Omnath, Locus of Rage | Upping the Average

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[@Train__]

As someone who plays these optimal types of decks, but not going overly competitive, I greatly enjoy hearing your recommendations for cuts and replacements. Keep up the great work!

[@Circular_Square]

That jellybean joke at the end really got me, that was really well done. I'd really like to see Ghave, Guru of Spores on one of these.

[@domonicneal1266]

Seriously Joey, Thank YOU! Your Upping the Average are phenomenal, and I'm enjoying them thoroughly. I can't wait to maybe see a 4 color Omnath Upping The Average?!?

[@TonyCook7]

Totally agree these videos are truly AMAZING.

[@rubyseverinwhitworth9066]

I have a request, Queen Marchesa as i think the deck could be interesting and the deck needs some more win cons

[@HyperParakeet]

Yes please this one!

[@auroralee]

Definitely! Shes a very versatile commander, so seeing how you can focus an average list into a cohesive deck should be an interesting challenge!

[@YgorSantos0]

I also would love watch an episode of Queen Marchesa. She is the next deck that I intent to build but I never know how to start or how I can win the games because she is so versatile and there are too many options. This serie is amazing!

[@VexylObby]

One of my first decks. I have used her as an Aristocrats or Treasure commander.

[@hmchem2092]

I was watching these "older" episodes and it is very nice to hear how the production has been improving constantly. Your work is excellent and one of the reasons I'm excited for Fridays haha What you said about cards needing to be better than 5/5 has been mind-blowing when brewing Omnath!! Keep the incredible work. You rock Joey, the necromancer!

[@AnthonyCapps]

A bit of spicy tech is running cards like Ratchet Bomb and Powder Keg to have a self destruct button for your tokens. Since these can kill off zero CMC cost cards as soon as they hit the table, if you've amassed a good amount of tokens, you hold an activation over someone's head in case they try to kill Omnath. Maximizing the death triggers out of Omnath and lots of tokens can lead to a lot of won games.

[@del132]

My personal favorite was always Ashnod's Altar and a decent mana dump, and with Zendikar Rising they gave me the perfect place to put that mana: Crawling Barrens.

[@AnthonyCapps]

@@del132 oh absolutely, making efficient use of the tokens you make is make or break I feel for this deck

[@martinnielsen6564]

I have a budget build so I’m going to try Rathet bomb

[@machinronii]

I use Goblin Bombardment deal 1 more damage per trigger and Altar of Dementia to do some milling besides dealing the damage

[@DuncanEllis]

hitting like even before watching because this was my first commander, and still one of my favourites to play. I learned the land count lesson because for some reason an early build had just 32 lands - crazy low! Current build is 40 lands, and I might push it up a bit. Good episode. Thank you.

[@dathore]

I'd love to see how you guys do a more damage based commander, like Rakdos, Lord of Riots or Mogis, God of Slaughter.

[@Dubi264]

I'm still not sold on phylath in omnath. He goes tall instead of wide like omnath does, most of the plants will stay 0/1 and be useless, and the plants don't hit the etb/ltb effects very well. He does make 4 counters per land which is close to omnath's 5 power per land, but it just doesn't seem like there's any big synergy there to me.

[@nobodyatallwhatsoever6957]

Tried Phylath in my Omnath. He just takes up a lot of mana and the plants just aren't plenty/useful enough.

[@milkshakes93]

I don't know if anyone will see this, but there is a card that I ran in my old list that NO one else ever runs. Look up the card Soulblast. It is so freaking good. Someone gonna board wipe you, you blow up your own board to do one giant instance of damage, plus a ton of Omnath triggers.

[@milkshakes93]

I've killed 2 players (in a 4 man pod) with this card. Try it!

[@Neelo5000]

@@milkshakes93 I run Soulblast in my Omnath deck too. Total explosive finisher. I love it.

