Henzie "Toolbox" Torre | Upping the Average 

I’ve been brewing with this one recently and it’s definitely one that feels like a dozen extra deck slots would be nice!!!!

I'd rather run Moldervine Reclamation than Deathreap Ritual.

I hit the like at "Big brain play" and the editing that came afterwards. Thank you for the wonderful content 😬

People are sleeping on Homura, Human Ascendant in this deck. It may not seem that impressive at first glance but it really adds up on damage very quickly.

I’ve been playtesting this deck for months now and I really like both heartless hidetsugu and dire fleet ravager, they do a lot of work!!!

I’ve had great success with using cost reducers in the ramp section. Cards like Heartless Summoning or Marauding Raptor really help you doublespell way faster than Rampant Growth effects.

I love using Feldon of the Third Path for recursion and Skeletal Swarming for continuous sac fodder that plays into the theme

I really like this series, but especially for a popular precon commander like ToTo. I've been trying to build around him with less common card choices so hearing different ideas is really interesting. I've gone down more of "let's make big value creatures then aristocrat/reanimation", in particular I've found Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge and Ruthless Technomancer to be super strong. You can play all the usual aristocrat suspects, but Massacre Wurm is gas in this deck. Definitely gonna give some of the suggestions in the video/comments a go in my list though, thanks for the input everyone :)

"BIG BRAIN PLAY" - the greatest worst joke ever made

Sundial is still good because the creature still has "When this creature dies, draw a card"

Henzie is probably one of my favorite decks to play. i added deatbringer regent it does really wel to controle the board en get damage in. Also shadow in the warp with goreclaw and heartless summoning is amazing

Myth Unbound is most likely in the average decklist because with it plus Henzie and Food Chain you get infinite mana

I’m here again to say that oath of Druids is the truth!!! You’ll always be behind on creatures, so getting a free big boi off the top is very nice!

yuo take it back about artisan of kozilek joey you are playing green and black and its free in those colours because they have way too much ramp 😡

I recently added "Mahadi, Emporium Master" from Baldur Gate set into my "Toolbox" beck. I've only played one game since the addition but man it worked out really good that game. Don't know if it will stay in, got to play with it some more, but it seemed like a decent ramp card on this deck.

What timing. I just bought the precon and have been looking for ways to upgrade it

Great timing! I've been ahving trouble building him. Guess I'll focus on the big sticks and ignore the death triggers. Now I can make a Jund Deck for treasures too :D

Would love to see y’all do a video for Miirym, Sentinal Wurm! Love this series.

I have a bad Korvold deck and because it is Korvold it always gets targeted, so I've been really tempted to make a Toolbox deck for my new Jund colors.

I’m living for the hand gestures!

Love this look at Henzie! Any chance of a Neera, Wild Mage Upping the Average in the future? 👀

Gravedigger is a very simple card, but I love it in my Henzie deck

I really love these tune ups. I wanting to build a new deck but the amount of cool lists are making it impossible to choose what to build next.

Get bard class! U can cast ur commander with the greatest of ease :D giving him 1/1 + counters is Judy nice little touch as well

Henzie doesnt specify casting blitz from the graveyard had my mind venture the dungeon

I'm glad to see some love or Colfenor's urn. I have a Ziatora deck with pretty much the same strategy of big dudes that get sacrificed and the urn does a TON of work. Another card that is amazing for the deck and isn't super well-known is Mortuary. It's an enchantment that lets you put any of your creatures that die on top of your library instead of the graveyard. This lets you blitz a creature and when it dies you can choose to re-draw it. Add in a sac outlet and you can loop one creature's ETB/dies trigger as many times as you have mana.

Does conjurer's closet work with blitz? It seems that it would be the best card in this type of deck.

I went down a more toolboxy Henzie deck. Lots of janky bad creatures (Quirion Trialblazer, Ondu Giant), a ton of recursive effects (Gorex, Whip or Erebos, Prowling Gesitcatcher), along with heartless summoning to basically churn through the deck with a ton of draw, while ramping and controlling the board with ETB and on death removal effects. I did end up including combo hulk lines and a kiki combo, since both Hulk and Kiki were good on their own in Henzie, and my approach cut a lot of the beefier creatures to attack with.

You need more ways to protect Henzie, due to how Blitz has some static abilities attached. The creatures only keep Haste and the ability to draw a card while the Henzie that granted Blitz stays on the battlefield. If he dies before combat, the creatures you Blitzed in lose the Blitz ability, and therefore lose the static abilities giving Haste and the draw on death, but will still be sacrificed at the beginning of the next end step due to the delayed triggered ability. This problem is actually related to how they fixed Henzie to properly work at all. CR 400.7a ...Effects from static abilities that give a permanent spell on the stack an ability that allows it to be cast for an alternative cost continue to apply to the permanent that spell becomes. Before this change, the Blitzed creatures never got Haste or the ability to draw on death, so Henzie was just a value generating commander, basically just letting you Evoke your creatures, and cards like Temur Sabertooth made sense to take advantage of that.

