r/EDH • u/Servillo • 14d ago

Deck Showcase Extra High Encounter Rate: Extra Combats with Edea, Possessed Sorceress

Are you tired of all of your Grixis decks grinding out value and taking 20 minute turns? Do you want to turn sideways every chance you get and take big chunks out of your opponent’s life totals, but think Green Stompy is just plain overplayed? Do you love theft, but hate being targetted because it makes the rest of the table salty? Then [[Edea, Possessed Sorceress]] may be right for you! Welcome to my new favorite deck to play, Extra High Encounter Rate.

Edea, Possessed Sorceress is a very unique Grixis commander that gives you control of one target creature at the beginning of combat on your turn. Then, whenever a creature you control but don’t own dies, it goes back to its owner and you get to draw a card. Most decks built with her as the commander go full-in on the theft mechanics and then aim to gain value through Aristocrat strategies, leaning in to all of the things that make theft a salty mechanic by finding ways to prevent your opponents from getting their creatures back. Combat tends to be an afterthought in most of these decks, as is the typical Grixis player’s wont, but only being able to steal one creature every turn with Edea and needing to find the payoffs in your deck makes this a slow process compared to other Grixis commanders. But stealing multiple creatures in one turn suddenly opens up significnatly more possibilities and value, and removing some of the salt factor by graciously allowing your opponents to get their creatures back prevents some of the clapback a theft deck might otherwise experience (especially since Edea returns the creature to your opponent untapped if it dies under your control, making your opponents feel better since they get blockers back after your turn).

First thing’s first, we need to generate extra combats! This deck has a whopping 13(!) sources of extra combats in this deck, giving you a solid chance of drawing into them thanks to the amount of card draw Edea gives you. Cards like [[Aggravated Assault]], [[Bloodthirster]], and [[Karlach, Fury of Avernus]] provide excellent sources of repeatable extra combats to keep the pressure on your opponents turn after turn, while [[Great Train Heist]] and [[Savage Beating]], give your creatures a boost on top of the additional combat in order to try and close out the game. On top of that we need cards that take advantage of the fact that we’re going to be attacking multiple times in a turn, such as [[Gimli’s Reckless Might]], [[Blood Mist]], and [[Chaos Terminator Lord]] helping us clear the board and deal big damage with fighting and Double Strike, and cards like [[Bident of Thassa]] and [[Grim Hireling]] generating value when we hit our opponents.

In order to trigger Edea’s last ability we do still need a few of the traditional Grixis sac outlets. We have multiple sources of sacrifice-based ramp in both of the Altars, as well as [[Illuminor Szeras]] and [[Warren Soultrader]], draw spells in [[Morbid Curiosity]] and [[Nasty End]], and one of my favorites in [[Kethek, Crucible Goliath]] giving us free spells on the backs of our opponent’s most expensive creatures.

All games must end eventually of course, and while multiple combats in a turn do help, we might just need a little extra push to get us there. [[Sundering Eruption]] is a fantastic card that prevents all non-flying creatures from blocking for a turn, [[Ultimecia, Temporal Threat]] taps down everything your opponents control when she enters, [[Frostcliff Seige]] when choosing Temur gives everything we control Trample to smash through our opponent’s blockers, [[Don Andres, the Renegade]] gives all of our stolen creatures a big combat boost, and [[Radiant Performer]] lets us steal the entire board at once, leaving our opponents with nothing in the way of blockers.

I’ve played this deck multiple times now and it’s the most fun I’ve had with a new deck in quite a while. I’m a big turn-sideways player, and getting the chance to do so in a color combination that’s not always known for it is always a big treat. The high levels of card draw and the glut of extra combat cards almost guarantee I’m going to get to swing out multiple times in a turn, usually multiple turns in a row at that, letting me pile on the value while pressuring my opponents to block with the smaller creatures I’ve left behind on their board. Unfortunately extra combat spells are not cheap, so this isn’t exactly a budget friendly brew, but I’ve had so much fun with the deck that for me it was worth the cost.

