Tevesh + Thrasios Mid-Range

[benjameenbear]

This is a placeholder for the Tevesh Szat + Thrasios list that I've been running as one of my primary cEDH decks.

With the printing of Orcish Bowmasters, there's been a noticeable dropoff in the number of Tevesh + Thrasios decks I've been seeing. Probably because the Bowmasters can snipe the Thrull tokens and routinely boardwipe the board, I guess. But the thing is...

Bowmasters won't show up in EVERY game. And, we can play our own.

So I'm recording this list that's aiming to try and tackle the three main pillars I've been observing in cEDH gameplay: artifacts. overabundance of cards drawn, and Breach combos.

Thrasios + Tevesh Szat Midrange

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commanders

1 Thrasios, Triton Hero

1 Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Mana Sources (20)

1 Mox Diamond

1 Mox Opal

1 Jeweled Lotus

1 Chrome Mox

1 Lotus Petal

1 Mana Crypt

1 Sol Ring

1 Mana Vault

1 Dark Ritual

1 Carpet of Flowers

1 Delighted Halfling

1 Deathrite Shaman

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Armored Scrapgorger

1 Bloom Tender

1 Devoted Druid

1 Arcane Signet

1 Talisman of Dominance

1 Grim Monolith

1 Basalt Monolith

Tutors (11)

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Tainted Pact

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Diabolic Intent

1 Wishclaw Talisman

1 Finale of Devastation

1 Eldritch Evolution

1 Chord of Calling

1 Opposition Agent

1 Beseech the Mirror

Removal (8)

1 Chain of Vapor

1 Abrupt Decay

1 Assassin's Trophy

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Orcish Bowmasters

1 Toxic Deluge

1 Culling Ritual

1 Deadly Rollick

Counterspells (13)

1 Veil of Summer

1 Spell Snare

1 Swan Song

1 Flusterstorm

1 An Offer You Can't Refuse

1 Counterbalance

1 Trickbind

1 Delay

1 Mana Drain

1 Force of Negation

1 Fierce Guardianship

1 Mindbreak Trap

1 Force of Will

Card Draw (6)

1 Skullclamp

1 Mystic Remora

1 Rhystic Study

1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

1 Talion, the Kindly Lord

1 The One Ring

Win Conditions (4)

1 Thassa's Oracle

1 Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

1 Machine God's Effigy

1 Hullbreaker Horror

Additional Value/Interaction (7)

1 Noxious Revival

1 Flesh Duplicate

1 Oko, Thief of Crowns

1 Eternal Witness

1 Mnemonic Betrayal

1 Displacer Kitten

1 Seedborn Muse

Lands (29)

1 Otawara, Soaring City

1 Boseiju, Who Endures

1 Gaea's Cradle

1 Ancient Tomb

1 Verdant Catacombs

1 Polluted Delta

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Marsh Flats

1 Scalding Tarn

1 Wooded Foothills

1 Flooded Strand

1 City of Brass

1 Mana Confluence

1 Forbidden Orchard

1 Exotic Orchard

1 Reflecting Pool

1 Command Tower

1 Woodland Cemetery

1 Overgrown Tomb

1 Bayou

1 Undergrowth Stadium

1 Breeding Pool

1 Tropical Island

1 Rejuvenating Springs

1 Drowned Catacomb

1 Watery Grave

1 Underground Sea

1 Morphic Pool

Approximate Total Cost:

[pokken]

I know this is going to sound ridiculous for CEDH, but I think I would consider playing Life from the Loam in this deck. The percentage of games you completely lock out with Loam+Boseiju, Who Endures or Otawara, Soaring City is pretty high

[benjameenbear]

Fair point. It's not quite what this deck wants to do, but the cEDH meta is actually in a spot where a Loam deck could actually do really well, especially with some extra land effects. Maybe an Aesi deck could really do some damage.

