Atla Palani, Nest Tender | Upping the Average

[@thebookscollective8543]

I play her as dino tribal just to lower down her power level in our playgroup, but I love some of the additions (and removals) you’ve put in this video! 🎉

[@mattcahalin4456]

Something that I'm planning on doing with my Atla Plani deck is making a kind of side board for the deck with just creatures. I heard the idea while either listening to the EDHRECast or another creators video and thought I'd try it for myself. I'll have 30 creature slots (not including Atla) in the deck and the rest of it be your typical Atla help cards (lands, artifacts, sorceries, etc.). Before every game, I'll shuffle the side deck of around 120 different creature cards, deal out 30, and then shuffle those 30 cards into the rest of the deck. This way the deck changes every time I play it and it's a nice surprise for both me and my opponents when I reveal either an Ulamog or just a Wood Elves. Makes the game a bit more fun and changes every time I play Atla.

[@DoylePrime]

This series is AMAZING. I always find stuff I never thought about

[@CrabBaskets]

Right off the bat talking about Congregation at Dawn. Back in 2017? Or so I got my copy signed by the artist. I distinctly recall him saying that he wasn't seeing people putting this card in their decks. I'm happy to see more amazing commander homes for this fantastic card!

[@fatbackblazer]

I won a game tonight with that card. absolute bomb with Gishath in dino tribal. very good in this deck too.

[@DraculaRising]

I loved this deck tech it was eggcellent.

[@BionMTG]

Scrolled down the to comments EGG-specting to see some silliness like this...

[@mischkagusta1622]

A creature I like to use in Atla is the Greater Gargadon from Time Spiral. It is "just" a 9/7 but has Suspend and becomes a free sac outlet while suspended. This means instead of beeing a dead draw it instead becomes nice utility for the deck. Also it is cheap a.f.

[@8bit_outcast708]

That is a spicy little budget add, a free sac outlet that can not be interacted with, with the threat of slamming down later.

[@DJFay721]

Can confirm this card performs so well.

[@basededh3509]

I've loved Atla Palani since she was previewed. We'll probably deck tech her soon on our channel. Thanks for the hard work and great info!

[@batmanwins5701]

I have a very potent atla deck that is a bit more simple and coherent than a lot of lists. One of my favs but not at all budget friendly.

[@bobbiechristine]

I love how Shield of Velis Veil turns Atla into the best card trick in the GAME !!!

[@xDummyn45]

I've been playing my Atla deck for almost three years, and i love casting Shields in response to a boardwipe. Nobody expects it!

[@AlistairZands]

The comment about the Godzilla Theme is pretty apt considering I run all 3 of the Godzilla alt arts that feature the big man himself in my Atla deck.

[@Pho3nix_Prim3]

Finally been w8ing for this one!

[@Dragynstone1202]

I built Atla Palani as soon as she came out, and I did end up cutting most of the eggs as being not impactful enough. On the high end of the budget, Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack are great ways to get creatures out of your hand and back into your deck.

[@brianmellema109]

A sacrifice outlet I highly recommend: Blasting Station. With Maskwood Nexus and Atla Palani, you instantly get all of your biggest and scariest creatures on board without any real downside and while fishing out incidental damage.

[@olivierdebilde4292]

Good one !

[@ColorwaveCraftsCo]

Blasting station is the best card in my Atla deck

[@Master_Spliff]

Add an old Eldrazi and you can recycle and get infinite ETBs and kill everyone with say... Inferno Titan or something. Or that one dragon that is basically Warstorm Surge. If I'm understanding the sequence correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong please!

[@thrasherftw]

Axgard Armory is good as it’s a land that can tutor for your staff or boots when they become more important than an extra land.

[@Stammheiner]

I really like the polymorph-style of Atla! I added small non-creature token makers like Khalni Garden and Shifting Shadows easily became the best card in my deck! It's enables all hatched monsters with haste and gets a new monster every upkeep. Most of my Big Drops are indestructible or a Worldspine Worm, so Shifting Shadows does not replace them. Instead I end up with a second big monster, that got haste!

