MTG Salvation

Quote from AnarchyStarfish »

The newly-spoiled Tear Asunder seems really good, I think I'll swap it in for Maelstrom Pulse.

Quote from AnarchyStarfish »

Up until now I was running Dreadhorde Invasion as a budget version of Bitterblossom but I think the new Black Market Connections is better than both of them in a Mazirek deck. Ironically it might end up even more expensive than Bitterblossom though.

• Boseiju, Who Endures - The chasest card of the set, this one provides the conundrum of whether or not it takes up a land slot in the deck or not. Since we're milling ourselves quite often, we're inevitably losing lands. However, since we can play lands from the graveyard, it doesn't matter if we channel this, dregde it, or play it, it'll still be a land. So it's definitely worth a slot, which I'm more inclined to use a land slot for.
• Colossal Skyturtle - It's two spells on a body which is great since we want as many creature cards in the deck as possible. We can either use it as a recovery spell or use it as a bounce spell. It can then be reanimated as a 6/5 flyer with ward 2. Definitely worth considering. Should 100% go in the Budget Build.
• Mirrorshell Crab - Another creature with channel, which is amazing for being a spell on a body. This one can also hit abilities as well as spells, which is amazing. It's also a 5/7 with ward 3 when reanimated. Definitely worth considering. Should 100% go in the Budget Build.
• Otawara, Soaring City - This is the only one of the 3 channel lands I'm on the fence for. The deck is already running enough nonbasic lands (there's only one of each basic land in it). That being said, it is slight removal similar to Boseiju and the logic for including it is the same.
• Shigeki, Jukai Visionary - It essentially costs 2GG and tapping to consistently use it over the course of 2 turns each time, but you are self-milling yourself for up to 4 cards if you fail to find a land. It's 100% going in the Main Build. Especially since you can channel him and recover some cards to hand as a mana sink, too.
• Spring-Leaf Avenger - While we'd rather reanimate creatures than recover them to our hand, this ninja is actually amazing since we can get back channel lands, channel creatures, and any other permanent we might want. It doesn't have evasion but with the Filth + Urborg combo, it's going to be unblockable anyways.
• Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - 100% going in the deck. No question. It should be painfully obvious why. And it takes up a land slot, so we keep all of the deck's ratios the same.

• Ascendant Acolyte - It's a bit costly at 5 mana but it will enter the battlefield with a huge amount of +1/+1 counters on it, that then get doubled each upkeep. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any kind of evasion so it might not be worth including.
• One with the Kami - This is a great thing to flash in in response to someone wiping your board. If a creature had enough +1/+1 counters on it, then you can at least recover part of your board presence in the form of 1/1 spirit tokens, whereas everyone else might end up with nothing.
• Rampant Rejuvenator - If the deck were running way more basic lands than it does, this would definitely be worth a slot.
• Ruthless Technomancer - 100% going into the deck. This card is ridiculous here. Not only does it trigger Mazirek when it enters the battlefield, but it creates a ton of treasures when you do. Treasures that can then be sacrificed to further trigger Mazirek. Not only that, but it can also be used to reanimate creatures. What a busted card.
• Tanuki Transplanter - This has the potential of generating us a ton of G plus it survives creature-based boardwipes if it were equipped to a creature, similarly to bestow. I don't think it's an auto-include but it can definitely be worth considering.

• Boseiju, Who Endures - The deck has a lot of nonbasic lands so this one, while definitely being worthy of inclusion, shouldn't take up a land slot. The deck can play lands from the graveyard but Blood Moon effects are a thing, so keep that in mind.
• Dockside Chef - Incredibly easy to cast but the activation cost is too high, as synergistic as it is.
• Gloomshrieker - Another Eternal Witness type creature that costs the same but has menace. Unfortunately, it gets exiled if it would die. But it's still another Eternal Witness for the deck, which is worth considering.
• Gravelighter - Another Fleshbag Marauder type creature but with another option for if a creature has already died that turn. If that were true, then you draw a card instead. The modality might make it more useful, but it's not in the deck (yet, at least).
• Invoke Despair - Difficult to cast but not impossible. That being said, it only hits a single opponent. If they do have one each of those card types then it triggers Mazirek thrice. However, I'd rather find slots for effects that hit all opponents. But that's just my preference.
• Jugan Defends the Temple - It creates a mana dork when entering and then puts a +1/+1 counter on creatures. So it's still on flavor. When it transforms into Remnant of the Rising Star it will more than likely be a 7/7 flyer with trample, which is nothing to scoff at. It's also another way of putting +1/+1 counters on creatures as a mana sink. Definitley worth considering.
• Junji, the Midnight Sky - Not only is it a 5/5 with flying and menace for 5 mana but when it dies (which is easy for us to control), we can have each opponent discard 2 cards or we can reanimate a non-Dragon creature from a graveyard. Both options are amazing here.
• Kodama of the West Tree - If the deck ran way more basic lands then this Kodama would definitely be worth a slot. We could essentially ramp all of our basic lands in one single alpha strike.
• Kura, the Boundless Sky - Similarly to Junji, we can make the most of this dragon's death trigger by sacrificing it to any of our effects. Definitely worth considering.
• Reckoner's Bargain - The deck already doesn't run cards with similar effects than this. However, they're still great if you want to include them in your build. I just prefer these effects on permanents.
• Spring-Leaf Avenger - If it had evasion, or if the deck had more creatures with evasion, this is an amazing repeatable effect to get back permanents from the graveyard. Even so, it's definitely worth considering.
• The Long Reach of Night - While we'd rather have opponents sacrifice creatures than discard cards, it's still disruptive. That being said, Animus of Night's Reach has the potential of being a huge beater. But I still don't think it's worth a slot in the deck.
• Tribute to Horobi - It's not that good until it transforms into Echo of Death's Wail. Unfortunately, it's too slow for me since it needs to attack and we can only sacrifice one creature to draw one card.
• Undercity Scrounger - What a great mana dork for the deck. I could even overlook the casting cost. This will almost always be able to tap down for a treasure that can then be sacrificed to trigger Mazirek.

