You can cast an Eldrazi and Ulalek, Fused Atrocity allows you to copy that creature. Cool bananas, very good.
But what about all this copy spells, activated abilities and triggered abilities?
Understanding timing is important.
In order to copy any other abilities they need to be on the stack already, and then the Eldrazi spell needs to be the last thing to occur in order to copy them all.
So you can't activate a fetch land in response to casting the Eldrazi and hope it will still be on the stack when the resolves.
Neither can you activate a fetch land and then hope that ability is on the stack when you cast an Eldrazi at normal sorcery speed.
Alright so we need to be able to cast Eldrazi at instant speed in order to get more effects other than copying an Eldrazi.
There are Eldrazi that actually have flash with Dimensional Infiltrator, Vile Redeemer, Void Grafter, Ulamog's Nullifier and then some emerge ones Elder Deep-Fiend, Drownyard Behemoth and even an actual instant Not of this World.
There are ways to give Eldrazi flash with cards like Leyline of Anticipation, Winding Canyons, Skittering Cicada to name a few.
However there are some tribal instants that are changelings, which mean they are in fact Eldrazi (along with every other creature type).
Blades of Velis Vel, Crib Swap, Ego Erasure, Nameless Inversion, Shields of Velis Vel Wings of Velis Vel.
These are more the engine cards to this deck, so really this is not an Eldrazi deck. Although I still play the 2-4 mana flash Eldrazi as enablers.
The main goal is trying to get as many things on the stack as possible. I want fat stacks.
You need 1-3 mana for the Eldrazi spell and , so between 3-5 is tied up in getting the copies.
Therefore how much mana do you have for other things?
With mana being the most important factor, I went through a process of deduction which really helped me identify how to achieve goals the best.
Process of deduction
Show
Hide
With anything that is cast or activated at sorcery speed you are probably only going to get one on the stack for the turn.
Basically anything that is not instants, so creatures, artifacts, enchantments, planewalkers, battles and surprise sorcery.
But there are plenty of other sorcery speed abilities like planeswalker activations and even entering the battlefield effects are going to happen at sorcery speed as they come off permanents, mainly creatures. Unless you specifically have flash enablers.
Triggered abilities are going to be at a sorcery type speed as well. I've already mentioned ETB effects, but beginning of phases are other common ones.
Triggered events can happen in a myriad of ways, but they are going to happen in a way where only one of a type is going to happen on the stack.
If you have multiple cards that are say "at beginning of upkeep" then you be able to put a bunch of them on the stack.
You can get multiple triggers of the same type as well, lets say for example "whenever a creature attacks", that can put a bunch of those same triggers on the stack.
But my point is that unless you specifically design around a particular phase, you'll only get one triggered ability that you can potentially copy each turn.
So really this means that it is instants and activated abilities that you'll be able to put multiple of on the stack in a consistent manner.
And rather than look at triggered abilities as a starting point, its easier to let the permanent based spells, which in this deck are creatures and artifacts be the things that start the chain.
Basically anything that is not instants, so creatures, artifacts, enchantments, planewalkers, battles and surprise sorcery.
But there are plenty of other sorcery speed abilities like planeswalker activations and even entering the battlefield effects are going to happen at sorcery speed as they come off permanents, mainly creatures. Unless you specifically have flash enablers.
Triggered abilities are going to be at a sorcery type speed as well. I've already mentioned ETB effects, but beginning of phases are other common ones.
Triggered events can happen in a myriad of ways, but they are going to happen in a way where only one of a type is going to happen on the stack.
If you have multiple cards that are say "at beginning of upkeep" then you be able to put a bunch of them on the stack.
You can get multiple triggers of the same type as well, lets say for example "whenever a creature attacks", that can put a bunch of those same triggers on the stack.
But my point is that unless you specifically design around a particular phase, you'll only get one triggered ability that you can potentially copy each turn.
So really this means that it is instants and activated abilities that you'll be able to put multiple of on the stack in a consistent manner.
And rather than look at triggered abilities as a starting point, its easier to let the permanent based spells, which in this deck are creatures and artifacts be the things that start the chain.
Keeping in mind that using Ulalek copying is going to be 3-5 mana, you are going to want activated abilities that cost little to really no mana.
