[EDH] Aminatou, the Fateshifter

[Davran]

Commander 2018 is overall pretty underwhelming, but I still think Aminatou, the Fateshifter is an interesting card. I brewed this list up to give her a try:

Commander:
Aminatou, the Fateshifter

Creatures:
Gilded Drake
Baleful Strix
Snapcaster Mage
Wall of Omens
Eldrazi Displacer
Reflector Mage
Clever Impersonator
Conundrum Sphinx
Archaeomancer
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Twilight Prophet
Ravenous Chupacabra
Glen Elendra Archmage
Felidar Guardian
Cloudblazer
Mulldrifter
Reveillark
Riftwing Cloudskate
Deadeye Navigator
Vela the Night-clad
Sun Titan
Angel of Serenity
Ashen Rider

Instants:
Vampiric Tutor
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Brainstorm
Arcane Denial
Lim-Dul's Vault
Anguished Unmaking
Teferi's Protection
Utter End
Fact or Fiction
Desertion

Sorcery:
Mystic Speculation
Ponder
Portent
Demonic Tutor
Read the Bones
Damnation
Wrath of God
Entreat the Angels
Entreat the Dead

Artifacts:
Sol Ring
Sensei's Divining Top
Scroll Rack
Azorius Signet
Dimir Signet
Orzhov Signet
Talisman of Dominance
Talisman of Progress
Strionic Resonator
Chromatic Lantern
Panharmonicon

Enchantments:
Mystic Remora
Oversold Cemetery
Search for Azcanta
Reality Acid
Puca's Mischief

Planeswalkers:
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Venser, the Sojourner
Sorin, Grim Nemesis

Lands:
Watery Grave
Hallowed Fountain
Godless Shrine
Sunken Hollow
Prarie Stream
Fetid Pools
Irrigated Farmland
Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Marsh Flats
Bad River
Flood Plain
Caves of Koilos
Underground River
Adarkar Wastes
Temple of Deceit
Temple of Silence
Temple of Enlightenment
Fetid Heath
Sunken Ruins
Mystic Gate
Reflecting Pool
Command Tower
Forge of Heroes
Reliquary Tower
Bojuka Bog
Strip Mine
Isolated Watchtower
Soldevi Excavations
3 Snow-covered Island
3 Snow-covered Swamp
2 Snow-covered Plains

I know that Terminus is more or less a shoe-in for a deck like this, but it's actively against my "flickering creatures for fun and profit" plan. It might still end up being worth it, though...so it's definitely on my radar.

As far as winning the game, you can go infinite with Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Felidar Guardian and Vela, the Night-Clad. I thought about adding in Altar of the Brood as an alternative to Vela, but it's pretty mediocre without Felidar Guardian, and it's also soft to any sort of eldrazi titan or similar card that shuffles the graveyard into the library.

The other sort of neat thing this deck does is abuse Gilded Drake and Puca's Mischief. Trade something, then use Aminatou or Venser to blink your thing back and still keep theirs.

Another neat trick is Reality Acid, as blinking it short circuits the vanishing and gets rid of problematic permanents. Plus, the permanent is sacrificed, which is pretty relevant vs. some decks.

Finally, there's Entreat the Angels and Entreat the Dead as miracle pay off cards.

Suggestions are always welcome :cool:

[Ace/Homebrew]

Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Narset Transcendent both interact with the top card of your library and provide card advantage. :wink:

[Davran]

Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Narset Transcendent both interact with the top card of your library and provide card advantage. :wink:

I'm not sure how good Narset actually is here. By my count, there's 39 potential hits for her first ability, which is a decent amount. Two of those are miracles, so there's really 37 cards that could be revealed and drawn. As far as her second ability, there's 11 spells that would be worth giving rebound, which doesn't seem like enough, especially since about half of them are instant speed, so casting them main phase is less than ideal. The emblem is nice, but I can't imagine a world in which I ever got there.

Sorin though...that's a different ball of wax. He seems like a fairly solid inclusion here. With all of the ways to set up what the top card of my deck is, his +1 seems pretty nuts. His second ability is also fairly useful, and his ultimate is a decent way to try and close out a game if I ever got there. i'll definitely see about picking up a copy.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Davran]

Double posting in my own thread...

Made a couple edits:

Out

Enlightened Tutor
Detention Sphere

In

Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Twilight Prophet

Not sure how I missed Twilight Prophet the first time around, but it's basically Sorin's +1 on a creature that I can easily buy back with Reveillark.

[Davran]

Somehow I forgot that Lim-Dul's Vault exists. So...

- Arbiter of the Ideal, + Lim-Dul's Vault


Took the deck for its maiden voyage last night, and ended up with a fairly middling draw. I get get to Gilded Drake an Atraxa though, so that was something :cool:.

I did discover that shuffle effects are king in this list. I went through all 5 fetches and a Ponder, and still wanted more. There were a bunch of times where I'd +1 Aminatou, draw crap, and put crap back on top of the deck...so having some way to get rid of it is something I need to work on. I might try and find room for something like Crystal Ball that will let me get rid of chaff on the regular.

[Ace/Homebrew]

I did discover that shuffle effects are king in this list. I went through all 5 fetches and a Ponder, and still wanted more. There were a bunch of times where I'd +1 Aminatou, draw crap, and put crap back on top of the deck...so having some way to get rid of it is something I need to work on. I might try and find room for something like Crystal Ball that will let me get rid of chaff on the regular.
Soothsaying

[Davran]

Soothsaying

That one is on my list of stuff that's maybe good but probably isn't. I like the effect, but a 5 mana shuffle is kind of a lot. The quasi-scroll rack effect is also potentially useful, but again, it just costs so much to actually make it work.

