It's part 3 of the Modern Horizons 3 Commander deck upgrades. I would like to welcome you back. We are going to be going over the deck Tricky Terrain, with Omo, Queen of Vesuva as the commander.
Deck Overview
Although I think it should be Omo, Queen of Everything, as they put an Everything counter on creatures and lands. With Omo out, the lands have every land type and creatures effectively become changelings having every creature type. This can lead to some interesting shenanigans. Also, note the ability says ‘up to’ so you can choose not to put it on any. You can use it to politic with your opponents as you can help fix their mana if you choose one of their lands. Tricky Terrain also had some new lands with some potential in Legacy. Even though these commander decks are for Morden Horizon 3, the cards are only legal for Legacy, Vintage, Pauper and Commander. With that, it's time to dive into the upgrades.
Table of Contents
Upgrade 1
Multiclass Baldric is the first card I want to add. This was designed with the Party mechanic, so it gets benefits for having each of the following creature types; Cleric, Rogue, Warrior and Wizard. It gives lifelink, deathtouch, haste and flying, respectively. It has the added bonus if you have a full party - prevent all combat damage dealt to the equipped creature. With Omo, though you don't need to actually run these and you automatically get a full party. You don't need to have the creature you want to equip have that counter. All you need is to control any creature with one and have Omo on the battlefield.
Fog Bank is the first card I am cutting. When I first saw this card, I had to check if there was some secret wall/defender synergy going on. There wasn't, so Fog Bank is an easy cut. While this is effectively an infinite combat blocker, as it flies and prevents combat damage, this is the ceiling of the card. I would much rather have a more impactful card.
Upgrade 2
Tricky Terrain has the most lands I’ve seen in a preconstructed deck. At 44 in the base deck, even if we take out the non mana producing Dark Depth that's still 43. Which even in a lands sort of deck, is too many. So I'm dropping 3 lands. An Island here and a couple of Forests for the next 2 cards after. Due to the creatures being everything, you get to utilise a lot of the weird Kindred cards and pick and choose the best ones. Spoilers: the next 3 all fall under this one.
Timber Protector is the first one and arguably the most powerful one. As well as being a Lord it also gives indestructible to all your treefolk and Forests so it can protect both your creatures and lands. Normally, this is balanced, as treefolk has a low representation and is also lower on the power scale.
Upgrade 3/4
The next two Kindred cards are also Lords. I have grouped these as they both do similar things. Lord of the Unreal is the first one. It gives a bonus of hexproof for protection. If you put an everything counter on it, it will give itself hexproof and +1/+1. This is because the Lords, usually worded with other insert creature type get a bonus. But Lord of the Unreal is a Human Wizard who gives his bonus to Illusions. So, in normal circumstances he won't buff himself, which is why there isn't the word “other”. However, you can turn him into an illusion with an everything counter from Omo.
Scion of Oona is the next one. While it can’t protect itself, making it weaker, it gives shroud (no player can target a permanent with shroud). In most cases, this is just worse than Hexproof. The big upside with Scion of Oona is it has Flash meaning you can use it reactively to protect your creatures from targeted removal. As I said above, I'm dropping some Forests to make room.
Upgrade 5
The fifth card I want to add is Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood. This one isn't a Lord but does interact with counters. Xolatoyac adds flood counters to your lands, adding the Island subtype. This will allow them to tap for blue and turn any Forest into a Dual Land. A small note here: the land will still be an Island even if Xolatoyac leaves the battlefield. This is different compared to Omo, who needs to be on the battlefield to make the Everything counter relevant.
Xolatoyac also has a second ability - untap all of your permanent with a counter of them at the beginning of your end step. This doesn't have just to be the flood counters, so Omo's everything counters will count as well.
Hydra Broodmaster is a large body similar to Xolatoyac, just without the utility. While the Hydra has the Monstrosity ability and can produce an army if you pump a lot of mana into it, it's not without a downside. Some timely removal can ruin the day. The problem with the Monstrosity ability is that it requires you to put the counters on the creature for it to resolve. If an opponent kills your creature before the ability resolves, then you don't get the effect and lose all the mana you put into it.
Upgrade 6
I'm dropping Satyr Wayfinder. I prefer having a straight up ramp card over this kind of card. The only exception is in a graveyard style deck, as you can use the Mill effect. I’d rather see this in the Graveyard Overdrive deck than in here. Whelming Wave is Cyclonic Rift at heart. Okay, it’s pretty downgraded compared to Cyclonic Rift, but even a downgrade from Cyclonic Rift is still good. I think the biggest kicker with Whelming Wave is the sorcery speed. But unless you are playing against some very specific decks, you will likely have a one sided bounce. You can even selectively leave some of your creatures with good enter the battlefield (ETB ) effects without the everything counter to replay them.
