It occurred to me that in Australia we would call this style of deck "Bradburying". Here is a one minute clip of our first ever winter Olympic gold medal https://youtu.be/lfQMJtilOGg and yes, this was his game plan.
Anyway, great primer, I'd love to play against it one day
Haha, that's really funny, and a pretty decent analogy for the deck. If you want to win the game, you have to stay in the game, and Phelddagrif is excellent at staying in the game for as long as possible.
sidebar about staying in the game that was funny from this week: I was borrowing a deck, and one of my opponents was playing jhoira 1.0, and I kept killing jhoira because, y'know, it's jhoira and I assumed some nonsense would happen if she got to stick around. Eventually I'm out of removal because it wasn't Phelddagrif, so removal does eventually run out, and he finally sticks her. The rest of the board is getting fairly built up, there's probably a solid 30-40 power of creatures at the table, at least. And the guy suspends obliterate and kozilek. While at 20. With no other blockers to defend him.
Sometimes what looks like the best play from a 1v1 perspective is the one that's actually guaranteed suicide in multiplayer But so many people treat commander the same as 1v1, when it's a totally different beast. No wonder so many people think commander is chaos and anarchy - they confuse complexity and their lack of understanding for randomness. Yikes, I'm getting pretentious. I think I'm up too late.
Been playing in the US, now we're in the UK. I think in a few years I'll be able to talk my gf into moving to NZ with me. Then it's a mere 2000+ km distance
I am absolutely delighted to read this primer as I thought I was one of very few people to enjoy this style of play. I've spent thousands to foil my own deck out and I say this not to brag, but to exemplify how dedicated I am to this deck. Hippo has always been my favourite commander and this primer is the only other example of another human being I know of that plays it the same way I do. Forgive my rambling as I am as excited as you are to expound its virtues.
Just like you said at the start of your primer, I always get mistaken for playing group hug but I have to remind any new playgroup that the deck instead plays more like "targeted hug". I'm not so interested in winning games as much as you are but I like to think myself as an equaliser or fun police. I find degenerate combos boring and they just put people off playing magic, which I cannot abide by. At the same time, I like to empathise with the noobs who are just starting or who are just plain unskilled and the hippo is the best way to do that. I have found no other creature(short of Hippo's superior brother, Questy) to be so viably political. That Zedruu goat thing doesn't even come close as the cost of donation is prohibitively dear.
My playstyle is less durdly than yours but I have since been swayed by your primer to experiment a bit more on the control side of things, rather than the general goodstuff approach I had before. I still can't bring myself to part with some of my most endeared pets but variety is the spice of life.
I want to thank you again for writing something so delightful and I made an account for the sole reason of saying this. Please don't concern yourself with the easily offended as I found your writing to be humorous and pleasant to read. I'm also Australian and I've never heard anyone mention "Bradburying", but I will say there are copious amounts of swearing, alcoholism and mockery at our gaming tables.
Hey, glad you enjoyed it! I really appreciate it; the guide took a lot of time and effort, so I'm really glad people are getting something out of it.
I definitely think the deck has a lot to offer on multiple fronts. Primarily: forcing games to be fair, rewarding good play, and winning consistently without feeling overpowered. I honestly believe Phelddagrif might be the single best commander deck at all three of those things. So even for people who don't care too much about winning, the deck still has a lot to offer.
If QP was legendary, would I play it over the original? I don't think I would. QP does have two big benefits - being able to pump for green makes him a faster clock and scarier blocker, and being able to give enemies draw without being forced to return Phelddagrif to your hand - which means you have to commit to a number of cards to let them draw before you know what they're going to get - are both definitely nice. That said, QP's pro black/red thing is pretty useless imo, and the original's return to hand, while it sort of gums up the draw ability, is reeeaaaally good and makes Phelddagrif reeeaaaaallly reliable as a wincon. The other problem with QP is that you'll frequently want to use flying as evasion in the endgame, and letting your opponent draw a card for that ability is really rough. Letting them gain 2 life is basically meaningless at that stage, so it's perfect. And while the +1/+1 ability on QP is definitely better than trample on the original, unless you're sitting on a ton of green mana it's a little awkward in the 1v1 game since you probably don't want to give them a bunch of tokens unless you're killing them that turn. And on the defense, the ability to block and then bounce, while giving some other opponent a draw, is usually pretty deflating for any non-trampling attacker. So while the pump ability is good, it's not THAT good.
If I could combine them together and make ultimate Phelddagrif, it'd probably be something like:
Ultimate Phelddagrif1GWU Legendary Creature - Phelddagrif God (R) G: Phelddagrif gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Target opponent creates a 1/1 green Hippo creature token. W: Phelddagrif gains flying until end of turn. Target opponent gains 2 life. U: You may return Phelddagrif to its owner’s hand. Target opponent draws a card. 4/4
The last ability is pretty cheaty though - lets you give enemy draw without bouncing AND gives you an alt-wincon of forced decking. Given how they've templated the draw ability on both Phelddagrifs, it seems like wotc probably didn't want to make him an enemy-decking engine.
