Alright, it's update time. First, let's do a review of the last two sets.
Commander 2015: Mystic Confluence/Wretched Confluence These both give us some great options, and ultimately do a lot for the deck. That being said, I don't think they're doing it better than anything already in the deck. Synthetic Destiny This is going in the list of cards being considered. It's a great way to try and trade up on creatures, and it let's us dodged board wipes. The question is how badly do we actually need it. Mirror Match This is a really fun pillowfort card, but something about it leaves me feeling very underwhelmed. Dread Summons Another one for the list of cards being considered. This could end up giving us a ton of bang for the buck. Seal of the Guildpact I really like this card, and I'm tempted to run it. I'm not totally sure it's worth it though. Command Beacon With an indestructible commander who spends most of his time not being a creature, this really doesn't work hard enough for us.
Oath of the Gatewatch: Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet This gives us a degree of graveyard hate for no extra cost, all while producing creatures. Only exiling dying creatures doesn't get us far enough though. Overwhelming Denial There's way too many cheap counter spells available to us for this to be worth it. Roiling Waters It does two great things, but the sorcery speed and the cost outweigh them in my opinion. Unity of Purpose This card comes so close to being what we want, but not quite. There are better one-use spells that untap two creatures for a similar price. Dimensional Infiltrator It's ability mills, and allows it to be a fun little pillowfort card. In the long run though, it'll cost way too much to be useful. Prophet of Distortion As much as I love repeatable card draw, this just costs too much. Endbringer I love this guy so much. This deck has enough ways to make <> that it should be fairly easy to cost, and it's so good with this deck. It'll always mill at least 10 per trip around the table, and it scales up with the game size. It's first two abilities at least should be easy for this deck to use, and we get some extra pillowfort for good cost. While it won't get used as often, the card draw ability is also great. This guy is going on my "shortlist" for testing, right behind Sire of Stagnation. Mindmelter Its ability is pretty neat, but overall the card just doesn't do enough for us.
And now for changes and testing.
Changes: Mind Grind >> Ghastly Conscription Unfortunately Mind Grind looked a lot better on paper than in practice. It scales up with bigger games and can mill a ton for a reasonable price. The problem was that because it's spread out, it always felt underwhelming. No matter how much I spent on it, I always found myself wishing I could wait and make it bigger. Ghastly Conscription is a fun card with good synergy with the deck, granting us a few great options late game. Avatar of Woe >> Set Adrift The synergy the Avatar has with the deck's tap mechanics is great, it's ability came at the cost of being able to mill. It earned its spot because of the extra synergy it has with mill, becoming significantly cheaper. The issue is that it usually takes so long to get 10 creatures in graveyards that it almost might as well cost the full eight mana. It was just too slow. Set Adrift is amazing because it allows us to remove permanents we normally couldn't in these colors.
Time for an update. First off, let's take a look at SOI.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets This guy is absolutely phenomenal. The card draw is stronger than Jace, Memory Adept's, and its other abilities are really solid. Unfortunately, I feel like Memory Adept is more on point with what the deck is doing. I may not use its 0 often, but it's proven to be a nice clincher for the deck a few times. And that slot is really the only place I can see this card fitting. For now I'm going to pass on it, but I'm going to stay open to trying it out if Memory Adept ends up becoming nothing more than a dedicated draw engine. Manic Scribe If only I could reliably get Delirium, I think this card would be pretty solid in the deck. Without it though, it's pretty underwhelming. Vessel of Paramnesia It does thing the deck wants to do, and ultimately isn't that expensive. But being single use, it seems pretty lousy. Engulf the Shore This card seems like it would be ridiculous with the game's high toughness theme. But there's a high risk that I'll hit my own utility cards and/or won't have enough Islands to really utilize this fully. Epiphany at the Drownyard This card seems wicked strong, but for what it'll cost it's better suited to a deck that uses its own graveyard more. Thing in the Ice This card seems super fun. Initially it gives good toughness for the price (though not the best) and it's on flavor. When it transforms, it gets even better for the deck. Plus, it's bounce ability is really strong while leaving three of the deck's wincons on the board. Sadly, I think the requirement for flipping it would make it super inconsistent, and its front side alone isn't worth it. Fleeting Memories It's card draw and mill wrapped in one, which is great. The cost isn't bad either, but it requires more support than I'm willing to give it. Murderous Compulsion I like that it's cheap spot-removal, but it's so bad without a Madness trigger. Startled Awake I want to love this card so much. It's powerful, repeatable mill. But it's so slow and so expensive for what it does that I can't justify it. Choked Estuary This one will go into immediate testing. Early game the downside of revealing a land is utterly inconsequential, as it's basically a given that I'll have other lands in hand. Mid-late game it's nice to at least have the option.
