[JT] CGC: Crying for the Moon

It's been awhile since I talked about my pride and joy; i.e. my Moonfolk EDH deck (last iteration is here).  Unfortunately, there is not a lot of cards that have been released lately that either flavorfully or functionally make me excited to tweak the deck.  Here is where it currently sits though:

Patron of the Moon (Commander)
Uyo, Silent Prophet
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Soratami Savant
Soratami Mirror-Mage
Moonbow Illusionist
Soratami Mindsweeper
Oboro Breezecaller
Floodbringer
Oboro Envoy
Soratami Rainshaper
Soratami Seer
Soratami Cloudskater
Soratami Mirror-Guard
Kami of the Crescent Moon
Keiga, the Tide Star
Soramaro, First to Dream
Riptide Director
Riptide Shapeshifter
Roil Elemental
Lighthouse Chronologist
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Windreader Sphinx
Grand Architect
Graceful Adept

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Jace Beleren
Tezzeret, the Seeker

Counsel of the Soratami
Into the Roil
Hinder
High Tide
Cyclonic Rift
Cryptic Command
Counterlash
Boomerang
Redirect
Blue Sun's Zenith

Infinite Reflection
Spreading Seas
Inexorable Tide
Gravitational Shift
Training Grounds
Archmage Ascension
Parallel Thoughts

Mirror Gallery
Sol Ring
Isochron Scepter
Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
Amulet of Vigor
Coat of Arms
Bident of Thassa
Storm Cauldron
Illusionist's Bracers
Ring of Evos Isle
Adventuring Gear
Everflowing Chalice
Sapphire Medallion

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Moonring Island
Riptide Laboratory
Academy Ruins
Seat of Synod
Ghost Quarter
Buried Ruin
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Reliquary Tower
Cavern of Souls
Thespian's Stage
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Tectonic Edge
Haunted Fengraf
Cephalid Coliseum
Faerie Conclave
Island x21
Maze of Ith
Magosi, the Waterveil

Some changes I want to highlight (and still make in the future):

- Infinte Reflection/Mirror Gallery  I decided to increase the flavor of the Soratami using mirrors as a source of power.  As such, I also want to include a copy of Tempt with Reflection from the new Commander products.  I'm dreaming of a time when I Tempt targeting Keiga, the Tide Star.  I'll let you figure out the fun in that one ;)

- Low Tide  So, as much as I hated to do it, i had to take out Tidal Flats, Tidal Wave, Moonlace, Deluge, and some other flavorful cards because they were just underperforming.  Some of them might make a return, but for now I wanted to use other cards to see how they work.

- Bident of Thassa Another method of controlling Tides, though I am still debating whether or not Thassa and the Moonfolk would actually get along... perhaps she should be the new Commander?  Nah.  Either way, will all of the flying, this can draw me a LOT of cards.

-Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Speaking of lots of something, how about lots of mana?  This deck can already go infinite, but in a mono-colored, creature based deck, this card can produce stupid amounts of mana.

- Tidal Force I do not have a copy yet, but I feel like it is a pretty obvious inclusion.  The only problem I have with including it (and Tempt with Reflection) is just that there is no foil version, and this is the one deck I want to foil out, but i will suck it up.



- Whelming Wave Probably the one card other than the Bident I was most excited for for this deck.  Whether or not it will actually make it in or not is yet to be seen though.  First I need to get my hands on one.

 So there is my update on my Moonfolk deck.  Kind of short, kind of sweet, but wait until next week, where I go over my new and improved Sphinx deck :3 Theros has been really good for it so far.  And if that does not whet your appetite, maybe this will:  Theros allowed me to almost completely overhaul my Legend of Zelda EDH deck.  That's the one I am most excited to share, but we have to save the best for last now, don't we?

I will leave you with one quick match story with this deck.  Apparently, Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar  and Parallel Thoughts DO NOT GO WELL TOGETHER, especially when you put all of your possible outs into P.Thoughts.  The two create a replacement effect for the same event (drawing a card), and you choose which you do, and unless I am mistaken (which I will be double checking as soon as I am done with this actually), since Thoughts is a 'may' and Tomorrow is not, you must do Tomorrow, meaning you never get to touch the cards you have under Thoughts.  Learned that the hard way.

Do any of you know if that's the correct ruling?  Let me know in the comments.  Feel free to leave any other suggestions for the deck as well.  And don't forget, I still need your help deciding what deck to build next!

Well, until next time, I'll just be over here mooning you.
-JT

[JT] CGC: I'm about to moon the hell out of you...

... No seriously, that's the alternate name to the deck I'm spotlighting in today's Deck Discuss.

This has been a long time coming.  You all know by now I have my Legend of Zelda EDH deck, Link of the Many, and with how much I talk about it, you would think it's my pride and joy of a deck.  You would be wrong.  As much as I love the flavor of the deck and tweaking in new story elements from the video games, my first love when it comes to my decks is my Patron of the Moon/Moonfolk EDH deck.

The Soratami have been my favorite tribe since I got started in Magic.  Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you I have an [unhealty?] obsession with the moon and the color blue, so it was kind of a no-brainer for me to identify with them.  It started out as a casual 60 card deck, but when I decided to make an EDH deck, it was kind of obvious which deck would get augmented first.  I now give you my baby...