Its important to know that the Ulalek, Fused Atrocity specifically doesn't copy mana abilities. Mana abilities don't use the stack anyway so it's not like you can respond to them.
A Llanowar Elves adding mana can't be copied but an Arbor Elf untapping a land can. Ahh you can probably see where I'm going with this. As mana is going to be a super important factor to getting good turns of value, I've included cards that can untap permanents.
Arbor Elf, Magus of the Candelabra, Voyaging Satyr, Candelabra of Tawnos all untap lands.
Manifold Key and Voltaic Key untap artifacts. Kiora's Follower can untap any permanent.
What are some other activated abilities that I can add to the stack?
There are some card draw effects with Mishra's Bauble, Urza's Bauble, Sensei's Divining Top, The One Ring.
Note Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble on the surface seem like they are good to draw you a couple of cards each at the very least.
But if we look at it deeper, let's say you cast Mishra's Bauble and get a copy of it when you do an Eldrazi flash.
With 2x Mishra's Bauble on another Eldrazi flash turn you crack them both so that you then get 4x the activated abilities on the stack. Now when the draw triggers go on the stack during next turn upkeep, if you have another Eldrazi flash you can copy those for drawing 8 cards!
Captain Sisay can get a couple of legendary cards each turn.
The One Ring drawing you double the amount of cards.
Dauthi Voidwalker you can wait until you have a number of cards exiled and then can choose from two of them.
Plargg, Dean of Chaos because it is a discard cost, you'll only need to do it once to draw 2 cards.
Shigeki, Jukai Visionary for double mana ramp or use the channel to get back twice the cards from graveyard.
Kaho, Minamo Historian gives you access to the tribal instants and other great options. If you use her ability to add to the stack then you'll be able to choose from two of the cards you've exiled (as long as they are same cost), but note the actual spells are not cast until after resolution. If you wanted a single instant cast twice, then you just make sure to let the ability resolve to cast it and then you can add again to the stack to copy that spell.
Isochron Scepter has a multitude of instants that can be imprinted, including the tribal instants to have an enabler each turn. There is the classic Dramatic Reversal, but by no means is this card in the deck for any specific reason other than to just keep putting any instant onto the stack for advantages. 2x Swords to Plowshares each turn is going to be more than enough to break games.
Dimensional Infiltrator is a reusable form of Eldrazi flash, but if you do it blindly then you might miss. This is where Lantern of Insight is a combo with it, as it allows you to activate with perfect knowledge. In a pinch you can sacrifice it and target a few opponents who might have some broken cards they are going to draw.
Copying Ulalek triggered ability means that you'll be able to double up on the entire stack.
Delney, Streetwise Lookout and Roaming Throne will put another Ulalek trigger on the stack so you will need an additional in order to get the benefits.
While talking about copying Ulalek ability I will point out that if you cast multiple Eldrazi flash cards while you have a stack then you will be able to double up. So for example you have 5 things on the stack and then you cast Shields of Velis Vel to trigger Ulalek. You wait for that to resolve so you have all the copies on the stack. With 10 things on the stack you cast say Blades of Velis Vel triggering Ulalek again. This time you will copy the 10 things on the stack for 20 things total.
Activating Ulalek triggered ability
There is the business of having to activate Ulalek, Fused Atrocity and unfortunately as a five color deck that is casting spells of the rainbow, having two colorless is not trivial.
Sure, if you have a Sol Ring/Mana Crypt every game, no problem. But even if you do, eventually your opponents are going to figure out how much of an enabler it is and prioritize removal of these.
Sol Talisman and The Enigma Jewel are also sources for the .
Basalt Monolith and Grim Monolith are potentially great for Ulalek as you can put their untap activated abilities onto the stack to get multiple untaps.
It still requires a mana investment initially however as you have to wait for the untap to happen before additional mana can be used, so if wanting to add to the copy stack they won't resolve.
Let's say you only have Basalt Monolith in play for colorless mana. You tap it to pay for Ulalek copy and you'll have left, so to put the untap onto the stack you need another . Remember we are trying to do a bunch of other things as well, so this might not be trivial. But once the stack resolves you can tap it to put into your mana pool and end up with it untapped.
