Pointed Discussion

Boom check it out. First comment.

This card is actually somehow a bit rediculous. Should EDH be like this? Instant speed, virtually uncounterable commander that does cool and useful stuff with only 4 mana.. my next commander.

Bloom Tender and Ashnod's Altar for free infinite colorless.

Perfect for your EDH deck.

You can repeatable cast it for FOUR MANA. Usually I don't like restating the obvious but it is just that good. It also will become that go to commander for all of your Bant needs if another commander doesn't work for your deck in particular.

From a Grixis Player, this is hands down the best commander in the 2013 set, with it's only competition coming in the form of it's alternate, Roon of the Hidden Realm, and the Esper alternate, Sydri, Galvanic Genius. He beats both of them because of his combo potential (one of which was already mentioned by JSSarfin) and the ridiculous extent to which he ignores hate. Who cares if he dies? BUY HIM BACK AGAIN...AT INSTANT SPEED!!!

Only jerks will play this outside of a bird tribal shell. Derevi demands bird friends.

Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word.

Personally fond of running with Hornet Queen, but that might just be me.

Have this guy in play and attack with either Geist of Saint Traft, Gemini Engine, or Hero of Bladehold or all of them and prepare to drool a rainbow of pain all over your opponents!

Is nobody else going to say it?

OK I will. :P


It looks like a Transfomer XD

It looks like Bumblebee crossed with Optimus Prime?

And the background looks like a Michael Bay movie. :P

XXXD

The art is a bit confusing. Also, she's not nearly as cool as Rafiq but she gets the job done.

My new favorite commander, and probably my favorite new legendary of the set (Marath coming second). Most of the others have fairly clear roles, but this aven offers quite a bit of flexibility. True to her tactical nature, she can helm a combo deck (Bloom Tender + Ashnod's Altar was already mentioned), be the centerpiece of a tapdown control deck, lead an army of weenies to abuse her tap ability, command a tribal Bird deck, or even just be part of a general Bant goodstuff deck that makes use of her unlimited cheap casting at instant speed. Looking forward to seeing what builds people brew up for her.

Read my beak: no new (commander) taxes.

So, I've been testing her out as a replacement for Jenara, Asura of War and my favorite thing about her is that her ability to untap and tap things just feels smart. Whether or not it actually is doesn't matter, but you get a lot of stuff to think about and a lot of options.

It works very well too.

What is Wizards thinking? Printing this in the same colors as Storm Crow?! Broken!

Although this is on the first page of cards sorted by rating descending entirely because this came out today, I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed.

After playing with her for a bit, I think she has some potential in a Voltron style deck. Seriously, I had her on the battlefield, like, 90% of the time while playing. Give her some cheap equipments and that commander damage will pile up pretty fast.

This+Kazandu Tuskcaller is ridiculous.

This little gal can cause so much mischief in a game of EDH.

With effects like Meekstone on the board, you can get a lot done very quickly.

The unimaginative will tap down a threatening player's creatures or untap blockers after combat for good effect.

The imaginative will see the potential in Mana Vault, Basalt Monolith, and Squirrel Nest for some truly ridiculous plays.

It'd be wonderful to include Time Vault, but alas, we cannot as it is banned.

Makes too much for what was supposed to, the other day I made a game with it, I had a Birthing pod on the table and could use at least twice the pod, sometimes I even gave me the luxury of using the pod in Derevi only to pick something up on the curve of four, put it on the table, untap the pod and take the curve five.

There are other things you can do but for a first time experience i must say, i liked.

Gilded Lotus + Deadeye navigator for infinite mana, perfect for EDH.

When Derevi is combined with Mangara of Corondor you can exile target permanents for each creature you deal combat damage with.

Something that occurred to me, is how well this combos with Howling Mine.

Just imagine casting Sol Ring first turn, Howling Mine third turn, and follow it up with Derevi, tapping the Mine. Your opponents won't get the immediate card advantage from the mine, and it will just untap on your next untap step.

Then if you want to follow up by just tapping it every chance you get, you can continue your card advantage. If you're diligent/lucky, your opponents will never get an extra card from *your* howling mine.