And now for changes. I wish I'd gotten to evaluate more cards I'm testing, but some of them have a weird way of not coming up.
Sepulchural Primordial >> Endbringer Sepulchural Primordial is extremely powerful in this deck when it goes off. Endbringer is more consistent and easier to use with the added bonus of being more on-flavor. The Primordial is a card I often have to sit on, because it requires a lot of setup to not be a waste. Endbringer on the other hand is always useful the second I'm able to play it, and it has the upside of having a lower CMC. Plus it has a larger array of abilities. Swamp >> Hall of the Bandit Lord I was worried about this card at first. It's slower than a Swamp, even with Endbringer the colorless mana is far less useful, and every time I use it, unless I have Chromatic Lantern or someone has an Urborg, it deals 3 damage. The haste is insanely useful though. It means being able to use utility creatures and wincons immediately. The latter can mean that instead of dropping something like Eater of the Dead and hoping it lasts until my next turn, I can often drop a wincon and immediately win. Island >> Underground River Like with Talisman of Dominance, I've found that I rarely ever end up specifically needing colored mana from this card. This makes its downside almost trivial while having a fantastic upside. Plus as a bonus it helps with Endbringer.
Sink you blue mana just before your turn to get multiple untap and mills. They could easily turn Phenax into 30+ mill a turn, and provides additional insurance.
Sink you blue mana just before your turn to get multiple untap and mills. They could easily turn Phenax into 30+ mill a turn, and provides additional insurance.
Thanks for the suggestion. Pemmin's Aura is on the official list of cards I'm considering, as it's the more powerful of the two. They could both be amazing in this deck for sure The issue is that I haven't come across a card slot where I think either of these would allow the deck to perform better than the card currently in the slot. It's a similar reason to why I pulled Sepulchural Primordial. It has great synergy with the deck, and was a powerful wincon. But I felt the slot would be better used by Endbringer.
You may be happy to know that I recently did some math with Morphling and Phenax. The work boils down to (x/2 + 2)² rounded down, where x = the amount of mana you have/want to dump into Morphling. The same unfortunately isn't true with a creature that has Pemmin's Aura, however I have an Excel file that can automate telling you exactly how much you can mill for a given toughness and amount of mana. I'm currently working on it being more inclusive, that being including cards that can untap creatures for different amounts of mana like Umbral Mantle or ones that don't have the option of changing it's toughness like Knacksaw Clique. If anyone needs clarification then feel free to ask.
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Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
Sounds pretty awesome. You're basically maximizing how much mana to use to give it -1/+1 as well as untap it? I'm a mathematician so at least I'm very interested in your algorithm, lol.
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Tombstone Stairwell is a big flashy mid-game effect that might do work here. During each players turn, make your zombies, block with them if necessary, tap them to Phenax, then sac them to Altar of Dementia.
Plays well with Propaganda effects, to prevent creature-dense decks from beating your face with the zombies you give them. Also it mitigates Mesmeric Orb self-mill aspect, as a bigger graveyard for you equals more zombies.
Edit: also does absolutely bonkers things with Intruder Alarm in play.
Sounds pretty awesome. You're basically maximizing how much mana to use to give it -1/+1 as well as untap it? I'm a mathematician so at least I'm very interested in your algorithm, lol.
That's exactly what it does. It gives toughness options up to some ridiculous amount just for brute force and exhaustion sake and highlights the highest number.
Proud owner of the EDH 'Infinite Combos and Strong Synergies' thread
Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
You may be happy to know that I recently did some math with Morphling and Phenax. The work boils down to (x/2 + 2)² rounded down, where x = the amount of mana you have/want to dump into Morphling. The same unfortunately isn't true with a creature that has Pemmin's Aura, however I have an Excel file that can automate telling you exactly how much you can mill for a given toughness and amount of mana. I'm currently working on it being more inclusive, that being including cards that can untap creatures for different amounts of mana like Umbral Mantle or ones that don't have the option of changing it's toughness like Knacksaw Clique. If anyone needs clarification then feel free to ask.
Having put way too much thought into the optimal way to use Morphling myself, I love this so much.
Tombstone Stairwell is a big flashy mid-game effect that might do work here. During each players turn, make your zombies, block with them if necessary, tap them to Phenax, then sac them to Altar of Dementia.