Honor-Worn Shaku can be combined with tapping Ulalek at the very least for the activation. The untapping is an activated ability, so can be added to the stack for copying as well.
Delighted Halfling are sources that can contribute to the requirement.
The land base and spells in the deck have been specifically chosen around making sure you have the , as well as being able to cast all the colored spells in a timely manner.
It is a five color deck, but I've leaned towards mainly Blue with Green coming in next, so that there are more lands with these colors plus colorless.
That means "pain" lands that are Blue; Adarkar Wastes, Shivan Reef, Underground River, Yavimaya Coast.
Brushland is another one, plus Flooded Grove as a "filter" land.
Ancient Tomb and Eldrazi Temple can provide the on their own.
Other colorless lands are Alchemist's Refuge which is perfect for putting more of your permanent based spells on the stack.
Gemstone Caverns has a duplicity in that it's great in starting hand for ramp, but the colorless portion could work in your favor later on if you didn't start the game with it.
Urza's Saga can get Sol Ring (for example) to make sure you can pay for Ulalek, but there are quite a few utility targets. You could even make additional constructs if you have spare mana and double up on searching for two artifacts if you let that trigger be the start of a stack.
Because fetch lands are an activated ability that can be added to the stack, this is a really nice way to get land ramp.
So although there are more colored lands with colorless that could be added to the deck (like more filter lands), you still want a nice threshold of lands that can be searched up by the fetches.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth are mainly in the deck so that you can hold off on sacrificing your fetch lands until you have an opportunity to copy.
Instants
The instants are cheap to cast so that it is easier to add them to an already existing stack.
Snap and Frantic Search help to regenerate more mana for the turn when copied.
Vantress Visions is another way to copy Ulalek ability.
Crop Rotation is nice because you'll only have to sacrifice one land in order to get two with the copy effect.
Borne Upon a Wind enablers casting all your permanents at instant speed to get a nice stack going.
There is a healthy amount of targeted removal.
How to win?
There are loops that either represent overwhelming opponents with value or literal infinites.
Narset's Reversal, Remand, Reprieve, Unsubstantiate can return a spell and when copied this represents returning multiple spells, which you can string spell loops together.
Value loops
Show
Hide
Let's say you have Swords to Plowshares on the stack. You could then cast Remand on your Swords to Plowshares and then an Eldrazi flash. Once you've copied Swords to Plowshares and Remand you can use the copy of Remand to return your Eldrazi flash so that you have an enabler for another turn. The net result is that you'll still be able to Swords to Plowshares an opponents creature but you'll end up drawing two cards and having Swords to Plowshares in hand ready for another threat as well as the Eldrazi flash.
With this same idea in mind, if you have a lot of mana you can keep doubling up on the stack with that same Eldrazi flash. The Eldrazi flash are mostly enablers, but actually Nameless Inversion and Crib Swap are creature removal as well.
Let's do another example. Let's say you have 12 mana for the turn and cast Sol Ring and then Reprieve and then Crib Swap.
The stack will look like this after the copies are put on first time.
Sol Ring + Reprieve + Crib Swap + Sol Ring + Reprieve + Crib Swap
LIFO (Last in first Out) we get a Crib Swap resolving, and then Reprieve returns Crib Swap drawing a card.
Now we cast Crib Swap and copy again, so stack will now look like this:
Sol Ring + Reprieve + Sol Ring + Crib Swap + Sol Ring + Reprieve + Sol Ring + Crib Swap
Once these resolve you'll be able to Crib Swap another creature, cast 3x Sol Ring and end up with either Crib Swap OR Reprieve in hand of your choice and you'll draw another card off the Reprieve.
If you return the Reprieve to hand then you'll cast the original Sol Ring, otherwise it will end back in your hand to cast again.
The mana requirements look like this + + + + + = 12 mana.
With this same idea in mind, if you have a lot of mana you can keep doubling up on the stack with that same Eldrazi flash. The Eldrazi flash are mostly enablers, but actually Nameless Inversion and Crib Swap are creature removal as well.
Let's do another example. Let's say you have 12 mana for the turn and cast Sol Ring and then Reprieve and then Crib Swap.
The stack will look like this after the copies are put on first time.
