Tom Bombadil | Upping the Average

[@ryanx8067]

I like the idea of some crazy strong commander trying to kill Tom only to be stopped by him reciting every creature type in entish

[@robbiehamilton2731]

BRAGO BRAGO BRAGO, I built a tombadil deck almost right when he was released and Brago king eternal is one of the best card in the whole deck. Blink all your sagas, get all the triggers, control the board, accrue value, constellation triggers. We love Brago

[@Cavendiish]

Yes, I think flicker is the way to go. Sagas don't trigger if you remove a counter, but they do if you flicker them. A long the lines of Brago I would recommend Yorion, Venser, Sojourner, Aminatou, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag and Felidar Guardian :D I also really like Spirit-Sister's Call

[@aeons7836]

Brago is the reason I have Azusa's still in my deck. You can get infinite land plays for the turn and abuse it with Evolution Sage

[@mortuc1]

​@@aeons7836what exactly do you use proliferate on? Doesnt seem to make much sense for sagas

[@mastershake42019]

Yorion the blink companion seems amazing to. Could use brago to blink yorion and your board. Then you would have the yorion board blink.

[@mastershake42019]

But also it requires you to have a board already. So it just be good when your already ahead. Guess it be amazing pressure tho

[@garyaltmann6976]

I gotta give you a huge compliment man. A someone who is fairly new to MTG, videos like yours are so so helpful. I also love how you take budget into consideration, since not all of us wanna spend every penny on cards. Your explanations are on point and never take too long. Keep rocking it.

[@TotalTimoTime]

8:07 I think Firja‘s Retribution is a leftover of people running Atraxa Sagas and swapping their commander for Tom as well as adding red. I cut this card when I went through that process because without Atraxa it‘s really meh.

[@rookt31893]

This deck was quite the story...a saga if you will.

[@bennythedwarf2167]

I think it's worth mentioning that Hidetsugu Consumes All can be a nasty double-edged sword. You can make a lot of tokens in a deck like this and casting or flipping into it at the wrong time can hurt you way more than someone else.

[@Cavendiish]

The Restoration of Eiganjo is really good and I wouldnt cut it, because it can ramp you at worst or reanimate something better. The second chapter always allows you to discard and then resurect the plains that you searched for. The backside is also a good blocker that makes more blockers

[@floppydisk4500]

I had a version of my tom that ran a lot of dual lands that also moonlighted as plains to help with this. It's cheap and can get you all your colors relatively fast for the cost at least😅

[@Grimlong]

Thank you for calling out cuts in the honorable mentions, It's always the hardest part for me.

[@mtgspecs]

Took the Tom Bombadil deck I made on my channel to a LOTR themed commander day last weekend - took both matches! It's a control deck filled with enchantress draw and it out valued Aragorn the Uniter, Shelob and Lord of the Nazgul!

[@followthewolves1991]

I recently built a tomadil deck. There are sooooo manyyyy options. It's crazy. I opted to add some of the doctor who cards that let me choose which chapter to start on and/or let me replicate a saga. Narci fable singer is also a good choice since she can be a decent source of life gain if you need it(and slap your opponents in the process, lol)

[@12jacobmar]

6:25 this is why i enjoy your Point of view Joey. I never looked at it from this angle. 👀

[@fassin666]

Yesssss! I was waiting for this ❤

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

Goldberry is excellent tech, and entirely in-theme. The obvious move is to keep triggering the best step of one Saga each turn, but she is also very good at keeping a Saga with a long-term benefit on the board, and being able to turbo-blitz one Saga to its final form at instant speed is excellent for actually finishing off the enemy.

[@TotalTimoTime]

Disagree. Goldberry is the worst of the counter movers by far. Her removal ability only works when she doesn‘t have a lore counter already and getting it off her requires another tap. So she is a counter mover that works once every two turns which means your best saga will finish if she is your only card. And worst of all she doesnt even have haste. If instead you had run hex parasite or power conduit in the two mana slot they would ensure your sagas stay around indefinitely and only cost generic mana instead of the blue as well. Yes Goldberry is a flavor win but mechanically you can do a lot better.

