon. Replacing it for an effect that's a bit greedier.
- Emergence Zone - I often assemble Flash without needing to go down a land.
- Clever Impersonator - A good versatile card, but a little awkward to cast.
- Teferi's Ageless Insight - Greed is good. A little cheaper than Alhammarret's Archive. Hopefully it's worth the devotion-risking pips.
- Simic Charm - Good protection.
- Reliquary Tower - No max hand size redundancy.
- Evacuation - A solid boardwipe and piece of protection. It's back!
+1 Forest!
OUT
- Kami of the Crescent Moon - Another Howling Mine, but too many pips! I've been trying more and more to design this deck such that Kruphix doesn't turn into a Creature via devotion to and until your game-winning turn.
- Thrasios, Triton Hero - A good value engine, but without a Training Grounds, feels too useless in the early game to justify increasing your devotion.
- Dictate of Kruphix - IT HURT ME TO CUT THIS. A namesake Hug piece with Flash! But see my note on Kami above.
- Reality Shift - A generically good card, but non-counterspell removal isn't as easy to sell politically.
- Evacuation - I go back and forth on including this card. It's good protection. But it also can hurt you if you don't have Flash and mana with which to redeploy whatever you bounce. And I like that Rift is this deck's only sweeper.
- Farseek - Too slow.
- Geier Reach Sanitarium - The discard is a downside, and feeds graveyard and discard decks.
- And I cut some of the fetches, and rearranged my ratio of basic lands to non-basic lands!
- Simic Signet - It's back!
- Thought Vessel - No max hand size redundancy, and an efficient, devotion-free rock.
- Talisman of Conviction - A solid rock. Early game the painland effect will help you fix.
- Clever Impersonator - So versatile.
- Mirage Mirror - So versatile!
- Glademuse - Testing this to see how much other players like it. It's also devotion-friendly with only one green pip in its cost.
- Regrowth - Efficient spot recursion.
- Venser's Journal - Life gain that pairs very well with Glacial Chasm, since you can stack the triggers so that you gain the life first. Also no max hand size redundancy.
- Mikokoro, Center of the Sea - A nice draw engine with an untap effect like Seedborn Muse or Awakening.
- Homeward Path - In case players steal Kruphix. Also good as a political tool to help your opponents.
- Mind Spring - I think a slightly higher density of devotion-free X-costed draw effects is good.
OUT
- Hydroid Krasis - Casting this—even with Unbound Flourishing out—often felt underwhelming. The lifegain is nice (it sometimes helps against a risk early Glacial Chasm). But this replacement should help Kruphix become a little more combo-tastic in the late game…
- Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy - Another combo piece for Basalt Monolith whose outlet can hit every creature in this deck except for Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix, and that'll provide more ramp value off this deck's rocks. We'll see if he pulls his weight!
OUT
- 3x Forest - For…
- Polluted Delta, Windswept Heath, and Flooded Strand - Fetches to thin the deck a bit and find those duals!
OUT
- Sophic Centaur - A lovely jank card that could produce some ridiculous lifegain in the late game, but the two green pips (and lack of Haste) make this card not quite worth it.
- Harrow - A decent ramp spell (particularly in the early game if you have available mana on the end step before your turn), but not nearly as good as…
- Mana Drain - Early ramp and control, or a clutch accelerant in the mid- to late-game when you want to put down the Hug pretenses (if you're trying to win!).
- Evacuation - An Instant-speed answer to creature-heavy decks or a lethal aggro attack. Both of these inclusions, too, slightly increase the density of Instants in the deck, which makes Holistic Wisdom a bit more powerful when it comes to recurring removal (like Krosan Grip), control magic (like Arcane Denial), and protection spells (like Heroic Intervention).
OUT
- Reality Spasm - This card always felt dead. I thought it would work as a control piece that could lock down combat steps or potential combo turns, but by the time I have the resources to pour a lot of mana into its cost, I almost always would rather go for the win.
- Arboria - Such a strange Enchantment! I found its anti-aggro payoff rarely useful. Plus, any time I can cut the amount of active green or blue pips on the battlefield, I will.
- Mind Spring - Nice in that it doesn't target (so can't be the target of a Misdirection), but otherwise underwhelming. I've found lately that the deck's consistency is improved if I cut down the density of -costed draw spells and increase the amount of ramp and interaction.
- Blue Sun's Zenith - The triple on this hurts, since this deck is pretty tight on colored mana. Plus I don't need more than two targeted draw spells as kill spells in the late game.
