“They have forgotten the fires that forged this world.”
Art:Tivit, Seller of Secrets
by Chris Rahn
Wanna skip the primer? Here is a link to the Moxfield deck
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Tivit is an awesome commander for CEDH who has been a powerhouse for quite a long time. While the absence of red is definitely a weak point of the deck, Esper is quite strong. Esper allows us to do a ton of things as well as allowing us to have a one-card combo with our command zone, which is extremely strong. In addition, Tivit is quite easy to cast for us, utilizing artifact mana, and, on the flip side, is quite hard for our opponents to remove with Ward 3, making even one mana removal feel terrible. Tivit is a pretty cool sphinx and an awesome deck for CEDH. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Tivit, Seller of Secrets Artifact Combo!
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Why Tivit, Seller of Secrets?
Let’s face the facts: Tivit is an expensive commander, but we can circumvent that by having a crazy amount of mana production from rocks, allowing us to turbo him out; in addition, since we get two votes, being able to make treasures discounts him even further. Tivit is a card we go for as early as often and possible and is also one of the main combos that we utilize in the deck to get infinite turns. Tivit is just plain awesome!
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! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
We are a straight-up combo deck, so we are a little light on creatures, but all of the ones we have are quite strong. We have Drannith Magistrate
, Esper Sentinel
, and Archivist of Oghma
, which I highlighted together since they are a huge benefit of us being Esper and having access to white. Against the right table, we can generate a ton of value out of Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
, and Faerie Mastermind
, which are great cards that can give us a ton of card draw and in the case of Lotho, some mana. Grand Abolisher
is unfair to our opponents but feels quite fair to us and can offer some great combo protection, no doubt one of the best creatures in the deck. Dark Confidant
is a card that I feel like a lot of CEDH players forget about, its two mana card draw with very little downside and I think it fits very well within the deck.
Planeswalkers:
Teferi, Time Raveler
is mostly a combo piece for the deck, but his passive ability is an awesome Silence
effect against our opponents. We also have Narset, Parter of Veils
, which I rarely see in Tivit lists, but I think it is awesome and can help shut down various decks.
Instants:
Since we love having Tivit on the field, we get a lot of value out of Deadly Rollick
and Fierce Guardianship
, which are extremely strong at stopping opponents threats and combos. We have a ton of counterspells, some of them are a little tech-ed to my meta, like Flusterstorm
and Mindbreak Trap
. This is mostly due to the high prevalence of storm strategies, but these cards can be great in a ton of situations, especially a counter-war. One of the biggest advantages of playing white is cards like Silence which, if resolved, can let us nearly freely combo with no worry. We also have strong one-mana removal like Path to Exile
and Swords to Plowshares
which are great removal spells for commanders.
Sorceries:
We have a ton of tutors who are very strong and can grab pretty much everything. The best of our tutors are Imperial Seal
, Grim Tutor
, and Demonic Tutor
which are all very cheap tutors for the deck. Reanimate
is a tech card for my meta since we have a lot of creature hate running around. Cards like Grand Abolisher are something we want out but often fall victim to killing spells, and Reanimate is a great way to recur them quickly. Beseech the Mirror
is an awesome card. We can easily bargain on the first turn and get a key artifact or really anything that we want.
Artifacts:
We have a ton of artifact ramp and some of the most important is Jeweled Lotus
, Mox Opal
, and Sol Ring
because they help us speed out Tivit and cast some of the other cards within our deck. Wishclaw Talisman
is an awesome way to grab the last combo piece that we need. While it definitely isn’t great that our opponents get it after but if we only need one thing to go off, Wishclaw is great. Beyond the plethora of mana rocks, we also have The One Ring
, which is a very strong card that kind of does it all, while this card has fallen out of favor a little bit in the greater CEDH community I find it to be very strong.
Enchantments:
We have the best of Esper within our enchantment package, like Smothering Tithe
, Necropotence
, and Rhystic Study
which are all format staples that can be absolutely game-changing once they hit the field, especially Rhystic Study which can be a death sentence for our opponents if they don’t pay.