[@beaureynolds4267]

I have so much fun piloting Atla. The controlled chaos off the top has everyone paying attention with bated breath. God-Eternal is a good upgrade I didn't think of super cool idea with Maskwood Nexus in play. New achievement to unlock: swing with a lethal egg haha. I have a few creatures that tuck back into the library if they enter the graveyard, plus altar of dementia. My meta has several tutors to the top of the library so altar keeps those in check. Plus altar has some fun interactions with other cards in the deck. *Atla Shrugged*

[@nagashizzar3978]

My fair sir I would love and think everyone else would love an upping the average for Orvar The All Form!

[@peshy6912]

Thanks Joey

[@Pantjay]

Something I took out of my Atla list was Elish norn. She is amazing in most decks but is a nonbo with aether flash and skull clamp basically losing 2 of my sac outlets. I also removed Zacama because mostly I wasn't casting it so I didn't get the cast trigger and had better options. Instead I added Kogla Titan ape and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Kozilek shuffles my graveyard back into my deck and has enough the other eldrazi shenanagins. It has a secondary effect of being a win con if you get ashnods and thornbite staff out Kozilek goes infinite and kills everything with terror of the peaks. Kogla on the other hand fights something on etb and also kills an enchantment or artifact on attack. There were a few other change I made but I can't remember off the top of my head and my deck isn't in front of me. I do run a lot of basics mostly my ramp is land ramp as well as some mana doublers so I can always hard cast anything I need to because my creatures are high CMC. In that same vein Myojin of life's web let's you dump out all the creatures in your hand that would take 30+ mana to cast. Haste is very useful in this deck. It completely changes your playstyle. For example if you don't have haste you generally sac eggs in response to something or at the end step before your turn. If you have haste you can sac in your first main and swing out, this essentially just saves you a turn cycle.

[@katekyo11]

These are some really good points. Thank you

[@thrasherftw]

One important thing with kogla, you can also use him to return atla to your hand in response to some board wipes, and prevent commander tax while saving him.

[@thrillhouse4151]

I like Ilharg the Raze Boar to help cheat out big things that get stuck in your hand. I also like Samut for haste and the ability to untap Atla. Not the biggest hits of an egg but useful.

[@fatbackblazer]

From my experience with kykar polymorph, I only like having 12ish creatures in the deck. Not exactly the same deck, but similar in how it wants to cheat out creatures. Are you sure about 22 creatures in the final list? You have several ways of turning your creatures into eggs, was Avenger of Zendikar, or even Omnath locus of rage considered? good body with an upside of creating a wide board. Finally, an Elixir of immortality to shuffle your graveyard back into your deck if everything goes sideways might be a good addition. edit: mutavault is an egg and a land, if it is in the budget should be in this deck. Especially if you have crucible of worlds or wrenn and six lying around in your binder. None of these are in the budget constraints you have for upping the average though.

[@Dynoboot]

Zacama is a bit of a nonbo with Atla, as its ETB specifically states you have to cast it to trigger it. Though if you'd cast it for "free", you'd probably have enough mana left to use one or two of its other abillities straight away anyway. And he can blow up your other eggs. I play a Dinosaur Tribal version of Atla. I've included Selvala's Stampede to stop my hand getting clogged with big dinosaurs. Ghired's Belligerence, from the same precon as Atla, is a wonderful way to blow up AND duplicate your eggs.

[@MTGSavage]

I have Ghired's Belligerence in my maybe board and want to try it out and I think soon I'm going to cut something for it.

[@Dynoboot]

@@MTGSavage Good luck! If you have the chance, let me know what you think about it.

[@MTGSavage]

@@Dynoboot Definitely will. Thanks!

[@lukestippo9650]

I plan on making this deck and when I saw the egg ability the first thing that came to mind was “Goblin Sharpshooter”. As long as he’s out on the board you could control exactly when and how many eggs you wish to crack at any time.