Hindsight is wonderful but big props to Shadow in the Warp from the Tyranid precon deck for Henzie

I love Henzie. Was not expecting to, originally planned to make a Ziatora deck (she’s in there). Cards in my list I like that aren’t here: Rescue from the Underworld (sac a blitzed creature to reanimate another creature and remove the blitz). Sunbird’s Invocation (still checks cmc even if you blitzed in for much less), Heartless Hidetsugu (for lulz) 😂🙃, and Deadwood Treefolk (fun to blitz, get back two creatures from your yard to your hand and draw a card).

I would humbly suggest mimic vat to my fellow henzie heads. The first time i was able to mimic etali was a beautiful moment

pro tip: goreclaw makes a lot of the creatures cost less to cast. blitzing a creature counts as casting a creature. its an alternate cast cost, but still a cast cost. tldr, this will make it easier to blitz your big spells without having to cast toolbox over and over.

I love henzie and the blitz mechanic, i Just built a sneack attack deck with cards likes sneak attack, archon of cruelty and drakuseth, this video helped me a lot!

I understand that it is a massive meta pick and the decklist is fairly set in stone but I am sure viewers from all over would love to see your take on Atog. Love the content have a great day!

I was looking forward to maybe playing around with this commander but I am not a fan of the rule changes for him

I run Emergent woodwurm on my deck On wost case you cheat a 7 drop intro play On median case you cheat a 6 drop and a 4 drop On best case you can cheat in basically anything you find on your library directly into play I just love cheating

I play this deck sooo different...its a combo toolbox for me xD

I've found nylea and umori to be really strong cost reducers. I also love tortured existence in my build. Rushed rebirth is another strong card for this deck.

Dude i just picked up a lurking predators for this deck. I thpught it was fantastic bit didnt see anyone talking abput it. Im glad somepne agrees lol. Does anyone have an opinion on throwing cream of the crop in as well?

He refers to "sneak attack" decks, is he referring to the legacy deck or is there an archetype of edh deck called "sneak attack"?

I love this deck but I already have an Obeka sneak attack deck T_T

I feel like Tempur sabertooth is actually a decent run looking at some of the bomb etb abilities in this list

All I can add is cost reduction is better mana value the more cards you blitz per turn. Have 5 land and toolbox reduction of 2, why not consider arnacromancer to reduce toolbox tax by 1 and every red and green blitz card costs 1 less too. Effective reducion of 3 x number of creaturs cast. 5 mana to blitz 3 or more 4 cost cards is 100% attainable.

One of those commanders where you can do way too much with. Big boyz-Aristocrat(ish)-Recursion. What i am currently doing, is upgrading my Prosh deck, into a semi-henzie deck where I can switch commanders without too much impact on the deck's performance. It's already working with Korvold at the helm (but that is a powerhouse by itself of course, so might not really say much). But adding things like Verdant Force, Broodmother and other big creatures that make tokens, might help quite a bit. And since I got a 'Thromok' deck which has all these token generators, i think i might actually start combining the two decks.

Also, you're right about Myth Unbound. A lot of people are unwilling to kill Henzie because of his second ability and I found that I'd rather cast other things instead of MU.

Something really interesting about watching this video far me, someone with a henzie deck I’m very proud of, was how horrified I felt when you both cut artisan of kozilek and added in protection racket.

I agree with you not playing Myth Unbound. However, you don't seem to understand what it is that makes it worth playing in the first place. Myth is a card that is vastly more powerful when played proactively rather than all of the reactive examples that you gave. You stated that Torre isn't the lynchpin of your version of the deck but in ones that do go whole hog on casting Torre 5+ times in the game in order to reduce 7 drops to colored only or maximize his effect by making the deck almost all creatues, Myth is crucial. This would have been a good point to expand on when talking about Myth. Intention matters and your play style can vastly alter the value of the cards in the deck.

Deathreap Ritual may not interact with the blitz trigger, but the text says on every end step and any creature, not just your own. You should be pulling at 2-3 cards a turn cycle off of the card without even trying.

Protection Racket just seems to not play well. Henzie already has tons of draw and Protection Racket just seems to let your opponents deny you the cards you really want.

Is that an Alyssa Edwards reference ?!

I do like Sundial of the Infinite as it’s basically pay 1 for haste and when this creature dies draw a card. My Ancient copper dragon can rarely get an attack in before someone kills it. Haste brings it to another level.

I've been looking for a commander that let me reliably hit effects on cards like Etali and Elder brain for a while and I'm mad at myself for not looking at Henzie sooner.

One card that I feel like is never mentioned is grave pact Whenever my creatures die each opponent sacs one too so basically I blitz swing draw and kill (at best ) 3 more creatures

Hey Joey (or anyone really)! What would you recommend swapping out for those higher budget cards? Thanks!

Raffine scheming Seer seems like she would have more "big brain plays." eh hint hint nudge nudge

I think Unbound makes more sense in an artifact creature deck that banks on pumping out free casts with abused interactions.

For bugdet players, I suggest looking up the CLB set of all the cheaper dragons. Most of the dragons are Adventure spells, which will work with Henzie ability to blitz them out. If you do go further into the dragon route, it can open up to some major good dragon synergy stuff like Dragon's Hoard and Orb of Dragonkind.