Derevi is easily my new favorite general from the new preconstructed decks by the way. Her ability to do politics, get a brand new main phase by untapping all your land, or tap down other people's lands before you drop your bombs/win conditions is so flexible. Her extra ability to always be dropped from the general zone for is just gravy.

Derevi is a outstanding general.
her ability to chump block is pretty much 1 of the strongest parts of her.
things to consider for the deck:
birthing pod
4 drops : Heliod, God of the Sun , stoic angel , hokori dust drinker . glen elendra archmage ,
5 drops : karmic guide , acidic slime , Prophet of Kruphix , reveillark
trust me getting a birthing pod to grab hokori is game ending 80% of the time

evasive or at least hard to block creatures are amazing
Daxos of Meletis , Ohran viper , Thada Adel, Acquisitor , Looter il-Kor

drawing for combat :
Bident Of Thassa , edric, spymaster of trest

combat enchantments
Opposition , finest hour (you can swing with more than 1 the second combat step) , true conviction

she's also amazing to sac :
phyrexian altar , food chain (you don't get to cast her infinite times sorry, but she's still 4 mana from this) , Barrin, Master Wizard.
VOIDMAGE PRODIGY he deserves his own section he's just bananas

land support:
seaside haven , riptide laboratory , Knight of the Reliquary , dawn's reflection (especially good on kavu lands or tron) , and last and possibly best is thawing glaciersers being able to tutor at least 2 lands everyother turn is amazing way to spend excess mana.

Tutors:
wargate , chord of calling , green sun's zenith .

you may have noticed I said something like 6 legends up there so if you really liked my suggestions I also put Captain Sisay in the deck along with her best new toy Bow of Nylea.

all of these are things that derevi can support strongly, use any or all of these with your favorite bant cards and your going to have a very powerful deck.

She seems great with the Epic spells, as you can use her ability to put her onto the battlefield even with epic active.

With Endless Swarm you could end up with a ton of untap effects, meaning even a simple Pristine Talisman would end up gaining you a lot of life.

Eternal Dominion is just plain powerful, so not much needs to be said there.

Enduring Ideal is my favorite though, search for a token producer, such as Sacred Mesa, and something like Spawning Grounds, leading to a large ground and air force. And that's only scratching the surface of the potential utility.

Hilariously broken. This is one of those cards that I feel guilty playing, especially with Opal Palace.

the final ability is not even casting her either... just puts her straight into play... uncounterable four mana flash bird wizard ftw!

It should be noted that using Derevi's activated ability does not count as "casting" her, so it's not a combo with Opal Palace. It does, however, evade countermagic such as the much-hated Hinder.

Now, I have an axe to grind with Derevi. Being in the same colors as Rafiq of the Many poses quite the deckbuilding question, mostly because Rafiq is such a bonkers card when paired with Finest Hour and now Medomai the Ageless.
So, what does Derevi do that Rafiq doesn't do better? For starters, she always costs four mana, making her a relentless attacker and an expendable blocker in times of need. If we delve into the mechanics of her triggered ability, Derevi also emphasizes much more on creating an actual army than Rafiq, who tends to focus on the lone attacker breaking people's faces. Derevi especially functions well with cards like True Conviction, because giving all of your creatures double strike lets you get more out of Derevi's ability than simply using it for pseudo-vigilance or creating openings in your opponents' defenses for your allies to exploit. While Bant traditionally doesn't take multiple attack steps on the same turn, the shard has access to all of the most powerful "take extra turns" spells, and with the ability to untap two permanents for every attacker hitting an opponent, you'll have plenty of opportunity to untap your mana on your second main phase and cast a Time Warp or similar. Mirror-Sigil Sergeant, Knight of New Alara and Flurry of Wings are some of the cards I'd consider if going for this type of strategy with Derevi.

Another way to play Derevi, aside from the swarm approach, could be a focus on blink effects and tap/untap effects. Both Roon of the Hidden Realm and Rubina Soulsinger work well alongside Derevi; Roon because he can blink permanents in and out of the battlefield, and Rubina because you can "double tap" her and steal two or more creatures at once, rather than just a single one. Other mentionable cards here would be Karmic Guide (also already in the precon), Mulldrifter and Reveillark (which combos incredibly well with Karmic Guide).

