So I’ve got a mate who’s considering becoming a judge. Naturally being the mate that I am, I figured I’d build the deck that’d test his knowledge of the game.
So things of interest are weird interactions like card type changing, delayed triggers, layer interactions, stack manipulation, and other oddities that makes a judges life interesting.
I play a stack control deck in legacy, so I’ve a good idea some of the basics that’d go in there. But beyond that, ideas please!
These are interactions I have seen come up in questions or in games I have played. Not all are exactly easy to accomplish in a real game, but I figured I would list what I could think of an you can try to make them work.
If you really want to have fun with that, add in Replenish to return all of those things to the field at the same time so the timestamps need to be determined instead of them already being set one at a time.
Hopefully this gets you some examples to use. Again, I am not sure how useful they are. I didn't bother going through and explaining the interactions as I think some are straightforward and the idea is to have your friend figure them out.
Progenitor Mimic is great for checking comprehension of copy abilities. Try blinking the original and cloning a token copy for extra obscure rule testing (and value!)
licids are gonna be really funny to play alongside the likes of humility.
Oh yea, and if i recall correctly, morph abilities don't use the stack either. Maybe there are some interesting things that one can do with things like willbender on a spell with split second or something just to mess with the rules.
It looks like i'm going to have to go all 5-colour. there seems to be a good number of effects in all colours that warrants inclusion.
If you want weird interactions with split second, remember that you can still activate mana abilities. Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Selvala, many of the eggs..
Apparently Caged Sun getting turned into a land and tapping for mana creates an uninterruptible loop that doesn't use the stack. Unfortunately this ends the game.
Oh yea, and if i recall correctly, morph abilities don't use the stack either. Maybe there are some interesting things that one can do with things like willbender on a spell with split second or something just to mess with the rules.
One thing I have wanted to pull off due to the rules interaction rather than power level is Sudden Spoiling + a creature enchanted with Pattern of Rebirth + Phyrexian Tower (or the Altars or whatever mana ability requires a sacrifice). You sac the creature during casting or just after and when the creature dies, you get Massacre Wurm so everything gets -2/-2. Then, Spoiling resolves and everything the target player controls becomes 0/2 which kills them and makes them lose life for everything. Since Spoiling is on the stack during this process it is difficult for the other player(s) to respond.
Humility - already covered by others Volrath's Shapeshifter - especially in combination with the aforementioned Licids. Chains of Mephistopheles - it shouldn't be that hard, but people just don't get it because of how the card is worded. Combine with Sylvan Library and/or Pursuit of Knowledge for some interesting interactions. Life and Limb - because it is such a unique effect, all sorts of unexpected things happen when you add in something like Celestial Dawn. Type-changing effects in general can be problematic because of layering and dependency. Knowledge Pool + Eye of the Storm - Chaos cards in general can get really chaotic, real fast Timesifter - add in a Paradox Haze for some real headaches
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
What you really want is a Scarab God'd creature that has a CDA setting its power and/or toughness and no other abilities (such as Tarmogoyf), with Muraganda Petroglyphs in play.
706.9d When applying a copy effect that doesn’t copy a certain characteristic, retains an original value for a certain characteristic, or modifies the final value of a certain characteristic, any characteristic-defining ability (see rule 604.3) of the object being copied that defines that characteristic is not copied. If that characteristic is color, any color indicator (see rule 204) of that object is also not copied.
The black zombie Tarmogoyf token would be a 4/4 with no abilities, and thus would become a 6/6 due to Petroglyphs.
Are you sure commander is the format you want for this? Judge Tower is THE format for people who want to cram weird rules interactions together to learn stuff fast. Everyone has infinite life and mana, and you lose by being called out for a rules infraction.
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Are you sure commander is the format you want for this? Judge Tower is THE format for people who want to cram weird rules interactions together to learn stuff fast. Everyone has infinite life and mana, and you lose by being called out for a rules infraction.
I'll second this, it's a wild time and it keeps you sharp on your rules. All of them.
Nah, EDH is the place for this - we're both avid EDH players, and he likes playing semi-janky aggro-combo decks that have a tough time climbing out of weird situations. One game, he managed to get himself killed by my combo of havoc festival and soul echo with 10,000,000 skip my turns via a lethal vapors. he tried his darnedest to squirm his way out of what i'd consider to be a very lenient 'combo', but had fun trying to do so.
also, EDH lends itself to having a lot of weird interactions with what other players are trying to do anyways. But cheers though for the tips - i might give it a go some day too.
Nah, EDH is the place for this - we're both avid EDH players, and he likes playing semi-janky aggro-combo decks that have a tough time climbing out of weird situations. One game, he managed to get himself killed by my combo of havoc festival and soul echo with 10,000,000 skip my turns via a lethal vapors. he tried his darnedest to squirm his way out of what i'd consider to be a very lenient 'combo', but had fun trying to do so.
also, EDH lends itself to having a lot of weird interactions with what other players are trying to do anyways. But cheers though for the tips - i might give it a go some day too.
But that is trivial to get around: You just skip that many turns as well...
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"Hail to the speaker, hail to the knower; joy to he who has understood, delight to they who have listened." - Odin
Nah, EDH is the place for this - we're both avid EDH players, and he likes playing semi-janky aggro-combo decks that have a tough time climbing out of weird situations. One game, he managed to get himself killed by my combo of havoc festival and soul echo with 10,000,000 skip my turns via a lethal vapors. he tried his darnedest to squirm his way out of what i'd consider to be a very lenient 'combo', but had fun trying to do so.
also, EDH lends itself to having a lot of weird interactions with what other players are trying to do anyways. But cheers though for the tips - i might give it a go some day too.
But that is trivial to get around: You just skip that many turns as well...