Plays well with Propaganda effects, to prevent creature-dense decks from beating your face with the zombies you give them. Also it mitigates Mesmeric Orb self-mill aspect, as a bigger graveyard for you equals more zombies.
Edit: also does absolutely bonkers things with Intruder Alarm in play.
I like the Intruder Alarm synergy a lot here. But unfortunately it actually plays more against this deck in other cases. I don't do much self-mill, so my opponents would get way more out of the deal. My big worry is either giving my opponents more attackers than I get blockers or giving them lots of free sac targets. It's a pretty neat idea though. I have a Tombstone Stairwell in my Grimgrin deck, and the thought of using it here had never even occurred to me.
Sounds pretty awesome. You're basically maximizing how much mana to use to give it -1/+1 as well as untap it? I'm a mathematician so at least I'm very interested in your algorithm, lol.
That's exactly what it does. It gives toughness options up to some ridiculous amount just for brute force and exhaustion sake and highlights the highest number.
Okay, so lemme see if I understand your formula: 10 investment means milling 49 cards?
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Sounds pretty awesome. You're basically maximizing how much mana to use to give it -1/+1 as well as untap it? I'm a mathematician so at least I'm very interested in your algorithm, lol.
That's exactly what it does. It gives toughness options up to some ridiculous amount just for brute force and exhaustion sake and highlights the highest number.
Okay, so lemme see if I understand your formula: 10 investment means milling 49 cards?
Yes
I came to the same conclusion in a different way. Let's say X is the number of times you mill, and toughness is Y. You want X and Y to be equal or as close as possible. By default you get one mill and 3 toughess, so X + Y = 4. Add 10 mana, and X + Y = 14. Assuming you have the colored mana, you can set X = Y and get 7, for 49 cards milled.
I like what's going on here with the high toughness creatures, but there's got to be something better than Glacial Wall and Hover Barrier. I think that Pemmin's Aura, from your consideration list, would be better than either of those two in this deck. Spellskite doesn't have quite as much toughness as the walls, but 4 is still a lot for 2 mana and it does a great job of protecting your stuff. Thing in the Ice might be good here, as an early high toughness creature and as a late way to reset the board. Not sure if you're actually playing enough spells for it, though.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I like what's going on here with the high toughness creatures, but there's got to be something better than Glacial Wall and Hover Barrier. I think that Pemmin's Aura, from your consideration list, would be better than either of those two in this deck. Spellskite doesn't have quite as much toughness as the walls, but 4 is still a lot for 2 mana and it does a great job of protecting your stuff. Thing in the Ice might be good here, as an early high toughness creature and as a late way to reset the board. Not sure if you're actually playing enough spells for it, though.
Ya know, I'd never really considered taking out either. They do good work in the deck. You may be right though that the deck can get more bang its buck with a different card in one or both of those slots. I'll probably try Spellskite or Pemmin's Aura for Glacial Wall. I'd never actually considered Spellskite for the deck, but I think it could be a great addition. I don't want to take both of them out as they are important for pillowfort. And I want to include Thing in the Ice and I want to love it so much, because it has such great synergy. But as you said, and as I mentioned in the SOI review, I don't think I pack enough spells for it to be really worth it.
Yeah, I concur with Thing in the Ice: not enough instants or sorceries to warrant it. Maybe a build that runs more cards like Traumatize, Denying Wind, Glimpse the Unthinkable, Nightmare Incursion, Startled Awake, tutors, etc. could probably benefit from Thing in the Ice. Even then, it' still situational. I wouldn't cut a key card for it. Maybe it could tested in place of a card that really isn't pulling its weight just to see if there's a significant difference.
I think Spellskite could be a good card for the deck as a means of protecting key creatures and artifacts plus it costs 2 for a 0/4 which is okay with Phenax's ability. I wouldn't cut Glacial Wall or Hover Barrier because they're great early game defenses against fast commanders or relatively large early game creatures. They're also easy to cast since they only require a single U.
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Just want to pop in and say that, despite the recent lack of changes, I am still testing new cards for the deck. I haven't been able to play super often, and there's this annoying trend of cards I'm testing not showing up in games.
Sink you blue mana just before your turn to get multiple untap and mills. They could easily turn Phenax into 30+ mill a turn, and provides additional insurance.