[@DKODA97]

​@@TotalTimoTimei run 4 cards with a similar effect. They are all good

[@nickwest3035]

This my favorite commander in paper rn. So much fun.

[@TotalTimoTime]

I think to make this deck truly viable you also need to add more instant speed interaction. Flickering sagas is nice but counter spells, kill spells and some tutor to find the right cards to win are very important.

[@pokedadsam9041]

Any chance you have a list more towards letting the enchantments die? Mostly the 2 new commanders from enduring enchantments and possibly enigmatic incarnation? Idk what to fetch with incarnation yet; but tossing the idea around.

[@thumbwrestler12]

Nice upgrade guide I might try this as my next five colour deck

[@Goldberry69]

My Tom Bombadil deck is my favorite one and has been the one I have spent the most time curating. Eventually I ended up with a Bant deck (WUG) with a tiny splash of R and B. It has 22 Sagas in it.

[@jangoertz953]

My Saga deck used to be Esper with Aminatou as commander and much more focused on resetting Sagas and manipulate lore counters. I changed it to 4.5 colors now (with Tom i could play all five but i have no red pips other than his), but i tried to keep the theme of keeping my sagas around as long as possible and repeating chapters over and over again. Its less consistent now but i get to play a lot more fun Sagas, which is a win in all honesty. It also changes what sagas are good to run, Frijas Retribution for example is really cool in that version of the deck where it just puts one or two angels on the board every turn. The deck does trigger Tom much less than other Saga decks probably do, since you want to grind the Sagas for a bit before you let them go IF you want to let them go at all. It hasn't been tested much yet, and its definitely not in its final form, but if anyone is looking for a more tricksy approach to this deck ill link it here: www.archidekt.com/decks/4027467/the_endless_saga_but_it_has_significantly_2_more_colors_so_we_could_theoretically_have_birgi_for_valuable_flavor

[@atomicwarlok]

So excited for this!

[@MrCrazycarlwinter]

I'm a big fan of Guildgate mana bases for 5c decks. Slow, but gives you an extra axis of attack through Maze's End!

[@SupaFro]

I just dismantled my other deck that had Maze's End, and now I'm definitely going to throw it in there! Thanks!!

[@Oopsall]

Gates have fantastic fixing now too

[@NEPrincess]

Love some of the swap suggestions and what is going on in this! In my own build, I included Battle of Theros for Ephara, Ever-Sheltering since she is an Enchantress that I'm not afraid to through into a battle lol Also, since Power Conduit is in this deck, I did put a couple of charge counter pay offs in it in the form of Magister's Scepter and Lux Cannon which could provide some nice options.

[@DrnknMc]

I was going to use Aminatou, thoughts?

[@Hamond1989]

Loved the Tom Bomba'deal

[@Axileoni]

worth mentioning jin-gitaxias / the great synthesis. If you get to that last ability you probably win the game.

[@aeons7836]

The last ability only lets you play instant speed cards on resolution. It doesnt last the whole turn

[@TheMarktuber]

In the gatherer it says that you can cast any number of spells ignoring timing restrictions based on card types for free and then it flips back so yeah it works as a one time omnicense for any deck and be absolutly bonkers here in Tom Bombadil deck

[@aeons7836]

@@TheMarktuber Thanks. Magic rulings can be so unintuitive sometimes lmao

[@danielsheraton5433]

Can I make a case for Aminatou, the fate shifter. Her +1 ability allows you to draw a card and put your best saga on top for when Tom's ability triggers and her -1 is a flicker. Alternatively you can use it to take back something your opponent has that's yours.

[@alexpoplawski209]

I have doubts about aminatou's +1... Because you draw a card for turn before the sagas go off to trigger Tom, there is no way to put a saga on top with her +1 and hit it with Tom (you would need to activate the +1 as an instant). The -1 is still quite good though so it is probably still worth including her just for that

[@alexpoplawski209]

Or unless Tom triggers on an opponent's turn. Complex setup but possible

[@DrnknMc]

YES JOEY!!!! I am working on a Saga deck!!

