I've been playing this format for a long time. My old LGS back in 2006 was a comic shop where a few pros and several judges played, and they brought EDH to us early. We were allowed to play with any Legendary Creature - we weren't limited to the Elder Dragons only - but it was early. The format was still getting its feet under itself.

In addition to that, I've been writing articles for this very website for over 10 years now. That's a long time, and a lot of decks. Several hundred, for sure.

Needless to say, not a lot surprises me anymore. I still love it and still get excited about new Commanders and abilities. I still build and play new decks. Most of the time I have a pretty clear idea of how the deck will work and whether it will compete with my playgroup. But suffice it to say, when something surprises me, it's unusual. Today's deck surprised me.

I knew this would be fun. Prime numbers? I'm here for it. I wanted to lean into the various facets of this deck; making sure I end my turn with the correct number of Lands (Land search and Land sacrifice!); keeping my Primos when I have more than one (buzz off, Legendary rule!); and messing with counters (nothing to say about that - just gonna add some extra counters). But color me surprised when I attacked with a 72/72 Trampling Primo on turn seven in my first play-test. I did not expect that.

Now granted, that was a nearly perfect confluence of events, and later play-testing wasn't that strong. But it is still surprisingly consistent and solid, putting out big Creatures much earlier than it should and building on its strengths really well. If you've been looking for a deck that can play a bit harder at your casual table, take a good hard look at this one - it might just be your answer.

Zimone, All-Questioning | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zimone, All-Questioning

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1 Bonny Pall, Clearcutter
• 1 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
• 1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1 Duskshell Crawler
• 1 Loot, Exuberant Explorer
• 1 Lotus Cobra
• 1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• 1 Rampaging Baloths
• 1 Ramunap Excavator
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Scute Swarm
• 1 Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1 Tireless Provisioner
• 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
• 1 Zimone, Mystery Unraveler
• 1 Zimone, Paradox Sculptor
• 1 Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy

• Instants (13)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Entish Restoration
• 1 Eureka Moment
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Negate
• 1 Planar Genesis
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Reality Shift
• 1 Repulsive Mutation
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Zimone's Hypothesis

• Sorceries (13)
• 1 Awaken the Woods
• 1 Body of Research
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explore
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Monstrous Emergence
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Oversimplify
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Urban Evolution

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Case of the Locked Hothouse
• 1 Druid Class
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Paradox Zone
• 1 Simic Ascendancy
• 1 Walk-In Closet // Forgotten Cellar

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Conduit of Worlds
• 1 Fractal Harness
• 1 Mirror Box
• 1 Mirror Gallery
• 1 Zuran Orb

• Lands (40)
• 8 Forest
• 6 Island
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Coral Atoll
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Ghost Town
• 1 Guildless Commons
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Jungle Basin
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Lumbering Falls
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Overflowing Basin
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Restless Vinestalk
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Tectonic Edge
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thespian's Stage
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl

Buy This Deck Export text

The goal here is to get out a Primo early and buff it up, attacking with it like crazy, because if it dies we'll just make another one. However, because we're constantly manipulating our Lands, that means we're also going for Landfall, which gives us some alternate ways to win the game. So don't be surprised if you end up winning with Plant tokens from an Avenger of Zendikar, Beast tokens off a Rampaging Baloths, or even an honest Simic Ascendancy win; a 7/7 Primo means Simic Ascendancy starts at 7 counters. Getting it to 20 is surprisingly not difficult. Anyway, the point is, don't get narrow minded about how you're going to win. Play the cards you've got, knowing your starting goal is probably to get out Primo.

We absolutely want our 40 Lands here, and it's possible if I played this one for a while that would become an even higher number. We have to play Zimone on time, and 40 Lands does a good job of making that possible. We have a number of Lands which fix our colors, some of the cheap fetches (if you want to run the fancy fetchlands, you can, but that seems like overkill to me), and a few Lands which help us out like Thespian's Stage, Karn's Bastion, and the like. We also have a good amount of both ramp and Land sacrifice, so we can make it so we have the right amount of Lands at any given time. A note here: often we want to play our ramp as soon as we can, but here we often don't. I did a play-test where I went Forest, Simic Growth Chamber (discarding something), then replayed the Forest and played Zimone turn three so I could Cultivate on turn four. This made it so I could make a Primo the turn Zimone came out (I had played a Land that turn and had two, a prime number).

We have a few ways to draw cards, too, but my favorite is probably Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait. There are a few others which draw us cards when we play Lands, but Aesi gives us an extra Land drop and the draw, which is kind of perfect. Growth Spiral and Explore both do things we want to do, and Rishkar's Expertise and Return of the Wildspeaker both care about our having a large Creature, which we will, often.

To win the game, we need to help out our Primo with some extra boosts. I like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower here, who keeps adding counters to our Primo every time we drop another Land. Fractal Harness does a nice job of buffing us up. Duskshell Crawler gives our Primo Trample. I considered whether or not to include Vorel of the Hull Clade, just because I hate playing against it so much, but it's too good; one activation will often be enough. Zimone, Paradox Sculptor similarly can make Primo really big, really fast. Branching Evolution means Primo is entering with double the counters; from there, it just gets bigger faster with our other ways.

But wait, there's more! We have Mirror Box and Mirror Gallery to ignore the Legend rule so we can make multiple Primos. We have the Landfall ways of making more Creatures I mentioned before (Rampaging Baloths have won me a lot of games of Commander), plus I love Awaken the Woods here because we can use all this mana to make a bunch more Lands, all of which can tap and help us make a much bigger Primo. I can see a world in which Meloku the Clouded Mirror just spits out Illusion tokens we eventually win with. And of course, Simic Ascendancy will surprise a lot of people.

We have an assortment of interactive spells, like Beast Within, Counterspell, and a new favorite of mine, Monstrous Emergence. Oversimplify is a funky board wipe that will leave people feeling weird but not necessarily all that bad. It's not a ton - we're not a control or permission deck - but we have just enough to make people nervous and wonder if we have the counter. Just say "I'll allow it" a lot and you'll be fine.

All the cards with Zimone in the title are a little weird and worth noting. The various Zimones all do useful things for us, so having a solid grasp of how they work and which ones you have out will be key to maximizing your efficiency with this deck. Zimone's Hypothesis, used correctly, can make or break a game; be very careful and it'll be awesome for you.

The key to this one is thinking through your options carefully and playing very strategically. Don't be afraid to sacrifice a Land to get to seven so you get a Primo if you're not sure you can get to 11 by next turn. That may feel strange, but it's totally worth it; Conduit of Worlds will show up and you'll be able to get it back - or not, But either way, better to have Primo. Watch your sequencing as well, because when you play things versus when you play Lands or put them into play will matter a great deal. There are also a number of ways to use mana on board in this deck, so make sure you're using all the mana you can every turn cycle - activate Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy, or activate Loot, Exuberant Explorer, or level up Druid Class.

Often my decks are great to loan to new players. This one... probably not. A bit of experience with the format and tracking complex Battlefields is going to help this deck be successful. That's not to say a new player can't play it, but they may be overwhelmed quickly at how many things they have to track, plus I find newer players do better if they have a clear vision of what they're trying to do and how they're trying to win. This deck needs to be able to stay nimble and pivot when things don't work out.

That said, if you've been playing for a bit and can track multiple players, this deck will work well for you and will be a great one to have in the stable. I can see this being the kind of deck a cEDH player has for when they encounter a casual table that doesn't want to get locked out on turn five, or as a powerful addition for a player who generally likes to battlecruise.

Thanks for reading.