EDH: Horde of Notions

Hi, all! Back with a brand new EDH decklist. This one is an idea I got from Owen Burke's blog here. His article talked about a 5-color deck built to abuse Tooth And Nail by getting some of the most powerful and epic two-creature combos (but not infinite combos, like Kiki Jiki and Pestermite).

The one that made me really want to build a new deck was this one: Admonition Angel + Realm Razer (see Owen's write up for an explanation).

Anyway, Owen had some great ideas (some of which he in turn got from the EDH Forums). A few of the combos were right up my alley, while others weren't my style. Iona is a card I would particularly not enjoy playing against, so I chose not to play it either. It just seems unfun. (However, if I were to run Iona, I'd include Sakashima, the Imposter to shut down two colors).

Also I don't like Progenitus much. I prefer Horde of Notions for a (very small) Elemental sub-theme. Basically he just lets me recycle Mulldrifter, Shriekmaw, Reveillark, and Spitebellows. Which is useful, but not the main focus of the deck.

Here is the list I came up with:

General: Horde of Notions

Mans:

Academy Rector
Reveillark
Karmic Guide
Admonition Angel
Yosei, the Morning Star

Clone
Mulldrifter
Keiga

Fleshbag Marauder
Dimir House Guard
Shriekmaw
Butcher of Malakir

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Spitebellows
Crater Hellion

Sakura Tribe Elder
Wood Elves
Eternal Witness
Silverglade Elemental
Primeval Titan
Vigor
Avenger of Zendikar
Terastadon
Woodfall Primus

Flamekin Zealot
Rafiq of the Many
Madrush Cyclops
Realm Razer
Empyrial Archangel

Solemn Simulacrum
Duplicant
It That Betrays
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Stuffs:

Planar Cleansing

Mystical Tutor
Rite of Replication
Treachery
Time Spiral

Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Damnation

Cultivate
Harrow
Kodama's Reach
Harmonize
Wild Pair
Tooth and Nail

Fires of Yavimaya
Mirari's Wake
Finest Hour
Wargate

Sol Ring
Darksteel Ingot
Coalition Relic
Gilded Lotus
Skullclamp
Lightning Greaves
Crystal Ball
Minion Reflector

Wheres:

Plains x2
Island x3
Swamp x2
Mountain x3
Forest x 3
Hallowed Fountain
Watery Grave
Blood Crypt
Stomping Ground
Temple Garden
Godless Shrine
Steam Vents
Overgrown Tomb
Sacred Foundry
Breeding Pool
Flooded Strand
Bloodstained Mire
Windswept Heath
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
Arid Mesa
City of Brass
Exotic Orchard
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
New Benalia
Flagstones of Trokair
Vesuva
Phyrexian Tower
Volrath's Stronghold
Kor Haven
High Market

Okay, so lets talk a bit about what this deck is supposed to do. Briefly, it accelerates into a Tooth and Nail and gets whatever two-creature package most suits the current board position. There are a myriad of little combos and synergies to be found here, and I'll likely discover a few I didn't even consider whilst playing.

Let's touch on the lands quickly before moving on to the good stuff. The astute reader will notice I'm missing three of the Fetch Lands. This is because I don't own them, not because they don't belong in the deck. You should run as many of the Fetches as you can get your hands on, and supplement any holes with Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse (which I neglected to do, and will likely have to remedy soon).

The reason is that one of your more aggressive win-out-of-nowhere combos is Avenger of Zendikar and Flamekin Zealot. You want to wait until someone is vulnerable to attack, and you have a Fetch in hand to play AFTER casting T&N. You get the Avenger and the Zealot, making a shit-ton of 0/1 plant tokens, then use a Fetch to give your plants a +2/+2 bonus (on top of the +1/+1 bonus from the Zealot). Then attack with a hoard of hasty 3/4 plants and the Avenger and Zealot too, if needed. You can often kill a player in one shot doing 30 or more damage easily.

Another landfall based combo is the Admonition Angel + Realm Razer setup. You need a land in hand for this one too, but it doesn't need to be a Fetch. Any land will do. You T&N for the Angel and Razer, with the Razer then RFG'ing all the lands in play (including yours, but don't worry...). Then you drop a land from your hand using the Angel to RFG your Realm Razer. This makes all lands re-enter play, giving you MASSIVE landfall triggers off your Angel. Now your opponents have a dilemma: The Angel just ate their best shit, but if the kill the Angel, the Realm Razer will reenter play to Razer their Realms all over again. Kinky!

So the early game is just stall, develop mana, chump block, Damnate if necessary. Just stay alive until you hit 9 mana. There should be enough Tutoring/Draw to hit T&N by that point, but if you have trouble finding T&N in a timely fashion, season to taste with the Tutoring as needed.

That's really it, in a nutshell. Fortunately Horde of Notions is great as a General, so he makes a fine back-up plan. That's the main reason Rafiq is in the deck, to make Horde a massive threat.

Some of the other cards are in there just because they were in Owen's list and I was intrigued enough to try them out (Wild Pair, War Gate). Some I added as they seemed like egregious omissions (Rite of Replication, Board Sweepers, Fires of Yavima). A few are just pet cards that I can't help but add (Finest Hour, Treachery).

Finest Hour is really good with Rafiq, Horde of Notions, and particularly Emrakul. Academy Rector has some phenomenal targets here, so I threw in High Market and Phyrexian Tower to help abuse her.

Minion Reflector seemed fun, and since most of my guys are big fatties with ETBF effect, it seemed like an obvious choice here.

Some other fun T&N targets:

Yosei + Clone
Keiga + Clone
Fleshbag Marauder + It that Betrays
Fleshbag Marauder + Butcher of Malakir
Butcher of Malakir + It that Betrays
Kiki-Jiki + anything non-Legendary
Vigor + Crater Hellion
Vigor + Empyrial Archangel
Primeval Titan + Avenger of Zendikar (If you already have Fires of Madrush out)
Primeval Titan + Admonition Angel
Terastodon + Woodfall Primus
Emrakul + Madrush Cyclops
Emrakul + Rafiq (with Finest Hour out = 72 damage, Annihilator 12)

Those are the obvious ones, but the deck can basically be Lego-ed together to deal with nearly any situation.

A couple things I have in mind to add later are Exploding Borders, Puppeteer Clique and Acidic Slime. Swords to Plowshares is MIA and that really bothers me...

You might also add a few more Elementals to help Horde of Notions, but he usually does okay on his own.

Enjoy.