[@azazelmorningstar5631]

So a bit of a tangent, but Joey's vest looks really stylish and I love it

[@adamkorner4046]

Putting Hallowed and Archon in my Tombadil right away

[@Alexlorne82]

What about Showdown Of The Scalds? Exiling 4 cards until the end of your next turn seems pretty amazing, especially if you can reset chapter 1

[@alexpoplawski209]

I think Resourceful Defense is perfect in this deck. Being able to save the lore counters as a saga goes away and later just spam them onto other sagas seems really good

[@davidengkent7756]

I am impressed that one can manage a 5 Colour manabase on a budget, I've shied away from committing to one because of the price of the manabase, but how much tempo does this one give up?

[@killersithlords]

They have printed a lot of good budget lands that making a 5c commander without shocks and fetches and all the trimoes is very doable and you might lose a bit of a tempo lost but overall its' not the end of the world, depending on your play group.

[@christinamouawad1153]

With Flicker of Fate and Scrollshift being added, what about Teferi's Time Twist?

[@AnonymousMaykr]

I usually like proxying the silly expensive manabase and keeping other cards to a reasonable price

[@valun360]

The Tom Bombadeal at the end had me rolling lol

[@iliescuvg]

Did you find that the “whenever you cast an enchantment” cards were a miss when using Tom’s “put onto battlefield” effect? Curious if free sagas from Tom and casting other spells for cost is better/worse than casting sagas.

[@stephanhirschi7480]

How good do you think Sterling Grove actually is in this deck? You frequently want to interact with your sagas through blink effects or by removing/adding lore counters, but can't due to them having shroud. Sure you can always sac it for 1 mana, but then it won't stay around very long to protect your enchantments.

[@F4xP4s]

Have you cast Joey’s Protection yet?

[@riverswater5688]

I thought that strionic resonator did not work with enchanted sagas. I Remember researching this in the past. Any clarification on this?

[@riverswater5688]

Saga read as: “as” and “after”, not “at”, “then” or “whenever”

[@andrewrockwell1282]

Okay I'm in. I built a deck this week, mostly with a ton of sagas. I'm curious what you will say.

[@nikitasavenged9374]

Hey Joey, I think it would be really interesting to review The Balrog, Durin's Bane.

[@hawarths294]

i hope one day you will do grist i love that commander and id love to see your take on it :D

[@dionseannavarrette3400]

Oh Plzzz do shelob next!! I need this in my life

[@RenzZlax]

Id love to see a video for kenessos priest of thassa

[@burds579]

dont forget about Sigil of the Empty Throne! Angels galore

[@brother_able4592]

Think you should do an upping the average for Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. With treasures in the game he can build up the field stupid high.

[@grampaw5605]

Why not add Sigil of the Empty Throne?

[@codyfletcher9573]

Does Estrids happen just once?

[@onur6020]

Is there a brawl version of these decks to play on MTG Arena ?

[@eduardlohmann5800]

No room for Chisei, Heart of Oceans? He's my fav saga commander

[@schrottinator]

I'm really not a fan of adding Urza's Saga in any Saga/Enchantress deck. That thing wants to be in an artifact deck.

[@YaBoyEdGames]

What could be funny to do is to manipulate the mana base and add artifact lands. Either the mono ones or the tapped dual ones. And boom a target. Could be a budget option with the one splashy card

[@schrottinator]

@@YaBoyEdGames That doesn'T work as the artifact needs an explicit cost of 0 or 1.

[@YaBoyEdGames]

@@schrottinator technically artifact cards have a 0 mana value if I remember the rules correctly.

[@schrottinator]

​@@YaBoyEdGames You are talking about cmc / mana value. But Urza's Saga looks explicitly at the printed cost in the top right corner of the card.

[@YaBoyEdGames]

@@schrottinator aaaah I see the difference now. Thank you for clarifying.

[@lichinthepolo]

Anyway we could see a Sauron the Dark Lord one a deez? That deck has so ways it can be built it’s a bit difficult to know what works best.