Anyway I'm still holding out hope for Phelddagrif 3. Come on, wotc! We Phelddagrif fans may be few (and most of us may be filthy group hug players) but we're passionate!
I have finally joined Team Pheldagriff and I'm really excited about playing it at my LGS where decks run between Optimized and Competitive.
One question I have is about MLD. One player I regularly face runs an optimized Windgrace deck that packs a lot of MLD including uncountable spells like Obliterate. I'm running Summary Dismissal, but overall how does this deck beat that strategy?
I have finally joined Team Pheldagriff and I'm really excited about playing it at my LGS where decks run between Optimized and Competitive.
One question I have is about MLD. One player I regularly face runs an optimized Windgrace deck that packs a lot of MLD including uncountable spells like Obliterate. I'm running Summary Dismissal, but overall how does this deck beat that strategy?
Glad to have you on the team!
MLD can be a stumbling block for the deck, since so much of our value is in our lands. The #1 thing is to try to be aware of whether it's likely to happen. If you know about it and can plan ahead, you'll be much more likely to be able to deal with them.
The simplest answer (and the usual pickup game answer) is that you'll usually want to counter them. This is obviously harder with obliterate or a cycled decree of annihilation (or anything off boseiju, who shelters all), but if you aren't pre-gaming that's usually the primary tactic. There are some other cards that pull double duty as answers for MLD as well as other things - teferi's protection comes to mind. And don't forget commit // memory can answer oblit, at least temporarily (mindbreak trap is the only other card I can think of that counters oblit, and it's...decent I guess). Cycled decree is arguably easier since there are a decent number of counter triggered ability spells, although with cycling being an instant opponents can get tricky, so keep that mana up if you're nervous.
The other potential answer, especially against obliterate, though less reliable than a counter, is to prevent them having an advantage post-wipe. This is tougher to do with a geddon unless you're holding cyclonic rift or something since any permanent might be a problem, but vs oblit there's a decent chance the main thing leftover will be his planeswalker? Depends on the situation, of course, but hitting his planeswalker with removal in response may be able to turn his oblit into a wash, where no one really gains. Or you can just try to keep killing his walker with Phelddagrif, or by using other players as your proxy. You still might be in a bad situation after oblit if you miss land drops, but at least it won't be an urgent problem. If you know about the risk going in, you can hold onto lands, and be better prepared to rebuild - or have stuff like land tax and exploration that will enhance your ability to rebuild. If he's got multiple planeswalkers and enchantments, or suspended eldrazi, or indestructibles you can't remove, though, this tactic might just not work.
Failing at this, the main thing would be to simply narrow the gap. If you can use removal to make sure he's not massively far ahead, then maybe you can play the politics game long enough to get back to a stable position. And sometimes a 4/4 can hold the fort well enough in the interim, if it's a non-creature MLD like geddon.
Now, if you're pre-boarding to play against the deck, you can run all sorts of things that would otherwise be inadvisable but might make sense in this situation - cards like heroic intervention, soul of new phyrexia, terra eternal, faith's reward, second sunrise, maybe even sacred ground? You could also run the indestructible lands, although there's only 2 so it's not exactly an amazing plan.
Finally, you could also cave and run artifact ramp. Some of them also double for other uses, like unstable obelisk and magnifying glass, although unfortunately most of those are colorless. This will dilute the deck and generally make it weaker, but it will definitely help against geddon. It doesn't help much against obliterate, of course, unless you run darksteel ingot, which is garbage, so obviously this isn't an ideal plan.
Those are basically your options. It's difficult to beat a well-timed, unexpected obliterate without being pretty lucky, and playing against frequent MLD can be really taxing on your counterspells, but if you're planning ahead for MLD it's definitely manageable. I think the #1 card I'd recommend is teferi's protection since it turns a disaster into a huge boon for you, and it's a perfectly playable card in its own right. Heroic intervention second, although it's much less useful in non-MLD situations. And don't forget tutors to find them, especially at instant speed - intuition, or mystical tutor into a draw spell, are a great option that be be a silver bullet not just for oblit, but for other problematic situations as well.
In these metas, I would rely on a couple Nevermore-like cards to avoid only the specific cards you can't answer otherwise (Telepathy helps you to see the real threats). Counter the rest and pray for the best - anyway this MLD guy will be the target. This is more needed in optimized metas, I guess.
EDIT: Life from the Loam looks amazing as well, specially if you have some deserts/cycles/fetches/Strip Mine-like lands to reuse.
Speaking of Telepathy, what do guys think about Glasses of Urza? It looks a good option to add redundancy and less threatening than Telepathy because only you see the hands, one at a time though. And it's a Beta copy so it'd increase the pimp factor
Good point that telepathy can help a lot in those scenarios. An early telepathy can signal to you to tutor/hold one of the answers that gets around obliterate, and save you wasting time tutoring/holding one if you don't need it (ofc he could always topdeck it, but at least with telepathy you can make an informed risk).