Upgrade 7
Monument to Perfection has rightly seen little Commander play. But I think this might be the best deck for it. It is very limited in playing and the first ability isn't even ramp as it puts it into hand. But being able to tutor some Locus lands already in the deck is the key part of it.
I don't think it's worth adding any of the Spheres lands to the deck. Glimmerpost can keep you alive in an emergency. The biggest one is Cloudpost, which can produce a massive amount of mana if you get enough Everything counters on the lands. The final one in the deck, and the new one, Trenchpost, can turn into a win condition.
Back to Monument to Perfection. It has a second ability. This was previously a pipe dream, but with Omo it might be realistic and a real threat. 9/9 indestructible is annoying, but it's the toxic 9 that can kill. 2 hits can kill or one hit and a bit of cheeky proliferation. Mirage Mirror is a cute card. Thematically, it fits in well. But playably? Not so much. Being able to copy one of your creatures is nice, but I'm not sure how much of a benefit that will be. I would rather have something that works by itself and is solid in the deck.
Upgrade 8
Propaganda is another weird card in the deck. While this does work and can slow down your opponents, if your opponents want to hit you, they will pay anyway. You need multiple versions of this card to be effective. When you have to play (4) for every attack, then it really makes you think about it.
Kindred Discovery is usually played, as the name suggests. In a Kindred deck where, all your creatures would be of the same type. Take the Eldrazi Incursion deck, which has almost all the creatures with the Eldrazi Subtype and even a few non-creatures with it too. In this current build, the best creature type to name is wizard, but there are only 4 in the deck. So, I would suggest naming whatever you have in hand to get the immediate value off the ETB draw trigger. Where this really shines is the attack triggers, which also draws cards. As Omo will be able to guarantee the card draw. While Kindred Discovery is better in a straight Kindred deck it still puts in the work and free repeatable card draw is very good.
Upgrade 9
Aven Courier is the last creature I am adding. This is just straight up value in this deck, as it is able to double up on the counters from Omo. Due to Aven Courier having flying, it might let you still generate everything counters when Omo can't attack into your opponent's blockers.
I'm cutting the alternative commander, Jyoti, Moag Ancient. While Jyoti works in this deck and is on theme, it doesn’t do enough for me. Hopefully, you aren't casting your commander multiple times, which limits the value. Unlike Aven Courier, which is always valuable if you get your commander out even once.
Upgrade 10
Floriferous Vinewall is the other card that made me question if there was wall synergy in the deck. I'm cutting this for the same reason as Satyr Wayfinder - it's not a real ramp card.
With that, we get to the final card I'm adding. It’s a land. This is because I have already cut 3 from the deck. So I think I should add at least one back in. The card is Maze’s End, the prerelease promo card for Dragon’s Maze set, and it has a key story element if you are into the lore. This has been a casual win condition since its release. It used to be only playable card in 5 colour decks if you wanted to win as there were only the 10 original gates when it was released back in 2013. There were a few tricky ways to gain an extra gate, such as animating a gate and cloning it with Sakashima the Impostor. But with the release of MH3, you can now play 11 true gates in just 2 colours. You get a bonus 12th gate if you play black, thanks to The Black Gate. But this isn't required for Tricky Terrain, as all your lands can be gates. It is up to you if you want to morph the land base to play more gates to pull off a Maze’s End win without Omo. Just note that with how Maze’s End is worded, you don't need 10 gates on the battlefield to win. You just need 9 gates and a 10th in the library to get out, as you put the gate into the battlefield before the win condition gets checked. Also, if you don't happen to have another gate to get bit already have 10 in play, then you get to win as well.
Final Thoughts
Tricky Terrain lives up to its name as one of the most versatile preconstructed decks out there. You can build this deck with the way Omo works in so many ways. Going multiple Kindred style, similar to Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. Or you can build a Simic lands deck using all the weird subtypes to get an advantage. The choice of how you want to take this deck is up to you. I have kept it in line with the counters and Omo, Queen of Vesuva to keep it more generic and useful to everyone. I am very interested to see where this deck goes and also what some of the new cards do to other formats. I hope you have good luck and remember to have fun.
PS. All the card prices were accurate at the time of writing.
Extra Upgrades
Looking for more upgrades? Here are a few pricier cards that I’d suggest trying out in the deck.
Fancy picking up the Tricky Terrain commander deck? Shop Modern Horizons 3 and all things Magic: The Gathering here at Gathering Games.