What I really want is Madblind Mountain, but it's the wrong color.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Ahh, got it.

Have you looked at Myr Mindservant?

[Aggro_zombies]

You can always fail to find with Land Tax, which gives you a shuffle per turn.

Alternately, anything that will let you mill yourself will get rid of chaff.

Soldevi Excavations lets you scry. Actually, is Mystic Speculation worth it at all?

EDIT: Actually, why not Search for Azcanta? You can hit over a third of your deck after you flip it, and it filters away Aminatou chaff too.

[Davran]

Ahh, got it.

Have you looked at Myr Mindservant?

I have literally never seen that card before. I wonder if it's any better than Crystal Ball? 1 CMC is relevant if I find a slot for a Trinket Mage or something...which also just reminded me that Darksteel Pendant exists, too.


You can always fail to find with Land Tax, which gives you a shuffle per turn.

Alternately, anything that will let you mill yourself will get rid of chaff.

Soldevi Excavations lets you scry. Actually, is Mystic Speculation worth it at all?

EDIT: Actually, why not Search for Azcanta? You can hit over a third of your deck after you flip it, and it filters away Aminatou chaff too.

Land Tax is always so hit or miss for me. In the first couple turns it's great, but if there's no one playing an absurd ramp deck drawing it on turn 10 or whatever is just awful.

Self-mill is an interesting suggestion, I didn't really consider that. I think scry might be better since I have a bunch of cards that care about the top card of my deck.

Soldevi Excavations should definitely be in here. Not sure how I missed it, so thanks for reminding me.

Is Mystic Speculation better than Predict, or maybe even Portent? Scrying chaff to the bottom is basically identical to a shuffle in terms of what this deck is looking to do, and the buyback is kind of drawing a card? I think I'll try it out in the Predict slot and see how it performs.

Search for Azcanta is another excellent suggestion I can't believe I missed. Both sides are relevant to what I want to be doing, so in it goes.


Some changes:

- Predict, + Mystic Speculation
- Future Sight, + Search for Azcanta
- Plains, + Soldevi Excavations

[Aggro_zombies]

I would run Speculation of Portent rather than Predict. Neither Portent nor Speculation draw you a card right away, and shuffling is sort of equivalent to Scry in most cases. You have some minor graveyard synergies with Predict, too.

[Davran]

I would run Speculation of Portent rather than Predict. Neither Portent nor Speculation draw you a card right away, and shuffling is sort of equivalent to Scry in most cases. You have some minor graveyard synergies with Predict, too.

Another good point. Thanks for the suggestion :)

[Ace/Homebrew]

SCG's Bernie did his take on Aminatou.
http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/37587_Aminatou-Dont-Mind-If-I-Do.html

Only card he mentioned that I was pretty impressed with was The Eldest Reborn.

But here's a few others he liked:
Sigiled Starfish
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
Primordial Mist

[Aggro_zombies]

Honestly, The Mirari Conjecture and The Phyrexian Scriptures seem like better sagas. I've been experimenting with The Eldest Reborn in other decks and my biggest issue with it is that it's fairly easy to blank. Both The Abyss and Necrogen Mists tend to be pretty easy to power through for all but the most durdley of decks, and alternating between them just dilutes the rate at which you hit the model that's more painful for a given opponent. The worst part is that the first two chapters tend to be better against completely different decks, with control hating the sacrifice and aggro / midrange hating the discard, so TER tends to be just really mediocre.

The third chapter is the best one by far but you won't hit it if you're flickering the card with Aminatou every other turn.

TMC at least is recursion and TPS is a sweeper every other turn, which shuts down a lot of decks hard.

[Davran]

I'm not sure where I land on the sagas. If I were going to run one, Phyrexian Scriptures would probably be it...but it seems pretty slow. Making a creature an artifact is fairly short lived in a deck that wants to be blinking creatures for value, so repeat Chapter 1 is only ok. Chapter 2 is the real meat of the thing, but you're still 2 upkeeps away from that wrath every time you reset it.

Mirari Conjecture could be ok, but for the same price I could run Mnemonic Wall or whatever that 5 mana 2/2 out of M19 is called. It's a better effect that can attack or block, can be re-bought with Reveillark/Oversold Cemetery/Volrath's Stronghold, and is just as repeatable. Chapter 3 is cute with exactly Entreat the Angels...but setting that up is pretty difficult.

Eldest Reborn could be fine too...but there's also Fleshbag Marauder type things too if The Abyss is something I want access to.

Sigiled Starfish is on my radar for sure...possibly over Wall of Omens.

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign is a pretty sweet card, but I don't know how good it is in my exact list. I count 25 "hits", which is probably fine...but I think the slot is better spent on something else.

Primordial Mist is a cool card too that I might try out sometime. Random 2/2 dudes made from useless cards could be something I want.


Just a quick anecdote - played a game with the deck last night and Search for Azcanta was excellent on the front half. I ended up flipping it to the back side on the turn I was more or less forced to combo off so I didn't get to mess around with that, but I'm sure it would have been good. Predict over Portent was also fairly relevant that game, so that seems like a good swap too.