INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Brago, King Eternal!
This is a blink deck (exile-then-return-X-to-the-battlefield). There are several generals who enable such a deck, ranging from a straight-forward Roon of the Hidden Realm for instant-speed flickering, to things like Surrak Dragonclaw who can ensure your ETB effects never get counterspelled.
(example: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/11-09-14-Rde-surrak-dragonclaw/ )
Unlike those others, Brago offers repeat blinking of all your non-land permanents, encouraging him to be very all-in and board-centric, and opening up combos not possible with any other commander.
(if you're still debating generals: http://www.reddit.com/r/EDH/comments/2tg590/reasons_to_play_brago_over_roon/ )
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DECK CONSTRUCTION
Unlike some commanders, Brago is flexible. These 4 archetypes are easily achieved in a casual form:
- grindy stax/tax tempo killer
- control powerhouse
- 2-color planeswalker superfriends
- (or even) token explosion
Given that I play in a non-competitive meta, I've tuned my build over the years toward a grindy model. This, because of how non-cEDH games REQUIRE you to gain advantage over time - something Brago thankfully excels at.
(Specifically, playing against multiple opponents will exhaust your answers before their threats in 1-for-1 exchanges, requiring more efficient trades.)
My decklist is inspired from a competitive primer (listed below), so if that's what you're looking for, go for it!
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/555189-brago-manifestation-of-the-next-level-blink
Below are highlights of this deck's strengths.
1- TEMPO ADVANTAGE (i.e. the "value train")
Repeat ETBs and untapped permanents makes the King Eternal a happy boy.
If you've ever dreamed of keeping up with {G} ramp with other colors, Brago is one such answer.
Blinking mana rocks post-combat for a near-fresh 2nd main phase.
Untapping lands with Teferi PW or Peregrine Drake for a truly fresh 2nd main phase.
Ramping multiple times with Solemn Simulacrum and Kor Cartographer for free.
Triggering multiple ETB removal effects without multiple investments.
Very hard to complain with that math.
2- CONTROL (engines, tempo swings, answers)
As a control deck, there will be several staple cards such as Counterspell and Swords to Plowshares, but Brago can also transform one-time effects into viable control engines, gaining you advantage over time.
Act of Authority, Spine of Ish Sah, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion are cards that become immensely more powerful when Brago grants you several uses of their effects (even several per turn!).
Playing {W} also grants the deck multiple exile effects, making your answers more permanent and negating their recursion efforts.
3- TAX & RESOURCE DENIAL
Not only can Brago repeat effects to your benefit, he synergizes with sustained resource denial.
This deck taxes opponents' casts with cards like Rhystic Study, GAAIV and Aura of Silence, as well as their resource base and utility cards with Lavinia of the 10th, and their graveyards with Rest in Peace.
If the taxes become too much, draw engines like Study, or Mystic Remora, transform into free card advantage for you instead, putting you even further ahead of your opponents.
Parallax Tide adds to this, at minimum a pseudo-fog and rattlesnake removal, and can later combo for permanent removal.
And if all that wasn't enough, Cyclonic Rift is around to blow out any opposition and tilt opponents into scooping (at least in my meta, anyway).
4- INFINITE COMBOS (i.e. control with a wincon)
Let's be honest: we've all played games where someone disrupted most of the time, but just can't close it out. Brago might be dead, but he can still seal the deal. This build offers guaranteed closers using the following:
ENGINE (A) - Strionic Resonator
Brago's on-hit blink effect, as a triggered ability, can be copied by Strionic Resonator for 2 mana. Combine with an appropriate mana rock or land untapper, and you can copy the blink effect infinitely, allowing as many ETB effects as you wish.
ENGINE (B) - Deadeye Navigator
Deadeye's soulbond ability lets you flicker a creature for 2 mana. Combined with land untappers, you can generate infinite mana, letting you rebond Deadeye with another creature and back for mana.
PAYOFFS
- Thought-Knot Seer = mill out all opponents
- Drowner of Hope = infinite tokens
- Deepglow Skate + PWs = ultimate-ready Walkers
THE BASICS OF BRAGO
1- Playing a Brago deck is all about having a board state and blinking it for effects.
That means you need to develop it, protect it, and grant Brago the necessary evasion to proc it through repeated combat damage.
2- While it is possible to control and detain most - if not all of - opponents' boards once you're in full steam, Brago's resources are hard to replenish once reset (read: Boardwiped), so it's best not to encourage everyone to kick you while you're down. Instead, pick priority opponents and focus them out first.
3- Dedicated combo players are usually Brago's greatest challenges, because he can't control several at once, so when one starts intimidating the board, swing in to the rescue and use the chance to ramp up your board to a level that can hold down the rest when you're done.
I- MAXIMIZING BLINK
Brago's blink is the heart of this deck, so before we make it fancy, we have to make it work, and that requires evasion. This is META-SPECIFIC.
(Mine is pretty terrible against fliers if you ask me, which is why I don't have much of the following anymore.)
- Glaring Spotlight's activated ability grants 1-turn unblockable (recur with Sun Titan)
- Venser PW's (-1) does the same, and he can be blinked in combat for a loyalty reset
- Opposition will let you tap down enemy fliers (synergizes with Angelic Field Marshal to attack & tap down blockers)
- Auras will grant protection from creatures, landwalk or unblockable; and, if all else fails, there's always Rogue's Passage.
From there, multiplying effects is the next big move.
Double Strike? Panharmonicon? Strionic infinite combo? Up to you, guy.
