I’ve had a couple of readers ask me my method for taking notes about EDH games so I’m going to do that today along with providing some helpful templates to download. I’m also going to provide an outline for constructing an EDH deck based around Omnath Locus of Mana an intriguing new Mono Green general from Worldwake.

Initially I tried to keep notes in a notebook but I quickly found it start to get burdensome having to repeat writing people’s names each turn especially when they have a rather quick turn and then it moves on before I’ve had a chance to jot everything down. Eventually I decided to create some templates I could print out that would make things easier. Here are the files below:

General Bookkeeping.
Play Log.

The General Bookkeeping file is a handy way to keep track of how much “general damage” each player takes from each general which is useful when generals are active in the Red Zone but not necessarily gigantically huge (for instance a heavily enchanted Uril is going to kill people in one shot typically). This is also a useful place to keep track of how many times a General has been played which can sometimes get lost in long games.

The Play Log is set up for five players which is the maximum number we were allowing for the Richmond Comix league. However two weeks ago the league finished its run so when I sat down to play last week we ended up with six players so that’s why my examples below look a little off. If your EDH group is larger than five it’s easy to adjust your copy of the Play Log to add another player or two.

For our game this is who played:

Bennie with Tibor and Lumia
Chris with Jhoira of the Ghitu
Trent with Sliver Overlord
Logan with Niv Mizzet the Firemind
Bear with Sharuum the Hegemon
Josey with Sek-Kuar Deathkeeper

What I try to do here is jot down relevant cards played in each corresponding box. As you can see above nothing really happened on turn 1 so I just scratched out the 1 and wrote 2 because that’s when cards started getting played. I kicked things off with Soothsaying Trent played Gemhide Sliver and Bear played Cosi’s Trickster (not a bad early play). On turn 3 I played Mikokoro and Darksteel Ingot; Chris played his general Trent played Thran Dynamo and Logan Propaganda. Bear stalled on land played Claws of Gix and Josey played Goblin Sharpshooter. On turn 4 I played Wonder and Trent played Land Tax. Josey uses the Sharpshooter to kill Gemhide and the Trickster and plays Gutless Ghoul.

On the fifth turn (not shown here) I play Mizzium Transreliquat and at the end of my turn Chris suspends Bribery and Detrivore (!). On his turn Detrivore destroys one of Trent’s non-basics though that lets Trent Tax for three basics. Bear gets out of his landscrew with Khalni Gem and Josey plays Hissing Iguanar (which gets in a lot of damage over the course of the game).

As you can see the action picks up a bit here. Turn 6 Detrivore eats one of Josey’s lands Trent plays Elvish Piper Bear plays a Rod of Ruin. During Josey’s end step I use the Transreliquat’s ability to copy my Darksteel Ingot and then tap both Ingots to activate Mikokoro for everyone to draw a card. I then realize I should have copied the Tran Dynamo instead (which I do the following turn).

I won’t go into the blow-by-blow of the entire game because we started pretty late and the game drug out until 4am without anyone really winning. Trent dropped out to go home and we all ganged up on Chris when he suspended Obliterate to take him down the but the rest of us couldn’t really make any headway until the end when we basically scooped to Bear as he tried to go off while missing a few key pieces that made the “going-off” incredibly slow without them.

Keep in mind with these sheets don’t pre-number the turn at the top—as you can see later in the game the action can get too much for a single cell to contain the notes for so my notes will bleed over into the next column -- as you can see the action on Chris’s turn 8 got quite complicated and was pretty much what everyone agreed was the “haymaker of the game.”

Chris had played Mirari earlier in the game so when Bribery finally came out of suspension he copied it with Mirari. He targeted me first and was rather dismayed that I didn’t have any real juicy targets so he grabbed my Vesuvan Shapeshifter copying Logan’s Magus of the Future. Then with the original Bribery still on the stack I cast Radiate on Bribery. I wasn’t positive exactly what was supposed to happen but we ended up all agreeing that I’d get a copy of Bribery for each of my opponents (hopefully this was correct).

