For my final PreDH deck for a little while, I'd like to look at a very powerful ability which requires a good number of hoops to get working.

This five-mana Elf Wizard lets us hunt for Creatures in our deck. Casting any Green Creature lets us pull a Creature from our Library and put it on top. Casting an Blue Creature lets us reveal the top card of our Library and - if it's a Creature - put it in our Hand. If we cast a Creature that's both colors? We get to do both things. This seems ripe for a toolbox structure.

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary | PreDH | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

• Creatures (43)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Aethersnipe
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Archivist
• 1 Citanul Woodreaders
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Enclave Cryptologist
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Experiment Kraj
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Grazing Kelpie
• 1 Hoverguard Sweepers
• 1 Impaler Shrike
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Jungle Barrier
• 1 Jushi Apprentice
• 1 Kederekt Leviathan
• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Masked Admirers
• 1 Mold Shambler
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Mystic Snake
• 1 Nulltread Gargantuan
• 1 Overbeing of Myth
• 1 Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Riptide Director
• 1 Sages of the Anima
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
• 1 Simic Guildmage
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Trygon Predator
• 1 Voidmage Husher
• 1 Wistful Selkie
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Woodfall Primus

• Instants (5)
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Krosan Grip
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Voidslime

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Rampant Growth

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (41)
• 15 Forest
• 16 Island
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Dryad Arbor
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Novijen, Heart of Progress
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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In case you are unfamiliar, a "toolbox" deck runs a large number of solutions to various possible situations and a way to find them - just like hunting for the correct-size wrench in a toolbox. Momir Vig is particularly well-suited to this method; we just run a ton of Creatures.

This deck is desperate for mana. Every play-test I simply couldn't get enough. I want Momir Vig out as soon as possible, and I want to be able to cast a Creature to look for something and then cast that new thing pretty much right away. Sometimes that thing I looked for is Woodfall Primus, which costs eight mana. So, we've actually got 41 Lands including Dryad Arbor, plus a number of ways to search for extra Lands like Farhaven Elf and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Sol Ring and Simic Signet help here too.

Drawing cards is also important; we have a number of Creatures which are only Green, and it's nice to be able to draw as soon as it goes to the top of our Library. Archivist helps with this; Arcanis the Omnipotent helps more. If you draw your Mimic Vat early, I recommend hunting up Impaler Shrike, a pretty bad card which was really designed for drafting. However, it combos with Mimic Vat just beautifully, as I discovered when I drafted the two of them together - stick that thing on the Vat, and it basically reads "pay : deal 3 damage to target player. Draw three cards." Awesome. There are also a number of Creatures which draw when they enter; Citanul Woodreaders is a great example. You can hunt them up if you don't have anything in particular to find, refill your Hand a bit, or use them to hunt up something else.

We're going to have to figure out how to win. Terastodon and other large Creatures can be quite helpful, but there's no "this is how we win" line. Instead, we're reacting to the board, attempting to deal with problems that come up, and winning by attacking when we have the chance. We have some fliers and some tramplers, plus stuff like Murkfiend Liege which makes a card like Nulltread Gargantuan work a treat.

But it's our answers where the deck really sings. We do have some fun spells like Voidslime and Counterspell, but better is Draining Whelk or Mystic Snake. Trygon Predator is a fun one to grab when you have a Sharuum player at the table, and Acidic Slime hits a lot of things as well. Stuff like Aethersnipe can keep the board clear of problems for long enough to counter it (since it goes back to their Hand, and they have to recast it, we can counter it with a counterspell) or just push through damage and save the table, and Kederekt Leviathan can just win games outright. I like Hoverguard Sweepers as a temporary removal spell and a potential finisher.

Experiment Kraj is an interesting one. If you draw it and get it out early, it can start to get out of hand a little bit, even if we don't have a ton of activated abilities. That card can certainly be responsible for some absurd combos, but the plan here is just to wrench out value. You can always search for it if you want to go in, but it's not the only line and I'd only do that if I am genuinely so far ahead there's nothing better to get. Mimic Vat also deserves a particular mention, because it's so darn powerful with all these Enters abilities. Even sticking something like a Jungle Barrier or Coiling Oracle can be really strong, and remember it can grab other players' stuff too, so don't be afraid to take someone else's thing if it's great. Woodfall Primus or Terastodon would be particularly funny on a Mimic Vat, though at that point the table will probably just kill the Vat!

This deck is a fun one in part because it scales fairly well. It's unlikely to matchup against a hypertuned combo deck, but it runs enough disruption and responses it can keep most decks in something of check, but it's never particularly oppressive. We're not applying pressure; we're keeping the game going until we can figure out how to pull off a win.

This deck also benefits from thoughtful play. You can decide to go all-in on nailing the table to the wall, or you can react slowly, allowing the table to develop. Sitting with your buds and have a bone to pick? Go for it and do everything you can to keep them from playing. Joining a game of newer players? Let them do their thing, stop them when necessary to keep anything from getting out of hand, and subtly influence the game in the direction you want it to go - perhaps even arranging it so the kid who never wins anything actually manages to pull it off. You can be the power broker at the table, so let that be your goal, rather than just winning.

Thanks for reading.