Ezuri, Claw of Progress | Commander Tune-Ups #52

[@dino-wer-kuh3498]

i love the tune-ups! i wish you'd do mor of them again. they are a great incentive to become a patreon IMO

[@NitpickingNerds]

Honestly we love making them but people don't seem to like them :P

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

I think you should do it. It's alright to cater to your fans, so long as you like the content you make at the end of the day, but you can't just appease some of the people.

[@bit_chaz-corner2618]

Yeah I agree you guys prob make more $ from patron then adsense so I would cater to them and im not even a patrion I don't know how to spell it lol but I love these anyways! And it is a good value for youre supporters !

[@NitpickingNerds]

@@bit_chaz-corner2618 we value our supporters a lot.

[@schwaah]

@@NitpickingNerds Idk who these people are, I for one, enjoy this kind of content the most.

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

I have an infect version of this built, which I call "The Bad Touch". The more people the less effective, but I've taken down a couple 4 person pods before. It's so much fun.

[@NitpickingNerds]

What are your go-to wincons? Grafted Exoskeleton, Blighted Agent, Triumph of the Hordes?

[@SeeToTheLemson]

@@NitpickingNerds Glistener Elf is a cheap, sneaky include for any elf-heavy Ezuri build. The elf synergies and single cmc warrant a spot, even if it lacks evasion like Blighted Agent.

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

@@NitpickingNerds Besides combat, I win by giving everyone at least one poison counter, then proliferating people to death. Infinite mana into Viral Drake is funny, and Blightsteel Colossus with Blade of Selves is also funny. Grafted Exoskeleton is honestly a card I forgot about, and I just didn't have the money for Triumph at the time. Berserk is also gold.

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

@@SeeToTheLemson If we're talking about non-elfball Claw of Progress decks, I think that Plague Myr is also an autoinclude next to glistener elf and Blighted Agent, cuz its a mana dork that can one hit pretty efficiently.

[@Deathmperor]

Ezuri us my 1v1, Purphorous is for when the play group picks on my ezuri

[@Deathmperor]

My first precon ever been upgrading it ever since

[@karlwebb4799]

Cheers guys for an Ezuri tune up. A deck I have actually built. I may not play A+B combos like Sage of Hours but it important people are aware of them. A few inclusions that have excelled for me are: Fable of Wolf and Owl + Inexorable Tide make experience very fast Pir and Toothy, They provide great synergy and tutor each other. Viridian Corrupter and Steelbane Hydra for additional removal. Lazotep Plating and Inspiring Call can be incredible versatile protection Im testing Runic Armasaur and Ghostly Pilferer for more card draw and a body.

[@baloo7869]

Highly recommend Iridescent Hornbeetle for the deck, super budget too

[@NitpickingNerds]

I saw that and thought it looked pretty decent, it basically doubles your experience

[@georgeakoury7915]

That is where my thoughts went! Thanks Michael Hurst

[@masonbaker1677]

I actually just ordered some stuff to start working on this deck and testing builds, great timing! A couple of cards in here like Spark Double I hadn't thought of that I'll have to test out. Appreciate the content as always!

[@zeroenth7743]

I pulled this deck out of one of those walmart cubes recently and have really enjoyed building it up and trying things out. This tune up has me spinning gears over it again. Pile on experience sac for tokens slop a dumpster full of counters - probably in one turn - and have a beverage. And that's without scute swarm. R.I.P. command beacon. The holdings company definitely didn't have inside tips a reprint was coming.

[@andrewsparkes8829]

Hadana's Climb is the all-star in my Ezuri deck. Arachnogenesis, Mycoloth, Iridescent Hornbeetle, Genesis Chamber, Oketra's Monument for lots of creature tokens to pump up the exp counter count. Cold-Eyed Selkie, Fathom Mage (and any "draw cards equal to creature's power" spells) for card draw. Herald of Secret Streams for unblockable, Gnarlid Colony for trample. Those cards have likely won me more games than any others. Edit: For Crystalline Crawler, you ironically only wanna cast it with 1 color, so you can gain an exp counter. Because all your next few Ezuri 'add counter' triggers are likely going on it anyway, so simply casting for green and blue will ultimately reduce the total counters that will be put on it by 1 each time (as it'll enter as a 3/3 if cast with both colors, netting 1 less +1/+1 counter from Ezuri even if it enters originally with an extra one).

[@allanpaz5621]

my favorite commander! I like the idea of the deck "make small dudes into giant beasts" also this deck is fast, turn 4 win.