My concern with these two cards is that you are risking card disadvantage. Right now you can have pretty "bad" creatures like Glacial Wall sitting on the table waiting for Phenax, God of Deception and opponents are reluctant to remove them because there are more dangerous creatures coming to the table than a simple 0/7 wall, but when you add an aura to that creature, it becomes a much larger threat and getting rid of it is now a 2-for-1. I like the cards, they are strong, but the chance of card disadvantage is a little too strong for me.
Sink you blue mana just before your turn to get multiple untap and mills. They could easily turn Phenax into 30+ mill a turn, and provides additional insurance.
My concern with these two cards is that you are risking card disadvantage. Right now you can have pretty "bad" creatures like Glacial Wall sitting on the table waiting for Phenax, God of Deception and opponents are reluctant to remove them because there are more dangerous creatures coming to the table than a simple 0/7 wall, but when you add an aura to that creature, it becomes a much larger threat and getting rid of it is now a 2-for-1. I like the cards, they are strong, but the chance of card disadvantage is a little too strong for me.
I agree on Freed from the Real. However, Pemmin's Aura provides protection. Also I would drop this after Phenax hit play and possibly on Phenax himself. Although that opens up the possibility of turning off devotion. I think a mana sink is always a good option. Especially one you could use to win via commander damage, supposing your opponent has multiple graveyard shuffling effects.
Minor update. Stitcher Geralf hasn't been doing it for me. The vast majority of the time he's either too low on my priority list to really use, or using him will interrupt the tempo too much. So I'll be testing Sire of Stagnation in that slot instead.
Also, I just pulled a Vampiric Tutor, so that has been moved from "Cards that Cost too Much" to "Cards I'm Considering."
I know that whenever I tried Sire of Stagnation anywhere, he'd feel kinda meh and not really do anything done. Like a worse Consecrated Sphinx in a way. Also, move Vampiric Tutor from "Cards I'm Considering" to "Cards Firmly In The 99"
I know that whenever I tried Sire of Stagnation anywhere, he'd feel kinda meh and not really do anything done. Like a worse Consecrated Sphinx in a way.
That's why I'm testing it. I figure it could be super hit or miss, but it seems worth a shot.
Also, move Vampiric Tutor from "Cards I'm Considering" to "Cards Firmly In The 99"
I agree, it's that good. But the question is where to put it. I could replace say Muddle the Mixture and it would be a direct upgrade. I'm not sure if I want to replace a solid flavorful, thematic card with a more generic goodstuff tutor though. The deck is powerful and consistent enough that I can get away with making the occasional concession for fun and uniqueness.
I wouldn't call tutors goodstuff. They help your game plan consistency and fetching answers to problems, not autopilot with standalone strong spells that have little synergy with a cute, quirky game plan. They can enable jank plays just fine I'm sure you can find room, worst case scenario just identify the single weakest card in the 99 and put this in instead of it.
I was so bummed when Tree of Redemption couldn't be used because of the color identity. But now we got and even more broken version of it - and in our colors. Any thoughts on this? This is 100% going in my own Phenax build.
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If it doesn't end up getting banned, I'll be all about it. It's a fantastic political tool and milling for 13 is no joke. I'm not optimistic that we'll get to play with this card for very long though.
If it doesn't end up getting banned, I'll be all about it. It's a fantastic political tool and milling for 13 is no joke. I'm not optimistic that we'll get to play with this card for very long though.
There's no way that's going to get banned; it's not anywhere near good enough.
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Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
Commander 2015:
Mystic Confluence/Wretched Confluence These both give us some great options, and ultimately do a lot for the deck. That being said, I don't think they're doing it better than anything already in the deck.
Synthetic Destiny This is going in the list of cards being considered. It's a great way to try and trade up on creatures, and it let's us dodged board wipes. The question is how badly do we actually need it.
Mirror Match This is a really fun pillowfort card, but something about it leaves me feeling very underwhelmed.
Dread Summons Another one for the list of cards being considered. This could end up giving us a ton of bang for the buck.
Seal of the Guildpact I really like this card, and I'm tempted to run it. I'm not totally sure it's worth it though.
Command Beacon With an indestructible commander who spends most of his time not being a creature, this really doesn't work hard enough for us.
Oath of the Gatewatch:
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet This gives us a degree of graveyard hate for no extra cost, all while producing creatures. Only exiling dying creatures doesn't get us far enough though.
Overwhelming Denial There's way too many cheap counter spells available to us for this to be worth it.
Roiling Waters It does two great things, but the sorcery speed and the cost outweigh them in my opinion.
Unity of Purpose This card comes so close to being what we want, but not quite. There are better one-use spells that untap two creatures for a similar price.