Glasses is significantly worse imo. Technically you can say whatever you like, so you can tell people what's in their hand. Even theoretically make stuff up to make them look scarier, although I imagine people would catch onto that almost instantly. But when I've played the card, and cards like it, it always feels kind of scummy to do that sort of thing. Granted, a lot of people don't actually read the cards too closely so they'll just reveal their hand anyway, but if they don't it puts you in kind of a weird position. Do you read out their hand, only mention the scary stuff, or just keep the info to yourself?
Generally I think it's almost always best that opponents know what's in their hands. More knowledge advantages control, which means they're more likely to save the right answers for the right threats. It also means people will do all the stuff to opposing control that you don't want them to do to you - attack to force the playing of a known board wipe, bait counters with aggressive spells, etc. All just generally good stuff for you.
I don't think telepathy is threatening. For one thing, once it's played, the damage is done. Sure, future topdecks are also known, but the bulk of damage is done upfront so once it's resolved there's small motivation to remove it.
I've played glasses a decent amount, although it's been a while. Glasses has a few downsides:
-someone with an eye towards keeping their hand concealed might remove it when it's tapped to prevent it targeting them in the future.
-It also literally targets someone, which kind of raises your threat perception for them. An opponent playing some global effect that's kind of annoying is, at least imo, best reacted to by trying to find a way to take advantage of it. Whereas something targeting you tends to better reacted to by removing it or otherwise punishing the caster/activator, to send a message not to target you. This is less of an issue when you're playing archenemy, but early-game when you just want to get a lay of the land, it can look aggressive.
-There's the technical detail that it can't always provide perfect information against even one opponent. If they draw cards, tutor, etc after you target them, then you won't be able to see those new cards, while telepathy covers these cases much better.
-And, of course, being only one opponent at a time, it's great if there's only one scary player, but if you're sitting down against unknown decks with powerful commanders you might not want to have to wait 3 turns to figure out what's going on at the table - and by the end of those three turns, the first player could have seen quite a few new cards.
-Finally, it's an artifact instead of an enchantment. While they're not too different, I think artifacts tend to be removed incidentally more frequently than enchantments. Red can easily kill artifacts but not enchantments, and artifact removal tends to be prioritized over enchantment removal, although of course the bulk of non-red artifact removal also hits enchantments.
-Telepathy is a lot bigger than just telepathy, it's also all tutors that hit it. Adding glasses only adds one extra "telepathy", which could just be a weak tutor like dizzy spell that would accomplish the same role but with extra flexibility and without the risk of redundancy.
Anyway those are my 2 cents. I don't think it's a bad idea but I think it's significantly worse than telepathy, and the annoying overhead of having to relay info to the other opponents, and the political ramifications of targeting the player, usually prevent me from playing it.
I like lftl a lot as a card. Dredge is the sweetness. I used to run it all the time in Phelddagrif.
I think the biggest downside is has in this deck is that it's a very...attention-grabbing card. Even when you're mostly spinning your wheels with it, it seems like you're doing a ton of potentially-dangerous stuff. 2 cycling deserts + lftl is kind of the same as whispers of the muse, but it looks a lot more threatening because it takes so many more actions to accomplish the same thing. (obviously you can do a lot better with cheaper and/or more cyclers, but you get the idea.)
It also has the "repeated actions are scary" thing. I've had people get nervous because I could recur strip mine with it, even though that would have been pretty idiotic for me to do, with multiple opponents and only one land drop per turn. People really freak out about repeatable LD, even if it would take a decade for it to add up to anything significant. And LD-lands are usually a must-include for this deck, since we aren't usually running many instants that can target lands and they're obviously uncounterable.
I think lftl can be a good addition, especially if you're concerned about LD, but you'll want to carefully consider how your deck will use it. There's a fine line between being good for the deck, and being a threatening engine. Cyclers in particular are the stickiest part of the equation since they incentivize you to keep churning through cards in a potentially "scary" way. But on the other hand, if you don't have cyclers, is it worth running just to get back fetches and recover from MLD (which you're probably trying to prevent happening in the first place)? Not sure. I've only tried it with the good cyclers, but I might give it a shot with 2-mana cyclers and see if that's enough to put it into the safe range, or run it without cyclers entirely. It could also be interested with something like memorial to genius or horizon canopy that's repeatable draw, but only once per turn. You'll probably have to do some testing and see where the right balance is for your meta.
Yeah, I meant to have it in the maybeboard when in a leavy LD meta.
One shouldn't abuse of it (like Stonecloaker), it's supposed to be used homeopatically.
But this is not my meta I just help the guy above who asked about this.
Actually I am finishing my deck and it's much like your budgetless version without any $20+ card, fetches, shocks, and duals. Will post here in a few days for you guys to help me fine tuning it.
Hi, I know DirkGently repeatedly stated that ramp does not do anything for this deck. I have been trying out Hour of Promise in the deck anyway and I was always happy to see it. It gets any land card, Usually one of them an Arch of Orazca and/or other utility lands. Or if you need more colored mana it helps you with fixing. It does not just ramp but actually helps in finding the correct lands for the situation in my oppinion.
What are your thoughts on running an Hour of Promise in the 99? Or would you rather run a Tempt with Discovery instead? Or is that card too scary?
I don't think hour of promise is bad (and wargate, which often fetches land, is quite good imo), my "ramp is bad" applies principally to non-utility ramp like STE, explosive veg, rampant growth, most artifact ramp, etc. As you point out, fetching arch is pretty sweet, especially with another good utility piece like kor haven, thespian's stage, strip mine, scavenger grounds, etc.
I do think 5 is enough that it's not ideal for the most-competitive version of the list, simply because the closer you get to cEDH the more critical it is to keep mana up at all times, and to have cards that do things right away, both of which are strikes against hour of promise. But as long as you're not trying to fight against cEDH it's a solid value card, for sure.
Tempt is a really tough card to evaluate because it's going to depend a lot on what your meta looks like. If they all fetch strip mine and kill all your best utility lands, then it obviously kind of sucks. If they fetch coffers and cradles and start doing stupid stuff, that's also not great. And of course, if they all decline then you definitely overpaid relative to wargate. On the other hand, a lot of the time I've seen it resolve, everyone just pulls out basics or checklands or whatever, and it's amazing for the caster. And since we're usually viewed as a lesser threat, most people aren't as scared about giving us extra lands and are likely to be tempted, although after numerous wins their opinion might change.
In an unknown group, I'd usually run wargate over either, for the added flexibility of being able to hit nonlands and ease of casting while keeping up mana in case the meta is particularly powerful, although having one or two slower value cards probably isn't going to wreck you even if the meta is strong. In a known meta that isn't super high-powered, I'd say either can be great, depending on how scared you think you should be about tempt and how likely they are to be tempted.
This new expansion brought two great cards for us so far: Teyo, the Shieldmage and Kasmina's Transmutation.
I love the cheap planeswalker, gives us some protection in early game. It doesn't help us much when it comes to aggro decks but hey, we have some Wraths for that.
The enchantment is like Pongify. A nice one indeed.
Thoughts?
I'm more excited for Emergence Zone and Time Wipe. Zone gives us more surprise wipes and Wipe is basically Wrath plus Phelddy's blue ability only without an opponent drawing a card.
This new expansion brought two great cards for us so far: Teyo, the Shieldmage and Kasmina's Transmutation.
I love the cheap planeswalker, gives us some protection in early game. It doesn't help us much when it comes to aggro decks but hey, we have some Wraths for that.
The enchantment is like Pongify. A nice one indeed.
Thoughts?
Hmm, I'm curious why you'd consider Teyo for this deck? I don't consider hexproof particularly relevant for us, and the walls are obviously pretty low-impact. In general I avoid walkers since they tend to draw attacks and worry people. The minus-only variety might not have the same problem, since it can't really ult or otherwise be scary, but Teyo doesn't seem like he does anything we're really interested in (at least, to my eye)
Kasmina's is an ok card, but it's something like 5th best in terms of neutralizing removal, behind song of the dryads, imprisoned in the moon, darksteel mutation, deep freeze, and arguably lignify. Pongify fulfills a different goal because of its instant speed. Imo it's not a good idea to have too many neutralizing removals, since they majorly antagonize whoever you've played them on - so usually I only want to play them when it's 1v1, or if someone has a disproportionately scary deck and neutralizing their commander is the only reliable way to keep balance.
I'm more excited for Emergence Zone and Time Wipe. Zone gives us more surprise wipes and Wipe is basically Wrath plus Phelddy's blue ability only without an opponent drawing a card.
I do think those are more playable, although neither massively excites me. Time wipe is generally superior to *** in the 1v1 game, but before that point I usually don't mind letting someone else draw a card, and the extra cost is non-negligible early on (since you can installment-plan the *** + bounce, or skip the bounce if necessary). Which one is better is debatable, but it's definitely splitting hairs either way, it's not going to revolutionize the deck or anything.
I'm not blown away by emergence zone, alchemist's refuge has always been right on the edge of getting cut from my deck and I'd rather pay more than sac the land. Again, not that it's bad, it's just not going to make any big changes to the deck imo. Especially since, being non-repeatable, I don't think it really merits tutoring up (which refuge sometimes can, if you've already gotten the more powerful utility lands and/or want to be able to instant-speed more of your wipes).
The other card I see that looks potentially good is dovin's veto. Again, nothing revolutionary, but it's a strong counterspell that could replace existing options depending on meta.
Lots of cool cards so far, not a ton for Phelddagrif though imo.
Cheer up boys! Sure, this set has had mostly bupkis for our fine flying hippo, but today I bring you...
return to nature (1G instant, destroy artifact, enchantment, or exile a card in a graveyard)
Ok, so it's not exactly a revolutionary new draw engine, but it probably makes the cut basically always. Naturalize was always just a liiiittle too narrow to tempt me.
Also, blast zone maybe makes the cut. It's cute, but damn if those utility land slots aren't contentious.
