By Water, Wood and Hill!
Art: Tom Bombadil
by Dmitry Burmak
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander is:
Tom Bombadil is a really fun five color commander who cares about Sagas. Tom is arguably the best Saga commander we have ever seen! Not only does Tom protect himself based on the counters on Sagas when we finish a saga we can use Tom to get a brand new one, combine this with recursion and we can be final chaptering sagas on almost every turn! Typically we win through combos or combat, Tom Bombadil is a ton of fun to pilot and the sagas are a ton of fun as well! Better bring your dice!
The Deck:
Tom Bombadil Saga's!
Why Tom Bombadil?
Tom Bombadil is really everything you are looking for in a Saga commander, he protects himself when we have 4 or more lore counters and his second ability is just insane. When we finish a saga he also lets us get a brand new one. There are many different ways to approach building Tom, I strayed away from a lot of doubling season / proliferation effects in favor of a more combo style where we don’t need to instantly finish the sagas although that is entirely possible!
Deck Overview:
For our creature package we are packing creatures that heavily benefit from our large amount of enchantments as well as ramp and payoff / draw creatures. For ramp we have Ignoble Hierarch
and Noble Hierarch
which are both great mana dorks since they can tap for Jund and Bant respectively and they both have exalted! Some of our other ramp is Bloom Tender
and Sanctum Weaver
both of these are not great until the midgame since they are not at their full potential but with only 1 enchantment or color they can still help us cast some of our higher level spells. Doomwake Giant
is great especially with Tom’s ability in testing I have found that we can give our opponents creatures up to -3/-3 and -4/-4 a turn, it is very easy to just continuously cycle enchantments especially with Eidolon of Blossoms
or Setessan Champion
which lets us draw a card on enchantment ETB. Aura Thief
allows us to steal our opponents enchantments, in testing I found that I mostly used it to steal problematic enchantments like Aura Shards
. Hex Parasite
is one of our best creatures because it allows us to remove counters from our sagas if we want to prevent an ability from triggering or save an final chapter ability till it is opportune!
Our planeswalker package is only one but it is an impactful one Calix, Destiny's Hand
plus lets us look at the top 4 and grab an enchantment. His minus lets us exile a creature until one of our encahntment leaves, I never target a saga with this and typically opt to select one of our sticky enchantments like Historian's Boon
or Enchantress's Presence
. Calix’s Ult is great as well allowing us to return all enchantments from our graveyard to the battlefield which is great especially in the late game when our graveyard is full to the brim with enchantments.
Our spell package is where a lot of our combo pieces live with some of the highlights like Clockspinning
and Exsanguinate
. we have some protection spells like Cyclonic Rift
and Fierce Guardianship
to counter noncreature spells. Resurgent Belief
, Replenish
and Brilliant Restoration
are all great ways for us to recur enchantments once the graveyard is full of enchantments. Demonic Tutor
and Vampiric Tutor
are typically used to search up one of our combo pieces or if we need a specific Saga to begin to close out the game.
Our artifact package is nothing special but very impactful with format staples like Sol Ring
, Chromatic Lantern
and Arcane Signet
. We have The One Ring
for extra card draw / one turn protection from everything. One of our best artifacts is Power Conduit
which allows us to tick down one of our sagas if we need it!
Our enchantments are the main part of of our deck so of course we have an absolute ton of them! We have a bunch of sagas that once completed flip to other permanents some of our best are Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko
which when flipped can be a great attacker for us! Enchantress's Presence is another great enchantment that can allow us to draw a bunch of cards especially when we finish multiple sagas in one turn! Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
is one of our best sagas since when it flips we can copy a non-legendary creature, in testing I found I was copying mana dorks like Bloom Tender to be able to cast more on a turn! Phyrexian Scriptures
allows us to clear the board and protect our creatures as well as absolutely devastate any graveyard strategies! Historian's Boon is a wincon in many games since we finish sagas a bunch throughout the game and each finished saga turns into a 4/4 angel! Another great enchantment is All Will Be One
which allows us to deal a ton of damage when we have start getting the saga train rolling! Our best game ending saga is Kiora Bests the Sea God
which makes a huge creature, freezes our opponents board for a turn and lets us steal one of their permanents! There and Back Again
is one of our best mana producing enchantments once we get smaug to die and get our 14 treasure tokens!