[benjameenbear]

Got some games in recently that I need to post:

• Getting in some games tonight against Yawgmoth, Inalla, and Maralen Ad Naus. I stopped the Inalla from going off t2 and then the Maralen player on t4. I got an early One Ring but then the Yawg player had a Bowmasters, which killed my Kinnan and thrulls. The game slowed down for me quite a bit with the active Bowmasters, and Inalla was just draw-go while Yawg was developing their board. Eventually, Yawg and Meren tapped out and Inalla had only 2 cards in hand. I decided this was my window, so I tapped a Wishclaw I'd cast earlier to find ThOracle and gave the Wishclaw to Inalla. I attempted a win on my t5 but one of the last 2 cards in the Inalla player's hand (the other 2 were tapped out) was a Force and he had exactly enough mana to hardcast it 😆. I tapped my One Ring and to try and find a single interaction piece in the top 4 cards... whiff. The Inalla player won after he used my donated Wishclaw to find the reanimate to start the Necromancer loop
• I won the next game with ThOracle, but it was absolutely wild. So, it was Meren, Yawg, and 4C Omnath. I went first again (the dice loved me). I had a decent starting hand with an early Counterbalance and Halfling. I didn't draw another mana source for the next 5 turns, so I'm capped at 2 lands and a Sol Ring with a bunch of cards I can't profitably cast. But, Counterbalance OVERDELIVERED. Omnath attempted to go off 4 times. Counterbalance stopped one attempt, I Negation'ed a Breach, Opp Agent stole a Chord to take a Dockside, and then someone killed the Dockside in response to a bounce spell with an active Deadeye.
  
  Part of the insanity is that Meren cast their Meren and no one found/had an Opp Agent until me. I drew into a Vault and using my 2 lands cast Finale to find Opp Agent. That was great. I took only 2 tutors though before Yawg killed my Agent. It was hilarious.
  
  Eventually, the game drags on as multiple win attempts are stopped. At some point, me and the Omnath player (clearly the leaders in board and playskill) are at 12 and 8 life respectively. I had taken Meren's Ad Naus, so they were out of it completely. And Yawg was stuck on mana. But, the Meren player cast 5 spells and revealed a Tendrils of Agony. They could kill only me or the Omnath player, not both. Evens, it's Omnath; odds is me for the kill. The dice rolls... and it's a 4. The Omnath player dies having attempted to win 4 times and getting stopped all 4 times.
  
  It then comes down to me and the Yawg player. I can't remember all the details, but I know I Effigy'ed his Yawgmoth so I could sac my Thrulls to kill his Yawg so I could survive his attack. He then tries to finish me off by casting Sheoldred (I was at 5 life and had a Library trigger coming up)... but then Counterbalance flipped over Kitten. I stopped Sheoldred and then safely resolved ThOracle. Absolutely wild game though.
• G3 was an early Thras into Seedborn into a Basalt monolith. My opponents were a Mizzik Storm, Jin-Git control, and Yawg again. My opening hand was Ancient Tomb, 2 lands, Talisman, and Seedborn. I T1 Tomb into Talisman. T2 was Thrasios. T3 was Seedborn Muse and that was that. I cast more mana sources on my T4 and eventually had 4 counterspells for my T5 Kinnan + Basalt attempt. It was a thick stack, but my Force of Will was the last one standing and I resolved Kinnan and did the infinite mana thing where I drew my deck and technically ThOracle'd ftw. There really wasn't much that anyone could do as I just buried them in cards, permission, and removal
• G4 I ThOracle'd again after having my Hullbreaker win con handled. So it was Mizzix Storm, Jin-Git, and Tevesh+Kraum. I had a pretty slow start of T2 Tender into a T3 Thras and holding up interaction. Mizzix is mana screwed and Tevesh+Kraum gets mana flooded (not sure why they kept their starting hands?). I slide underneath the Jin-Git control deck and build into Tevesh and Rhystic. We play draw-go for a while until Mizzix starts to go off. I eventually get to 7 mana with a Crypt and have Hullbreaker, tutor, + ThOracle in hand. So I cast the Hullbreaker on my opp's end step and Mizzix hard casts Mindbreak Trap. Jin-Git has no response, having tapped out for a Rhystic and mana rock their turn. I let the Hullbreaker go and untap for a protected ThOracle win
• I was able to get a game in tonight with our boys. I played against Yawg (same player), Magda, and Omnath (same player). I opened with Culling Ritual, Oko, Cradle, and a few other things. I T2 Thras to turn on my Guardianship, counter a Chord from the Omnath to find Emiel after he cast Dockside, and Yawg had an early Yawg. Magda is doing Magda things and playing some Dwarves, nothing super crazy. I T3 Oko the Yawg to shut down his card draw, and then Omnath plays a Sylvan Library and a mana rock. Magda gets up to 4 treasures, and Yawg finds a Sol ring off of his Urza's saga. I t4 Ritual the board to cast Tevesh and Demonic for the One Ring, and I leave everyone mana screwed. I then just run away with the game by ultimate-ing Tevesh and Chord-ing into a Hullbreaker loop as I counter just one spell from the Omnath player and Yawg and Magda don't draw mana sources. C Ritual is pretty good, who knew