As a final note, Derevi could be used as a replacement for Rafiq of the Many in some edh lists because you'll be much less worried about losing her in combat than Rafiq himself (and she has flying). However, using Derevi this way also means that Rafiq will have to be resigned to an ordinary spot in the deck, meaning he isn't always readily available when you need him and is vulnerable to exiling spells and abilities. Whether the pros outweigh the cons is up to the individual to decide, but it's certainly an interesting option.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope that I provided some of you with a bit of insight and maybe a bit of inspiration on how to build a Bant edh :)

Ach! Derevi, run! It's the Voidslime!

I just want to make a mention of Lux Cannon, which deals with quite a lot of things if you have say5-6 creatures. If you resolve a White Sun's Zenith the turn before, or flash in an Avenger of Zendikar or Storm Herd or something, your opponent might find themselves with no permanents left.

Does too much. You don't immediately notice everything just by looking at it, so let me break it down.

UWG: Arguably the best colors for Commander, and only 3 cost, meaning he drops turn 2 with a mana dork.

Flying 2/3: Doesn't kill you that fast on its own, but it is evasive, working very well with the on-hit effect. Can kill if the game is locked down (and Derevi combos with a lot of lockdown cards). Poses a realistic threat when you put equipment on it, and equipment synergizes with it even better because they can't kill all of your creatures and leave the equipment dead on the board, but that's for another paragraph. Remember that at its base Derevi is a 3 cost-a 2/3 flying for 3 is only a little under the curve, if it is at all.

Tap/untap on etb: Comes into play turn 2/3/4 (maybe even all three) and leaves open mana for a counterspell. Force Spike or Mana Tithe aren't that impressive late game, but on the first few turns its rare to have mana open as you cast spells. Lets you cast tons of spells per turn by untapping all of your lands every swing, or perhaps alpha striking every turn with no drawback whatsoever because all of your biggest blockers will get untapped, or perhaps comboing with lockdown like Winter Orb or Rising Waters to tap every land they untap so they can never play spell of their own unless its 1 cmc and they drop a land that turn. Tap down all of their lands so they can't counter your cards when you cast them main phase 2. Its not just 1 permanent either; it snowballs out of control so quickly once you build up an army, just like Edric (another 3 cmc general in similar colors who was recently banned in French commander. What a coincidence.) Swing every turn, block every turn, and draw a huge amount of cards every turn with Azami. And Derevi's a Wizard itself too. The fact that its original cost (and replay cost) are so low means that with a good mana filterer and something that can tap for a lot of mana, this thing can be free, or even produce mana on cast. That's something that never caused problems in MtG history before, right? (urza block, Tolarian Academy, Snap, Palinchron, etc.)

4 cost to put into play from command zone: Oh boy, if anything could top the second ability, this is it. First of all, this gives your commander flash (aka leave counterspells open the turn you play it, has semi-haste), AND DOESN'T ALLOW IT TO BE COUNTERED. Its never a spell-this means no Counterspell, no Force of Will, and, most of all, no Hinder or Spell Crumple. That's right-we make arguably the best commander to ever exist, and we make it immune to 2 of the 3 most commonly used tuck effects (the third is Condemn, at least in my experence). This also means that Derevi is a huge source of card advantage-whereas a normal general, even a cheap one, can be killed over and over again until its owner can't cast it, you can't stop your opponents from playing Derevi except by stopping them from hitting 4 lands (pretty hard to reliably do in Commander). Any half-decent sacrifice effect will absolutely break Derevi, granting you infinite of whatever you want over the course of the game with almost no way for your opponents to interact with it. Voidmage Prodigy is probably the strongest of these, not letting your opponents ever cast a relevant spell as long as you have a few lands out. I'm sure you can find more if you hunt for them. At worst, its a double Maze of Ith as you tap down one powerful attacker and chump the next every turn for no card disadvantage.