[@alexmendoza9645]

Perfect as always gentlemen

[@NitpickingNerds]

We are blushing

[@wakefieldwade4019]

It was interesting to see the strionic resonator in this Deck Tech. A video idea that would be helpful for me is one that explains when and why to put cards such as Lithoform engine or the rings of brighthearth in a deck

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Nice Sage of Hours is in the deck, such a easy way to get MOAR turns. LOL My buddy and I each bought a pre-con EDH deck when we re-started our collections; he bought Meren and I, Ezuri claw of progress and proceeded to play horrible one sided games since Meren is fundamentally the broken one when it comes to exp counters...haven't really bothered to play my Ezuri since :( I made a Meren deck instead :)

[@NitpickingNerds]

Aw that's kind of a bummer! Maybe you can upgrade the deck and take on your buddy for some redemption 😂

[@BouncingTribbles]

I played my Ezuri deck today and when I managed to draw my sage of hours off a 6 card fathom trigger I knew I might pull it off. After they let it hit the board I just looked around and asked if anyone had any removal. It was a normal comander infinite win after that, lol, I explained the two card interaction (I had 12 experience on ezuri) and everyone laughed and scooped. You did miss one of my favorite synergy artifacts for the deck: Orochi Hatchery. Very similar to the Hangarback, but reusable. I'll usually use the hangarback for 4 and the hatchery for 6 (or as much as I can manage, I got 10 today. 5 mana tap to put 5 snakes into play is so good.)

[@billsussman6554]

Just remember ezuri only puts +1/+1 counters on other creatures and not charge counters onto artifacts. So the hatchery doesn’t work with him.

[@dinonicle97]

Have an Ezuri Primal Surge deck called "Bionicle Oracle" where I flip my deck into Thassa's Oracle. It happened out of nowhere, now it is a powerhouse.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Oh man I remember Bionicle as a kid!

[@dinonicle97]

@@NitpickingNerds Believe it or not the Community exists to this day on bzpower and other platforms (in different languages). Check out quest for mata nui on yt if you like! You'll shed a tear or two if you see what they are up to, guaranteed ;)

[@poofypeanut0221]

Sweet video! I have an Ezuti deck (he’s really fun). It’s been through a few iterations but I finally stuck with an elf tribal build since a lot of the great elves trigger ezuti.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Priest of Titania and Ezuri are great friends, I hear!

[@SeeToTheLemson]

What about some sneaky proliferate shenanigans? I once stacked out an opponent by casting paradise druid 3-5 times in two turns with Wirewood Symbiote and light graveyard recursion. One swing with a 5/5 Blighted Agent festered quickly. The experience counters where a nice profit too!

[@CmdrUD87]

Btw, if you're looking for a good beater to include, the original Kenfet carries counters super nicely

[@zachw3548]

This video single handedly made me want to rebuild my ezuri deck, with new support cards available I feel like he'll be able to keep up with current generals in the format- which he couldn't do before

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah now is a great time to build him since the hype has died down and ZNR has brought some nice new tools!

[@Goldscorpio7]

With rishkar you don't have to order the triggers correctly ezuri checks when a creature enters to put the ability on the stack so only static buffs will make it not trigger

[@NitpickingNerds]

Oh right, thanks for clearing that up!

[@Goldscorpio7]

No problem I played a lot of ezuri back in the day and he's a lot of fun. Also this is why bane of progress works in the deck

[@beanybag679]

Thank you guys. Pure entertainment as always.👍👍👍

[@NitpickingNerds]

That's what we are shooting for! :D

[@CaptUvula]

Joe Cherries: “The Great Henge is at like $25 and going up” Beezy: “I don’t think it’s going to stop” Me, one year later: *screaming at the price of that damn card now*

[@crawdaddy1234]

Funniest way I’ve beaten Bolas’ Citadel: Ruric Thar.

[@DUES_EX]

Average cmc seems to high? Is there a more competitive version?

[@skirtsftw]

"Great henge is $25" that hurt to hear

[@bobm1476]

Unless they use a Krosan Grip on the hostage holding Ballista/Triskelion! Boom! Definitely worth the additional 2 mana!

[@MrGinger333]

Where's the whole deck link to.

[@aidankeyes5526]

Was toothy and pir already in the deck because they are literally perfect utility.

[@zotmaster]

The real question is how many experience counters do you need in order to get a level counter? And what happens when you level up?

[@viceverse11]

I own an Ezuri Infect deck. It's frightening. P.S. Meren is Exp Counter queen.

