The Friendmaker | Talrand, Sky Summoner [PRIMER]
Commander / EDH Budget Control Counterspell Mono-Blue Multiplayer Primer Spellslinger Tokens
Instant (34)
- 1x AEtherize
- 1x Abjure
- 1x Aetherspouts
- 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
- 1x Arcane Denial
- 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
- 1x Brainstorm
- 1x Consider
- 1x Counterspell
- 1x Cryptic Command
- 1x Cyclonic Rift
- 1x Dig Through Time
- 1x Dispel
- 1x Impulse
- 1x Keep Safe
- 1x Lofty Denial
- 1x Mana Drain
- 1x Mana Leak
- 1x March of Swirling Mist
- 1x Meeting of Minds
- 1x Miscast
- 1x Narset's Reversal
- 1x Negate
- 1x Opt
- 1x Polymorphist's Jest
- 1x Redirect
- 1x Silundi Vision Flip
- 1x Snap
- 1x Swan Song
- 1x Think Twice
- 1x Three Steps Ahead
- 1x Transcendent Message
- 1x Unwind
- 1x Wizard's Retort
Artifact (13)
- 1x Arcane Signet
- 1x Bident of Thassa
- 1x Caged Sun
- 1x Everflowing Chalice
- 1x Fellwar Stone
- 1x Heraldic Banner
- 1x Isochron Scepter
- 1x Midnight Clock
- 1x Mind Stone
- 1x Sapphire Medallion
- 1x Sky Diamond
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Thought Vessel
Land (37)
- 1x Castle Vantress
- 30x Island
- 1x Lonely Sandbar
- 1x Myriad Landscape
- 1x Mystic Sanctuary
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 1x Riptide Laboratory
- 1x War Room
Enchantment (2)
Creature (1)
Commander (1)
Sorcery (12)
Maybeboard
Instant (1)
"You were built to prey upon those weaker than you. It is a simple life, and one that you were very good at. Unfortunately, I was built to perform more complex activities. Learning. Analysis. Understanding. And once I understand how something works—a spell, a system, a culture, the world—I must make it work better. How can I not? Yes, sometimes I wish I were just a predator." - Talrand
This budget spellslinger deck wants to use control and flying damage as a fair version of Talrand, Sky Summoner. Featuring:
- 1 creature in the 99.
- No tutors.
- No combos.
Cultural Exchange and Polymorph can also speed up the game while you're making friends.
Budget: $200
- Ramp.
- Play Talrand, Sky Summoner as soon as you have a Counterspell and mana to protect him.
- Start playing instants and sorceries to create drakes.
- Keep mana up for Counterspells to protect your board state while the drakes take down opponent life totals.
Pro Tip: Play politics. Counter a spell from the opponent who is the greatest threat at the table. Offer to help another player with a timely AEtherize in exchange for something.
- Combat damage from flying 2/2 drakes or whatever you steal with Cultural Exchange.
If you want an alternative win condition: try out Sphinx-Bone Wand.
Counterspells are powerful and it can be unfun to have your signature spells canceled. But each color has ways to protect from counterspells.
By discouraging this style instead of including solutions, players are signing up for haymaker spells and battlecruiser games which is totally fine. But some players enjoy the interactivity of magic and want the challenge of having to outmaneuver their opponents.
All this said, counterspells + stax + infinite combos is extreme. So to balance the power level and keep winning chances fair to promote a fun game, no infinite combos or stax pieces are included in this deck.
- You're looking for a budget control deck that is effective but not oppressive.
- You want to play blue in it's purest form.
- You like the challenge of having to protect your board and yourself only with instants and sorceries.
- You enjoy playing your commander in every game.
- You just want to pull off Polymorph into Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur.
- You like friends.
- Highly interactive.
- Resilient strategy built-in to the command zone.
- Surprise value can steal games.
- Fun replay value from the steal creatures subtheme.
- 95% of games depend on commander's presence on the battlefield to win. You can add Shark Typhoon or Metallurgic Summonings if this is a deal breaker.
- No permanent protection of commander and 100% reliance on spells creates some variable gameplay. Add Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Alexi's Cloak if you want a different approach.
- You cannot counter a spell from each opponent each turn, forever.
- There is only one creature in the deck so Polymorph puts Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur into play for .
- Mystic Sanctuary can return Cryptic Command from the graveyard to your hand. Then you can play Cryptic Command and return Mystic Sanctuary to your hand. Repeat every turn to always have a counterspell.
Lands and Ramp
This deck is mana hungry. 37 lands and 12 ramp spells support the 9+ turn games we are signing up for in a control deck. We need to be able to play Sphinx-Bone Wand AND have mana for a Counterspell in the same turn.
Polymorph
- Play Polymorph and target a drake.
- There is only one creature in the deck: Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur so put it on the battlefield.
For your hand is full and opponent hands are empty.
This is not a Polymorph deck. But in a spellslinger deck with no other creatures already, Polymorph is a perfect way for a some of our games to have a major advantage from an early Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. Just as with playing Talrand, I prefer to play Polymorph only if I have at least mana and a Counterspell to protect it.
If you like this interaction, the wise DreadKhan recommends running Proteus Staff and Sphinx of the Second Sun instead of Polymorph. That way if you activate Proteus Staff and it finds Sphinx of the Second Sun first, then the Sphinx's ability allows you to activate the staff again to find Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur.
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94% Casual
Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 2 weeks |
| Last updated | 2 days |
| Exclude colors | WBRG |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 2 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 26 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.57 |
| Tokens | Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Drake 2/2 U, Treasure |
| Folders | Decks, Chaos |
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