I ended up with Reya Dawnbringer Memnarch Stingscourger and Draining Whelk. The Stingscourger bounced my Shapeshifter back to my hand and the Draining Whelk countered the original Bribery that was still on the stack so poor Chris ended up with nothing for his troubles.

For this game I’d made some adjustments to my Tibor and Lumia deck. I’d played it a couple times with lackluster results - it seemed all too often I’d find myself holding a Clone in hand while my opponents wouldn’t play any creatures worth copying or tapping out to play something and then my opponents would play instants and sorceries I’d really like to copy. If I held my mana open they’d be playing creatures. I normally don’t play Howling Mine (as I explained in my Primer) but I felt that in this deck Howling Mine would fit because I’d want my opponents to play more spells and give me more targets to copy. I added Mikokoro for the same reason. If anyone has any other suggestions I’d be happy to hear them; here’s the current build:

1 Tibor and Lumia
1 Maze of Ith
1 Soothsaying
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Expedition Map
1 Ivory Tower
1 Fork
1 Twincast
1 Dance of Many
1 Shapesharer
1 Izzet Guildmage
1 Izzet Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Howling Mine
1 Journeyer’s Kite
1 Sun Droplet
1 Scroll Rack
1 Remand
1 Sigil Tracer
1 Reiterate
1 Heat Shimmer
1 Mirror Sheen
1 Mizzium Transreliquat
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Spectral Searchlight
1 Rayne Academy Chancellor
1 Trinket Mage
1 Tenza Godo’s Maul
1 Sakashima the Imposter
1 Clone
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Rite of Replication
1 Boldwyr Heavyweights
1 Anger
1 Wonder
1 Tenser Shaper Savant
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Obsidian Fireheart
1 Turnabout
1 Cryptic Command
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Body Double
1 Radiate
1 Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker
1 Minion Reflector
1 Followed Footsteps
1 Mischievous Quanar
1 Mirari
1 Mirror Gallery
1 Mulldrifter
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Uyo Silent Prophet
1 Reversal of Fortune
1 Mindwrack Liege
1 Nucklavee
1 Urza’s Blueprints
1 Overwhelming Intellect
1 Time Stop
1 Opportunity
1 Djinn Illuminatus
1 Mikokoro Center of the Sea
1 Nivix Aerie of the Firemind
1 Vesuva
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Steam Vents
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Minamo School at Water’s Edge
13 Mountain
14 Island

From Worldwake – a New Mono Green General!

I know I wasn’t the only one who found the new Green legend Omnath Locus of Mana to be intriguing when he was spoiled on Magicthegathering.com. Here he is:

Omnath Locus of Mana
2G
Legendary Creature - Elemental
1/1
Green mana doesn't empty from your mana pool as phases and steps end.
Omnath Locus of Mana gets +1/+1 for each green mana in your mana pool.

Now the initial buzz I heard from some EDH enthusiasts was how you can swap this guy right into the Rofellos deck you play that everyone else seems to hate because everyone freaks out when Rofellos hits the board. While there are some overlaps in the cards you’d want in either deck – and you’d probably want Omnath in your Rofellos deck as well as Rofellos in your Omnath deck – I think a deck optimized to take advantage of Omnath would have some big differences from one focused on Rofellos. In my Rofellos deck I play my general on turn 2 and then start dropping 4 6 and 8 mana monsters and big spells. I also have a lot of cards that put lots of forests into play.

Omnath wants you to accumulate mana so he gets gigantic. While I can see where you can use him as a living mana battery to cast big spells I think going that route ends up leaving you exposed to clever players killing off Omnath during someone else’s turn and spoil your chances for casting that big Tooth and Nail with entwine you were planning. I can see your hand getting cluttered up with big spells you can’t cast too often. No I think the optimal way to utilize Omnath is to focus on mana production to make Omnath huge and pair it up with some powerful instants and instant-speed effects to be able to “cash-out” the mana if Omnath dies at some inopportune time leaving you with a big cloud of mana that is going to drain away at a point when you can’t take advantage of it at sorcery speed.