[@Timby_]

“Let’s make like Nicol Bolas and cast Domri aside” Ouch 😔 don’t remind me

[@HorniYT]

Wouldn't "Ghired's Belligerence" fit very well into an Atla deck? Kill all but one egg to repopulate?

[@gabetaylor6007]

Atla was one of my fist good edh decks I built, only runs three creatures total. Xenagos, and world spine wurm. Run so few creatures has downsides for sure, but you can cram so much protection and redundancy in the deck. So much fun.

[@beepboopkendo4206]

It's clearly time for a Rionya fire dancer Upping the Average

[@AlexOvTheAbyss]

Would love to see one of these for Reaper King. Would love to build him, but not sure really what to do in terms of play/wincons other than "haha, I bounced my stuff to blow up all your lands". That just doesn't sound fun

[@AlistairZands]

I second the vote for one on Reaper King because I'm constantly tweaking it and still am not completely satisfied. Maybe for a fun Halloween Special?

[@ahoyturtle]

A relatively unknown but very worthwhile inclusion I never aee brought up is Penance. It's like a dollar, and it has huge upsides. It can sometimes completely fog a damage spell, but at the worst you can always target Atla herself and set up the top of your library.

[@whitestriped9126]

Its black and white....

[@ragroz]

Indomitable Creativity is my favorite to double dip on cracking eggs!!! You risk hitting a utility artifact but hey that works for me as well.

[@fatbackblazer]

you have access to green 2 cmc ramp so you can always run more tokens to destroy and less artifacts. good addition absolutely!

[@olivierdebilde4292]

A sac outlet I rarely see is "Claws of Gix". It has the downside of not being free but it can definitely fit in some decks and is very budget.

[@Asmith218]

I have gone to a more combo atla build which having the harbringer cards like elvish/treefolk/goblin/kithkin to go get the entity is handy. But in my zoo deck version haste enablers were key. they allowed you to immediately swing and get the spike of damage in, I got much more wins because of urabrask than I did from elish or vori. Worldspine wurm isn't just a beater but the split it undergoes allow you to have 3 more eggs with mirror or nexus on board so you can field your entire board at once in the right circumstances. My last banger is actually selvala, it helps you hardcast stuff in your hand late game or just acts as a removal magnet so its one less kill spell going after atla herself. People would leave zacama be but if the elf hit the table you'd see a few people move to respond haha

[@Jeunster]

Really good considerations, my personal Atla build doesn’t mean to be as strong and has a casual Ixalan dinosaur theme. I like the excitement of cracking eggs 🍳!

[@TheSilverFox442]

I may or may not have asked before, but I'm hoping for a Ghired UtA sooner or later. That deck has been a pet frustration of mine for the past two years, hahaha.

[@Shannibal_MTG]

This is why I switched to Atla😅

[@archnebulawordsmith458]

Awesome vid! Can we see an upping the average of Jhoira of the Ghitu? Please

[@arogers279709]

Would love to see a Rashmi Eternities Crafter upping the Average

[@enersha]

how about reinforcement's? put 3 creatures from the grave on top of your library for 1 mana. hidden retreat and penance are enchantments that let you put a card from your hand on top of your library for 0 mana

[@benisrael9160]

I have a dino tribal build and Cinderclasm is great for killing eggs and activating enrage triggers

[@erubin100]

Agree with you on the other tiny creatures but I still think Marauding Raptor is a worthy inclusion, purely because it also combos with Atla herself. She comes out a turn earlier, and then the minute she creates an egg, he kills it and you get a big fatty. Pretty sure that was the intention behind the design; it's a lot more versatile here than in many other decks.

