I Cast Both Libraries at Once | Brewer's Kitchen
Well, hello there! Brewer’s Kitchen here and today we finally get to play with the new cards from March of the Machine. And boy, did we get some sweet new toys in this one. In this episode, we’re going to not only cast our own library but our opponents as well, all at once.
The Gameplan
Here’s the star of the show: Etali, Primal Conqueror. A huge dinosaur with an insane trigger when it enters the battlefield. “When Etali, Primal Conqueror enters the battlefield, each player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card. You may cast any number of spells from among the nonland cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs”
This by itself can turn around or end the game. But it gets absurd once we combine it with Displacer Kitten. This little cutie will exile and return a nonland permanent whenever we cast a noncreature spell. Since Etali’s trigger “casts” spells, we can blink it again to repeat the trigger as long as we hit at least one noncreature spell.
Our deck is all non-creatures besides these two. And since hitting Etali will result in another trigger as well, this combo will cast spells from both libraries until we hit a Kitten and a creature from our opponent’s deck. Once this happens, the stack will resolve until we trigger Etali or the Kitten again.
Despite the massive amount of value this creates, we need to make sure to end the game in the same turn. Cards like Invasion of Ergamon, Chandra, Torch of Defiance and lands from Genesis Ultimatum will provide us with mana to cast the next spell to start the chain again, while Expressive Iteration and Abundant Harvest find us more spells in case we’re empty-handed.
Technically we could do this until both players have no cards left in their library. But sadly, your timer will most likely run out before you get there. That’s why we have the last piece of the puzzle: Bitter Reunion.
Not only can it be blinked with Displacer Kitten for card advantage, but it’s also a way to give everything haste to attack our opponent with their entire deck right away.
Besides the combo, the deck becomes ridiculous once we have Displacer Kitten on the board. All of our Battles, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and even Chandra, Torch of Defiance can be blinked with every noncreature spell. This will snowball out of control quickly if the opponent doesn’t find an answer. Remember that the Kitten can blink itself. So, if the opponent is likely to have interaction, keep up a Fading Hope or Prismari Command to dodge targeted removal.
What could go wrong?
As mentioned, the combo takes a lot of clicks and triggers. Arena’s timer will most likely run out before you can cast every card. Once you’ve hit Bitter Reunion make sure to hit the spells for a lethal attack and then stop blinking Etali to let everything resolve. If the timer runs out before the stack resolves, you won’t be able to give everything haste before declaring attackers.
And even worse than that, you might run into a situation, where you cast your entire deck in the process of the combo. Since we’re playing Yorion, Sky Nomad we have a bit of an advantage on our opponent but cards like Genesis Ultimatum and our numerous card advantage spells can lead to a situation where our library is gone while the opponent still has cards left. This doesn’t matter if you can attack for lethal in the same turn, but keeping this in mind: Don’t put a card draw spell or effect on the stack while going for the kill. Our deck only plays optional card draw or cards that don’t explicitly “draw” cards. But even a single Opt from the opponent’s deck can lose you the game once the whole stack resolves.
If you run into the situation where you need to cast a card draw spell from the opponent, keep the numbers of cards left in your deck in mind and accept that it might just be enough to cast half of both libraries, even if it means passing back to the opponent.
In recording, I had many games where I died to the timer, or a random card draw spell buried in the gigantic stack after my library was gone.
Oh, and in case it comes up (happened once in recording): Etali has a backside as well. If you ever run into a situation where you can’t deal lethal damage, Etali, Primal Sickness will poison kill your opponent in a single hit, regardless of their life total.
Don’t be confused by the best-of-one sideboard in the decklist. If you ever Etali into a Karn, the Great Creator, Fae of Wishes, or other cards that can access your sideboard, you’ll find some interesting tools in there. Try to pick one of the spells that put a card on top of your library if you find yourself in a situation where you cast your entire library to get one more turn if anything goes horribly wrong.
Wrap up
What an absurd deck, build around an absurd card. Etali has got to be one of the most explosive text boxes in recent sets. I made room for the Kitten/Dino combo in my Omnath, Locus of Creation commander deck after playing this deck. Even though I hope that the table will just concede the game before I have to spend an hour resolving every library on the table. As for this deck, it seems like one of those timeless classics that I’m gonna play for fun even after recording with it.
If you have questions or ideas for this or any other deck, you can reach me on Twitter @Brewers_Kitchen or at brewerskitchen@mtggoldfish.com.