General/Commander: Patron of the Moon

Creatures (24):
-Moonfolk
Uyo, Silent Prophet (alt. General)
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Soratami Cloudskater
Floodbringer
Oboro Breezecaller
Moonbow Illusionist
Soratami Rainshaper
Soratami Savant
Soratami Mindsweepet
Soratami Mirror-Mage
Oboro Envoy
Soratami Mirror-Guard
Soratami Seer
-other
Keiga, the Tide Star (come on... a TIDE dragon... in a MOONfolk deck... there is NO better flavor than that...)
Kami of the Crescent Moon

Tideforce Elemental
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Hisoka, Minamo Sensei
Graceful Adept
Grand Architect
Trinket Mage
Adaptive Automaton

Planeswalker (3):
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Jace Beleren
Tezzeret, the Seeker

Spells (22):
-Enchantment
Training Grounds
Gravitational Shift
Xenograft
Tidal Flats
Favorable Winds
Honden of Seeing Winds
Parallel Thoughts
Archmage Ascension
Mind Unbound
-Instants
Cryptic Command
Tidal Wave
High Tide
Gush
Moonlace (it's flavor people... plus I'm waiting for that one moment where it does something to screw someone over)
Boomerang
Oppressive Will
Squelch
Deluge
Hinder
Redirect
-Sorceries
Counsel of the Soratami
Sleep

Artifacts (11):
Sapphire Medallion
Sol Ring
Storm Cauldron
Amulet of Vigor
Adventuring Gear
Moonring Mirror
Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
Crystal Ball
Coat of Arms
Isochron Scepter
Ring of Evos Isle

Lands (39):
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Riptide Laboratory
Reliquary Tower
Academy Ruins
Magosi, the Waterveil
Buried Ruins
Faerie Conclave
Cephalid Coliseum
Haunted Fengraf
Seat of Synod
Islands x28









So let's talk about things a little bit.  First of all, why did I choose the Patron and not one of the actual Moonfolk?  Well, flavor was one reason.  Patrons are supposed to be the epitome of the tribes they represent (at least in my mind).  It's high (and ever increasing) mana cost can be seen as a deterrent from using it as a general, but his Moonfolk Offering ability allows you to cut his price in half.

The Patron of the Moon also has the unique ability of making up for one of the largest short comings of the moonfolk: the cost of their abilities.  Almost all of the moonfolk have some kind of activated ability that requires returning a certain number of lands you control to your hand, in addition to a mana cost.  With the Patron's ability, you can mitigate this by replacing two of the lands you returned, or just spam in lands at instant speed.


Yes... at instant speed.  Anyone remember a little mechanic from Zendikar known as Landfall?  How would you love to hit multiple Landfall triggers at once... on your opponents' turns?  Hence why I have Adventuring Gear and Tideforce Elemental in the deck.  Why just those two and not more, like Roil Elemental?  Because it got degenerate.  Thanks to two artifacts, Amulet of Vigor (searchable with Trinket Mage and Tezzeret) and Storm Cauldron, you can go infinite on mana, and yes, Landfall (i.e. "At the end of your turn, I use Roil Elemental's Landfall trigger to steal that creature... and that creature... and that creature... and tha- oh, you scoop?").  I allowed Tideforce Elemental to stay out of the sheer flavor (again, Tides and Moonfolk go hand in hand), and Adventuring Gear because while I can make the equipped creature stupid big, none of them have trample, so they can just be chump-blocked.

Now, here's where things get really fun, and where I am planning on taking this deck int he near future.  If I want to maximize the flavor of this deck (which is what EDH is for me: building with flavor), I think Arcane spells would be amazing additions.  I actually had them in the deck for a while, but everything was too spread out; trying to do too many things at once.  So I am trying to make it a bit more streamlined with the Arcanes, which is another huge reason I love having Isochron Scepter in the deck.  Besides being able to Imprint a High Tide on the Scepter, Imprinting an Arcane spell will allow you to continually have something to Splice onto.  Here are the Arcane spells I am looking to include:

Disrupting Shoal
Evermind
Consuming Vortex
Eerie Possession
Psychic Puppetry
Reweave
Veil of Secrey (Ok... so I lied about chump-blocking when I go infinite with Adventuring Gear ;))
Eye of Nowhere
Ideas Unbound
Murmurs from Beyond
Peer Through Depths
Petals of Insight
Reach Through Mists
Sift Through Sands
Stream of Consciousness
Toils of Night and Day


This is also why Uyo, Silent Prophet would make an excellent alternate General.  There are also a few other "Tide" cards that I am working on slotting into the deck.

So that's my Moonfolk EDH deck, and I love this thing to pieces.  It is the only deck I care about foiling out (I normal just pass on the foils since they go for way too much, just to fall off later), and I will trade things I need for other decks just to get pieces for this deck.  Case in point, when Sword of War and Peace was at it's peak (~$40), I traded it straight up for a foil Keiga, the Tide Star (~$25).  It is so much fun to play, and it's quite amusing to see the looks on people's faces when I reveal my General and they just sort of cock their heads a bit.

Now go out there and moon some people...
-JT