Maybe you can handle Derevi in multiplayer by having multiple players aiming everything they have at him, although it'll be tough. In a 1v1, though, he's flat out broken. Its no surprise that he's tearing up the Duel Commander format right now, and while I don't play that format enough to consider myself an authority on it, I would not be surprised or remotely upset if Derevi got banned as a Commander there.

In my opinion, this thing is WotC's biggest mistake of the year. I'm not sure whether I like them making cards that do more as a Commander than as one of the 99, but more +1/+1 counters, more 0/1 tokens, more cards exiled, or even gaining a bunch of life before your opponent gets going can't compare to massive amounts of card advantage coupled with tons of infinite combos.

fyi: max char is 5000, shortned post & delete combos 4 that. have a cookie 4 reading, get a life

I wish I had some cookies to snack on.

So, mostly responding to the previous epic by EvilDarkVoid, this card is perhaps all sorts of off-the-wall in 1v1 commander. I'm just prodding at a small detail mentioned toward the end of the post: It's nowhere close to a mistake on Wizards' part. That is because there are not nearly enough people in the world to appreciate 2-player EDH games, or even 2-headed-giant EDH. As a matter of fact, I've heard plenty of players say some pretty negative things about 2-player EDH games. So of course Wizards' is not going to give such a format any consideration (unfortunately).

A small critique, pertaining to Bloom Tender + Ashnod Altar mentioned in several posts: While there is no ISO standard for "brokeness" in magic, it's safe to say there are a few almost-universally agreed on standards regarding the power level of a combo. . . that is, the relative power level I mean. Distinguished game winning combos gain most of their edge because they involve 2 or fewer cards. There are lots of them. In a combo-heavy EDH environment, no one even flinches at a player who managed to dig up two cards from their library- not to say that that is not an effective strategy. Now, a combo reaches a much higher level of power when it only involves 2 cards and one of them is the Commander (or when the single game winning combo piece is the commander). This is just a small point that Derevi's combo with two other cards doesn't say much about its power level. That goes for any Legend. Of course, regarding what the two combo pieces are can be an important factor. Bloom Tender and Ashnod Altar are pretty good on their own, so Derevi's interaction with them is cool. . . but Derevi's interaction with Voidmage Prodigy is off the chain for real. I'm glad I read that post.

Arena of the Ancients, Winter Orb, Stoic Angel.

Ughhhhhh

This + Aluren + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite untap and mana at instant speed.

Man, City of Shadows really loves to toss Derevi out at every chance it gets.

Upon blinking in Derevi, target City of Shadows with Derevi's untap abiltiy.
In response, tap City of Shadows to exile Derevi for a storage counter.
Rinse and repeat.

I love that this can be done during an opponents end step.

You can also exile a token army with Derevi on the field. Target the city with all of their untap triggers and sack them all for a massive colorless mana generator.

My current commander, and my favorite from the 2013 decks so far.

A couple notes from my experience with her:

-She never costs 3. If you cast her on your turn, you are probably untapping a mana source.

-She is generally not a good "blink" target unless you can pull off an infinite combo. Most of her ability's usefulness is in the combat damage trigger. Otherwise, she's just an overpriced Pestermite.

-She loves any and all creatures that are both evasive and give you more spells to cast with the stuff you untap. From the included Lu Xun to my personal favorites, Thada Adel and her bff Daxos.

I can't speak to her competitive-ness, but she wins me games. And she's incredibly fun. (Except for her lockdown builds. I'm looking at you, Static Orb.)

I use her as a Bant flash/blink commander. Ironically, she's better than Roon of the Hidden Realm at this because chances are you're already running a bunch or blink and EtB triggers anyway, using Derevi to get a bunch of little things such as 1/1 Tokens from something like Hornet Queen or Beck//Call and use those to untap your stuff and just get a bigger and bigger board full of small things that can be near-impervious to board wiping because you can just build everything up again. This is also very powerful when used in combination with Edric, Spymaster of Trest and Bident of Thassa for continuing your "Bant Ball" as I call it. This can also be used alongside Stasis and Hokori, Dust Drinker if you're that kind of person. Super awesome general and so fun to play at local EDH tournaments. Easy 5/5

Hey, Wizards,
Thanks for creating a commander that throws the game out of balance. So matter how many times I kill Derevi, her casting cost NEVER increases? Yeah, thats fair. How about an enchantment that does the same to the other commanders?