• Ascendant Acolyte - Such a shame this thing doesn't have trample. If PK is big enough, this will enter the battlefield with a ton of +1/+1 counters and then get huge each upkeep. Oh well.
• One with the Kami - Can potentially fill the board with a ton of 1/1 spirits when resetting PK via sacrifice. Paying 3G to cast it before then is quite the sneaky move.
• Tanuki Transplanter - Can make PK add a ton of G just by attacking. We can then reset him and be able to get it back with enough left over to make it monstrous again. Definitely worth considering.

• Boseiju Reaches Skyward - For 4 mana, if it would've put the 2 basic forests onto the battlefield tapped, it would've definitely been considered for the deck. But transforming into a creature with p/t equal to lands isn't enough for that. So much potential, though.
• Boseiju, Who Endures - 100% going in the deck. It's monogreen so it doesn't take up a slot in the deck. This one is a no-brainer for sure.
• Jugan Defends the Temple - It creates a mana dork when it enters and then puts +1/+1 counters on creatures. However, it then transforms into Remnant of the Rising Star, which is almost like giving each of my creatures monstrous X when they enter the battlefield. While this is an amazing mana sink, it's a bit hefty to use with Polukranos if we're recasting him with a high commander tax.
• Kodama of the West Tree - Gives PK trample while it's modified as well as having it ramp us a basic forest when it deals combat damage to an opponent. Definitely worth considering for the deck.
• Spinning Wheel Kick - This essentially turns any of our creatures into PK so we don't really need it. It's a cool effect, though. Shame you can't run it in a Chun-Li, Countless Kicks deck.

Quote from mustafa_2812 »

I'm curious if you have put much thought into the Kamigawa cards yet?

These are the cards that stand out to me

Boseiju, who endures - just an insane card that probably goes in every deck that can afford to cut a forest, and even some that can't.
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - same but slightly less so. does have synergy with some of the graveyard strategies in the deck like Meren, liliana, gitrog, etc.
Invoke Despair - the ceiling is decent but the floor is actually pretty high here. Either way you are getting good value. BBBB might be a bit of a strugle though, even for this deck.
Ruthless technomancer - this card seems like an absolute bomb for this deck. You get to sac a big creature and then generate a ton of treasures to sac to make everything else bigger? a repeatable reanimate effect? really cool card.
Rampant Rejuvenator - would require a big shift in the land base for the deck. Probably not worth doing. But really high value, maybe for the budget build

Quote from Belakor »

What are your thoughts on Shadow Kin? is it not worth it for the main build?

• Geralf, Visionary Stitcher - Giving flying to our zombies is really just a bonus since we have better ways of making our zombies unblockable. But being able to sacrifice another nontoken creature (which we can later reanimate) in order to create a beefy zombie is definitely something to consider for the zombie build.
• Necroduality - 100% going in the Zombie Build, no question, no need to explain further. This card is ridiculous.
• Overcharged Amalgam - Another counterspell on a body? Sign me up! This can go in any version (except the Budget Build, naturally).
• Scattered Thoughts - Although I tend to avoid adding too many noncreature cards to a deck, this seems decent enough for the Budget Build if any other similar card becomes a bit pricier over time.
• Archghoul of Thraben - Another amazing card for the Zombie Build since it has so many actual zombie cards in it. Being able to either draw a zombie card or self-mill whenever a zombie dies is amazing. Especially when we can sacrifice zombies at will in order to dig through our deck and fill our graveyard. Amazing!
• Headless Rider - Since this cares about nontoken zombies, it goes amazing in the Zombie Build since you can recur Gravecrawler infinitely many times when you have the combo online. So if you're unable to kill the table with the life loss effects, you can get infinitely many zombie tokens, that can then be sacrificed to Phyrexian Altar for infinite mana. So the ceiling is game over and the floor is pure value. This card is insanely good.
• Undead Butler - Self-mill on a body with a potential to recover a creature card from the graveyard? Definitley worth including if the price if right.
• Grolnok, the Omnivore - It's a huge gambit to have this in a graveyard matters deck like this one since your milled cards are essentially exiled. However, it is a good way to protect your mill cards from opponents' own graveyard exile effects. That being said, I'd rather risk it for the biscuit and be able to reanimate things for cheaper than simply being able to cast them from exile if they had a croak counter on them.