In this experiment, we take a Bird Wizard with a lot of combo potential and focus on the less taken-advantage-of of its abilities.

The Commander (2013 Edition) legendary creatures played around in new design space for Magic. Fiddling with the command zone was something not everyone was fully in favor of. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge created larger effects based on how much mana was spent to cast them—an amount that obviously increased the more times they were cast from the command zone. Similarly, Marath, Will of the Wild is as big as the amount of mana spent on him. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic doesn’t care about mana, but he does trigger on each of your upkeeps regardless of whether he’s on the battlefield or in the command zone. And possibly most offensive to haters of the recently-mined design space is Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, who can reenter the battlefield for just , regardless of how many times he has previously done so.

Derevi received a fair bit of hype for this ability, though the untap trigger received more attention as time went on. Repeated untap effects are always powerful and tend to be easily abusable. For example, take a look at this combination:

It’s hard to decide whom to blame in that combo-card-filled trio—Deadeye Navigator and Gilded Lotus are both infamous for their powerful plays. However, Derevi’s untap superpower isn’t limited to his own entering the battlefield. With enough attacking creatures connecting, the ability can simulate a Sword of Feast and Famine, which, in its own right, can simulate a Time Walk. And with creatures with powerful tap abilities, Derevi can provide much more utility than just a bit of mana.

And while that ability is certainly quite powerful, I feel it’s stolen away the spotlight that the command-zone-related ability initially held. As Derevi is just a 2/3 with flying, the prospect of always having access to him for only 4 mana hasn’t been highly regarded. In my article last week, I wrote about a Pauper Commander deck continually able to use Rot Farm Skeleton, not only as a 4/2 attacker and as a way to fill the graveyard, but as a body that can be used and reused for sacrifice. Today, Derevi is going to serve that same sacrificial role—while also triggering multiple enters-the-battlefield abilities, though they don’t necessarily have to be his.

This time, I’ll start with the decklist and then cover some of the key and interesting cards.

"ETB Derevi"

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Aven Mimeomancer
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Crystalline Sliver
• 1 Dormant Sliver
• 1 Gemhide Sliver
• 1 Glarecaster
• 1 Harmonic Sliver
• 1 Healer of the Pride
• 1 Ivy Lane Denizen
• 1 Manaweft Sliver
• 1 Mesmeric Sliver
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Mnemonic Sliver
• 1 Novijen Sages
• 1 Opaline Sliver
• 1 Pride of the Clouds
• 1 Psionic Sliver
• 1 Pulmonic Sliver
• 1 Reflex Sliver
• 1 Sage of Fables
• 1 Simic Manipulator
• 1 Skinshifter
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Telekinetic Sliver
• 1 Victual Sliver
• 1 Windbrisk Raptor
• 1 Wonder
• 1 Alexi, Zephyr Mage
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Commander Eesha
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1 Kangee, Aerie Keeper
• 1 Soraya the Falconer
• 1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

• Spells (25)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Beck // Call
• 1 Boundless Realms
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Kirtar's Wrath
• 1 Wrath of God
• 1 Angelic Chorus
• 1 Animal Boneyard
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Centaur Glade
• 1 Future Sight
• 1 Xenograft
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Birthing Pod
• 1 Blasting Station
• 1 Doom Cannon
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Helm of Possession
• 1 Hivestone
• 1 Jinxed Idol
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Trading Post

• Lands (40)
• 9 Forest
• 9 Island
• 9 Plains
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Graypelt Refuge
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Seaside Haven
• 1 Sejiri Refuge
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Simic Guildgate

Buy This Deck

Slivers

Actually, the genesis of this deck idea was:

This way, every time Derevi enters, we are able to draw a card. Of course, other creatures we play will draw cards as well, and a three-card Treasure Trove isn’t particularly exciting. However, the combo also asks the question, “But how do we recast Derevi if he’s on the battlefield after the first casting?” Add in a sacrifice outlet, and we will be gaining additional advantage as we go. Add in more effects that trigger when Derevi enters, and our 4 mana will be doing more and more.

Of course, with the Deadeye Navigator example listed above, we’d be able to do these things infinitely, but part of this week’s experiment is exercising restraint in our combo. I find infinity to be fun in Magic, though not everyone does, but going infinite—unless, I guess, it’s infinite life—usually means ending the game, and when we end the game, we aren’t able to actually enjoy the benefits of all our value. In 4-mana chunks, generating the value is relatively expensive, so while we can put ourselves in a commanding position to win the game, it will be far from predetermined.

Some more Slivers to trigger off Derevi appearances are Harmonic Sliver and Mesmeric Sliver. Mnemonic Sliver and Victual Sliver provide sacrifice outlets, and if we have Reflex Sliver, Psionic Sliver can serve as a way for Derevi to both deal damage and put himself back in the command zone for more value generation.

More Triggers

Soul of the Harvest will act as a Dormant Sliver, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Angelic Chorus can gain us a lot of life, and Cathars' Crusade can make any potential army we have huge. There are some others buried in the list, but I like the idea that our ETB cards and our card that is Eing TB are separate. This is no Mulldrifter with Momentary Blink.

Sacrificial Bird

Seaside Citadel, Blasting Station, Doom Cannon, Phyrexian Altar, Birthing Pod, Animal Boneyard, and Trading Post are some of our options here. The most exciting to me, however, are Helm of Possession and Jinxed Idol. The Helm is rarely seen but is quite powerful, and with Derevi, we always will have a creature available for only 4 mana when we want to reuse it. Jinxed Idol is a fun multiplayer option, and despite the fact that Bant colors aren’t normally known for their repeated sacrifice effects, we do have access to Derevi all the time to give away that Idol when it makes its way back around to us.

Misfits

Of course, a Commander deck is pretty big, and the theme here isn’t concrete, so there’s plenty of wiggle room. Here are a few stand-outs.

Skinshifter – Here is one of the few green Birds. He may not be great for Commander, but he’s versatile, interesting, and cheap. And Whippoorwill is a little less useful still.

Heliod, God of the Sun and Centaur Glade – As long as we’re spending 4 mana increments to put creatures on the battlefield, we may sometimes want them to be tokens. With Xenograft and/or Hivestone, we can transform our Clerics and Centaurs into Birds and Slivers for tribal benefits. Wonder will let them fly. The tokens will also go nicely with the sacrifice outlets.

Novijen Sages – This one might not be a perfect fit, but with Cathars' Crusade, Ivy Lane Denizen, or the like, we can generate a lot of +1/+1 counters, and this will let us transform Derevi’s zone changes into new cards.

The combo for this week turned out to be a lot of little combos, but they should all be playing off the idea that we can rebuy Derevi, Empyrial Tactician for 4 mana over and over again—and we get to play with Birds and Slivers along the way. I hope you enjoyed this week’s look at noninfinite Derevi, and if you do want to go infinite, go ahead and just add that Intruder Alarm or Deadeye Navigator!

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com