[@linushernandezris6647]

I agree with Zendikar's Roil,, it feels kinda bad to play a 5 mana enchantment to get 2/2

[@damo9961]

It's the poor mans Felidar Retreat

[@KeroTheInvincible]

Zendikar's Roil works a LOT better in Omnath, Locus of the Roil, since the addition of blue gives you access to Risen Reef. With Reef and Roil out, every time you play a land, it will make an Elemental token, triggering Risen Reef to let you either draw, or get a land-drop of the top of your deck. Of course, getting a land off the top will trigger Roil again, which will get you another draw/land-drop, etc.

[@sang21nguyen]

Yeah

[@Deathmperor]

I used to used it in the hope you get a sac outlet to bolt things

[@willdazey7368]

I'v found Cloudstone Curio to be awesome tech in Omnath, Locus of Rage decks. It helps keep landfall triggers flowing, can allow Avenger of Zendikar or Eternal Witness to be fully abused and, when paired with a fetch land, can dodge Omnath out of the way of targeted removal.

[@andreusemanuel4868]

I'm playing omnath for 3 years and this video is awesome, let me just give a little inside that it was what made my deck much better: Tempo. You want omnath as early as possible so having 18~20 ramp spells is not unreasonable, what I'm going to recommend is paying attention to the 2 mana and 4 mana land ramp. You probably want plentiful of these because you can ramp one land on turn 2 and two on turn three having in this way (if you played one land from your hand each turn) a turn 4 omnath and a turn 4 omnath is all the tempo you want. After having this fixed you can add the three cmc ones like kodamas, cultivate and grow from the ashes

[@DuncanEllis]

I always look at Grow from the Ashes as a five mana spell because it doesn't seem worth casting w/o kicker. But you make a good point about early ramp.

[@andreusemanuel4868]

@@DuncanEllis I've added grow to my deck since it was printed, my insight about it is that you probably always pay five but as the land comes untapped you could do some stuff, like casting it for three and playing another three cmc spell if you only have 5 mana. It's the minority of the times but you should always pay attention on the possibility of paying three to get one more

[@DuncanEllis]

@@andreusemanuel4868 entirely fair. I've been having fun with Grow in a Verazol deck also.

[@dylancohen3273]

Now is my time to shine! My best friend has been playing Omnath ever since he pulled a foil one when the set came out, so I'm kind of an expert on getting my face beating in by jelly beans. The best cards in this deck are the sacrifice outlets. It is remarkably easy to make enough elementals to lazer bolt the table with Omnath's second ability and surprisingly difficult to win by combat without a craterhoof or triumph of the hordes. Perilous forays with a cobra or a stone-seeder hierophant is an easy way to get there but greater good can sometimes manage a win all on it's own. Recently, my friend has been playing into the field of the dead strategy and it works surprisingly well. A decent splendid reclamation or scapeshift is often enough to close out games. Nahairi's Lithoforming seems like a good include and I'll be recommending it to my friend. If you can't afford a mana crypt or a gaea's cradle, Orcish Lumberjack is a great budget option to slam an early omnath. An early 5/5 is great pressure for your opponent's mana dorks and weak little 3/3s.

[@DraculaRising]

I think garruk's uprising should be in any deck that has a lot of over 4 power creatures

[@Dubi264]

Also, the fact that it cantrips when you play it late makes it worth it even when you just need the trample anthem.

[@DraculaRising]

@@Dubi264 yeah garruk's uprising seems never bad to have

[@pyromonky437]

Perfect timing! I just rebuilt by Angry Omnath last night and had some of those exact thoughts (Fertilid, Multani, etc) as you mentioned! Love this series and the cast!

[@mn6334]

I had an Angry Omnath deck for a while but I ended up getting kinda bored with it. The only time I ever really did anything fun was casting Primal Surge. I once had a game where I went like three turns in a row casting Omnath and getting my board wiped immediately. I eventually got him to stick until my next turn all by himself. I then cast the Surge and won that turn. The funny thing is it wasn't even a dedicated Primal Surge deck, I think I had like 8-10 Instants/Sorceries in there that could stop it.

