Lets assume this is also legal to use as the commander.
First idea what I had was to run some sort of Esper targeted discard tribal. Because The Grand Calcutron forces people to play out their hand in a specific order targeted discard could become pretty good because you can surgically disrupt their plans.
Second idea is to play a cycling.deck because you can still activate abilities with Calcutron out.
One of the primary issues I have with this card is playing control is difficult when you can only cast cards in a certain order. Holding counter magic becomes difficult when you have to leave it in your hand and not cast anything else until it becomes useful. As such, cards with multiple uses become premium, especially cards that can draw cards as an alternate. That way if they are not needed, they can be cycled for cards.
Unless you forego the control and go more tempo build. Using bounce spells are much more useful when the opponent has to decide whether to replay the bounced creature or put it further down the program. This plus draw abilities and removal would be well versed in controlling the board due to all the knowledge of what is coming next in each opponent's hand. Lastly, it allows you to draw cards up to 5 every turn, so bounce and removal are easy to play with little drawback when you refuel to 5 every end step.
If this is the commander, how would you play Esper? Unless your group allows you to break multiple rules simultaneously by 1. Playing Silver Border 2. Playing Legendary Artifact Commander and 3. Playing cards outside color identity.
If this is the commander, how would you play Esper? Unless your group allows you to break multiple rules simultaneously by 1. Playing Silver Border 2. Playing Legendary Artifact Commander and 3. Playing cards outside color identity.
I meant if you go esper it means The Grand Calcutron would be part of the 99 and not as the commander.
(The next Un set needs a card called main() that always goes to the front of your hand.)
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
That's pretty cool. I didn't know this card existed.
I figured out that cyclers in general are pretty decent with Calcutron because while you can only play the first card in the program you can activate abilities. Augment, transmute, ninjutsu, forecast and channel are abilities that are activated from hand.
Play repeatable self-discard effects, like Mind over Matter, Peace of Mind, Aquamoeba, Tireless Tribe, looters, etc. This way you can clear out spells that will no longer be useful and draw back up to 5 cards each turn to replace the lost ones.
EDIT: Duplicity and Moonring Mirror let you re-order your entire hand every other turn while giving access to new cards.
I think two main things are what works for this one: play a lot of bounce to prevent opponents from benefitting from the card draw trigger, and play stuff like Meddling Mage, Nevermore etc to clog up your opponent's hand. Having said that, that might work somewhat in a 1 vs 1 situation.
In multiplayer I think you should try to capitalize on his "draw up to 5" effect by playing lots of very cheap creatures and spells so you empty your hand each turn, preferably again with lots of bounce and some cheap efficient beaters. Basically a WU variant of Damia, Sage of Stone.
EDIT: Suspend might actually work with this as it allows you to free up space in your hand at very reduced costs.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
On blogatog, Mark Rosewater stated the you can use The Grand Calcutron as a commander, FYI.
This would not be the first time Mark Rosewater was wrong about things, especially in the Commander format.
This is not a commander rules question. Maro is the unrules manager so he decides on the unrules. Whether Calcutron is actually legal as commander is legal as commander is little questionable to. If you go to gatherer and look up Ordinary Pony's rules text it has been errated to prevent the infinite loop. The grand calcutron has no errata.
EDIT: Suspend might actually work with this as it allows you to free up space in your hand at very reduced costs.
Suspend doesn't really work. You can suspend stuff but you can only cast the first card of the program. This means no casting spells from exile, command zone, library or graveyard.
On blogatog, Mark Rosewater stated the you can use The Grand Calcutron as a commander, FYI.
This would not be the first time Mark Rosewater was wrong about things, especially in the Commander format.
This is not a commander rules question. Maro is the unrules manager so he decides on the unrules. Whether Calcutron is actually legal as commander is legal as commander is little questionable to. If you go to gatherer and look up Ordinary Pony's rules text it has been errated to prevent the infinite loop. The grand calcutron has no errata.
EDIT: Suspend might actually work with this as it allows you to free up space in your hand at very reduced costs.