II- BOARD DEVELOPMENT
This process can be broken down into 5 distinct stages across most matches:
1- Initial Set-up
2- Development & Early bombs
3- Recovery
4- Second-wave Bombs & vying for Supremacy
5- Finishing the game
Phase 1 - here, your focus will be to get mana to play. Your ramp explodes only after you have pieces in play that Brago can blink, so don't worry about answering early aggro. Look for cards like Knight of the White Orchid, Sword of the Animist, Endless Horizons or Cryptic Annelid, and once you've gotten to 5 mana, Brago can move into step 2.
Phase 2 - this is when you start answering threats and generating your own. The new manifest auras do wonders at this stage, drawing out your deck and generating creatures at the same time. Reality Acid is also a great way to do damage and sew havoc, but paints a target on your head. Just look for threats to your board and play answers, muzzling the problem players and building yourself out. Hold back on recursion cards like Fun Titan because the more successful you are here, the more you provoke board wipes.
Phase 3 - boom. It happened. Someone dropped a wipe or 6. It's only fair, really: every time you blinked something, you exiled something else they owned. This is the moment you start playing recursion spells, or drop draw bombs like Sphinx's Revelation. If you happened to drop Isperia before a massive attack, good on you!
You just focus on getting Brago back into play and drawing into new powerhouses as quickly as possible, because the lull - if there even was one - isn't going to last.
Phase 4 - this is it. Rubber hitting pavement. That Cyclonic Rift you've been saving? Start planning your moment. New board looks prime for Lavinia? Get ready. Depending on your variant, your win-con cards may change from a Luminate Primordial or Sunblast Angel to casting a Blatant Thievery repeatedly, so know your deck and pick your targets. Focus your efforts here on the major players, even making deals with lesser ones if it helps you narrow your field.
Phase 5 - by now a few players must have left the circuit. Your saves like Ghostway must be mostly exhausted by this point, so I hope you've been good and held out one last goodie. Do your worst and Sudden Disappearance the last remaining fattie after smashing the others in combat, and Sundial them out of existence. With them scooping and the others beaten and on the ropes, the match should be yours ;)
III- ALL THE MANA!
So White/Blue isn't what you'd normally consider explosive ramping colors. Expedition Map, Walking Atlas, Terrain Generator and Sword of the Animist might be good generalist accelerators, but Brago can break the following to levels even Green would be jealous of:
- RAMP --> Solemn Simulacrum (sad robot)
- RAMP --> Burnished Hart ( + Gift of Immortality = funny ramp combo)
- RAMP --> Knight of the White Orchid
- RAMP --> Kor Cartographer
- SEARCH --> Oreskos Explorer
- SEARCH --> Mycosynth Lattice
- LAND UNTAP --> Cloud of Faeries
- LAND UNTAP --> Peregrine Drake
- LAND UNTAP --> Great Whale
- LAND UNTAP --> Palinchron
- LAND UNTAP --> Parallax Tide (blink after removing your lands)
- RAMP / ARTIFACT UNTAP --> Tezzeret the Seeker
- PERMANENT UNTAP --> Teferi, Temporal Archmage
- MANA --> Rasputin Dreamweaver
Repeat ETBs of those cards will net huge mana gains over few turns, making Brago deceptively efficient when even one of these pieces appear.
This power extends to mana rocks as well, going beyond the standard Sol Ring / Thran Dynamo / Gilded Lotus gems to basically breaking the 1-shot rocks
- Mana Vault
- Grim Monolith
- Basalt Monolith
If you're looking for turn 2 Brago, that's how you'd do it.
Dreamscape Artist, Endless Horizons, Patron of the Moon, Journeyer's Kite and others are also within the domain of W/U, but just don't make the cut in my eyes. Brago's about breaking what won't work elsewhere, and those options just work better than these.
IV- PROTECTION & RECURSION
Brago might be evasive, but he's still vulnerable to creature and player abilities. Hexproof is your preferred answer, but even that can be thwarted by a Lighthouse, Spotlight or Archetype. When that happens, protection is your backup plan.
Unquestioned Authority, Spirit Mantle, Holy Mask - each makes Brago untouchable and unblockable by most boards, while the Mirrodin swords and even Pentarch Ward ensure some safety from Paths to Exile, Doomblades, burn spells and their ilk.
And even if something gets through - because it will, eventually - you have several recursion cards packed into Brago, which combined can recur just about anything from your graveyard.
Archaeomancer + Mnemonic Wall:
- can each take care of any instant or sorcery you want back on ETB
Auramancer + Monk Idealist:
- recurs an enchantment to your hand on ETB
Starfield of Nyx:
- recurs enchantments to the battlefield on each of your upkeeps
Reveillark:
- recurs creatures with power <=2 to the battlefield (most creatures in deck)
- can recur other recursion cards (Karmic Guide, Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall)
- can recur Brago!
- must leave play to trigger (LTB)
Karmic Guide:
- unconditional creature recursion on ETB to the battlefield
- expensive to maintain, best used when Reveillark available
Sun Titan:
- recurs any permanent <= cmc3 to the battlefield
- useful for artifact, enchantment & land recursion
- limited creature recursion
- activates on ETB and attack, so generally twice per turn!
Angel of Serenity:
- can recur up to any 3 creature cards from your graveyard to your hand
- must ETB and then LTB to recur
Emeria Shepherd:
- possibly the most powerful recursion card in the game
- returns any permanent to hand on Landfall
- returns any permanent to the battlefield on Plains Landfall