[@brendans1983]

I had Apex Devastator win me a couple games, then someone pointed out cascade was a cast trigger, not an etb trigger. Spewing, cos it was cool as hell

[@drorian]

one needed suggestion, imho... you don't want atla to die when you play a board wipe, so just play tragic arrogance or even better cataclysm (bit lame tho), or the new promise of loyalty. things that make you sacrifice all creatures but atla. even single combat and divine reckoning. they are a really good alternatives if you don't have a sac engine in hand.

[@simoncss1]

Atla Palani is well-known to b a very powerful Commander but was also a deck I loved much, so thought to comment. To help mitigate the unwanted eye lookin your way, one could build the deck to fairly strict theme & declare it as such. As example, mine was Bird-focused + a suite of creatures that strictly hatch from eggs, to round things out (coz there jus weren’t that many worthy Birds for battling EDH when Atla just hit the shelves). Joe recommended against the Egg cards but it’s a must for my deck - Dragon, Mysterious, Roc, Rukh & Summoner’s. Even the non-creatur Mossfire & Sungrass Eggs… becoz theme. Other non-Bird nor Egg hard-hitters allowed include Nesting Dragon & Hornet Queen, coz they r egg-hatched. I just wish to make it plenty clear that I’m havin my fun here & gross Eldrazi titans are non-concerns for my play group

[@grahamkelly6736]

Birthing boughs seems like it might be good as a way to get egg tokens that you can't flip into with atla. Maybe not super powerful, but could be nice

[@ahoyturtle]

It's not terrible, but it gets completely overshadowed by Maskwood Nexus, and I doubt you'd want both.

[@bobbiechristine]

Umm Culling Dias is 2CMC AND its budget AND we only really need to hatch 1 egg... I'M SOLD!

[@endersblade]

Why run Aspect of Mongoose, which shroud to ONE creature, when you can run Asceticism and give all of your creature Hexproof, as well as 1G: Regen? Sure, I get it, budget. But Asceticism is an auto-include in any G/X deck I play.

[@PurpleTentacle17]

Have you guys considered doing a superfriends upping the average video? That would be interesting.

[@MrAquaElements]

I’d say adding greater good + sneak attack is a must. Sneaking in a big beater and drawing 10 or 7 before end step isn’t bad at all even if you discard 3. With any of the eldrazi Titans you get your grave back and can keep going with all the protection you’d need. Plus a single turn with Nyxbloom ancient is game ending especially if you can lethal someone and then draw all the cards you’d need in end step and refill your library right after. Selvala’s stampede is also fun

[@trysilv7185]

Scroll Rack?!

[@happybrain2674]

i would recomend eldrasi monument. its just insane there: you got boardprotection, pop an egg and oh yeah your army FLY!!!

[@fatbackblazer]

Your mileage may vary, but the sac part seems slow for the egg. I want to sac the egg in response to a removal spell at my choice for timing. Not wait for my upkeep. Also, can't guarantee haste on whatever hatched. I want to sac at the end step of the player right before me. What happens if I kill Atla, you have no tokens out to sac and you end up having to sac your only creature, say, Avacyn for example? that just feels bad. I like the line of thinking, but I'm going to play a lot of angels and dragons in this list so the flying part is going to be largely redundant.

[@happybrain2674]

@@fatbackblazer the important thing is boardwipe protection, the other things are just on top of that. btw its also an anthem and i forgot that cause so much other things on it xD. ofc it would be better if its done by a creature (thats the part i would also understad why players take it out or doesnt put in at first place), but there arent much. if i remember correct 1 angle for indestructable, 2-3 creatures for hexproof and some creatures that negates damage and if you dont have the money, eldrazi monument is a good budget option, but also a strong option at all (outside of the combo atla). This is cause the other players need specific removals. on a higher power meta this could still happen, yes but it doesnt mean you just let them do theyr thing too or have no backup after that. ofc you most likely to not ever get the monument back, cause its not part of your main strategie to play artefacts (i mean you still could^^). the anthem and flying on top of that is also something you just buy everytime as long most creatures arent flying, but even i would think about it cause of the indestructable and +1+1. the creature that profit from it at least is zetalpa and there i also think, hey it gets +1+1 xD i agree it would be insane if that card would also give haste, but cause it doesnt you need other ways (you commander could pop an answer for that :D). i also agree that it feels bad if you have to sac a big creature cause the enermies went somehow arount it, but also then they played it well. Normally you would sac a egg, a token or nothing cause it got removed. You just cant play a lot of non creaturebased buffs and there you need to be picky, so what would replace a 5 mana anthem that gives indestructable, flying +1+1 for all your creatures and a one time sac? a 7 mana anthem that gives flying, firststrike, vigilance, haste, trample, pro red and black? maybe a overrun? or what would be your choise there?