[@inamecomeunico8935]

Omnath has been one of my two long-standing edh decks togheter with Tajic, blade of the legion... And if I have to "challenge the stats" I would like to do it with 2 cards: Paleoloth, it stupid good with the wood elves and sakura tribe elders of the world, since every land once Omnath is in play recurs a creature from the graveyard; The second card is storm cauldron... This card is so stupidly fun to build around, there are so many tricks you can do to make tons of lands drops and still play normally while the rest of the table has to count and save lands to play!

[@kiritokaguya9180]

Interesting uptake on the Omnath strategy, will look what I can change on my own. Thx for the suggestions 😉

[@APEXoftheAVATAR]

Om-nom nom nom must eat all opponents-nath!

[@bbnemi]

I like putting Oblivion Stone in my Omnath deck since as a landfall/ramp deck, I can always play it for 8 to nuke everything, or play it for 3 to start negotiating. I haven't considered Valakut Exploration and never heard of Stone Seed Heirophant so I need to try those out! Omnath is my first EDH deck and its still my strongest and favorite deck to play. Cheers!

[@alexanderforbes1452]

How does this deck have no haste enablers? Ogre Battledriver, Fires of Yavimaya, Anger, come on! These aren't expensive cards and they're gonna make those 5/5s so much more deadly when you can turn them sideways the turn they show up. Tokens decks, and go wide decks in general are vulnerable when waiting to untap, you can have a huge explosive turn where you make twenty tokens and then someone kills all you stuff, you imagine that Omnath insulates you a fair bit with it's ability to throw damage around but it's so easy for your opponents to coordinate a little and kill Omnath first before a board wipe. There are also board wipes that exile rather than kill, either way your huge turn amounted to next to nothing (obviously it being Omnath an explosive turns probably means putting a bunch of lands into play so you're not totally blown out) because all of those beefy jellybeans were just too sleepy.

[@ethanwiggen3567]

I need an upping the average on titania, this deck is hard to balance and I'd love to see your take.

[@eliakimrodrigues]

He has a Titania deck: edhrec.com/articles/edhrecast-our-decks/

[@ethanwiggen3567]

@@eliakimrodrigues I've looked at it,and took a lot of inspiration from it, however its still an archetype that isn't simple to build and I'd be curious to here his thought process on his choices with it.

[@joyninja9249]

You should definitely do a upping the average for Syr Konrad, would love to see Joey's insights on him.

[@alexanderroets5018]

Can you do temur omnath next? Having a hard time balancing price and power for the first draft

[@hartspunken4830]

Undiscovered Paradise :D

[@spencersonnier1]

I've been wanting to try Ghired's Belligerence in my Omnath deck.

[@del132]

Ooof, with Fiery Emancipation out, that's a lot of ouch.

[@spencersonnier1]

DoctorBarbarian yes it is. Makes a lot of tokens as well.

[@20x20]

I'm going to disagree with your assessment of "put more lands into a landfall deck". What is the goal of a landfall deck? To get landfall triggers. It is not to constantly pull lands out of your deck. Ramunap Excavator/Crucible of Worlds help you pull from the bin (which will _usually_ be various kinds of fetches, yes), so getting them in play with repeatable sacrifice land effects is also good. Also bouncing your own lands to hand counts as fodder into more landfall triggers. Storm Cauldron is definitely a favourite of mine to aid that. I recently (in the before times) redid my own Angry Omnath to emphasize replaying lands more. I'd definitely want more cards to do that. The most interesting point, to me, was how you mentioned that lands are both mana and threats, which may be where some of my assessment has been off.

