Edric Spymaster of Trest – First draft

After getting the bad taste of that last rant out of my mouth, I’ve gone back and pulled cards for my Edric the Spymaster deck. Here’s the first run through, commons and uncommons only (with a couple of exceptions), with comments why they’re there.

Converted Mana Cost 1

Brown Ouphe I’ve been trying to get this guy – and Ouphe Vandals – into a deck for ages. The Vandals (only) has for some reason been errated to be a Rogue, so may end up in here. Usually for Oblivion Stone, I think it’ll be hilarious one day when someone tries to equp a sword/cloak/hammer and I destroy it in response…)
Cloud Sprite Low cost evasive creature, hereafter referred to as LCEC
Distortion Strike
Drifter il-Dal – LCEC, twice the power and damn near unblockable, but with an upkeep cost
Flying Men – LCEC
Gladecover Scout – Definitely making the cut as a sneaky spy type
Grayscaled Gharial – LCEC
Hidden Guerrillas – Pretty much a guaranteed 5/3 trample for 1? Yes please!
Intervene – I’m currently on the lookout for seldom-played counters. That usually means conditional in some form or another, and the price for this one is right. Doesn’t counter wraths though.
Jukai Messenger – LCEC
Merfolk Spy – Is a spy. Totally in. Is also a LCEC. Also does something when it connects. Winwinwin!
Might of Old Krosa – Lots of bang for a very small buck. Fits in with something I’ll detail after the massive cardlist (ooooh foreshadowing)
Mothdust Changeling – Is a rogue, and kinda flies. Yeah, I don’t like him much either
Pongify – Cheap removal spell is cheap. Ook Ook!
Relic of Progenitus – Boring but effective graveyard hate is boring, but effective
Shanodin Dryads – LCEC. I have a revised one, but man do I dig the 7th ed artwork!
Spy Network – DUH
Unstable Mutation – Cheap pump spell for my LCEC’s
Writ of Passage – Not sure if I’ll need this as most of my creatures will hopefully be unblockable anyway

CMC 2

Aether Figment – LCEC, can be bigger (5 for a 3/3 unblockable isn’t too awful, right?…)
Coiling Oracle – Does cool stuff
Confound – See: Intervene. Draws a card, too
Courier’s Capsule – On theme card draw
Drake Familiar – LCEC but with a “drawback”. 2 power flier for 2 and bounce something like Debtor’s Knell or Propaganda… but doesn’t really deal with it.
Dryad Sophisticate – Basically unblockable (<– SEE WHAT I DID THERE)
Echoing Truth – Maybe this isn’t the deck for it, but it’s more useful than it seems
Invisible Stalker – LCEC Got everything I need it to have (including being a Rogue)
Jhessian Infiltrator – LCEC Love everything about it
Kavu Predator – Not at all in theme, and there isn’t that much lifegain in my group
Looter il-Kor – LCEC with benefits (Rogue, too)
Mask of Memory – Goes nicely with unblockable dudes, doncha think?
Matsu-Tribe Sniper – I’ve loved this guy since my Mono-G snakes deck in Kamigawa block. He does nasty things to dragons (“Show the officer where the Sniper touched you, please”). Not really in theme though
Memory’s Journey – Pretty much only in here because it’s on-colour graveyard hate
Merfolk Looter – The Classic. Accept no substitutes. Now a Rogue!
Mire Boa – LCEC, and regens
Plaxmanta – I love this guy to bits
Quest for Renewal – This should be insanely easy to turn on with this deck, and quasi vigilance is pretty useful (although, not as useful when all your creatures are this small)
Riptide Pilferer – Cute, but not actually evasive. Is a Rogue though
Rushwood Dryad – LCEC. Plus I’m in love with this art
Sage Owl – LCEC, plus a reasonably useful ETB ability. I’m trying to avoid 1 power dudes for 2 though
Silhana Ledgewalker – I’ll make an exception for this one though
Shorecrasher Mimic – I don’t think I’ll have enough UG spells to turn this on
Somberwald Dryad – LCEC What is it with Dryads and good art?
Soratami Cloudskater – LCEC, relevant ability (pro tip: you can discard the land you returned), is a Rogue
Spire Owl – See: Sage Owl
Squelch – No one will ever see this coming
Student of Elements – Better find some way to give this guy flying huh…
Tangle Asp – Another pet card. It’s deathtouch, but not!
Treasure Hunt – Because spies have got to be looking for something
Veil of Secrecy – Budget Whispersilk Cloak (see also: Whispersilk Cloak). Also bounces Ninjas, if I can splice it on to anything (which seems pretty bloody unlikely outside of Kodama’s Reach)