Dimensional Infiltrator It's ability mills, and allows it to be a fun little pillowfort card. In the long run though, it'll cost way too much to be useful.
Prophet of Distortion As much as I love repeatable card draw, this just costs too much.
Endbringer I love this guy so much. This deck has enough ways to make <> that it should be fairly easy to cost, and it's so good with this deck. It'll always mill at least 10 per trip around the table, and it scales up with the game size. It's first two abilities at least should be easy for this deck to use, and we get some extra pillowfort for good cost. While it won't get used as often, the card draw ability is also great. This guy is going on my "shortlist" for testing, right behind Sire of Stagnation.
Mindmelter Its ability is pretty neat, but overall the card just doesn't do enough for us.
And now for changes and testing.
Changes:
Mind Grind >> Ghastly Conscription Unfortunately Mind Grind looked a lot better on paper than in practice. It scales up with bigger games and can mill a ton for a reasonable price. The problem was that because it's spread out, it always felt underwhelming. No matter how much I spent on it, I always found myself wishing I could wait and make it bigger. Ghastly Conscription is a fun card with good synergy with the deck, granting us a few great options late game.
Avatar of Woe >> Set Adrift The synergy the Avatar has with the deck's tap mechanics is great, it's ability came at the cost of being able to mill. It earned its spot because of the extra synergy it has with mill, becoming significantly cheaper. The issue is that it usually takes so long to get 10 creatures in graveyards that it almost might as well cost the full eight mana. It was just too slow. Set Adrift is amazing because it allows us to remove permanents we normally couldn't in these colors.
Testing:
Island >> Underground River
Knacksaw Clique >> Wake Thrasher
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets This guy is absolutely phenomenal. The card draw is stronger than Jace, Memory Adept's, and its other abilities are really solid. Unfortunately, I feel like Memory Adept is more on point with what the deck is doing. I may not use its 0 often, but it's proven to be a nice clincher for the deck a few times. And that slot is really the only place I can see this card fitting. For now I'm going to pass on it, but I'm going to stay open to trying it out if Memory Adept ends up becoming nothing more than a dedicated draw engine.
Manic Scribe If only I could reliably get Delirium, I think this card would be pretty solid in the deck. Without it though, it's pretty underwhelming.
Vessel of Paramnesia It does thing the deck wants to do, and ultimately isn't that expensive. But being single use, it seems pretty lousy.
Engulf the Shore This card seems like it would be ridiculous with the game's high toughness theme. But there's a high risk that I'll hit my own utility cards and/or won't have enough Islands to really utilize this fully.
Epiphany at the Drownyard This card seems wicked strong, but for what it'll cost it's better suited to a deck that uses its own graveyard more.
Thing in the Ice This card seems super fun. Initially it gives good toughness for the price (though not the best) and it's on flavor. When it transforms, it gets even better for the deck. Plus, it's bounce ability is really strong while leaving three of the deck's wincons on the board. Sadly, I think the requirement for flipping it would make it super inconsistent, and its front side alone isn't worth it.
Fleeting Memories It's card draw and mill wrapped in one, which is great. The cost isn't bad either, but it requires more support than I'm willing to give it.
Murderous Compulsion I like that it's cheap spot-removal, but it's so bad without a Madness trigger.
Startled Awake I want to love this card so much. It's powerful, repeatable mill. But it's so slow and so expensive for what it does that I can't justify it.
Choked Estuary This one will go into immediate testing. Early game the downside of revealing a land is utterly inconsequential, as it's basically a given that I'll have other lands in hand. Mid-late game it's nice to at least have the option.
And now for changes. I wish I'd gotten to evaluate more cards I'm testing, but some of them have a weird way of not coming up.
Sepulchural Primordial >> Endbringer Sepulchural Primordial is extremely powerful in this deck when it goes off. Endbringer is more consistent and easier to use with the added bonus of being more on-flavor. The Primordial is a card I often have to sit on, because it requires a lot of setup to not be a waste. Endbringer on the other hand is always useful the second I'm able to play it, and it has the upside of having a lower CMC. Plus it has a larger array of abilities.
Swamp >> Hall of the Bandit Lord I was worried about this card at first. It's slower than a Swamp, even with Endbringer the colorless mana is far less useful, and every time I use it, unless I have Chromatic Lantern or someone has an Urborg, it deals 3 damage. The haste is insanely useful though. It means being able to use utility creatures and wincons immediately. The latter can mean that instead of dropping something like Eater of the Dead and hoping it lasts until my next turn, I can often drop a wincon and immediately win.