Suspend doesn't really work. You can suspend stuff but you can only cast the first card of the program. This means no casting spells from exile, command zone, library or graveyard.
To quote Mark Rosewater:
Quote from Mark Rosewater[/card »
vedalkensamurai asked: Does The Grand Calcultron prevent players from casting cards using flashback?
No. It controls what order cards can be cast from the hand.
So that actually means that Suspend, Flashback, Cycling, Madness, Retrace, and Rebound are INSANELY powerful with this, as it lets you have more flexibility.
I think Calcutron is best used like Recycle - the "program" part of it is mostly flavortext but makes answers awkward, while the "draw back to 5" is a powerful enabler for any deck that wants to spam cheap spells. I can see it enabling a very "eggs" style plan, where you vomit artifacts onto the table and always have a hand.
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
On blogatog, Mark Rosewater stated the you can use The Grand Calcutron as a commander, FYI.
This would not be the first time Mark Rosewater was wrong about things, especially in the Commander format.
This is not a commander rules question. Maro is the unrules manager so he decides on the unrules. Whether Calcutron is actually legal as commander is legal as commander is little questionable to. If you go to gatherer and look up Ordinary Pony's rules text it has been errated to prevent the infinite loop. The grand calcutron has no errata.
EDIT: Suspend might actually work with this as it allows you to free up space in your hand at very reduced costs.
Suspend doesn't really work. You can suspend stuff but you can only cast the first card of the program. This means no casting spells from exile, command zone, library or graveyard.
Lots of combos and synergies and nonsense here, and lots of room to double-down on it. With a low curve and a ton of mana rocks, Calcutron helps draw to nonsense and ensures you are ready to rebuild after a wipe.
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Half-Squirrel, Half-Pony, the printed text means that as soon as a nontoken non-horse enters the battlefield under your control, you can blink it infinitely.
Half-Squirrel, Half-Pony, the printed text means that as soon as a nontoken non-horse enters the battlefield under your control, you can blink it infinitely.
yes, i was planning to build a deck utilizing that. It is not allowed anymore?
Isn't it a may ability? Its not like an accident with Slave taker.
Half-Squirrel, Half-Pony, the printed text means that as soon as a nontoken non-horse enters the battlefield under your control, you can blink it infinitely.
yes, i was planning to build a deck utilizing that. It is not allowed anymore?
Isn't it a may ability? Its not like an accident with Slave taker.
It is a may (which means it couldn't cause a draw), but it could cause an infinite loop. You can look on Gatherer now to see that Ordinary Pony's text is now:
When this creature enters the battlefield, you may exile target non-Horse creature you control that wasn't put onto the battlefield with this ability this turn, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
What do you guys think how viable would a creature aggro calcutron be? I think UW has more flying men variants than UG but UW is missing overrun effects.
So what do you do with this?
Lets assume this is also legal to use as the commander.
First idea what I had was to run some sort of Esper targeted discard tribal. Because The Grand Calcutron forces people to play out their hand in a specific order targeted discard could become pretty good because you can surgically disrupt their plans.
Second idea is to play a cycling.deck because you can still activate abilities with Calcutron out.
Unless you forego the control and go more tempo build. Using bounce spells are much more useful when the opponent has to decide whether to replay the bounced creature or put it further down the program. This plus draw abilities and removal would be well versed in controlling the board due to all the knowledge of what is coming next in each opponent's hand. Lastly, it allows you to draw cards up to 5 every turn, so bounce and removal are easy to play with little drawback when you refuel to 5 every end step.
If this is the commander, how would you play Esper? Unless your group allows you to break multiple rules simultaneously by 1. Playing Silver Border 2. Playing Legendary Artifact Commander and 3. Playing cards outside color identity.
I meant if you go esper it means The Grand Calcutron would be part of the 99 and not as the commander.
(The next Un set needs a card called main() that always goes to the front of your hand.)
On phasing:
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
That's pretty cool. I didn't know this card existed.