- Force of Vigor - A good card that saved my skin once, but exiling a green card in the early- to mid-game feels bad—and sometimes I'm not even able to!
- Simic Signet - Really stupidly good with Nyxbloom Ancient out (net 5 mana!), but I'd rather ramp than filter with this deck.
- Swan Song - Great, cheap interaction. "You get a bird!"
- Kodama's Reach - Another piece of ramp that fills the hand for an early Burgeoning and/or assures early land drops.
- Fellwar Stone - Can tap immediately; with Kruphix, it halfway pays for itself.
- Farseek - Another piece of early ramp that can find Tropical Island or Breeding Pool.
- Reality Shift - Excellent targeted removal. Particularly useful for other Indestructible generals.
- Island - I've found myself feeling thin on lands in hand in the early game, so I want to see over time how much one extra land helps.
- Jace's Archivist - This Creature, if it sticks around, can be sneakily disruptive with Seedborn Muse on the field. But in my experience the Archivist often sponges up some removal and is rarely worth the cost and the slowness (since this deck can't give a Creature haste).
- Island - Cut one for a flavorful and occasionally impactful land.
- Hydroid Krasis - Card draw and lifegain that can also serve as a big flampling body to use against Planeswalkers. Doubles its value with Unbound Flourishing out. Even if it gets countered, it's still a source of more cards and more life since its ability draws you cards and gains you life; the Creature needn't resolve.
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - This land becomes net-positive if you're devotion is 4+. Plus I can't turn it down—the FLAVOR!
- Farseek - Strictly worse in our build (because the land ETBs tapped) than…
- Three Visits - Another boringly expensive Nature's Lore, but hey: why not pull out all the stops?
- Recurring Insight - While I love the art, this card is good in the early game but feels dead (and not modular) in the mid- to late-game.
- One with the Stars - Turns off Kruphix's devotion problem but preserves the abilities. Plus the flavor text is on point! We'll see how useful this is.
- Words of Wisdom - see below
- Vision Skeins - This and Words are temporary draw effects that have three effects: 1) without a Consecrated Sphinx out, they temporarily sate your opponents' hunger for cards; 2) without the Sphinx, they can help your opponents dig for answers or draw that clutch Instant they were able to tutor to the top of their deck; and 3) with the Sphinx out, they'll draw you 8% – 15% of your deck for two mana. While the third payout is great, the first two payouts are less friendly, I think, than the optionality/convexity offered by spells.
- Tolarian Winds - This card nearly always dug for answers, and was a lifegain piece with the recently-cut Horizon Chimera. But again: I'd prefer the convexity of spells.
- Kodama's Reach - Nothing wrong with a piece of solid ramp and card advantage, but I'd like to trim the deck down to the bare minimum amount of ramp.
- Prismite - Beloved, beloved Prismite, enabler of infinite mana filtration for the last few months. I'll miss this card, but I suspect Gemstone Array's status as only an Artifact (and not a Creature) will better protect it from removal.
- Forest - I'm not yet that comfortable cutting a land, but if the multivariate hypergeometric calculators don't lie, then I should be fine…
- Mind Spring - Strictly worse than Finale of Revelation, but another spell that's convex to banked mana and doubles its value with Unbound Flourishing.
- Finale of Revelation - I'm not sure how often I'd like to recur my entire graveyard—and how often I'll actually satisfy the 10+ clause in this spell's text box—but I suspect this card will be more useful than not.
- Animist's Awakening - I'm not sure how often I'll have Spell Mastery, but this is a convex one-sided ramp spell.
- Reality Spasm - This seems useful against aggro and Voltron builds, and also useful if I need to untap a combo-prone Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith to get above removal on the stack in a pinch. This could also be used to hug via untapping opponents' lands and/or mana rocks.
- Gemstone Array - See above. I'm hoping the 2-higher CMC will be negligible since most of the time I've already generated infinite mana before casting my filter piece.
- Force of Vigor - I'm not sold on this, but it's a surprising piece of removal that can hit Stax and/or combo pieces in many cases.
I was inspired to build a Group Hug deck that focused on card draw only—no free ramp. My friend, Commander fanatic, and MTG Nexus user Crazy Monkey has a wildly "WELCOME TO THE LATE GAME" Hug deck that hooked me on decks that could get every player feeling like they could do all the most powerful things their decks are designed to do. As opposed to most Hug decks, I wanted to transition to combo/control quicker and more subtly than any given Hippo or Twins deck. (I want to thank Crazy Monkey: I owe to him much of my Commander enthusiasm.)