CMC 3

Bouncing Beebles – Beebles! “Unblockable if…” probably won’t make the cut though
Catalog – Random generic but instant speed card draw
Cephalid Pathmage – If I end up with bigger dudes that aren’t unblockable, this could be handy. Seems iffy though
Cloud Spirit – 3 power flier for 3
Compulsive Research – Random generic sorcery speed card draw
Dewdrop Spy – Flying Flash Spy Rogue. Tick Tick Tick Tick
Dream Cache – Card filtering, rather than draw. Sorcery speed is probably going to kill this one off
Exclude – May as well say “Counter target Avenger of Zendikar. Draw a card”
Fecundity – Quality card draw, especially considering the number of creatures I’ll hopefully have. Maybe there are better options however, since this is a blue deck and all
Infiltrator’s Magemark – Makes me wonder if there are any other good auras that could go in
Keep Watch – If you can’t counter the Avenger, you may as well draw a bunch of cards off it
Kill Switch – Stumbled across this one – it’s on (spy) theme and pretty useful. It will tap all my artifacts as well, and as far as I can tell they don’t untap in my upkeep, but that won’t affect any artifacts I’ve put in so far apart from Couriers Capsule. This nicely turns off O-Stones, Disks, and Mindslavers (although who plays Mindslaver without popping it straight away?)
Mirran Spy – Is a Spy, so is in – but doesn’t really do much in the deck so far
Mistblade Shinobi – Ninja!
Murmurs From Beyond – Instant speed card draw
Neurok Spy – Beebles! At least this one is a Spy and a Rogue
Oona’s Grace – Instant speed, repeatable card draw. Susceptible to graveyard hate splash damage; I can see playing this once and then all ‘yards getting removed. 1 card for 2U ain’t great, Francis.
Rootwater Commando – Medium cost evasive creature. Not a rogue.
Scroll Thief – Is a Thief and a Rogue. But is kinda meh really
Shielding Plax – Another pet card from Rav block (see Plaxmanta). Can someone tell me why this doesn’t now say “Enchanted creature has hexproof”?
Silkwing Scout – Medium cost evasive creature that does stuff when it’s about to die
Soratami Rainshaper – MCEC, that protects your guys (for a price)
Telepathic Spies – Is a spy. A pretty unimpressive one. Also, HUMAN wizard? Look at the guy!
Thirst for Knowledge – Instant speed card draw. With the number of artifacts that are(n’t) in this deck, it’s probably not very good, filtering rather than draw
Trinket Mage – Currently has a grand total of one target
Willbender – It’s always Willbender. Also, yes it really costs three. Who casts this guy face-up?
Whispersilk Cloak – More for Edric than anything else, this is a good piece of spy equipment (look at the picture, ferchrissake 😉 )
Yavimaya Dryad – MCEC, and either ramp or turns all the other Dryads on. Pity about the art…

CMC 4

(at this stage of things it starts going from Spies to Grand Schemes and Operations 😉 )

Assault Zeppelid – “Launch the Assault Zeppelid”
Discombobulate – Yes, pretty much because of the name
Distant Melody – “Rogues”. Not sure about costing 4 and being a Sorcery
Ensnare – “Prepare the Alpha Strike”
Fact or Fiction – This is good, apparently…
Foresee – Card draw
Inspiration – Instant speed card draw
Latchkey Faerie – Hopefully will cost 3 and draw me a card most of the time
Ninja of the Deep Hours – Ninja!
Sift – Card Draw
Steal Artifact – All those spies and rogues have got to be after something
Treasure Trove – Glacial Speed card draw, but hardish to remove and instant speed
Veiling Oddity – Another “prepare the Alpha Strike”
Voidmage Husher – “Hush!” This guy is seriously underrated for this format
Wormfang Crab – 3 power unblockable is hard to find – and if they choose Edric I just move him to the command zone… I can’t see anything else I’d be worried about losing

CMC 5+

Cache Raiders – It’s a Rogue, but in a deck without much ETB triggers that’s about all that’s going for it
Covert Operative – Obvious card is obvious
Infiltrator il-Kor – Also obvious card is…
Jace’s Ingenuity – One card for three at instant speed
Mind Control – Gonna alter this one to have the word “Laser” (with quotes!) in the title
Predatory Focus – Alpha Strike card #3
Relic Crush – Token effort at artifact/enchantment removal
Tidings – Classic card draw
Wind Spirit – Not quite unblockable, but needs two fliers/reachers to do the job…. probably not good enough but I randomly found one in terrible condition
Cobra Trap – A bit meh, especially considering the number of non-creature permanents I’ll have (not many)

So those are the cards I’ve pulled out – I’ve alluded to an Alpha Strike and something Might of Old Krosa goes nicely with… It’s in theme for Spies and Subterfuge, but is pretty unpopular in these here parts:

Poison. Spies throughtout history have used it, and it gives weenie hordes a genuine way to win. I am generally not a fan of poison in EDH, generally because the only card I’ve ever seen it played with was Blightsteel Collosus, and that guy’s just a dick. Using poison lets me use Blighted Agent (and how on theme is that?), Blight Mamba, Viral Drake, and Spinebiter. I’d consider putting Phyrexian Swarmlord in, but probably not Grafted Exoskeleton. Probably.

Other Additions

I haven’t even gone through my rare folder yet, but a few things jump out at me immediately:

Simic Sky Swallower
Deep-Sea Kraken
Tidal Kraken
Voidslime

As well as a few cards I want to put in but don’t have yet:

Walker of Secret Ways
Steal Enchantment
Higure, the Still Wind
Knowledge Exploitation
Notorious Throng

What other spy-themed cards have I missed? What have I listed that’s total dreck and should never see the light of day? Comments, as always, welcome.

Super bonus post tomorrow night too – I played a game at my LGS on Friday night and while I didn’t take notes, it was pretty epic and I’ll be detailing that here. Stay tuned!