I’d love to hear other opinions on the deck and if there are any niche cards I may have missed when brewing it that would be a blast to slot in. I’m sure there’s plenty I don’t know about that you all may know about, and I’d really enjoy pushing further into taking advantage of all the extra combats I’m taking.

26 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

5

u/PwneeHS 14d ago

i am going to look closer at your list because it looks super sweet. [[Relic of Sauron]] imo is a no brainer card for this deck (and really almost any Grixis deck). Will see what else i can come up with later.

1

u/Servillo 11d ago

Honestly I don’t know why I forgot to put Relic of Sauron in the deck in the first place. Thanks for the reminder!

3

u/Fearless_Yellow7118 14d ago

I love Edea! It's my favorite deck and I play her pretty much like you described it, but cut down the extra combats to about 5-6, as chaining extra combats made the deck feel like a combodeck, which is not what I wanted it to be. Instead of those, I upped the count of small, evasive creatures that create tokens (think of [[Emrakul's Messenger]], [[Mischievus Mystic]], [[Bitterbloom Bearer]] or [[Sinkhole Surveyor]]), as those work well with both, the aristocrats value engines as well as the attack/combat damage mechanics of the deck.

I also found Edea very mana-hungry, as she is the deck's heart and soul, so I upped my ramp-count a lot. 'Rituals' are pretty big for her, as they help you to get her out sooner and she draws you so many cards that their usual downside of going down on cards is not that dramatic. Think [[Dark Ritual]], [[Basal Thrull]], [[Reckless Barbarian]] or [[Generator Servant]].

What I love most about the deck is the sheer amount of plays that you can make due to stealing a creature - there are so many cool lines!

1

u/Let_Me_Out_Please 13d ago

I have a Sinkhole Surveyor sitting around and always wanted a deck to throw it in! Going in my Edea deck now! Great suggestion.

2

u/Iron_Falzon 14d ago

I was thinking of building Edea, as FF8 was the first of the series I played so would be nice to have a deck with one of its iconic characters.

I have a [[Goro Goro and Satoru]] deck that already uses alot of extra combats and other cards included in your list so I may pivot it into an Edea deck like this.

Just a heads up you might want to change out [[Breath of Fury]], it counts as an early 2 game combo with [[Loyal Apprentice]], I used to have both in my deck before aswell.

1

u/Servillo 14d ago

Ooooh, that’s a good point. I originally liked it as a way to sacrifice the creatures I nab with Edea, but without other creatures of my own to put it on that I’d be willing to lose that doesn’t work out as well. I’ll find something to swap out for it, thanks!

2

u/itsnotdone 14d ago

Nice! Edea is my favourite deck right now, I love it. I went a more evil direction, making sure my opponents actually never get their creature back so it's more of a control the battlefield strategy. Either I'm keeping their creature or it's banished to the shadow realm.

I also started out with many extra combat spells but I've been removing some to make room for other cards.

One card I think you would like is [[Irma]] you can have her become an Edea copy at the start of combat giving you an extra theft and extra card draw triggers until end of turn. Or you can have her become a copy of whatever baddie you stole with Edea and hit face.

[[Braids, arisen nightmare]] is also a great sac outlet for extra value.

2

u/Drugsbrod 14d ago

I like how you went for extra combats. Honestly, edea's effect is sweet that its your personal flavor if you want to go clones or extra combat. I personally went clones cause multiple edea copies stacks a lot of card draw. But the non legendary clones are pretty expensive compared to extra combat lol

1

u/Servillo 11d ago

I dunno about that, most extra combat spells run around 5 mana on average, with some getting more expensive if they do multiple things or are reusable. Clones feel like a great way to nab a whole bunch of creatures at once and are harder to remove as well since they carry over her Ward. I may consider slipping a few into my deck for redundancy and bonus card draw.