Mana Production
The first two cards you’d want in your Omnath deck are Seedborn Muse and Patron of the Orochi. These cards are not only very powerful on their own they also synergize nicely with Omnath’s ability to let you accumulate mana from turn to turn. Early Harvest is also a nice one-shot and its instant speed can let you play some nice tricks with Omnath’s size. Citanul Hierarch should be right behind the Muse and Patron on your list since he makes all your creatures mana producers.

Eladamri's Vineyard Magus of the Vineyard and Carpet of Flowers provide a nice infusion of mana during your mainphase. Rofellos Keeper of Progenitus Pulse of Llanowar Vernal Bloom and Gauntlet of Power all give you a substantial mana boost.

Gaea's Cradle is a natural but also don’t forget Malachite Talisman. In a Mono Green deck the ability to untap something for 3 mana whenever you cast a green spell is handy but in conjunction with Cradle or Rofellos can get downright degenerate for producing mana.

Cashing Out the Mana At Instant Speed
For instants you’ll want to start off with ones that protect Omnath from untimely deaths like Vines of Vastwood Stonewood Invocation and Avoid Fate. Permanents with instant activation like Sylvan Safekeeper and Ring of Immortals are quite handy too.

Other Instants you might consider include Berserk Stormseeker Decree of Savagery Hunting Pack Dramatic Entrance Summoning Trap Wild Size Reincarnation Sprouting Vines Wrap in Vigor Chord of Calling Briarhorn Caller of the Claw Cloudthresher Epic Proportions Sprout Swarm and Scryb Ranger. Winding Canyons and Vedalken Orrery let you cast other stuff at instant speed.

Also don’t over look abilities that can be used at instant speed such as Ant Queen Elvish Herder Nemata Grove Guardian Tranquil Grove Dark Depths and Silklash Spider. I also like Kamahl Fist of Krosa and Jolrael Empress of Beasts; if your opponent knows you can “cash out” your mana to make his lands into creatures he might hesitate casting that Wrath of God or activating his Nevinyrral’s Disk.

Other Stuff
Of course with all this mana generation you don’t want to completely forsake big mana spells and abilities to sink your mana into if you’re not currently aiming towards making a gigantic Omnath. Things like Chameleon Colossus Thornling and Squall Line all get pretty scary with enormous amounts of mana.

Here’s my first stab at making an Omnath Locus of Mana EDH deck:

1 Omnath Locus of Mana
1 Maze of Ith
1 Dark Depths
1 Eladamri's Vineyard
1 Magus of the Vineyard
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Elvish Herder
1 Avoid Fate
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Berserk
1 Rancor
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Exploration Map
1 Crop Rotation
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sun Droplet
1 Gaea’s Touch
1 Rofellos Llanowar Emissary
1 Malachite Talisman
1 Regrowth
1 Reap
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Sprout Swarm
1 Sylvan Library
1 Aspect of Mongoose
1 Tranquil Grove
1 Early Harvest
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Krosan Grip
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Reincarnation
1 Spidersilk Armor
1 Eternal Witness
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Power Matrix
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Greater Good
1 Brawn
1 Harmonize
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Keeper of Progenitus
1 Pulse of Llanowar
1 Vernal Bloom
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Stormseeker
1 Jester’s Mask
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Silklash Spider
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Jolrael Empress of Beasts
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Acidic Slime
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Thornling
1 Kamahl Fist of Krosa
1 Cloudthresher
1 Urza’s Blueprints
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 Windstorm
1 Squall Line
1 Chord of Calling
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Winding Canyons
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Vesuva
28 Forest

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to listen to Summon Elder Dragon Podcast #2 which we’ll be recording this weekend and should be available early next week over at MTGcast!

Take care…

Bennie

starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com

New to EDH? Be sure to check out my EDH Primer part 1 part 2 and part 3.

My current EDH decks:
Tibor and Lumia (copy copy copy copy)
Baron Sengir (Evile Vampires!)
Rofellos Llanowar Emissary (huge creatures big mana spells)
Sharuum the Hegemon (Kaldra Lives!)
Karrthus Tyrant of Jund (DRAGONS RAHRRR!!)