[benjameenbear]

So I played against Nadu a couple of times last night, and it didn't win at all. I think it's because I table-talked the table into respecting it and also the Nadu's skill level might be questionable.

But it also had a ROUGH couple of games. Here's my game reports.

G1 I played against Blue Farm, Nadu, and a noncEDH style Voja (it's all the dude had that was vaguely good enough to keep up).

Blue Farm won the roll and went first. Blue Farm plays Ragavan, Nadu plays a dork, I do Vault, and Voja plays a dork. T&K plays a T2 Drannith. There goes my T2 Tevesh heh. Then, Nadu plays a Metamorph as a copy of Drannith. I stare at my Cyc Rift, realizing I'm probably gonna have to try and cast it if I want any chance of playing. I get flooded on lands (even after keeping a 3-land hand, tears!) and finally get to 7 mana on T4. At this point, Blue Farm main phases Ad Naus and goes down to 1 life... but whiffs. Nadu still can't do anything, so I endstep Rift to try and claw back into the game and draw some sort of interaction for the ThOracle we all know is coming. I cast Tevesh and Thras, sac the Thrasios... and draw zero counterspells (having tapped out). Having failed to draw anything relevant all game, the turn goes to Blue Farm who ThOracle's with no interaction from anyone.

G2 I played against Sisay (same Blue Farm player), Nadu, and a better-tuned Nekusar.

Sisay goes first and plays a Ragavan. Nadu plays the Surveil land (didn't mull for a dork), and I go fetch → Crypt → Sol Ring → Petal → turbo Tevesh and spawn some tokens. I also had Cradle in my hand as well. Nekusar plays a land. Sisay plays a Lotho (hah!) and attacks the Nadu player, stealing their dork. Nadu untaps, plays a land, and passes (I'm skeptical about pilot ability at this point). I play my Cradle, draw Rollick, play Thrasios, and spawn some more Thrulls to threaten the ultimate. Nekusar plays Arcane Signet, passes. Sisay attacks the Nekusar player with Ragavan, then casts Sisay. I decide to hold my Rollick. Nadu misses their land drop (!) and plays a mana dork. I untap, make some more Thrulls, and play a One Ring and activate Thrasios to put a land into play. Nekusar plays Magus of the Wheel. Sisay untaps and goes to activate Sisay. I Rollick in response, he casts Dovin's Veto. Oof. He's short mana for another activation so he gets the black enchantment that boosts Sisay to 7 power and flying and swings at Tevesh. Nadu plays Nadu, and passes. I untap, draw ThOracle, double tutor for free protection, and ThOracle after countering Nadu's Negation with my Guardianship.

I think this confirms my overall suspicions that Nadu without Nadu in play is just a mediocre deck. So, I think this justifies adding in more removal to the deck. I'm probably between one of the Drakes (Stormchaser or Gilded) or maybe Dismember. Dismember hits Sisay, Kraum, Nadu, and Pako, so I kinda like this potential addition.