[@melind82]

I think there are a couple overlooked benefits to running extra lands beyond the fact they aren't as dead as cards in other decks. In most decks adding more lands would reduce their consistency since they end up mana flodding, but with landfall the deck actually becomes more consistent. Becoming flodded becomes less of an issue since you can expect to get value out of your extra lands (particularly if you can draw cards off your lands). You also reduce the chance of your deck getting mana screwed - this is maybe the best part. Additionally, as you mentioned, crucible + fetch is the preferred way to landfall (not to mention spells and other effects that want basic lands), so you want to keep a minimum on how many basics you maintain. Without a lot of basics you'll run out and those cards that need basics become dead and you also have to start using less explosive means of getting your landfall. More total lands means more basics and more slots for utility lands.

[@KingKoral]

I'd love to see your take on Yarok, the Desecrated - I personally have one, which is a mix of ETB control and Landfall, which is very tricky to balance and the fact that there are like 140 cards that you'd like in that deck doesn't help :D

[@silentstrat_2155]

What about ashaya? Wouldn't it combo turning all creatures into land fall triggers?

[@mathewkearns9770]

I might be going against the grain here, but guttersnipe and purphoros are hilarious in the Angry Jelly Bean

[@jackmarino8162]

I've been playing Locus of rage for the last 3 years and I can say for certain that elemental tribal is the way to go. A lot of elementals compound and supplement the 5/5s and the 3 damage dealt. The deck I ended up with plays like a jund deck without black. I'm talking maximization of death triggers.

[@JGreen42]

Love the video and I couldn't agree more! I'd love to see your opinion on my Golos landfall deck.

[@jschleter254]

I'd love to see Thantis, the Warweaver - Forced Combat!

[@lfconley]

I click on the title but a stay for the beard.

[@HyperParakeet]

Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle is a must in this deck

[@BuoyancyOfLoyalty]

Valakut Awakening arguably belongs in any red deck.

[@boxingpanda4757]

Soul Blast is a fun card to finish an opponent off, especially if you have Stalking Vengeance in play

[@Steamboat2016]

Paying 21 to recast Omnath isn't that big of a deal. I know...

[@jbrizvidz9170]

I realized I have half of these cards and now I wanna build this

[@AlexOvTheAbyss]

I'd like to see one of these for Meren. I feel she kinda falls into the same category as Muldratha where there are so many different ways to go that win cons are not high on the lists of most used cards. Short of just "golgari good stuff", I'm kinda stumped as for what to do with her. Also, don't want to throw in the boring infinite win cons like Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood.

[@daniescc9622]

I really really really really really really really really really REALLYYY want to see you tackle Yarok as a landfall general 🥺

[@spencersonnier1]

My second favorite commander. Can’t wait to see your take .

[@ChadZeluff]

It begs the question - what's your favorite?!

[@spencersonnier1]

Another Chad Sram Senior Edificer.

[@astonrichardson5288]

Good old Omnath! ❤️

[@peewee130946]

Defiantly can’t wait for 5 color omnath so I can build a 5 color landfall deck

[@Isheian]

Is it worth adding blue for omnath locus of the roil? For elemental tribal?

[@oscarmalave7600]

2021 calling! Just wanted to why only 3-4 mountains?

[@robertrucker9210]

Kodama of the east tree and a bounce land with omnath. Infinite tokens

[@gysahlgemuse7208]

I also have an Omnath deck. Mine however is Elemental tribal. I'm not interested in winning as fast as possible. I'd rather so some cool things like with Living Inferno and Vigor. Or Magmaw and Gratuitious Violence (and Omnath).

[@matiasanastopulos1687]

I am not sure if I want to play this omnath or some of the others :O

[@ctrides7634]

Nissa worldwaker is good in Omnath

[@0rcd0c]

Elessar the Elfstone is absolutely broken for this deck. With only one land you can trigger as many landfalls as you have "you can play additional land" effects on the table.