Island >> Underground River Like with Talisman of Dominance, I've found that I rarely ever end up specifically needing colored mana from this card. This makes its downside almost trivial while having a fantastic upside. Plus as a bonus it helps with Endbringer.
I'm Testing Creeping Tar Pit >> Choked Estuary.
I also added a small section called "Meta-Specific Cards" to the primer.
Sink you blue mana just before your turn to get multiple untap and mills. They could easily turn Phenax into 30+ mill a turn, and provides additional insurance.
Thanks for the suggestion. Pemmin's Aura is on the official list of cards I'm considering, as it's the more powerful of the two. They could both be amazing in this deck for sure The issue is that I haven't come across a card slot where I think either of these would allow the deck to perform better than the card currently in the slot. It's a similar reason to why I pulled Sepulchural Primordial. It has great synergy with the deck, and was a powerful wincon. But I felt the slot would be better used by Endbringer.
Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
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Plays well with Propaganda effects, to prevent creature-dense decks from beating your face with the zombies you give them. Also it mitigates Mesmeric Orb self-mill aspect, as a bigger graveyard for you equals more zombies.
Edit: also does absolutely bonkers things with Intruder Alarm in play.
That's exactly what it does. It gives toughness options up to some ridiculous amount just for brute force and exhaustion sake and highlights the highest number.
Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
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Having put way too much thought into the optimal way to use Morphling myself, I love this so much.
I like the Intruder Alarm synergy a lot here. But unfortunately it actually plays more against this deck in other cases. I don't do much self-mill, so my opponents would get way more out of the deal. My big worry is either giving my opponents more attackers than I get blockers or giving them lots of free sac targets. It's a pretty neat idea though. I have a Tombstone Stairwell in my Grimgrin deck, and the thought of using it here had never even occurred to me.
Okay, so lemme see if I understand your formula: 10 investment means milling 49 cards?
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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I came to the same conclusion in a different way. Let's say X is the number of times you mill, and toughness is Y. You want X and Y to be equal or as close as possible. By default you get one mill and 3 toughess, so X + Y = 4. Add 10 mana, and X + Y = 14. Assuming you have the colored mana, you can set X = Y and get 7, for 49 cards milled.
Thanks for the suggestion!
I think Spellskite could be a good card for the deck as a means of protecting key creatures and artifacts plus it costs 2 for a 0/4 which is okay with Phenax's ability. I wouldn't cut Glacial Wall or Hover Barrier because they're great early game defenses against fast commanders or relatively large early game creatures. They're also easy to cast since they only require a single U.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
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My concern with these two cards is that you are risking card disadvantage. Right now you can have pretty "bad" creatures like Glacial Wall sitting on the table waiting for Phenax, God of Deception and opponents are reluctant to remove them because there are more dangerous creatures coming to the table than a simple 0/7 wall, but when you add an aura to that creature, it becomes a much larger threat and getting rid of it is now a 2-for-1. I like the cards, they are strong, but the chance of card disadvantage is a little too strong for me.
I agree on Freed from the Real. However, Pemmin's Aura provides protection. Also I would drop this after Phenax hit play and possibly on Phenax himself. Although that opens up the possibility of turning off devotion. I think a mana sink is always a good option. Especially one you could use to win via commander damage, supposing your opponent has multiple graveyard shuffling effects.
Also, I just pulled a Vampiric Tutor, so that has been moved from "Cards that Cost too Much" to "Cards I'm Considering."
That's why I'm testing it. I figure it could be super hit or miss, but it seems worth a shot.
I agree, it's that good. But the question is where to put it. I could replace say Muddle the Mixture and it would be a direct upgrade. I'm not sure if I want to replace a solid flavorful, thematic card with a more generic goodstuff tutor though. The deck is powerful and consistent enough that I can get away with making the occasional concession for fun and uniqueness.
I was so bummed when Tree of Redemption couldn't be used because of the color identity. But now we got and even more broken version of it - and in our colors. Any thoughts on this? This is 100% going in my own Phenax build.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
There's no way that's going to get banned; it's not anywhere near good enough.
Please put the colors of your suggestion in mana symbols prior to your suggestion in color-wheel order. To do this, put any of W, U, B, R, G, and/or C, whatever is applicable, with the word 'mana' inside [square bracets] before and the word '/mana' inside [square bracets] after the mana.
Freezing Point EDH series #1 (click through the other articles too!)