I'm still going to try and buy the Riveteers Rampage Precon Deck as well as the Exit From Exile Precon Deck sometime, just need to find a good time to do that.

Please do a krenko mob boss or muxus goblin grande upping the average!

Been enjoying my Blitztocrats deck. Looking for refining it for sure.

After playing henzie w/ Myths Unbound (MU) multiple times, I must disagree with the assessment here. It may be due to deck construction, but I've found MU indispensable for going about Henzie's plan. Especially with cards like Industrial Advancement, I've found that it is easy to advance Henzie's game plan and reduce the cost of casting big creatures. Consistency being the biggest factor, I find that MU progresses my game plan better than a one-off draw spell.

Any particular reason you didnt mention Demonlord Belzenlok? He regularly draws me 8+ in Henzie. I run about 15 cards total that are not 4+ and all of those are ramp/engine cards.

Lol elder brain is absurd in this deck!

ANother good card for this deck is the Liliana, Heretical Healer. Once you get her into a planeswalker and get her to her ultimate ability, then its going to be fun central

Oh my goodness, tree of perdition is so great in this deck! 27 “damage” on an opponent for 3 mana? Yes please!

Some guy playing henzie put the fear of god into us by using and recasting Blossom prancer. Those 2 cards (or 1 card and 5 life) for blitzing adds up quick

Why does everyone pull Kresh the Bloodbraided & Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest from this deck? Seems like a good way to just get completely out of control.

Great suggestions!

Pleaaaaaaaase do Roon!!

why tireless witness instead of eternal witness, just can't get it

My Henzie decklist costs $1100 😅

I've definitely taken a combat centric turn with Henzie with enchantments like Heat Stroke and Familiar Ground, along with a trample enabler like Brawn thriving in this deck since you can blitz Brawn right into your graveyard! I also found Gorex absolutely LOVING being in the 99 since you can Exile two key creatures and also discount him through blitz at the same time, letting you get your two creatures back and swinging with a 4/4 death touch turtle that'll also draw you a card when it dies. Also Ghalta, primal hunger is hilarious to blitz out for two green.

Please do older commanders as well. I'd love to see a video on Hua Tuo, Honored Physician

a card i would recommend is lifeline, allthough expensive and symmetrical with all the etbs on your creatures i think the value gained in henzie would be astronomical.

You're being too kind myth unbound is a giga trash card in every deck

Joey, I just want to say how helpful Upping the Average is to new players. I’m a queer person who just started playing magic and upping the average taught me how to think critically regarding deck builds. Thank you so much for a wonderful program

Acererak the Archlich is amazing in Henzie, blitz him out for cheap, retrun him to hand, and get cool dungeon affects that you can continue to sink your mana into, or to just cast for a big 5/5 to go ham on your fellow player after completing tomb of annihilation

no love for hogaak here?

I disagree with the return from hand part. Saves from bord wipes and removal in late game when henzi cost 7- 9 mana, as well as wanting to play your card again. I actually play 2 back to hand cards in mine

I would love to see Sundial of the Infinite in this list. The Blitz sacrifice trigger takes place at the beginning of the next end step, and ending the turn with Sundial removes this effect from the stack, letting you keep whatever you Blitzed in.

Beledros Witherbloom’s absence is saddening. 6 mana and 10 life to potentially blitz another 2 creatures, sign me up!

surprised i didn't see doomweaver on here, card is busted in half with blitz

Is the spoken audio track in stereo? Should be mono. Sounds a bit off with the stereo audio... If I'm wrong, I'm fully willing to admit there's something about my setup making it sound odd. But a mono track for voice is a good editing tip for anyone working with recorded spoken content.

Just put mikaeus and the ballista

Nice to see your thought on this guy but would be cool to see an original list not just adjustments to the average list Also eeew not running dark mode on edhrec

You're totally correct that myth unbound doesnt seem worth it... but from being in the 42% who do play this card, having your commander tax be 1 instead of 2 is huge, especially early on or if henzie is being hated on. If you're casting henzie with myth unbound on board, you can essentially treat his 1 mana commander tax as "pay 1 - your creatures cost 1 less for the rest of the game". Provided you're blitzing out all your creatures of course. While having henzie get killed 2 or more times might seem like you're having a hard time and it's likely to be a losing game, that stacking reduced blitz cost can easily just let you slap down some insane creatures for cheap and swing the game back in your favour. So myth unbound is a really good card for keeping you in a game. I've had henzie be killed 4 times and people think I'm out for the count, only to come back and absolutely terrorize the board with a 4 mana archon of cruelty or some other disgusting creature. Also, add in bramble sovereign, hes been reprinted in baldurs gate and is cheap right now. He lets you pay 1 and a green to make a copy of your blitzed (non legendary) creatures, that dont have blitz so wont die come the end phase 😎

I found this take on the deck to be unreliable and boring. I built my Henzie deck to loop a few big creatures over and over again. Phyrexian reclamation and sundial are some of the best cards in the deck.

Can you pleeaase make an upping the average video for Kess?