For a few weeks now, I've been traveling through the archives of Commander Cast, this pretty sweet site that broadcasts weekly EDH podcasts.
This Linessa build I'm going to talk about is a byproduct of listening to the show, reshaping some of my previous attitudes toward my process and views on EDH.
So, if you read the manifesto I wrote last week about my deckbuilding process called, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Monocolor," then you know a little bit about my revamped paradigms.
As a deck, Linessa is very much my first project in this new paradigm. For my hardcore, counter-friendly readers, this deck spares no expense in terms of how blue controls the board.
At the same time though, this deck should offer a much more creative and fun way to play blue than the normally powerful decks.
So here's the deck. Take a look.
Commander: Linessa, Zephyr Mage
Yeah, I know Linessa doesn't seem so powerful- especially because Grandeur is a non-existent mechanic in EDH.
However, Linessa actually has multiple purposes for various board states. She can bounce your opponent's dudes. She can bounce your dudes, to recur "Comes Into Play" effects, or to protect them. She can even bounce herself!
The best part is that people see her ability and really think it's non-threatening- the truth is though, this deck can abuse her if you don't do anything.
Creatures:
AEther Adept
Archaeomancer
Brine Elemental
Chromeshell Crab
Clone
Dreamscape Artist
Drift of Phantasms
Kederekt Leviathan
Looter il-Kor
Master Thief
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Merfolk Looter
Mulldrifter
Myr Battlesphere
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Palinchron
Phyrexian Metamorph
Pilgrim's Eye
Sakashima the Impostor
Solemn Simulacrum
Sphinx of Uthuun
Steel Hellkite
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thalakos Deceiver
Trinket Mage
The creature base here boasts many common cards, like Clone and Metamorph and Sakashima and Myr Battleball. Even Kederekt Leviathan.
The cards that I'm excited about though are my utility dudes. Trinket Mage, though obviously a second copy of Sol Ring or Sensei's Divining Top in most decks, serves actually a secondary purpose in mine. With the additions of Darksteel Citadel and Seat of the Synod in the mana base, Trinket Mage can also become the blue version of Borderland Ranger.
Which brings me to another "cute" addition. Pilgrim's Eye. This card is clearly not for the feint of heart, or the magic players that aspire to make good decks. It has a home here because, as you all know, I love land, and I want to make sure my blue deck will get better card advantage than green ramp decks in the late game.
Teferi and Palinchron have always been cards that I've tended to shy away from, and cut out of decks because they weren't good enough. Here though, they add a little spice, creating opportunity for me to bounce and play dudes on other people's turns.
Master Thief is one of the cards that I'm most excited about. I actually didn't know a thing about this card until someone played it against me in Orlando. It was super-sweet.
AEther Adept might seem redundant here, but I assure you this creature becomes a great value play when you only have to pay 5 to bounce it back with Linessa at EOT so you can bounce someone else's creature on your turn for 3.
Spells:
Blue Sun's Zenith
Brainstorm
Capsize
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Evacuation
Fact or Fiction
Legerdemain
Memory Lapse
Merchant Scroll
Mind Spring
Mystical Tutor
Oona's Grace
Pongify
Pulse of the Grid
Rite of Replication
Sapphire Charm
Spelltwine
Spin into Myth
Sunder
Whispers of the Muse
One of the best things about this deck is that it's pretty easy to play. You're really only playing creatures on your turn, so your mana stays open. And you always have options on other people's turns. You can draw cards or disrupt the board if no one wants to play into a counterspell.
Evacuation and Capsize, though fairly redundant as creature bounce with Linessa, can be very good, and will often prevent you from having to play and re-play Linessa.
Overall, the cards I'm most excited about playing are Pulse of the Grid and Oona's Grace, which should turn dead draws into value.
Also, notice how I'm only really playing three counterspells!
Artifact:
Armillary Sphere
Caged Sun
Extraplanar Lens
Expedition Map
Mimic Vat
Oblivion Stone
Sol Ring
Tormod's Crypt
Pretty run of the mill artifact selection. Nothing out of the ordinary. We do have another target for Trinket Mage in Tormod's Crypt, which can be a pretty big game in my current meta.
Enchantment:
Decree of Silence
Parallel Thoughts
Parallel Thoughts is a card I haven't had a chance to play yet, but I'm pretty excited about it. With blue, I've packed the deck with a lot of card draw so I can avoid obviously bad situations where I don't get all the cards out from under it before the enchantment gets hated off the table. It's also a sweet blue tutor so you can go get anything, from lands to Palinchron or whatever.
Planeswalker:
Jace Beleren
Tezzeret the Seeker
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Yeah, I'm playing Planeswalkers. Jace for draw. Tezz for artifact utility, and another great source of land ramp, using his second ability for 0. Tamiyo, because, well, I have one, she's awesome, and I got to ultimate her. Wanted to play Karn but I was trying to be a little bit more fun.
Land:
Darksteel Citadel
Evolving Wilds
Flooded Strand
Island (30)
Mystifying Maze
Reliquary Tower
Scalding Tarn
Seat of the Synod
Soldevi Excavations
Strip Mine
Terramorphic Expanse
I'm playing a magic 40 land here, with 30 basics. Mostly, the other land is utility, some fetches, cause I had them laying around.
So playtesting.
I've brought Linessa into about 3 or 4 matches now (9-12 games), and I've really loved playing it. I've even won most of the games.
One of the reasons is that I've found so much synergy in unexpected places. Some of these plays are worth mentioning.
Obviously, Palinchron is absurd. Everyone knows about the infinite mana combo with cards like Mana Flare and Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens.
However, I made an infinite mana combo of my own after I went ultimate with Tamiyo, using Rite of Replication over and over on Palinchron because it would go to the graveyard and come back to my hand.
I've also used the Caged Sun + Palinchron combo to pump my Steel Hellkite for infinite damage, which was cool.
But my pal Palinchron isn't the only one doing combo duty.
Just last night I used Sakashima, Brine Elemental, and AEther Adept to lock my opponent out of his mana after he tapped out to draw a bunch of cards. I played Sakashima to copy AEther Adept to bounce Brine Elemental. This is what happens when you don't miss land drops. I also used Capsize to do some similar things.
Archaeomancer is also a complete star in my deck because I can bounce him and recur cards that I might have to discard or spells I've already played, building my own Snapcaster Mage that keeps the spells coming and coming.
In fact, because he's so good, I'm considering bringing Mnemonic Wall to the party.
On the topic of changes and difficulties through the first plays of the deck.
One of the biggest decisions you have to make in the deck is discarding, whether it be from Merfolk Looter or Pulse of the Grid or Dreamscape Artist or even a land to retrace Oona's Grace. I've found that making this decision is not a snap choice. You're going to have to make some difficult choices sometimes.
As a result, I'm considering playing a few more "not so good" cards. While Myr Battlesphere is a sweet Rite of Replication target, or a good creature to have on my Mimic Vat, the Battleball might come out for a card like Patron of the Moon.
If I do that, then Sunder and Meloku won't be as brutal for me as it for the rest of the board.
Another card I'm going to add to the mana base is Terrain Generator. Every monocolored deck really needs one of these, especially the non-green decks. I just need to get more copies of it.
I actually find that I play this deck better than I've played some of the other, better mono-U decks though. Cause I like it.
Since I plan on keeping it, I'll probably be looking to put Snow-Covered Land and Scrying Sheets in it, or potentially full-art Zendikar Islands.
Anyway, super fun deck with a sweet competitive edge. That's my Linessa Blueberry Deck.
If you have any thoughts/comments/ideas, as always, feel free to comment!
Turn's to you.
-UL
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