Nah, EDH is the place for this - we're both avid EDH players, and he likes playing semi-janky aggro-combo decks that have a tough time climbing out of weird situations. One game, he managed to get himself killed by my combo of havoc festival and soul echo with 10,000,000 skip my turns via a lethal vapors. he tried his darnedest to squirm his way out of what i'd consider to be a very lenient 'combo', but had fun trying to do so.
also, EDH lends itself to having a lot of weird interactions with what other players are trying to do anyways. But cheers though for the tips - i might give it a go some day too.
But that is trivial to get around: You just skip that many turns as well...
it would be possible if he'd realised what i'd done, but the stack resolved, and then he was stuck. there were some weird interactions if i recalled with teferi's protection, some number of detain effects and those infinite turn-skipping things.
So far, the judge breaker is a tad too glass-cannony. it basically folds to any amount of pressure. Not sure why things like moat and humility aren't effective enough.
So I’ve got a mate who’s considering becoming a judge. Naturally being the mate that I am, I figured I’d build the deck that’d test his knowledge of the game.
So things of interest are weird interactions like card type changing, delayed triggers, layer interactions, stack manipulation, and other oddities that makes a judges life interesting.
I play a stack control deck in legacy, so I’ve a good idea some of the basics that’d go in there. But beyond that, ideas please!
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
The old standby is Humility and Opalescence. Maybe toss in Starfield of Nyx as an additional Opalescence. Along with the Gods from Theros.
If you really want to have fun with that, add in Replenish to return all of those things to the field at the same time so the timestamps need to be determined instead of them already being set one at a time.
Humility and Alloy Golem (what color is it?)
Rite of Replication with Reaper King (just knowing how the triggers work and how many there are)
Rite of Replication with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and any creatures with toughness greater than 2
Blood Moon + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Dryad Arbor (just the first two is fine, but throwing in Dryad Arbor adds another layer).
Life and Limb + Worms of the Earth + a Saproling trying to enter
Black Sun's Zenith against anything with Undying that has a +1/+1 counter on it.
Divine Visitation + Legion Warboss or Leonin Warleader
Doubling Season + Planeswalkers
Doubling Season + Pir, Imaginative Rascal + Planeswalkers
Merfolk Trickster + Tarmogoyf
The Scarab God + Tarmogoyf
The Scarab God + Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
Split Second + Morph or Mana Abilities
More than 1 World Enchantment
Hopefully this gets you some examples to use. Again, I am not sure how useful they are. I didn't bother going through and explaining the interactions as I think some are straightforward and the idea is to have your friend figure them out.
Mr. Bones is pretty dense in general and plays a number of cards WizardMN mentioned already, so you might have some luck running that over.
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
Another one I like for an odd interaction is Garruk Relentless + Clever Impersonator.
Multiples of the "when you cast a spell" enchantments like Possibility Storm, Eye of the Storm and Thousand-Year Storm
Guided Passage for being the only card I know of that makes you reveal an entire library.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
licids are gonna be really funny to play alongside the likes of humility.
Oh yea, and if i recall correctly, morph abilities don't use the stack either. Maybe there are some interesting things that one can do with things like willbender on a spell with split second or something just to mess with the rules.
It looks like i'm going to have to go all 5-colour. there seems to be a good number of effects in all colours that warrants inclusion.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Apparently Caged Sun getting turned into a land and tapping for mana creates an uninterruptible loop that doesn't use the stack. Unfortunately this ends the game.
Mill you whole deck. Then Necrotic Ooze with Pili-Pala, Selvala, explorer Returned and Skirge Familiar in the graveyard. With Progenitus or Blightsteel Colossus, you can use mana abilities to force all other players to draw their decks without passing priority.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Humility - already covered by others
Volrath's Shapeshifter - especially in combination with the aforementioned Licids.
Chains of Mephistopheles - it shouldn't be that hard, but people just don't get it because of how the card is worded. Combine with Sylvan Library and/or Pursuit of Knowledge for some interesting interactions.
Life and Limb - because it is such a unique effect, all sorts of unexpected things happen when you add in something like Celestial Dawn. Type-changing effects in general can be problematic because of layering and dependency.
Knowledge Pool + Eye of the Storm - Chaos cards in general can get really chaotic, real fast
Timesifter - add in a Paradox Haze for some real headaches
then there are the math headaches:
Precursor Golem + kicked/copied Rite of Replication
Opalescence + Doubling Season enchanted by Followed Footsteps
Teferi's Curse is the obligatory phasing card.
On phasing:
The black zombie Tarmogoyf token would be a 4/4 with no abilities, and thus would become a 6/6 due to Petroglyphs.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Imagine Knowledge Pool, Possibility Storm and Eye of the Storm in play at the same time.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Look into it further as there was something to do with triggers and the order of cards in your library while you’re still searching.
My Friend Code is: 0146-9645-8893
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Nah, EDH is the place for this - we're both avid EDH players, and he likes playing semi-janky aggro-combo decks that have a tough time climbing out of weird situations. One game, he managed to get himself killed by my combo of havoc festival and soul echo with 10,000,000 skip my turns via a lethal vapors. he tried his darnedest to squirm his way out of what i'd consider to be a very lenient 'combo', but had fun trying to do so.
also, EDH lends itself to having a lot of weird interactions with what other players are trying to do anyways. But cheers though for the tips - i might give it a go some day too.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
But that is trivial to get around: You just skip that many turns as well...
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
it would be possible if he'd realised what i'd done, but the stack resolved, and then he was stuck. there were some weird interactions if i recalled with teferi's protection, some number of detain effects and those infinite turn-skipping things.
So far, the judge breaker is a tad too glass-cannony. it basically folds to any amount of pressure. Not sure why things like moat and humility aren't effective enough.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom