“This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;”
Art:Tainted Observer
by Johann Bodin
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Tainted Observer is a very strong Simic commander that I don’t really think looks like a bird! All jokes aside, this card is very strong and built around it is an extremely strong deck that effectively lowers your opponent’s life totals to 10. Well, it doesn’t actually do that, but you know what I mean. Infect is arguably one of magic’s strongest mechanics, and you combine that with proliferation in the command zone as well as a ton of proliferation effects in the deck. Honestly, don’t be surprised when the removal and targets come your way. Either way this deck is a ton of fun and I list i love pulling out at higher power tables.
The Deck:
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Tainted Observer Infect!
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Why Tainted Observer?
Tainted Observer is a key part of our deck; not only are they a three-mana flying creature with toxic 1, but they allow us to proliferate on creature ETB pretty regularly. Even if an opponent has only one poison counter, we can proliferate them to death with relative ease. Tainted Observer is an amazing card and a huge part of the proliferate engine for the deck.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have a ton of strong infect creatures like Ichorclaw Myr
, Blighted Agent
, and Glistener Elf
, which are all very strong and can be huge threats even in the earliest turns of the game. Now let’s talk about some of my favorites in the deck! Guildpact Informant
is a cool card that allows us to proliferate an absolute ton. Thrummingbird
is another cheap and evasive way to get some additional proliferation going on. Urban Daggertooth
is not only a great attacker or blocker but allows us to proliferate when it takes damage, and depending on your opponent’s decks or how aggressive you want to be, this can be quite a lot! Sakura-Tribe Elder
is a very cheap piece of mana ramp for the deck and one of my favorite creatures in the format, as well as Yavimaya Elder
, which is an awesome piece of supplemental card draw for the deck.
Instants:
Since we are in Simic, we have counterspells like Arcane Denial
, Counterspell
, and Essence Scatter
which are great ways to protect removal that targets us as well as proactively stop our opponents. Turn Aside
is arguably the best counter in our deck and is a perfect way to protect one of our infect creatures. Speaking of infect creatures, we have Vines of Vastwood
and Groundswell
, which are two cheap pump spells that can kill an opponent out of nowhere.
Sorceries:
We have ramp like Cultivate
and Kodama's Reach
, which are three mana ways to get ahead on mana and get both of our colors established. We have some strong artifact and enchantment removal like Atraxa's Fall
as well as Carnivorous Canopy
, which also lets us proliferate. We also have Artful Dodge
and Distortion Strike
, which are both one-mana ways to make a creature unblockable, which can be a great way to end the game for our opponents.
Artifacts:
We don’t have anything too crazy in our artifact package, with it all consisting of mana rocks like Arcane Signet
and both on-color diamonds, which are strong two mana ramps for the deck. We also have Bonder's Ornament
, which is the most expensive but the best rock in the deck since we can get cards from it, which can help us refill our hand in the mid-late game.
Enchantments:
Two of my favorite enchantments in the deck are Security Bypass
and Aqueous Form
, which make our creatures unblockable, which, on an infect creature and, with a pump spell, can be the end for an opponent. We also have another sweet pair in Lignify
and Witness Protection
, which are great ways to deal with opponents’ threats, especially anything with a lot of abilities. Forced Adaptation
and Rancor
are two cheap buffs for our infect creatures or commander and can be a great way to put an even quicker clock on our opponents.
Land Base:
We have a pretty simple land base, as Pauper EDH land bases tend to be, with some of my favorites being The Hunter Maze
and The Surgical Bay
, which is a strong supplemental card draw for the deck. Beyond that, we have basic fetches like Evolving Wilds
and Terramorphic Expanse
, which can be great ways to get a shuffle for the deck. There isn’t a ton to say here and I have found this landbase to be strong and effective.
Strengths of the Deck:
- For us, opponents are only ten health; in addition, we have a ton of ways to proliferate those poison counters and can end games quickly.
- We have naturally evasive creatures and a bunch of ways to make them unblockable which allows us to get free hits with ease.
- Our commander is a proliferation machine, and we can end opponents quickly with enough mana.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are quite weak to single-target removal, we do have some ways to stop it, but our infect creatures are going to draw a lot of removals.
- We don’t have a lot of recursion, so once creatures die, they typically stay dead; if you don’t have sufficient protection, it may not be worth running out a key creature / permanent.
- We have some counterspells, but we don’t have a ton, so we need to be decently selective when countering things and often want to protect us as opposed to stopping our opponents.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck; we win the game through combat and, more importantly, infect. Because of this, we realistically only need to do ten poison to an opponent to get the win. This paints us as a huge threat, and that is for a good reason because we definitely are. We often only need to hit an opponent once with an infect creature then we can proliferate the rest of the poison counters.
Conclusion:
Tainted Observer is a very fun and extremely powerful commander. It may not make you a ton of friends, but it can be quite powerful against a variety of strategies. I think this deck is well-suited for higher power decks and will perform quite well against many of the creature decks and the format, but does get balanced out when you play with on-par power level decks. Infect and Proliferate is a very fun strategy and I think this deck is not only flavorful when it comes to infect and phyrexians but also very strong. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support.