[@andrewsparkes8829]

Have you seen the SCG Commander VS 'pre-con mix-up' episodes? They each took 2 randomly-selected commander pre-cons and made a 'Best 100 cards you can put together with both face Commanders being partners'...Stephen Green somehow lucked out with both Ezuri and Meren. Turns out a Sultai Meren/Ezuri partner deck is busted...who knew?!

[@viceverse11]

@@andrewsparkes8829 I did not but now it's a must! When did it air?

[@fuckse]

I prefer to use some eldrazi scion token creators to make more exp counters and ramp at the same time

[@NitpickingNerds]

I just wish there were faster ways to make scions besides like from beyond

[@SeeToTheLemson]

I run Abstruce Interference as a janky counter in the deck for this reason. The token triggers regardless of whether the opponent pays the 1 mana for their spell to resolve.

[@fuckse]

@@NitpickingNerds well there are good options like nest invader and eyeless watcher i think, its a really good way to make 3 bodys and exp counters Whirler rogue come with 3 bodys and a evasion, using feed the pack to sac boosted Monsters and make even more xp counters And you can use soul separator to make even more etb triggers to make tokens,not the best way to try to use etb recursion but a funny one

[@fuckse]

@@NitpickingNerds growth spasm is so good in this deck, you ramp,get a scion that can make a useful hitter or maybe one more mana xD ps. just wanted to say that from beyond and awakening zone are realy slow choices to make exp counters, it's really better to make 2 or 3 bodies in one spell

[@landphil7535]

Hey guys, Do you think you could do a deck breakdown of Beezy's Karador deck. I've got one and some good cards for it(Saffi, revellark, Sun titan, etc..) I'd love some ideas for building.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's actually on our to-do list, but I want to make sure it's in tip-top shape before we immortalize it on KZbin!

[@crimsonwolf3487]

My secret tech for ezuri? Spawnwrithe and fable of wolf and owl.

[@lorcanawithluke]

im trying to get my buddy into commander and he just randomly has this precon somewhere in his room collecting dust. ima show him this vid

[@NitpickingNerds]

Show him the ways of Ezuri!

[@tyrynlloyd5471]

for those who don't know but ornithopter goes well in this deck

[@marczazzaro6490]

No Oran-Rief? Seems like a slam dunk.

[@jasonnoble5047]

No link to the finished list?

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's our tcgplayer link :)

[@bladerbattler25]

Is there a link to a deck list?

[@NitpickingNerds]

Link should be in the description :)

[@nicholasstevens763]

I’ve been thinking that it would be dope if you do a game play video !!! Thoughts ?

[@NitpickingNerds]

We are working on getting that going it is tough because of covid and we want it to be as good as possible

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

Quality over quantity. Respect.

[@georgeakoury7915]

Thanks for the great content, as always! #fulltimein2021

[@NitpickingNerds]

Ooo love the hashtag, we are on board!

[@EnemyToad]

I like this channel more and more. Particularly the passive aggressive comments, but also the hot takes. Most importantly though: let's go Buffalo.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Oh baby! The bills are actually good this year baby!!!

[@EnemyToad]

@@NitpickingNerds 2020 has been a bizarre year in so many ways

[@brentgould958]

Mke loads of 1/1 tokens and get loads of experience counters. EZ

[@brendtbilleck9855]

If anyone is a fan of AOT, does Ezuri look like Eren’s Titan or am I crazy?

[@thenewlollipopjam8248]

I'm inclined to agree with you. The shape of the face, the dark colored hair, the green eyes. If he had the devour mechanic, it would be perfect.

[@brendtbilleck9855]

@@thenewlollipopjam8248 I know that would be sick!

[@murd3r0tica]

Beezy can have Trump hair? That would be so funny.

[@Chronovaya]

Im trying to tune my deck into a cedh kalamax deck focusing on kiki combo and a few fallbacks I wanted to see if you can help optimize it abit more. tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-01-21-kalamaximum/ id like to keep it under 3k or even drop its price abit to make it work and let me switch some unneeded cards out. PS this deck has had heavy inspiration from a multitude of decks iv researched and has been slowly evolving overtime.

[@danielcosta8325]

Blight Mamba.

[@Deathmperor]

Hornets nest

[@weare1388]

my tech is fertilid

[@weare1388]

inkmoth nexus

[@kieranwouter2361]

Waggghhh, you guys are so rubbish. You didn't include ******* my biggest pet card.

[@NitpickingNerds]

This is a UB deck can't put Grave Titan in!

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

@@NitpickingNerds Did someone mention my big boi Grave Titan? You know it is a bad card because it isn't a Zombie Giant. How can it not be a Zombie? LOL :P

[@Blaze2020v]

First!?

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yes! BONUS VIDEOOOOO