Amazing abilities and synergies, but damn horrible to fight against.

The instant speed cheap summon is extreme cheating in Commander format. He (she?) is an card tap and untap generator, not an commander. She doesnt do anything amazing, expect die over and over, moving your cards around until opponents just throws Terminus at her.

Good card, but I dont want to see this kinda mechanic get too popular. At least it made me get a copy of Condemn.

I voted 3/5 just because of how broken this card is when really comboing with all kinds of flicker and stuff like that. And if you create a weenie-deck around it it is just as broken. Having both mechanics is insane.

As some have mentioned, it is playable (against that is) in multiplayer, because you can't tap all the cards. But in 1vs1 it is a nightmare. Especially in combination with storage matrix. My friend played that against my Marath-deck and that really turned out to be a long, but one-sided match; I couldn't do shit because all my mana was tapped, and I had to choose what to untap; artifacts, creatures or land....

The fact that the untap-ability goes over to ALL OTHER CREATURES YOU CONTROL when they deal combat damage is what breaks the sanity of this card. The cheap re-cast ability does not bother me as much as the mega-untap-ability. Especially if those creatures have vigilance...


@EvilDarkVoid: Probably one of the best comments/arguments I've ever read on Gatherer (maybe on any forum). Kudos to you!

I remember when Derevi was first spoiled and people were like "meh, all she does is twiddle, what's so good about that?'

Turns out, good enough to literally get banned as a 1v1 commander. She's effectively a 4-mana uncounterable flash 2/3 flier, no matter how often she dies, which is already insane. And as we also learned from Edric, cheap creatures that give value to ALL your creatures when one of them smacks a player is also insane.

I'd just like to point out a few things all in one comment so you don't have to go looking.

1.) Derevi has multiple infinite mana combos (one being Bloom Tender and Ashnod's Altar for infinite colorless mana, another being Deadeye Navigator and Gilded Lotus for infinite of any color.)

2.) Combined with Aluren and any sacrifice outlet, Derevi makes for infinite untap/tap triggers (which, in turn, can cause infinite mana (untap land)).

3.) People note the compatability with cards that don't allow players to untap all of their permanents every turn (Winter Orb, Storage Matrix, et cetera).

4.) Derevi's repeatable (and non-increasing) put into play ability causes for good combos with some sacrificial cards, such as City of shadows and Birthing Pod.

5.) Derevi's untapping triggers can be abused in very obvious ways (e.g. Target Thawing Glaciers with five untap triggers, responding to each by using it's ability to search for a basic land (this works only because Glaciers doesn't become bounced until EoT), or doing the same to put charge counters on Lux Cannon and destroy ALL OF THE PERMANENTS).

Derevi is a super fun commander who makes a beautiful, complicated mess of every game she touches.

Why on earth is this only rated 3.7 stars? Is it not obvious just how busted this is in the format it was designed for?

Dude. Bird wizard.

This card was a mistake. I'm sorry to be that guy, but Derevi completely violates the spirit of EDH. A commander that circumvents the commander tax, at instant speed, and is immune to counterspell is overpowered enough. Add the twiddle effect and evasion on top of that, and you have one of the most obnoxious commanders that will ever be printed, ever. It's no wonder she's already banned in the French format-their banned list is making far more sense than ours these days, and this is just one example as to why.

Seriously, who wants to play EDH with someone whose idea of a fun deck is to lock down your permanents via horoki, static orb, stasis, etc.? Those cards were considered infuriating in traditional formats, let alone casual ones. The whole point of this format is showcasing your originality and creativity, not preventing your opponents from being able to demonstrate theirs by locking them out of their mana base. Not to mention, while pinging your way to victory via 2 points of commander damage a turn, everyone else is bored out of their minds as they sit there with their lands and creatures tapped down. You are, in essence, playing with yourself.

It's a total Spike general, and I'm sorry, but Spikes dominate enough formats, they don't belong in EDH.