[@nik700]

Will I finally build her? Will I finally build around Song of the Wordsoul?

[@MTGSavage]

Atla is one of my favorite decks I have before I lost my Facebook account forever I was in a Atla group on Facebook and shared some of my deck tech ideas and the community loved them. I use some pretty unique tech in my deck as well. One being scroll rack, worldly tutor but my absolute favorite is Defense of the Heart. If I'm able to sacrifice the Defense of the Heart if someone on the table is being annoying I lock them out with Void Winnower and Archtype of Endurance. Or my personal favorite Terror of the Peaks & Serra's Avatar or if Terror is out Stalking Vengence as an alternative. You stack the ETB's so The Terror enters first and you do damage to a player equal to your life total which before I've just 40'd someone for lethal because they were annoying. Then if a Cyclonic Rift player tries to reset your board as long as you have a free sacrifice outlet you can sacrifice creatures and have them do damage to that player casting C Rift so you can kill them before it resolves. You could also speed this process up by sacrifice infect creatures because the creature deals the damage. I have a ton of creative and unique deck tech combos for my decks people applaud me on when they see my decks in action. Awesome deck tech Joey.

[@enersha]

i just tried to build a competitive atla deck im super interested

[@PawzBrownMTG]

I'm planning on changing my Dino tribal into atla she's great

[@jambersonllc6603]

As you are going to be playing a bunch of sizeable monsters, why not add some equipment with myriad so you can attack everyone at once? This would keep your opponents from building up their defenses while you finish one opponent off. The more turns individuals are left unchecked the more likely they'll find a solution to your monsters. So kill them all at once.

[@bobbiechristine]

Hatching INTO mirror entity is just gonna hurt too much for me.. But I respect it DEEPLY

[@MTGSavage]

If you're not running it in your deck you're playing Atla wrong lol

[@bobbiechristine]

@@MTGSavage I don't think people who play differently than me are playing the game wrong. But ok.

[@MTGSavage]

@@bobbiechristine For the value Mirror Entity provides why wouldn't you play it?

[@bobbiechristine]

@@MTGSavage I literally never want to hatch into a 1/1. I find with enough card draw and both Velis spells, I run across the effect frequent enough. Elesh Norn, Void Winnower, Vorinclex... Running things like this makes hatching one egg usually more than enough.

[@MTGSavage]

@@bobbiechristine Yeah but the versatility of being able to turn all your creatures that you couldn’t potentially save from a board wipe into all eggs with Atla and get a whole new board can’t overlooked. Not only that but if you have a Rhythm of the Wild out or any way to put a +1/+1 counter on Atla and Mirror Entity activate the Entities ability you can potentially just get all creatures out of your deck if you have a Eldrazi that shuffles your graveyard back in and loop your creatures entering/dying with certain effects that would just kill the table.

[@snowdazeTV]

gishath kinda nutty with maskwood nexus tho. wont see it every game, but it is hilarious

[@Yesnomu]

"If you'll excuse the pun" uh huh, what about the other ones, Joey? Don't pretend to apologize, you're not sorry at all! ;)

[@pvtcantrell74d]

jhoira weatherlight captain and Fynn the fangbearer please.

[@Dovahninja]

Angels being in this deck begs the question, do Angels hatch from eggs?

[@danielharrison2383]

excellent an older commander

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

Atla Palani tribal tribal is my build.