Well, I have played my list (it is in my signature) a couple of times and this is my feedback:
1. The deck is really fun to play and it is not weak at all.
One of my games I was severely mana screw to the point of not casting my general up to turn 8-9, in that game one layer toke me to 1 life and I almost won the game (I was the last to die and if we didn't had misread a card I would won probably).
2. The decks is fun also because people cannot interact with your plan at all, you can win, you can loose but is high unlikely that anyone can 'mess with your plan'
3. Par of the OP advice is 'play with gentle heart' and this is very easy to do with the hippo because... you have noting they can destroy, steal or shut down, we will normally win the counter-war or we will just remove the threats
4. The hippo is big enough to chump-block most things and because he can bounce and give some one a card, many opponents will not waste a precious attack on a 'do nothing' if if they do, we can block or spot removal.
5. Because we can give some presents to opponents, they will forget soon if we board-wipe or just did something wrong to them.
Overall, a great deck, the one I have most fun so far
So, we just play draw go, we see what people is doing
I want to believe that Everdream is good because it's very, very cool, but I think it'll end up being a worse Whispers of the Muse. Turning all your spells into cantrips is somewhat efficient for 2U but I would be wary about the conditional nature of it.
Anyway, great primer, I'd love to play against it one day
sidebar about staying in the game that was funny from this week: I was borrowing a deck, and one of my opponents was playing jhoira 1.0, and I kept killing jhoira because, y'know, it's jhoira and I assumed some nonsense would happen if she got to stick around. Eventually I'm out of removal because it wasn't Phelddagrif, so removal does eventually run out, and he finally sticks her. The rest of the board is getting fairly built up, there's probably a solid 30-40 power of creatures at the table, at least. And the guy suspends obliterate and kozilek. While at 20. With no other blockers to defend him.
Sometimes what looks like the best play from a 1v1 perspective is the one that's actually guaranteed suicide in multiplayer
Been playing in the US, now we're in the UK. I think in a few years I'll be able to talk my gf into moving to NZ with me. Then it's a mere 2000+ km distance
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Just like you said at the start of your primer, I always get mistaken for playing group hug but I have to remind any new playgroup that the deck instead plays more like "targeted hug". I'm not so interested in winning games as much as you are but I like to think myself as an equaliser or fun police. I find degenerate combos boring and they just put people off playing magic, which I cannot abide by. At the same time, I like to empathise with the noobs who are just starting or who are just plain unskilled and the hippo is the best way to do that. I have found no other creature(short of Hippo's superior brother, Questy) to be so viably political. That Zedruu goat thing doesn't even come close as the cost of donation is prohibitively dear.
My playstyle is less durdly than yours but I have since been swayed by your primer to experiment a bit more on the control side of things, rather than the general goodstuff approach I had before. I still can't bring myself to part with some of my most endeared pets but variety is the spice of life.
I want to thank you again for writing something so delightful and I made an account for the sole reason of saying this. Please don't concern yourself with the easily offended as I found your writing to be humorous and pleasant to read. I'm also Australian and I've never heard anyone mention "Bradburying", but I will say there are copious amounts of swearing, alcoholism and mockery at our gaming tables.
I definitely think the deck has a lot to offer on multiple fronts. Primarily: forcing games to be fair, rewarding good play, and winning consistently without feeling overpowered. I honestly believe Phelddagrif might be the single best commander deck at all three of those things. So even for people who don't care too much about winning, the deck still has a lot to offer.
As far as questing phelddagrif...
If QP was legendary, would I play it over the original? I don't think I would. QP does have two big benefits - being able to pump for green makes him a faster clock and scarier blocker, and being able to give enemies draw without being forced to return Phelddagrif to your hand - which means you have to commit to a number of cards to let them draw before you know what they're going to get - are both definitely nice. That said, QP's pro black/red thing is pretty useless imo, and the original's return to hand, while it sort of gums up the draw ability, is reeeaaaally good and makes Phelddagrif reeeaaaaallly reliable as a wincon. The other problem with QP is that you'll frequently want to use flying as evasion in the endgame, and letting your opponent draw a card for that ability is really rough. Letting them gain 2 life is basically meaningless at that stage, so it's perfect. And while the +1/+1 ability on QP is definitely better than trample on the original, unless you're sitting on a ton of green mana it's a little awkward in the 1v1 game since you probably don't want to give them a bunch of tokens unless you're killing them that turn. And on the defense, the ability to block and then bounce, while giving some other opponent a draw, is usually pretty deflating for any non-trampling attacker. So while the pump ability is good, it's not THAT good.
If I could combine them together and make ultimate Phelddagrif, it'd probably be something like:
Ultimate Phelddagrif 1GWU
Legendary Creature - Phelddagrif God (R)
G: Phelddagrif gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Target opponent creates a 1/1 green Hippo creature token.
W: Phelddagrif gains flying until end of turn. Target opponent gains 2 life.
U: You may return Phelddagrif to its owner’s hand. Target opponent draws a card.
