"Derevi , Emyprial Tactician: One for the Birds"

"Derevi , Emyprial Tactician EDH : One for the Birds"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The first deck that I taught my wife ( who was still my gf at the time) was a Blue/White Bird deck that killed you with Bird tokens via a massive attack after a Soulcatcher's Aerie has made each and every one of them massive!Talk about Battle Screeching! Aside from this aggression this deck also featured some bounce spells and some counterspells. Bad news! And control is something she brought to our marriage but enough about me I was about to talk about Derevi , the tri-colored commander who is about to make birds from all over the world Happy. 

They can now have a commander that they could build around. At first glance winning with Derevi would take a lot of work to pull through. A 2/3 body is not exactly really there to give you confidence in the attack department but when you look at this flying legend , you just know that tactics would have to be strong in you. And thinking of ways to win is always fun.

First let me point out the built in advantage of having this bird as your General. She is one tough bird. You could smoke her several times , even with a simple Lightning bolt but unlike all the other Generals she could come back with a mere 4 mana! She could come back again and again without paying for any additional mana cost when she goes to the Command Zone. Derevi keeps on coming back for the same amount of 4 mana.Tough. 

When Derevi comes into play you could tap or untap a target permanent. Most people think that tapping a permanent is a pretty annoying ability. It is not so annoying when you are the one doing the tapping and the person doing the damage because no one can block your creatures. 

Because Derevi could come into play at Instant Speed  , it could tap an attacker and block one more. Derevi does not care if it dies , she will be back for more as long as you have the mana to summon her. It is like a better version of Wydwen , the Biting Gale when it comes to battle tactics.

When you are on the attack Derevi could come into play in a flash tapping a creature  , making your opponents best defender temporarily bowing down while you hit his/her controller. The best thing is that thanks to Derevi's ability whenever an opponents is dealt damage you could tap and untap a permanent. This is good when you are ramping up for mana with artifacts , this also means that potentially the army that you just attacked with could untap and be blockers for the next turn. 

There is a great abundance of bird token producers even in standard , Seller of Songs Birds and Eyes in the Skies just to name a few. Sun tail Hawk is even here along with the awesome Warden of Evos Isle that makes flying creatures you have cost 1 colorless mana to cast. Door of Destinies just got reprinted , along with Adaptive Automaton and Soul Catchers Aerie you could have a massive Bird army in no time. You could have Major Teroh , Commander Eesha and Aven Brigadier make an appearance here as well.Kangee , Aerie Keeper could also double as a Soul Catcher's Aerie. Notice that my build is overly aggressive. I have a spot for these birds. 

Derevi colors also allow you to have access to the best mass removal in Supreme Verdict. Mana Ramp in green and control with blue.Did I mention that my only daughter is nicknamed Aven after the bird race? I really hated it back then that the Aven got no respect but now with Derevi there is a commander that could take them all under its wing and make them soar again.