I was still going back and forth which deck I would get the entire car ride. Everyone else I knew who played in the EDH League here was raving about blue. Animar, Damia, Riku, almost every general with a teardrop in the corner was getting loved on. Except one. Zedruu had not had a single mention on other people’s priority list, and I couldn’t tell why. The deck seemed solid, maybe not the value cards of Riku or Damia’s decks. Still it seemed like it’d be easy to pass up, and sure enough, there it was. I traded a few rares and a twenty for the deck, passing on a Japanese version at the last second. After getting it home, the next trick was adding to it until it would at least stand a chance against the other league decks around.
Deck Changes, Round 1:
The Political Puppets deck is the only one to get seriously shortchanged in the mana department, a paltry total of 6 nonbasic lands, so after a trip to the binder, and another to the color printer, we made a few additions
| OUT | IN |
|---|---|
| 6 Island | Original Duals (Tundra / Plateau / Volcanic Island) |
| 3 Mountain | Fetches (Flooded Strand / Scalding Tarn / Arid Mesa) |
| 3 Plains | Ravnica Duals (Steam Vents / Sacred Foundry / Hallowed Fountain) |
| Shadowmoor Filters (Cascade Bluffs / Mystic Gate) | |
| Reliquary Tower |
With all the cards I draw in this deck, Reliquary Tower seemed like a must-add. Along with that came the thought of adding Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind, which is probably the next card to go in once I figure out the deck’s color balance. I knew I wanted the deck to stay predominantly blue, and I wanted to keep the card draw. Speaking of card draw, quite a few spells found the door. Let’s start with Artifacts and Enchantments
| OUT | IN |
|---|---|
| Howling Mine | Phyrexian Metamorph |
| Sol Ring | Land Tax |
| Fellwar Stone | Fact or Fiction |
| Champion's Helm | Mnemonic Wall |
| Prophetic Prism | Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
| Soul Snare | Teferi's Moat |
The only real stunner here is Sol Ring not making the cut. In this deck, I prefer Land Tax, basically because color fixing trumps mana ramp in this deck. Mnemonic Wall helps because this deck has tons of instants and sorceries, although some of them didn’t make the cut, including the entire set of clash cards.
Flusterstorm is a great card, and it will make me some movey in trade from a legacy player, but for the moment it doesn’t do what I want it to in my meta. There aren’t a lot of storm setups that a hard counter wouldn’t fix. If it gets bad, who knows. Kozilek is part bomb, part library shuffler for all the cards I seem to discard over the course of a match.
Finally I wanted to include a couple packages to help out some creatures in the main deck. With something like 5 walls, and another 4 or 5 1/1 guys, Reveillark was an auto include. With that came Body Double. For the Card drawing half, Niv Mizzet an Phychosis Crawler come in, and Nin, the Pain Artist found a new play buddy to zap with her toys, Swans of Brynn Argoll!
| OUT | IN |
|---|---|
| Rapacious One | Reveillark |
| Chromeshell Crab | Body Double |
| Jotun Grunt | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind |
| Goblin Cadets | Psychosis Crawler |
| Arbiter of Knollridge | Swans of Brynn Argoll |
So that wraps up the first 30 changes, and there’s still more I want to add. With all my draw effects, there’s an eventual need to shuffle my graveyard back, where cards like Feldon’s Cane, Elixir of Immortaliy, and Reminisce should find their way in. I also am in a Bribery mood, and might add both the spell and Gwafa Hazid, to keep creatures off my back. I’m going to stick with my Hazezon Tamar (Naya Token Stompy) for League this year, and will have updates on that and more Zedruu tunings in the future!
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