[@zacsnowbank7632]

Watching this really solidifies my opinion that relying on common sense and experience can make you worse at deck-building. I play Omnath, and most of my friends agree it's my strongest deck, or close to it. My deck is also pretty different from the average list. I play Courser of Kruphix and I'm getting an Azusa soon, but I don't think I have a single traditional ramp card. Instead, my deck tries as quickly as possible to get extra land drops and most importantly, to get some kind of board state that says "Landfall: draw a card." This might be done by ultimating Nissa, Vital Force, or in a more roundabout way like Elemental Bond. The important thing is that when I play a land, I draw a card and can play multiple lands a turn. This works out to be extremely powerful because the deck plays 59 lands. And that number will go up once I get my MDFCs from Zendikar Rising. Essentially, the deck is a perpetual motion machine designed to play lands and the only thing that stops it is when I've played my fifth or sixth land for turn. My Omnath deck is fundamentally different from my other decks in design, and this was a very deliberate decision. Every time I make a deck I try and question everything I assume it needs as much as possible because I'm a brewer at heart and want to try new and crazy things, and Omnath is my favorite example.

[@coodu]

Hey Joey, what would you recommend cutting in favour of Moraug? He's now at a reasonable price range, at least for my LGS. Cheers Sam

[@-Gojiro-]

I run a Landfall deck, and I took out Zendikar's roil for the same reason.

[@dotteduelist07]

i have a request. Can you do Zacama Primal Calamity. I would love to see your take on the 3 headed T-rex I call fluffy.

[@CaptainNinjaKid]

Literally building this deck rn

[@sang21nguyen]

Do a edgar markov,ur-dragon,arahbo,oloro,orah ones cause omnath locus of rage is my first and current commander.

[@bionicrocker]

Who else is hyped for 5 color Omnath

[@agatonwennerstrom1059]

Does anyone know the average turn this deck wins? I have a hard time imagining it myself.

[@highpersons3927]

In my omnath deck I like to use stalking vengeance.

[@guillermobrachowagner7687]

Nice series... please upgrade Anafenza the Foremost

[@jordangarner87]

This is one of the oldest edh I still have intact.

[@crawdaddy2004]

No Horn of Greed? I realize it’s not technically “landfall”, as it requires you to actually “play” the land. But with Azusa and Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya, etc...

[@highpersons3927]

I run horn of greed I'm my omnath deck

[@crawdaddy2004]

Not sure if you meant to make the joke that “Landfall is flourishing”.

[@RickJagger13]

What cards would you guys recommend taking out for traverse the outlands and fiery emancipation?

[@roberthudgins8298]

What about scouting trek? I don’t think many people know about this card because it’s really cheap, but I want an honest opinion about this card.

[@omnigames7396]

I have a tatyova deck with 44 lands and I play Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, misty rainforest and myriad landscape

[@luispolanco5966]

Do you have Azusa?

[@omnigames7396]

@@luispolanco5966 yep and Crucible of worlds, exploration, burgeoning and ramunap excavator

[@happybrain2674]

Where is fling?????

[@gordonbombay6627]

Still love burgeoning for landfall. Creating tokens on someone else’s turn so by the time it’s my turn I can play them is stellar. But you do you.

[@thekagemaster]

Armageddon+Reclamation?

[@TheSandurz20]

Gotta disagree with you on hull breach, I would keep it in and find another cut for warp. Hull breach is busted

[@PhilosophyXGamer]

I didnt put sol ring in the deck because i dont see the point

[@MTG_Brewzl]

Interesting, I recently builded a new omnath deck 😅

[@jdogbemple1]

As a landfall aficionado, I believe Zendikar’s roil is not what you want. Costs too much mana wise for an effect you can get off so many cheaper cards and even lands like Field of the Dead. The card’s power is outdated.

[@LucasCotrim19]

But that's one of the cards he cut from the average list

[@jdogbemple1]

Lucas yeah I was just adding to why he was correct.

[@Dubi264]

Specifically because they're elementals i think it is still good here. Like I would run it over rampaging baloths just for that extra value. Like he said, combat isn't always the main wincon of the deck. A lot of the time it's the etb/ltb stuff.