We have a very classic five-color land base filled to the brim on duals, since we have a ton of card draw we strayed away from having a bunch of fetches and opted to play more duals, we are a base green deck especially in our creature package so the only basics we have are 4 forests! Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
provide great fixing for our lands. We are also playing pretty much every triome and shock, one of the best lands in the deck is Hall of Heliod's Generosity
which lets us recur enchantments! Serra's Sanctum
is absolutely bonkers in our deck and is good at pretty much any stage of the game! Boseiju, Who Endures
is a great card for us to draw late and will allow us to destroy an opponents artifact enchantment or nonbasic for typically only green mana, in the early game I found I just played this as a land but almost always channeled it in the late game.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can cycle through the deck quickly
- Tom is a sticky commander and we wont typically have to recast him multiple times
- Control the board through our saga’s
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Can often feel winconless without key pieces
- Weak to enchantment hate
- Not a huge counter package
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We can typically win by constantly recurring and getting to the last chapter of of a bunch of our sagas, as well as creature production through Historian's Boon. But we also have a ton of ways to make infinite mana and combo off with something like Exsanguinate
Please note that a lot of these are not game-ending combos but are infinite interactions that can help us to win the game!
Brago, King Eternal
+ Strionic Resonator
Result: Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite mana artifacts you control can produce. Infinite blinking of nonland permanents you control.
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. You control artifacts that can tap to add at least 2. Brago does not have summoning sickness. Opponents cannot block and kill Brago.
Steps: Deal combat damage with Brago. Brago triggers. In response, activate artifacts you control by tapping them, adding at least 2. Activate Strionic Resonator by paying 2 and tapping itself, copying Brago’s triggered ability. Resolve the copied triggered ability, blinking Strionic Resonator, the artifacts that tapped for mana, and any number of nonland permanents you control. Repeat from step 3.
Brago, King Eternal + Lithoform Engine
+ Sol Ring
Result: Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite mana artifacts you control can produce. Infinite blinking of nonland permanents.
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. You control artifacts that can tap to add at least 2. Brago does not have summoning sickness. Opponents cannot block and kill Brago.
Steps: Deal combat damage with Brago. Brago triggers. In response, activate artifacts you control by tapping them, adding at least 2. Activate Lithoform Engine’s first ability by paying 2 and tapping it, copying Brago’s triggered ability. Resolve the copied triggered ability, blinking Lithoform Engine, the artifacts that tapped for mana, and any number of nonland permanents you control. Repeat from step 3.
Please note the below combo also works with Faeburrow Elder
and Sanctum Weaver
Bloom Tender + Freed from the Real
+ Exsanguinate
Result: Infinite non-blue mana of colors among permanents you control
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Freed from the Real attached to Bloom Tender. Bloom Tender does not have summoning sickness.
Steps: Activate Bloom Tender by tapping it, adding at least GU. Activate Freed from the Real’s second ability by paying U, untapping Bloom Tender. Repeat.
There and Back Again + Displacer Kitten
+ Clockspinning + Exsanguinate
Result: Infinite Treasure tokens. Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite death triggers. Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers. Put all Mountains from your library onto the battlefield.
Requires: Clockspinning in hand. All permanents on the battlefield. There and Back Again has exactly two lore counters on it. 9UUU available.
Steps: At the beginning of your precombat main phase, There and Back Again triggers, putting a lore counter on it, triggering its third chapter ability. Holding priority, cast Clockspinning with buyback by paying 3U, targeting Displacer Kitten. Displacer Kitten triggers, blinking There and Back Again, which enters the battlefield with a lore counter on it. There and Back Again’s first chapter ability triggers, causing the Ring to tempt you. Resolve the third There and Back Again trigger from step 1, creating a 6/6 legendary Smaug creature token. Resolve Clockspinning from step 3, returning it to your hand. Cast Clockspinning by paying 3U, targeting There and Back Again. Displacer Kitten triggers, choose not to blink anything. Resolve Clockspinning, putting a lore counter on There and Back Again and returning Clockspinning to your hand. There and Back Again’s second chapter ability triggers, causing you to search your library for a Mountain and put it onto the battlefield. Repeat steps 7 through 9 one additional time. There and Back Again’s third chapter ability triggers. Repeat steps 2 through 5 one additional time. Put one of the Smaug tokens into your graveyard due to the legend rule. The Smaug token that died triggers, creating fourteen Treasure tokens. Activate twelve Treasures by tapping and sacrificing them, adding 9UUU. Repeat from step 6. we can use the infinite treasure tokens to cast exsanguinate for infinite mana!
Conclusion:
In conclusion, Tom Bombadil is a very fun Saga commander with many different lines of play! Whether you take the combo lines and make infinite mana or just win through attacking or win through constantly final chaptering sagas. Tom Bombadil offers a ton of variety and a ton of fun!
Thanks for reading to the end!