Land Base:
We have a pretty typical CEDH landbase with OG duals like Scrubland
, Shocks like Hallowed Fountain
, and fetches like Polluted Delta
which are great ways to get our colors established and have a ton of fast mana. Speaking of fast mana, we also have Gemstone Caverns
, Mana Confluence
, and City of Brass
, which are awesome ways to establish colors quickly while these do come with a cost it is absolutely worth it. We have one of each basic, and that is due to the prevalence of Swords to Plowshares and Assassin's Trophy
, as well as a few others within the format. We are running 30 lands only because of the higher cost of Tivit.
Strengths of the Deck:
- One card combo with the command zone
- A little bit of stax elements
- A large amount of counterspells
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- General weaknesses that come with not playing red
- Have to mulligan more aggressively than a lot of other decks
- Tivit can be hard to cast if we don’t keep an adequate hand
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We are an artifact combo deck through and through, and our various combos is how we end the game. Some of these combos allow us to generate infinite mana which does not necessarily end the game but gets us very close. Below are all of the combos in the deck explained:
Tivit, Seller of Secrets + Time Sieve
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield. Tivit does not have summoning sickness. Tivit cannot be blocked and killed by an opponent.
Steps:
- Deal combat damage to an opponent with Tivit or ETB Tivit.
- Tivit triggers, your opponents vote once it does not matter what they vote for, you vote twice generating five artifacts of some combination
- Activate Time Sieve by tapping it and sacrificing five artifacts, causing you to take an extra turn after this one.
- Repeat each turn.
Results:
Infinite turns.
Demonic Consultation
+ Thassa's Oracle
Requires:
Demonic Consultation must be in hand. Thassa’s Oracle must be in hand. Mana needed: UUB
Steps:
- Cast Demonic Consultation by paying B, naming Thassa’s Oracle and thus exiling your library due to you not having a card named Thassa’s Oracle in your library.
- Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU.
- Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, causing you to win the game.
Results:
Exile your library. Win the game.
Tainted Pact
+ Thassa's Oracle
Requires:
Tainted Pact must be in hand. Thassa’s Oracle must be in hand. No two cards in library share a name. Mana needed: 1UUB
Steps:
- Cast Tainted Pact by paying 1B, exiling your library.
- Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU.
- Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, causing you to win the game.
Results:
Win the game.
Teferi, Time Raveler + Displacer Kitten
+ Sol Ring
Requires:
Teferi, Time Raveler must be on the battlefield. Displacer Kitten must be on the battlefield. Sol Ring must be in hand. Mana needed: 1
Steps:
- Cast Sol Ring by paying 1.
- Displacer Kitten triggers, blinking Teferi.
- Activate Sol Ring by tapping it, adding CC.
- Activate Teferi’s second loyalty ability by removing three loyalty counters from it, returning Sol Ring from the battlefield to your hand and drawing a card.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite card draw. Infinite draw triggers. Near-infinite colorless mana. Near-infinite storm count.
Teferi, Time Raveler + Displacer Kitten + Mana Crypt
Requires:
Teferi, Time Raveler must be on the battlefield. Displacer Kitten must be on the battlefield. Mana Crypt must be in hand.
Steps:
- Cast Mana Crypt by paying 0.
- Displacer Kitten triggers, blinking Teferi.
- Activate Mana Crypt by tapping it, adding CC.
- Activate Teferi’s second loyalty ability by removing three loyalty counters from it, returning Mana Crypt from the battlefield to your hand and drawing a card.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite card draw. Infinite draw triggers. Near-infinite colorless mana. Near-infinite storm count.
Teferi, Time Raveler + Displacer Kitten + Mox Opal
Requires:
Teferi, Time Raveler must be on the battlefield. Displacer Kitten must be on the battlefield. Mox Opal must be in hand. You control at least two artifacts.
Steps:
- Cast Mox Opal by paying 0.
- Displacer Kitten triggers, blinking Teferi.
- Activate Mox Opal by tapping it, adding one mana of any color.
- Activate Teferi’s second loyalty ability by removing three loyalty counters from it, returning Mox Opal from the battlefield to your hand and drawing a card.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite card draw. Infinite draw triggers. Near-infinite colored mana. Near-infinite storm count.
Conclusion:
Tivit, Seller of Secrets is a CEDH deck that I have had a ton of fun with at my LGS, and within my playgroup. Just like every CEDH deck, it does a ton of broken things and is perfect for some of the best combos in the format. While Tivit is not new by any means, it doesn’t mean this deck isn’t still extremely strong and an absolute blast to pilot. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!