I figured out that cyclers in general are pretty decent with Calcutron because while you can only play the first card in the program you can activate abilities. Augment, transmute, ninjutsu, forecast and channel are abilities that are activated from hand.
http://www.commandercast.com/category/articles/generally-speaking
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EDIT: Duplicity and Moonring Mirror let you re-order your entire hand every other turn while giving access to new cards.
In multiplayer I think you should try to capitalize on his "draw up to 5" effect by playing lots of very cheap creatures and spells so you empty your hand each turn, preferably again with lots of bounce and some cheap efficient beaters. Basically a WU variant of Damia, Sage of Stone.
EDIT: Suspend might actually work with this as it allows you to free up space in your hand at very reduced costs.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
This is not a commander rules question. Maro is the unrules manager so he decides on the unrules. Whether Calcutron is actually legal as commander is legal as commander is little questionable to. If you go to gatherer and look up Ordinary Pony's rules text it has been errated to prevent the infinite loop. The grand calcutron has no errata.
Suspend doesn't really work. You can suspend stuff but you can only cast the first card of the program. This means no casting spells from exile, command zone, library or graveyard.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
To quote Mark Rosewater:
So that actually means that Suspend, Flashback, Cycling, Madness, Retrace, and Rebound are INSANELY powerful with this, as it lets you have more flexibility.
I think Calcutron is best used like Recycle - the "program" part of it is mostly flavortext but makes answers awkward, while the "draw back to 5" is a powerful enabler for any deck that wants to spam cheap spells. I can see it enabling a very "eggs" style plan, where you vomit artifacts onto the table and always have a hand.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I was already toying with a cycling matters type strategy and being able to run abandoned sarcophagus as a pay off is really sweet.
What pony loop?
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
2 The Grand Calcutron
Creatures: 18
1 Leonin Elder
2 Chief Engineer
2 Etherium Sculptor
2 Jackknight
2 Kindly Cognician
2 Myrsmith
2 Riddlesmith
3 Bygone Bishop
3 Crafty Octopus
3 Foundry Inspector
3 Grand Architect
3 Riveting Rigger
3 Treasure Mage
3 Trinket Mage
3 Trophy Mage
4 Aerial Toastmaster
4 Ancestral Statue
4 Chipper Chopper
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
11 Mycosynth Golem
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Chain of Vapor
2 Azorius Charm
2 Dramatic Reversal
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Incite Insight
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Whir of Invention
4 Midlife Upgrade
4 Paradoxical Outcome
Artifacts: 24
0 Chrome Mox
0 Gustha's Scepter
0 Mana Crypt
0 Mox Opal
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Sol Ring
1 Skullclamp
2 Azorius Signet
2 Everflowing Chalice
2 Helm of Awakening
2 Talisman of Dominance
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Cloud Key
3 Cloudstone Curio
3 Inspiring Statuary
3 Rings of Brighthearth
3 Sculpting Steel
3 Semblance Anvil
4 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
5 Paradox Engine
4 Efficient Construction
6 Mind over Matter
That's just a skeleton. Win cons:
- Make infinite mana, using Paradox Engine + Ancestral Statue with mana rocks and reducers, or Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth, or Cloudstone Curio + any two artifacts that are sufficiently cheapened. Use this for whatever you should desire.
- Get Ancestral Statue to cost 0, then cast it infinite times. This can either kill everyone (with Aetherflux Reservoir, or gain arbitrarily large amounts of life (with Leonin Elder, or draw the library (with Riddlesmith), or get arbitrarily large amounts of 1/1 flying thopters with Efficient Construction.
- You may be able to win off of Aetherflux Reservoir without Paradox Engine, using Paradoxical Outcome or Hurkyl's Recall with enough reduction effects and mana rocks.
- Contraption deck not included, but Optical Optimizer and Auto-key are probably among the most exciting contraptions to get out there.
Lots of combos and synergies and nonsense here, and lots of room to double-down on it. With a low curve and a ton of mana rocks, Calcutron helps draw to nonsense and ensures you are ready to rebuild after a wipe.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Isn't it a may ability? Its not like an accident with Slave taker.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)