I was starting to get worried I had run out of ideas. I went over 2 weeks and hadn't written anything new or even brainstormed a new concept. I couldn't keep waiting for inspiration to strike, or another spoiler season to pass by. I had to jump start my creativity. I went to EDHrec and looked through their top commanders. I figured I would see something in the first couple pages take the strategy and convert it into an off color or find a commander and turn it in a unique direction. I quickly pushed past the first 50, then another, and another. I was past the 250 range when I found her. Anafenza The Foremost. Tarkir did a lot to fill out the remaining 3 color combinations at the time. It gave them some character and identity. Abzan sports some reanimator strategies and loves counters, specifically the +1/+1 variety. I can't do anything that obvious. Looking at Anafenza the first thing that stuck out to me was her natural graveyard hate. Exiling is a potent ability and the fact the ability leaves me unscathed was even more appealing. Abzan already leans into a reanimator strategy anyway so why not fill up my graveyard a bit. But how? Self mill is listed on the Abzan page. Even at less than 100 decks its still too much of a known quantity for me to play into straight up. The solution was actually easy for me. I borrowed an idea for a deck I had in mind weeks ago but couldn't quite fill out.
The big idea I had was an Orzhov based mill strategy. Step one was to use white removal that gave opponents lands to pull as many out of decks as I could. Path To Exile is solid pinpoint removal while Settle The Wreckage and an overloaded Winds Of Abandon timed right will leave a huge imbalance in lands on the field, and never in my favor. Or so it seems. Then I drop Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer and flip the script. Flicker or recur the Spy a couple times on the right opponent and hes going to be putting dozens of cards into the graveyard looking for those few available lands. Undercity Informer is a little more telegraphed, but once I have the mana I'll pay over and over to mill my opponents down. Even with all those lands on the field they will run out of options quick. I loved the idea but felt there was too much of a liability tied up in those two cards. I had decent tutor options available to me and recursion if they happened to find themselves in the graveyard through no fault of my own. I wasn't happy with the number of mass land tutors I had to set up the Balustrade Spy hay maker. So I put it out of mind for the time being.
Anafenza was the missing piece for that strategy. She naturally removed those troublesome creatures I would mill into opponents graveyards. I don't want to feed an opponent's reanimator strategy if I can help it. She also opens me up to green. Green has a ton of options to help me put lands into play and my opponents too. Borderland Explorer lets everyone tutor up a basic. I would do that on turn two and discard a land in hand just to thin my deck a little. Veteran Explorer gets everyone double that once it dies. Another one drop option, Old Growth Dryad, is too sweet to pass up early on as it puts the land right onto the battlefield for everyone. Rootweaver Druid is going to ramp me without pulling cards out of my own library. I play up the uncertainty that you can't trust the guy who goes after you not to take the best possible deal at the last moment. So it doesn't make sense not to take 2 for yourself. Tempt With Discovery is something that may raise red flags, but promising not to pull something crazy like Cabal Coffers and Urborg,Tomb Of Yawgmoth will make people feel more inclined to search themselves. Collective Voyage takes the choice out of it, which is even more beneficial later on. Avatar Of Growth, Assassin's Trophy, Pir's Whim and Scholarship Sponsor all round out the strategy. Finish it up with a Wave Of Vitriol and opponents might not even have enough lands to replace all that get destroyed.
My recursion package expands beyond classics like Animate Dead and Sun Titan. I play some lesser known options like Morgue Theft or Virtus' Maneuver. Green opens more options like Bala Ged Recovery/Sanctuary. Find//Finality can recur or act as a sweeper. You Happen On A Glade can recur or help me hit land drops. Like that is much of an issue for me.
This deck naturally builds in a different direction the my Blue Boros deck. But there are bound to be some colorless options to help smooth out the rough edges here. Terpination Blade can pump my Anafenza to a point she becomes a commander damage threat. That hit is even worse with Mind Crank out. Mesmeric Orb punishes opponents for using all that extra mana I give them. Delerium Sands and my new find Whet Wheel turn our open mana into cards in the yard. I have more mill here than was in that Boros deck too. My removal options like Grisly Spectacle and Destroy The Evidence get in on the mill plan.
So, what does the deck look like now?
Under City Informer Borderland Explorer Animate Dead
Balustrade Spy Collective Voyage Sun Titan
Settle The Wreckage Jungle Wayfinder Evolution Charm
Winds of Abandon New Frontiers Find//Finality
Path to Exile Old Growth Dryads Morgue Theft
Assassin's Trophy Rootweaver Druid Tempt With Discovery
Mesmeric Orb Veteran Explorer Rampant Growth
Destroy The Evidence Scholarship Sponsor Farseek
Sands of Delerium Dread Summons Beanstalk Giant
Terpination Blade Mind Crank You Happen on a Glade
Pir's Whim Shared Trauma Helm of The Host
Wave of Vitriol Order of Midnight Blade of Selves
Avatar of Growth Profane Command Bramble Sovereign
Witherbloom Command Stitch Together Slaughter the Strong
Sword of Hearth and Home Virtrus' Maneuver Doomskar
Nikara, Lair Scavenger Revive the Fallen Valorous Stance
Yanik, Scavenging Sentinel Bala Ged Recovery/Sanctuary Heroic Intervention
The Binding of The Titans Green Sun's Zenith Kaya's Wrath
Whet Wheel Golgari Charm Grisly Spectacle
Natural Balance Eladamri's Call Athreos, Shroud Veiled
Rumanap Excavator
Field of Ruin Ghost Quarter
Plains x9 Forest x9 Swamp x9
Canopy Vista Concealed Courtyard Exotic Orchard
Goldmire Bridge Thornglint Bridge Darkmoss Bridge
Overgrown Farmland Temple of Malady Woodland Cemetery
When playing this deck you'll want to position yourself as a group hug deck to start. Everyone loves to ramp and you make friends easily like this. Don't let opponents run over you with all those extra resources you hand out. Don't be afraid to pull the trigger on an opponent if you think he's getting ready to win. If you want to play a little rougher game consider adding a few Armagedon effects. This deals with the danger of opponents going off with all that extra mana they get to tutor for. It also makes them more inclined to take more of the lands you offer them in the mid or late game. Just be sure to float all your mana before the Armagedon then play a group ramp spell or two to sooth the wounds you just inflicted. I play the mass land destruction a little fairer. Fall Of The Thran starts like an Armagedon but everyone gets a couple lands back in my next 2 turns. Great. Now opponents have to wait a few turns before turning the pitchforks on me to get a couple lands back. It also makes them more desperate to say yes when I offer to let them search out a few extra lands and advance my ultimate goal.
This deck has two very noticeable lynch pins. You need to protect those cards when they're not in play and have them on demand. For that reason I think its OK to play a few more creature tutors to find them. Keeping the tutors limited makes the get out of jail free aspect of tutoring bearable for the whole game. Your draws are also more powerful in a deck like this. The more lands pulled out with ramp spells the greater likelihood the card on top of the deck will push the plan through. That's also why I love cards like Order Of Midnight. The adventure side draws cards at a fair rate, even with the life loss. It stays safely in exile until the creature becomes relevant.
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