Sol Ring + Reprieve + Crib Swap + Sol Ring + Reprieve + Crib Swap
LIFO (Last in first Out) we get a Crib Swap resolving, and then Reprieve returns Crib Swap drawing a card.
Now we cast Crib Swap and copy again, so stack will now look like this:
Sol Ring + Reprieve + Sol Ring + Crib Swap + Sol Ring + Reprieve + Sol Ring + Crib Swap
Once these resolve you'll be able to Crib Swap another creature, cast 3x Sol Ring and end up with either Crib Swap OR Reprieve in hand of your choice and you'll draw another card off the Reprieve.
If you return the Reprieve to hand then you'll cast the original Sol Ring, otherwise it will end back in your hand to cast again.
The mana requirements look like this + + + + + = 12 mana.
Infinite loops
Show
Hide
With any cards that produce mana the same turn they are cast, you can combine these with a "return spell to hand" spell and an Eldrazi flash to make infinite mana. Once you have infinite mana you can then use the same loop with any other card to produce infinite version of those.
Dramatic Reversal, Reset, Snap, Frantic Search, Dockside Extortionist, Cloud of Faeries.
If you have an Activated Ability in play which can untap mana sources to cover cost of loops then this will also work.
Making infinite Dockside Extortionist or Cloud of Faeries is a win condition.
If your Eldrazi flash are Dimensional Infiltrator, Vile Redeemer, Void Grafter, Ulamog's Nullifier then you will be making infinite of these.
Here is an example of what Cloud of Faeries + Unsubstantiate + Shields of Velis Vel would look like and require.
Once you cast all three spells and copied them, the copied Unsubstantiate will return Shields of Velis Vel, which you cast immediately to double the stack again. The net result is that you'll now have an additional Cloud of Faeries on the stack each time you return the Shields of Velis Vel with the new copy of Unsubstantiate. Because more and more Cloud of Faeries keep getting added to the stack, you'll have enough to keep paying for recasting Shields of Velis Vel and Ulalek triggered ability, as well as getting more mana.
+ + + + + + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) + + + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) = 10 mana needed before Cloud of Faeries resolves.
You could play other more expensive untappers like Peregrine Drake, but that would just mean you'd need 13 mana before you'd get the loop going.
Dramatic Reversal, Reset, Snap, Frantic Search, Dockside Extortionist, Cloud of Faeries.
If you have an Activated Ability in play which can untap mana sources to cover cost of loops then this will also work.
Making infinite Dockside Extortionist or Cloud of Faeries is a win condition.
If your Eldrazi flash are Dimensional Infiltrator, Vile Redeemer, Void Grafter, Ulamog's Nullifier then you will be making infinite of these.
Here is an example of what Cloud of Faeries + Unsubstantiate + Shields of Velis Vel would look like and require.
Once you cast all three spells and copied them, the copied Unsubstantiate will return Shields of Velis Vel, which you cast immediately to double the stack again. The net result is that you'll now have an additional Cloud of Faeries on the stack each time you return the Shields of Velis Vel with the new copy of Unsubstantiate. Because more and more Cloud of Faeries keep getting added to the stack, you'll have enough to keep paying for recasting Shields of Velis Vel and Ulalek triggered ability, as well as getting more mana.
+ + + + + + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) + + + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) + untap 2x lands (Cloud of Faeries resolves) = 10 mana needed before Cloud of Faeries resolves.
You could play other more expensive untappers like Peregrine Drake, but that would just mean you'd need 13 mana before you'd get the loop going.
That would be around is 6-10 mana that you are using for copying.
So you'll get an understanding of why cards need to be cheap to cast or activate, and also why so much is based around getting additional mana.
It will also help to understand on why you might have to have some of your mana abilities actually resolve and not get the luxury of copying them.
It's a Goblin deck!
There are three Goblins in the deck, Goblin Recruiter, Conspicuous Snoop, Dockside Extortionist.
I mean Dockside Extortionist is great in all, but what gives!?
Well because all the tribal instants are all creature types, they themselves are Goblins.
So you can stack Conspicuous Snoop, Dockside Extortionist plus all the tribal instants to make sure you have an Eldrazi flash each turn, or even multiples in a turn.
Ulalek, Fused Atrocity - Eldrazi Flash
Approximate Total Cost:
Zacama
