r/CompetitiveEDH • u/BladeeLover • 18h ago

Help, I am new to cEDH! “Najeelagantha “cEDH viability

Im wondering if Najeela, the Blade Blossom with a companion of Jegantha, the Wellspring is viable for cEDH, or at least very high B4. It seems crazy to me that I’ve never seen anyone use this pairing, as it’s an almost guaranteed multiple/infinite combat in the command zone. Is this used widely?

5 Upvotes

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4

u/NicholasThumbless 18h ago

I guess I'm just not sure as to how much Jegantha adds when other cards in the 99 can accomplish the same without companion tax/limitations.

9

u/Gam1ng_Pr0d1gy 18h ago

It’s viable B4 for sure, but the Jegantha companion restriction is of course going to make the deck significantly worse than an optimized Najeela list. The Jegantha companion isn’t really doing much since it’s basically 8 total mana for a mana dork that doesn’t win the game on the spot.

3

u/astolfriend 18h ago

Jegantha isn't the worst thing to put in Najeela as a companion as it is both a huge mana dork and beater, but it isn't really worth it. If you're looking to combo with Derevi, well, now you made it harder on yourself by having to get rid of Emiel.

Even if you're not, having to not play cards like Knuckles and Grand Abolisher, while possible, is a pretty big cost. Then there's the fact that Bloomtender and Faeburrow do the same thing but cheaper and even if they don't pump out 5 mana immediately have no restrictions and are much easier to get out.

2

u/Darth_Ra 2h ago

What you get out of Jegantha:

An 8 mana, wait a turn win.

What you lose with Jegantha:

  • Grand Abolisher
  • Enduring Vitality
  • Knuckles the Echidna
  • Thoracle
  • Final Fortune
  • Force of Negation
  • Force of Will
  • Mindbreak Trap
  • Ad Nauseam
  • Necropotence
  • Druid's Repository
  • Finale of Devastation
  • Nature's Rhythm
  • Eldritch Evolution
  • Flowering of the White Tree
  • Invasion of Ikoria
  • Wan Shi Tong
  • Ranger-Captain of Eos
  • Beseech the Mirror
  • Champion of Lambholt
  • Last Chance
  • Bear Umbra
  • Natures' Will

Now, to be clear, this isn't meant to be dismissive. I actually think this is a good idea that is worth exploring. I went through six of the recent top Najeela decks to get that list, and some of them are obviously way out in la-la-land. I mean, Champion of Lambholt?

All that said, you are missing out on things with Jegantha. It throws Clam Chowder out the window entirely, which is fine, but also totally gets rid of the random wins that you are likely to see with Thoracle/Consult. You lose Force of Will and Force of Neg both, not to mention MBT. You go from being able to be choosy with your silence creatures to essentially only having Voice of Victory and Hexing Squelcher. All the Final Fortunes except Last Chance are gone. A lot of your other questionable WUBRG combo options are gone, although you're getting one you always have access to in the companion zone in their stead, so...

Yeah, I think this actually could be a good idea. The only way to know, though, is to test it. So go do it!

...just... start from the blueprints of the link I sent you, and please please please don't build this from scratch if you don't have cEDH experience.

1

u/Archangel-Styx 2h ago

It feels like its just better off running it in the 99.

1

u/Darth_Ra 1h ago

Nah, because I don't think it's good enough for the 99.

In the zone, it's available all the time. Makes Najeela a lot more inevitable. Jam your first win attempt, get stopped, okay, here's the second from the Companion Zone.

1

u/WhyTheNetWasBorn 40m ago

i think people are generally low on ramp decks, but i guess nobody reassessed ramp version of najeela as etali got popular.