Etali, Spell Theif

by DedWards on 07 May 2023

Command Zone (1 card)

Creatures (1)

Main Deck (97 cards)

Sideboard (10 cards)

Instants (1)


Artifacts (2)

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

I managed to trade for an alt art (the coin picture one) of Etali, Primal Conqueror, so decided to make a Commander deck around it.

Cards in Sideboard are cars I'm trying to get hold of to maximize the number of Etali ETB triggers, so expect updates when I add them to the main deck as I acquire them.

2023/05/10 - Edit 1
I've been allowed to loan some of the artifacts that allow me to copy/flicker/bounce Etali.

+1 Strionic Resonator
+1 Blade of Selves
+1 Sword of Hearth and Home
+1 Helm of the Host
+1 Lithoform Engine
+1 Rampaging Baloths
+1 Thragtusk
+1 Woodfall Primus

-1 Wurmcoil Engine
-1 Wayward Swordtooth
-1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
-1 Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
-1 Invoke Calamity
-1 Arcane Signet
-1 Expedition Map

How to Play

Main idea is to ramp into casting Etali, then copying it with cards like Blade of Selves and Helm of the Host; flicker it with cards like Sword of Hearth and Home and/or bounce it to hands with cards like Temur Sabertooth, allowing us to repeat Etali's ETB effect over and over again, stealing the opponent's cards to gain an advantage.

Ramp package is largely about removing lands from the deck so that there are less lands in our own deck for Etali to exile.
The other ramp sources are planeswalkers that add mana (Chandra and Domri), or untap lands (Garruk).

Wrenn is in here for her Emblem. If the game goes on long enough to get it, the emblem lets you recast Etali (and other permanents) from the graveyard.

There are some protection spells that can hopefully protect our cards so that they can last until we have more mana again to keep recasting / bouncing Etali.

There is currently 1 infinite combo in here with Dockside + Sabertooth. If you can get infinite mana out of that, you can infinitly cast Etali, bounce it back to hand with Sabertooth, and recast it. This will result in everyone's library's being exiled, and if you don't win off your opponent's cards, they will lose due to having no library to draw from (their draw steps are before yours).

I did include Rogue's Passage, Trailblazer's Boots, and Whispersilk Cloak so that we can win off Etali's transformed side, if need be.

Deck Tags

  • Commander
  • Gruul
  • Ramp

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

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This deck has been viewed 380 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

0001656

Deck Format


Commander

NOTE: Set by owner when deck was made.

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Not Legal in Legacy

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