[@DylieBeans]

Great deck only problem is it doesn’t have enough Lotr flavor for me. Hopefully they do another Lotr set eventually.

[@MalteLewandowski]

Why not more proliferate effects? What are peoples experiences with them so far?

[@Oopsall]

They’re good but tbh I don’t think you’d need them lol, several sagas on the field chugging along is very powerful

[@MalteLewandowski]

@@Oopsall yeah but you want to have the trigger of Tom also in opponents turns if possible. The value is insane.

[@thomassteenkamp4575]

Can we up the average on The Locust God?

[@ITzMajorHavok]

My Tom Bombadil build gives me infinite turns. I run a lot more planeswalkers than any other deck build I've seen.

[@Suhrvivor]

Infinites in a casual format? Why?

[@ITzMajorHavok]

@@Suhrvivor because I can. Doesn't go off immediately. Also commander isn't always just casual.

[@Morristung33]

Any list can share? Trying to make Tom competitive

[@dougystyle79]

I want to build this deck SO BADLY, but I'd have to tear apart my Shrines deck to do it... Do I want to tell stories or build altars that do the talking for me?!

[@LTJ]

I have a had Shrines deck for years, and just built Tommy. In some respects they are similar (mana base and enchantress package) however, as most of the rest of the deck is either sagas, proliferation or counter removal (from the Sagas) cards its very different - so im not entirely sure that ripping your Shrines deck apart would be worth it. Best to take your time and slowly trade/buy the cards you need to build Tom. Shrines is too good to take apart for a Saga deck.

[@TuMekeTimmeh]

why murmuring bosk?

[@Joven_homelands]

Tekathul is cool in this deck

[@TheObstalace]

Eerie Ultimatum

[@grimgorlefort]

I've played the deck few times and Azuzas many journeys and the restoration of eiganjo are very much needed saga, cause they are the only 2 that can ramp you early game. When every one else is ramping out at the table and when you have cut cultivate and kodamas reach and you dont play mana rocks, you need something or this is too fair to be good. And if you have only average turn with one land per turn you'll never be able to have a crazy start and snowball. This is even more true if you cut most of the enchant reduction creature.

[@matteobagni1235]

But there are only 3 wincons, as the cards that make some tokens... Kiora's is the 4th but all those are easy to spot removal ... Tom should have given hexproof to sagas :) Keen to play against this, seems fun.

[@pokedadsam9041]

No cascading cataracts seems so odd in a 5 color list.

[@mystikx2205]

I built mine with a mana base of all 10 Triomes, all 10 Bond lands, and all 10 Slow lands alongside standard "tap for any color" lands like Command Tower, Pillar of Paruns, Forbidden/Exotic Orchard, City of Brass, and Reflecting Pool, rounding out with The World Tree for it's mana fixing ability. I'm also playing the usual rocks (Sol Ring, Arcane, Chromatic Lantern) alongside Mox Amber and Timeless Lotus, also a couple dorks like Birds and Faeburrow.

[@dakotadoyle7573]

I know a guy who made a Bombadil/Preator Saga deck

[@AltFFearYT]

Would you say Opalescence is a legal win con in this deck?

[@lucascicutti5550]

Honestly i'm just here for the dad jokes 🤣

[@felmare101]

wizards class to draw cards and have no max hand size

[@adventuresinthedark]

the mana base is so bad especially because the saga's ramp but there is nothing to ramp into

[@twhite9615]

Ppl are so eager to play 5 color decks but cry when i play back to basics or blood moon. I have literally had ppl flip out right in front of me. 5 color gives u freedom to play whatever u want but, you have to accept your weaknesses and stop being babies about it.

[@bobfranklin2572]

No idea how azusa's many journeys got cut

[@john976431]

I wouldn't have gotten rid of the enchantment cost 1 less cards. Eventually your only paying 1 if not free saga to enter the field.

[@emarmy00]

You know the deal hahahaha

[@fiberate]

Why are you wearing a backpack?

[@Oopsall]

It’s a vest

[@jordonpohl7393]

“Let not get…. too ahead of ourselves?!?” … let’s not get too hasty! For shame