4/4
The last ability is pretty cheaty though - lets you give enemy draw without bouncing AND gives you an alt-wincon of forced decking. Given how they've templated the draw ability on both Phelddagrifs, it seems like wotc probably didn't want to make him an enemy-decking engine.
Anyway I'm still holding out hope for Phelddagrif 3. Come on, wotc! We Phelddagrif fans may be few (and most of us may be filthy group hug players) but we're passionate!
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
One question I have is about MLD. One player I regularly face runs an optimized Windgrace deck that packs a lot of MLD including uncountable spells like Obliterate. I'm running Summary Dismissal, but overall how does this deck beat that strategy?
MLD can be a stumbling block for the deck, since so much of our value is in our lands. The #1 thing is to try to be aware of whether it's likely to happen. If you know about it and can plan ahead, you'll be much more likely to be able to deal with them.
The simplest answer (and the usual pickup game answer) is that you'll usually want to counter them. This is obviously harder with obliterate or a cycled decree of annihilation (or anything off boseiju, who shelters all), but if you aren't pre-gaming that's usually the primary tactic. There are some other cards that pull double duty as answers for MLD as well as other things - teferi's protection comes to mind. And don't forget commit // memory can answer oblit, at least temporarily (mindbreak trap is the only other card I can think of that counters oblit, and it's...decent I guess). Cycled decree is arguably easier since there are a decent number of counter triggered ability spells, although with cycling being an instant opponents can get tricky, so keep that mana up if you're nervous.
The other potential answer, especially against obliterate, though less reliable than a counter, is to prevent them having an advantage post-wipe. This is tougher to do with a geddon unless you're holding cyclonic rift or something since any permanent might be a problem, but vs oblit there's a decent chance the main thing leftover will be his planeswalker? Depends on the situation, of course, but hitting his planeswalker with removal in response may be able to turn his oblit into a wash, where no one really gains. Or you can just try to keep killing his walker with Phelddagrif, or by using other players as your proxy. You still might be in a bad situation after oblit if you miss land drops, but at least it won't be an urgent problem. If you know about the risk going in, you can hold onto lands, and be better prepared to rebuild - or have stuff like land tax and exploration that will enhance your ability to rebuild. If he's got multiple planeswalkers and enchantments, or suspended eldrazi, or indestructibles you can't remove, though, this tactic might just not work.
Failing at this, the main thing would be to simply narrow the gap. If you can use removal to make sure he's not massively far ahead, then maybe you can play the politics game long enough to get back to a stable position. And sometimes a 4/4 can hold the fort well enough in the interim, if it's a non-creature MLD like geddon.
Now, if you're pre-boarding to play against the deck, you can run all sorts of things that would otherwise be inadvisable but might make sense in this situation - cards like heroic intervention, soul of new phyrexia, terra eternal, faith's reward, second sunrise, maybe even sacred ground? You could also run the indestructible lands, although there's only 2 so it's not exactly an amazing plan.
Finally, you could also cave and run artifact ramp. Some of them also double for other uses, like unstable obelisk and magnifying glass, although unfortunately most of those are colorless. This will dilute the deck and generally make it weaker, but it will definitely help against geddon. It doesn't help much against obliterate, of course, unless you run darksteel ingot, which is garbage, so obviously this isn't an ideal plan.
Those are basically your options. It's difficult to beat a well-timed, unexpected obliterate without being pretty lucky, and playing against frequent MLD can be really taxing on your counterspells, but if you're planning ahead for MLD it's definitely manageable. I think the #1 card I'd recommend is teferi's protection since it turns a disaster into a huge boon for you, and it's a perfectly playable card in its own right. Heroic intervention second, although it's much less useful in non-MLD situations. And don't forget tutors to find them, especially at instant speed - intuition, or mystical tutor into a draw spell, are a great option that be be a silver bullet not just for oblit, but for other problematic situations as well.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
EDIT: Life from the Loam looks amazing as well, specially if you have some deserts/cycles/fetches/Strip Mine-like lands to reuse.
Speaking of Telepathy, what do guys think about Glasses of Urza? It looks a good option to add redundancy and less threatening than Telepathy because only you see the hands, one at a time though. And it's a Beta copy so it'd increase the pimp factor
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
Glasses is significantly worse imo. Technically you can say whatever you like, so you can tell people what's in their hand. Even theoretically make stuff up to make them look scarier, although I imagine people would catch onto that almost instantly. But when I've played the card, and cards like it, it always feels kind of scummy to do that sort of thing. Granted, a lot of people don't actually read the cards too closely so they'll just reveal their hand anyway, but if they don't it puts you in kind of a weird position. Do you read out their hand, only mention the scary stuff, or just keep the info to yourself?
Generally I think it's almost always best that opponents know what's in their hands. More knowledge advantages control, which means they're more likely to save the right answers for the right threats. It also means people will do all the stuff to opposing control that you don't want them to do to you - attack to force the playing of a known board wipe, bait counters with aggressive spells, etc. All just generally good stuff for you.