[@codyerickson3550]

People always jump to make Gishath their commander that they all straight SLEEP on Alta.

[@bobbiechristine]

I just cut my Verdant Sun's 😭 I want Serra's Emissary so BAD

[@Bezoldz]

In which deck is he playing serra's emisary? cant figure it out what he said

[@shonmatthew]

I love combo focused Alta builds, Atla with any +1/1 counters, and Mirror Entity for 0x20, get all my etbs shuffle with a Eldrazi titans to cycle etbs and finish up with a gob combo like snoop/Kiki or just Mons seeing all your crew dying and pinging everyone to death.

[@dbztothemax9041]

Fanatical devotion is just infinite no?

[@nbblerxc]

No, you cannot regenerate a sacrificed creature

[@bobbiechristine]

Yesss cut the additional egg creature types. E Z. Why would you want to hatch into more eggs????

[@marcomorenogamez6265]

The link to the deck doesn't work, pls can u fix it? I am interested in this list on particular.

[@togglebott7748]

My funny big monster Atla deck became a degenerate changeling tribal deck

[@TheBalogna7]

I am actually kind of surprised that you didn't suggest Penance. Probably one of the strongest cards in any Atla (or Mayel) list as it allows you to place any large creature stuck in your hand on top of your library at instant speed. Plus it adds a little additional protection from red/black. Also, obligatory Xenagos God of Revels addition comment. Red also has some useful Polymorph cards that are good additions as a back up plan for Atla.

[@drorian]

honestly, every time I play atla turn 3 she dies before turn 4. I tend to play her only if I have some kind of protection or haste and 6 mana.

[@leress]

Old Gnawbone is a female dragon

[@BornFromEmbers]

Toshiro Umezawa upping the average??🤣

[@alphathewolf583]

Instead of open the armory, while not quite as budget fighter class is leagues better if you just care about equipment due to having abilities that pay off later on in the game as things to do.

[@Beansareamagicalfruit]

My favorite commander, swapped her from my Mayael and now I run a protean hulk combo that can cheat out every creature from my library lol

[@christophermorales9146]

Does this seem like low card draw? Seems low to me

[@B33b3]

I'm actually really surprised neither Scroll Rack, Gruul Ragebeast, nor Grothama, Aall-Devouring were mentioned. Gruul Ragebeast forces all your creatures to fight something when they ETB which can force eggs that are part of the 99 to die immediately upon entering allowing you to just continue pulling cards, and the big creatures basically just become extra removal. Grothama fills a similar role but instead the eggs just fight Grothama when they attack allowing you pull more creatures again. The downside to Grothama is that this obviously happen in the combat step, but can still be worthwhile with cards like Terror of the Peaks or Warstorm Surge, and of course cards that give extra combat steps. And then Scroll Rack is kind of just an absolute must include for any deck that wants to manipulate the top of the deck.

[@drorian]

atla's eggs have defender, they can't attack. I use dragon broodmother to both build a flying board and devour eggs. there's thermopod if you want a sacrifice outlet in the form of creature, that even gives you mana.

[@B33b3]

@@drorian True, changlings can I suppose. Forgot that eggs have defender, I'm still in the testing/planning phases of my current build. I have Dragon Broodmother in a deck and totally didn't think about having her in this deck, that's a very nice include. Also, never heard of Thermopod, I will definitely make a note of that one!

[@mf2943]

I don't think I agree with Domri, Anarch of Bolas who is just awesome. Every single ability is useful and it's also a cheap card that doesn't cost like 10 usd. The power boost helps closing out games, the ramp is OK, the uncounterable ability however is very strong if your Meta has decks like that, the fight ability can kill one egg per turn or act as removal and last but not least, the card is effectively some addional life

[@robertb7865]

Does anyone else think it was odd that he took out Gishath, Sun's Avatar because the deck has Maskwood Nexus and it would make all the creatures dinosaurs so not sure why he took him out