-An EDH Staples walkthrough by Blaine Johnson.
This is a very brief look at the cards that make up the Artifact Staples of EDH. Artifacts tend to play a large role in deck design. They can help hold a mono color theme together and give certain colors outs to situations they would normally be stuck in. You’ll find all sorts of mana ramp, removal, utility cards, and even big fatties in this section.
Artifacts:
Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, The Signets:
These artifacts are the cornerstone of every EDH deck. Many decks rely on these so heavily that they couldn’t be competitive without them. In certain one v. one formats some of them are banned because they are too powerful. Having certain cards in your opening hand can seal a victory from the start. The signets consist of the Guild aligned Signets from the Ravnica block. Such as Dimir Signet or Selesnya Signet.
Sensei’s Divining Top and Mimic Vat:
Sensei’s Divining Top is the definition of an EDH staple. It can be used in every deck, in every archetype and everyone is happy to have it at any time during the game. Mimic Vat is very similar in comparison. Whereas not every deck needs to have it, none of them are unhappy to have it on their side. Unlike the Top, Mimic Vat can be devastating to see on someone else’s side. It is also very good in big games because there are plenty of good creatures to have on a stick.
Skullclamp, Umezawa’s Jitte, Lightning Greaves, and The Swords:
Playing with creatures in your deck? Then do I have some sweet cards for you. Skullclamp is an awesome card draw engine and the only one of these equipment to ever been banned. The Jitte is great for a midrange aggro equipment, holding other creatures at bay and all you really need to do is get one counter on it and then the fun never stops. All of the swords are very powerful in their own way. Their abilities are nice but the greatest part is the protection from certain colors. If your deck has a weakness to a certain color or all of your friends are playing one certain color. Just suit up and be prepared. The swords consist of Sword of Body and Mind, Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Fire and Ice, and Sword of Light and Shadow. I wouldn’t say that the swords are all must haves, but they are nice pieces of tech. This final equipment is by far the best one for a standard EDH deck. Lightning Greaves is so powerful in its ability to protect your General while also immediately turning it online.
Crucible of Worlds and Rings of Brighthearth:
The Crucible can fit into any deck. As long as you’re playing with fetch lands, or Strip Mine and Wasteland. It is easy enough to strip lock your opponent and the card has a home in various types of deck styles. Rings of Brighthearth isn’t always appropriate for EDH decks, but for those that are trying to get more value out of cards like fetch lands or Planeswalkers, this card is great. It can also generate infinite mana with Basalt Monolith.
Null Rod, Vedalken Shackles, and Mindslaver:
Null Rod is the one shot answer to all of the artifact hungry decks. It is easy enough to design a pure hate deck with cards like this at the center. The Shackles is especially strong in mono blue decks, giving them outs to creatures they couldn’t normally deal with. It also places your opponent in a position where they don’t feel comfortable playing creatures into it. Finally we have Mindslaver, with EDH being a slow format, there is nothing better than taking control of your opponents turn and using their epic spells against themselves.
Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, and Gauntlet of Might:
All mono colored decks can run these cards with great upside and they let you get ahead in the game. The mono red deck gets the bonus of running all three of these huge mana jump cards.
Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral’s Disk, and All is Dust:
These three cards are essential in some decks. They give them access to removal in colors that would normally be deprived of it.
Memory Jar and Mind’s Eye:
This is the same concept as the removal cards, giving certain colors the ability to draw cards when they normally couldn’t. Memory Jar is very good at times when you have excess mana to use up all at once. The times when Mind’s Eye really shines through is in multiplayer games when you can let turns pass around the table and fill up your hand.
Solemn Simulacrum, Duplicant, Sundering Titan, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre:
All of these are my choices for great colorless creatures. Kozilek and Ulamog are rather straight forward. They provide you with a “good” and can win games on their own. Solemn Simulacrum(Mike Lester) and Duplicant are my favorite cards to put into almost every EDH deck. They have no down sides and Solemn is a great ramp spell and blocker. The last card, Sundering Titan, cannot be played in every deck because of its downside of blowing up your own lands if you’re playing a lot of colors, but in monocolor decks this card is a must.
- Stay with me for my final installment of My EDH Staples. I’ll take a quick look at lands to watch out for when designing your mana base.
–Comments and Questions can be directed to myself at [email protected] , or just find me in the forums.