I don't think telepathy is threatening. For one thing, once it's played, the damage is done. Sure, future topdecks are also known, but the bulk of damage is done upfront so once it's resolved there's small motivation to remove it.
I've played glasses a decent amount, although it's been a while. Glasses has a few downsides:
-someone with an eye towards keeping their hand concealed might remove it when it's tapped to prevent it targeting them in the future.
-It also literally targets someone, which kind of raises your threat perception for them. An opponent playing some global effect that's kind of annoying is, at least imo, best reacted to by trying to find a way to take advantage of it. Whereas something targeting you tends to better reacted to by removing it or otherwise punishing the caster/activator, to send a message not to target you. This is less of an issue when you're playing archenemy, but early-game when you just want to get a lay of the land, it can look aggressive.
-There's the technical detail that it can't always provide perfect information against even one opponent. If they draw cards, tutor, etc after you target them, then you won't be able to see those new cards, while telepathy covers these cases much better.
-And, of course, being only one opponent at a time, it's great if there's only one scary player, but if you're sitting down against unknown decks with powerful commanders you might not want to have to wait 3 turns to figure out what's going on at the table - and by the end of those three turns, the first player could have seen quite a few new cards.
-Finally, it's an artifact instead of an enchantment. While they're not too different, I think artifacts tend to be removed incidentally more frequently than enchantments. Red can easily kill artifacts but not enchantments, and artifact removal tends to be prioritized over enchantment removal, although of course the bulk of non-red artifact removal also hits enchantments.
-Telepathy is a lot bigger than just telepathy, it's also all tutors that hit it. Adding glasses only adds one extra "telepathy", which could just be a weak tutor like dizzy spell that would accomplish the same role but with extra flexibility and without the risk of redundancy.
Anyway those are my 2 cents. I don't think it's a bad idea but I think it's significantly worse than telepathy, and the annoying overhead of having to relay info to the other opponents, and the political ramifications of targeting the player, usually prevent me from playing it.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
What do you think about LftL in a MLD meta?
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
I think the biggest downside is has in this deck is that it's a very...attention-grabbing card. Even when you're mostly spinning your wheels with it, it seems like you're doing a ton of potentially-dangerous stuff. 2 cycling deserts + lftl is kind of the same as whispers of the muse, but it looks a lot more threatening because it takes so many more actions to accomplish the same thing. (obviously you can do a lot better with cheaper and/or more cyclers, but you get the idea.)
It also has the "repeated actions are scary" thing. I've had people get nervous because I could recur strip mine with it, even though that would have been pretty idiotic for me to do, with multiple opponents and only one land drop per turn. People really freak out about repeatable LD, even if it would take a decade for it to add up to anything significant. And LD-lands are usually a must-include for this deck, since we aren't usually running many instants that can target lands and they're obviously uncounterable.
I think lftl can be a good addition, especially if you're concerned about LD, but you'll want to carefully consider how your deck will use it. There's a fine line between being good for the deck, and being a threatening engine. Cyclers in particular are the stickiest part of the equation since they incentivize you to keep churning through cards in a potentially "scary" way. But on the other hand, if you don't have cyclers, is it worth running just to get back fetches and recover from MLD (which you're probably trying to prevent happening in the first place)? Not sure. I've only tried it with the good cyclers, but I might give it a shot with 2-mana cyclers and see if that's enough to put it into the safe range, or run it without cyclers entirely. It could also be interested with something like memorial to genius or horizon canopy that's repeatable draw, but only once per turn. You'll probably have to do some testing and see where the right balance is for your meta.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
One shouldn't abuse of it (like Stonecloaker), it's supposed to be used homeopatically.
But this is not my meta I just help the guy above who asked about this.
Actually I am finishing my deck and it's much like your budgetless version without any $20+ card, fetches, shocks, and duals. Will post here in a few days for you guys to help me fine tuning it.
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
What are your thoughts on running an Hour of Promise in the 99? Or would you rather run a Tempt with Discovery instead? Or is that card too scary?
I do think 5 is enough that it's not ideal for the most-competitive version of the list, simply because the closer you get to cEDH the more critical it is to keep mana up at all times, and to have cards that do things right away, both of which are strikes against hour of promise. But as long as you're not trying to fight against cEDH it's a solid value card, for sure.
Tempt is a really tough card to evaluate because it's going to depend a lot on what your meta looks like. If they all fetch strip mine and kill all your best utility lands, then it obviously kind of sucks. If they fetch coffers and cradles and start doing stupid stuff, that's also not great. And of course, if they all decline then you definitely overpaid relative to wargate. On the other hand, a lot of the time I've seen it resolve, everyone just pulls out basics or checklands or whatever, and it's amazing for the caster. And since we're usually viewed as a lesser threat, most people aren't as scared about giving us extra lands and are likely to be tempted, although after numerous wins their opinion might change.