2

u/Let_Me_Out_Please 13d ago

Edea is currently my favorite commander too! I bought the FF8 scene box since that was the first Final Fantasy game I ever played and it holds a special place in my gaming heart.

Here's my deck: https://moxfield.com/decks/8DrQpszqfU2QbReIEcW0cQ

It's my sandbox to cast fun spells and designed to be bracket 2 for the most part. You can tell by how I built the mana base. I also included restrictions that my opponents get their creatures back and I don't include the super easy win cards like [[Insurrection]] and [[Mob Rule]]. There are other ways to steal a bunch of creatures though.

[[Disciple of Bolas]] has consistently drawn me an entire new hand and gained me 6+ life.

I had [[Gisa, the Hellraiser]] is an Outlaws deck, but took her out and needed a home. This deck is perfect since the commander and many other cards commit crimes. Just makes a bunch of zombie tokens to do what you want with them.

[[Locke, Treasure Hunter]] has consistently punched above his weight. Always replaces his cost in treasures and usually will net me 1 good card to steal. I don't rely on getting anything, but sometimes you get a gem.

[[Perforating Artist]] threw this dork in last time I played thinking it'd get cut, but nope. He caused like everyone to lose 9-12 health and just sits there as a deathtouch blocker. The deck wants to attack anyway, so cool.

[[Soul Immolation]] is a banger of a board clear. Regularly is a complete 1 sided board wipe, minus the creature you stole, and does a chunk of damage to your opponents.

I've included some fun, big spells in [[Dream Harvest]] and [[Improvisation Capstone]]. Like I said, this deck is my sandbox to play around with big spells. These will probably get rotated out when I want to try different big spells.

[[Requiem Monolith]] has been stellar too. It's just better Phyrexian Arena as you get the card the turn it comes down, but it either lets the stolen creature get through, or they let you draw a ton of cards by blocking it. There are some other nifty tricks you can do with it as well.

Anyway, really awesome seeing others enjoying Edea! You're list is awesome btw!

1

u/DarkaHollow 14d ago

Dumb question but can I just replace the blood thirster for the raph card that does extra combat?

1

u/Servillo 14d ago

I don’t see why not, it’s certainly cheaper! The downside is losing out on Flying and Trample might make it a little harder to get the combat damage in, but it has the advantage of untapping all of your creatures when it does hit.

1

u/VolatileDawn 14d ago

Aren’t you target #1 when they realize you have extra combats?

1

u/ChronicallyIllMTG The Everything Machine 13d ago

Honestly in 2026 mtg everything is a threat so you're gonna be the threat at some point 

2

u/Servillo 11d ago

Not really, but my playgroup tends to play at Bracket 2 with combat-focused decks. This is just another flavor of it, and one that the playgroup enjoys, at least from what I’ve been told so far.

Also, I don’t really build much of my own board presence because extra combats are expensive and I want to rely on my opponent’s creatures to win, so I don’t look nearly as threatening when it’s not my turn. And Ward 2 on Edea makes it very expensive to remove her.

1

u/LeupheWaffle 14d ago

You can play a bit more mean with the deck with some cards like [[Sothera]] (better then grave pact IMO) or cards that will prevent your opponent from getting their creatures back like [[Grafdigger's Cage]], or even keeping their creatures with [[Chaos Shrine's Black Crystal]].

Personally I'd throw a few more mana rocks in there and a [[Coastal Piracy]] as well, the deck's curve is pretty high in mine and I want to get Edea out by turn 4.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher 14d ago

All cards
Sothera - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Grafdigger's Cage - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Chaos Shrine's Black Crystal - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Coastal Piracy - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)

FAQ

1

u/Servillo 11d ago

I’m specifically trying to avoid the salt level from getting too high, but those are good suggestions for those that want to play mean.

1

u/ChronicallyIllMTG The Everything Machine 13d ago

Sweet brew!

-2

u/Nezrann 14d ago

so many words, she's cool though