[@mikenerdcore]

sad but thank Wizards for the power creep :(

[@FlintyAxe]

Now to add Boborygmos

[@chiefyull7523]

I would say 39 is the lowest amount of lands you should play in landfall

[@Jimmythehead]

Love ya Joey but I really thought Matt was gonna lead this one based on how much he loves his Omnath deck

[@mathimus55]

You might say I was a "script supervisor" on this one. Or "quality control specialist"

[@Jimmythehead]

Matt Morgan I have spent this long trying to come up with a clever pun retort but I yield unto you good sir.

[@Pantjay]

@@Jimmythehead You might say he was "elementary" in the burgeoning stages of this video. XD

[@brauliobravo8457]

Tatyova Please

[@vovojohnson4498]

Nice.

[@andreusemanuel4868]

7:00 if you starts nitpicking probably every 5 mana card will be unplayable in commander, including rampaging baloths

[@mikenerdcore]

just say game knights...

[@Jimmythehead]

just took the baloth’s out of my Windgrace to make room for some of the zendikar rising cards and it HURT. I decided it wasn’t a fast enough payoff when I can have phylath give an immediate board presence for the same mana.

[@Zerschnitzler77]

inalla next please.

[@Turn2Ugin]

Joey you make me question my sexuality

[@hunterlopez5001]

OMNATH LOCUS OF MANA PLEASEEEEE

[@nanoacido5174]

Andry Omnath or Radha?

[@Pantjay]

Personally I find Radha more fun but that is just because I like using fling to as player removal

[@chriscubbernuss3288]

Land stall? Why are your opponents still alive?!?

[@brandoncreek5709]

OMNATH IS QUINTESSENTIAL GRUUL!? This is blasphemy, sir. Xenagos till the day I D-I-E.

[@colincolin4294]

4th comment, I love this series, keep it up

[@lomaxx9060]

Why is Ashaya not included? Every creature triggers Omnath.

[@EDHRECast]

Every non-token would trigger Omnath, meaning the tokens do not trigger Omnath loops. Ashaya does not turn token creatures into Forests

[@AranXXV]

If we're looking for landfall triggers, I'll never understand why Harrow and it's new functional reprint never get mentioned, especially when part of our strategy is pulling lands from the graveyard.

[@TheStephenation]

Harrow is one of the best cards in the deck, but I think that the reason Joey didn't mention it was because it was already solidly in the "average" deck and not something that was changed.

[@AranXXV]

@@TheStephenation I didn't actually see it in the list. I could have easily missed it though.

[@TheStephenation]

@@AranXXV Yep, it's in there. The five instants in the starting list are all green and all clustered by themselves: Beast Within, Crop Rotation, Harrow, Roiling Regrowth, and Second Harvest. The "upped" list cuts Second Harvest while adding Chaos Warp and Return of the Wildspeaker. But the other instants are all left alone.

[@thatoneguyshawn]

Fertilid should be considered when your meta has a lot of top deck tutors, since you can do it on their upkeep before going to their draw but after their "in my upkeep vampiric tutor". The search clause is not a "may". I'll gladly give someone a basic instead of whatever they just tutored for. Something to consider.

[@finnmmc]

3rd comment!

[@BowmansWorld]

this is dumb if they take out omnath ur just drawing lands for days. u dont need that much land, u need more win coniditons and more creatures

[@polzinaj]

Great video, but maybe a small critique on the choice of humor... “Inject into veins” is reminiscent of using heroin, which is likely not the tone you’re looking for in a friendly video like this.

[@polzinaj]

Other than that, awesome content and viewpoint. Keep up the good work.

[@snugswashere6504]

Oh for fucks sake it's a joke. Get. Over. It.

[@YOURMOM230]

I play radha, heart of keld in a “play all the lands using all of the Azusa/explore effects” deck. I ended up cutting phylath and readding rampaging baloth because of his better interaction with terror of the peaks. Thoughts? ( if you wondered what I took baloth out I tried balefire dragon as a 7 drop spot next to avenger to zendikar- my specific build can can have a problem with wide token build early and am in colors where blasphemous act is “gambled” for only)