In an unknown group, I'd usually run wargate over either, for the added flexibility of being able to hit nonlands and ease of casting while keeping up mana in case the meta is particularly powerful, although having one or two slower value cards probably isn't going to wreck you even if the meta is strong. In a known meta that isn't super high-powered, I'd say either can be great, depending on how scared you think you should be about tempt and how likely they are to be tempted.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I love the cheap planeswalker, gives us some protection in early game. It doesn't help us much when it comes to aggro decks but hey, we have some Wraths for that.
The enchantment is like Pongify. A nice one indeed.
Thoughts?
Commander: Child of Alara BURGW, Adeliz, the Cinder Wind UR
Tiny Leaders: Gwafa, Hazid Profiteer UW
Regular Pauper: Stompy G, Mono-G Tron G, Infect G
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK
Kasmina's is an ok card, but it's something like 5th best in terms of neutralizing removal, behind song of the dryads, imprisoned in the moon, darksteel mutation, deep freeze, and arguably lignify. Pongify fulfills a different goal because of its instant speed. Imo it's not a good idea to have too many neutralizing removals, since they majorly antagonize whoever you've played them on - so usually I only want to play them when it's 1v1, or if someone has a disproportionately scary deck and neutralizing their commander is the only reliable way to keep balance.I do think those are more playable, although neither massively excites me. Time wipe is generally superior to *** in the 1v1 game, but before that point I usually don't mind letting someone else draw a card, and the extra cost is non-negligible early on (since you can installment-plan the *** + bounce, or skip the bounce if necessary). Which one is better is debatable, but it's definitely splitting hairs either way, it's not going to revolutionize the deck or anything.
I'm not blown away by emergence zone, alchemist's refuge has always been right on the edge of getting cut from my deck and I'd rather pay more than sac the land. Again, not that it's bad, it's just not going to make any big changes to the deck imo. Especially since, being non-repeatable, I don't think it really merits tutoring up (which refuge sometimes can, if you've already gotten the more powerful utility lands and/or want to be able to instant-speed more of your wipes).
The other card I see that looks potentially good is dovin's veto. Again, nothing revolutionary, but it's a strong counterspell that could replace existing options depending on meta.
Lots of cool cards so far, not a ton for Phelddagrif though imo.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
return to nature (1G instant, destroy artifact, enchantment, or exile a card in a graveyard)
Ok, so it's not exactly a revolutionary new draw engine, but it probably makes the cut basically always. Naturalize was always just a liiiittle too narrow to tempt me.
Also, blast zone maybe makes the cut. It's cute, but damn if those utility land slots aren't contentious.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Well, I have played my list (it is in my signature) a couple of times and this is my feedback:
1. The deck is really fun to play and it is not weak at all.
One of my games I was severely mana screw to the point of not casting my general up to turn 8-9, in that game one layer toke me to 1 life and I almost won the game (I was the last to die and if we didn't had misread a card I would won probably).
2. The decks is fun also because people cannot interact with your plan at all, you can win, you can loose but is high unlikely that anyone can 'mess with your plan'
3. Par of the OP advice is 'play with gentle heart' and this is very easy to do with the hippo because... you have noting they can destroy, steal or shut down, we will normally win the counter-war or we will just remove the threats
4. The hippo is big enough to chump-block most things and because he can bounce and give some one a card, many opponents will not waste a precious attack on a 'do nothing' if if they do, we can block or spot removal.
5. Because we can give some presents to opponents, they will forget soon if we board-wipe or just did something wrong to them.
Overall, a great deck, the one I have most fun so far
So, we just play draw go, we see what people is doing
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here
Decklist didn't work for me?
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/good-to-me-good-for-you
EDIT: By mistake I wrote the wrong link, also my link in the sig has a typo, it was an extra / that it is now fixed, sorry
EDH: RWB Edgar Markov The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Oloro, Ageless ascetic The current updated decklist is here
EDH: UWG Phelddagrif, The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign The current updated decklist is here
EDH: WUB Alela, Artful provocateur The current updated decklist is here
EDH: GB Hapatra, vizier of poisons The current updated decklist is here
So your not using phelddagrif as commander?? Interesting
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
generous gift - beast within #2, in a better color. New auto-include.
reprobation - middle-of-the-pack neutralization, arguably worse than lignify, amusingly.
force of negation - excellent counter for anti-cEDH, decent elsewhere.
archmage's charm - tough cc but a nice selection of modes.
everdream - very interesting value engine. Will definitely want testing.
rain of revelation - is ok.
force of vigor - like force of negation, except amazing everywhere.
nature's chant - is ok.
prismatic vista - solid fetchland.
hall of heliod's generosity - recurs a lot of good stuff, could push toward an enchant-heavy build. Very exciting.
Tons of good stuff, some guaranteed to be major players in the deck for a long time. Phelddagrif hasn't had a set this good since...ever?
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I want to believe that Everdream is good because it's very, very cool, but I think it'll end up being a worse Whispers of the Muse. Turning all your spells into cantrips is somewhat efficient for 2U but I would be wary about the conditional nature of it.
What do you think of Waterlogged Grove and, by extension, Horizon Canopy?
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK