Wow, a slow clap exit. You're playing the deck right then!
How long have you been playing it?
No, you're right on chaos wand, that's what you get from reading cards at midnight and trying to make an informed decision on them hahaha.
Yes, no mana to pay so the wand will throw out the instant or sorcery for free if you want it to.
I like the interaction and I suppose if your opponent is in green with a decent ramp package you'll be able to dig out your wastes pretty easily too.
If it left those cards in exile I'd prefer it more but it only really take out maybe a third of their deck best case scenario. If it's working for you keep it but I would try and take note of how many times it swings and misses. If you had staff of domination instead of the staff you will 100% win the game if you had paradox engine and a few mana rocks.
lotus bloom in an opening hand is good because as you said, you've got the same effect of LED without the downside but I often find LED doesn't have that bad of a downside. I've never had to discard more than 3 cards to it and they were cards I was happy to chuck anyway given what's usually in front of me.
The two downsides of lotus bloom is that late game it's tricky to get into play to have a use when you need it.
If you've dropped most, if not all of your hand into getting Kozi out and you draw up lotus bloom and another rock, lotus bloom isn't gonna give you the reach to the next Kozi cast unless the other rock taps for more than 2, you've got to wait 3 turns and the game may not even last that much further. LED would come in and be used and more than likely you'll have no cards in hand when you activate it.
The other problem I have is that lotus bloom is an easy counter. Your opponents have all the information they need in front of them from your board state to see whether that 3 mana will put you in a position to cast your commander. They have three turns to hold up a counter to prevent it happening.
I get why you would run it and you make a decent case for the card but personally I think there are more downsides to lotus bloom than there are LED.
Nevinyrral's disk will wreck your creatures but it'll also wreck your opponents creatures too. If they have none and you have none, then you cast your commander you'll have about the same amount of creatures you started with! Plus you get to draw up and carry on. They'll struggle to keep up the pace and will fall behind every time you activate the disk.
I run it as a board wipe. My meta is heavy with artifact removal just from this deck being in the pool, I activate the disk when I've been set so far back it no longer matters and puts me back on the same level field as my opponents.
Im not a fan of conduit of ruin. It's a card that comes in and doesn't really improve the board state all that much, and guarantees that our next card isn't ramp. He's an extra body yes, but I don't feel he's worth his mana cost. If it put that creature it searched for to our hand, different story!
I've been playing this deck and making changes since 2015, to begin with it was a very basic build, the foundation of the deck was all there but improvements have been made since then. Back in the days before Paradox engine was a thing. ( oh Paradox engine you magnificent artifact you... lol.) This deck is my baby I've been slowly foiling it out since 2015 and it's almost all foil. On a side note I believe paradox engine will eventually be banned it enables so many broken plays it's only going to be a matter of time before the ban hammer comes down but fingers crossed it doesn't!
I've only played the chaos wand since yesterday and it's hit twice so far that it's been out. So still early days in terms of testing. What a like about it is the utility and chances are if I wiff I accept that that's what will happen from time to time. I've also realised that if I have enough mana rocks in play with Paradox engine if my first activation fails to hit anything I can I cannot use the card in that moment I can choose to let it resolve with minimal effect that turn to then recast it again and spin the wheel! also if I wiff I can play something from my hand and go again. I will definitely keep using it and track the data for the amount of times it has hit and missed. This card also interacts well with rings of brighthearth, two activations for the price of one!
You could make the same argument for when LED has been cast at the beginning of the game like lotus bloom that if our opponent chooses to counter kozilek it isn't that much of a set back considering like you said yourself in your write up of the commander that he is the god of deception! we'll draw 4 cards and he'll come back down again very soon. also I found that if you lead up with a winter orb coming to the counterspell it puts our opponents in an awkward position to counter him cause it sets their game plan back. Assuming the cmc of the counterspell and how much mana it costs to put them back.
there are two cards I am considering to replace conduit of ruin with either Nevinyrral's disk or mana web. You made your case for nevinyrral's disk which I can see the pay off when you've either fallen to far behind and can cast kozilek back down again. Now mana web works brilliantly with urborg tomb of yawgmoth it basically turns all their lands into swamps so if they play anything tap everything down! but that is two cards in the deck that might not come up often so I don't know how viable it is.
side note - I do have staff of domination in my current build and it has performed well with tapping down voltron commanders as well as just generally combo'ing off. It's a great mana sink!
Still new here so I do apologize for not enabling links to the cards I am talking about. How do I link cards directly ?
If there was anything you would replace conduit of ruin with what would your recommendation be ? I am thinking of soul of new phyrexia for the extra protection in big multiplayer games. I am finding it very difficult to make cuts in the deck now The only card that seems like the weakest link is conduit.
I know! I'm waiting for the ban hammer to break the engine!
Been waiting since it was spoiled. The funny thing is we only abuse it to such a small level compared to the decks that have one or more colours.
It's a ridiculous card!
Everyone foils their Kozi deck. It's so strange. Mine is all foil (apart from those that aren't available obviously), it's taken me years to track down all the judge promos and alternate arts to really pimp it out!
Let me know where you land on chaos wand. I can't say I've ever seen it which is rare, I've play tested so many colourless cards in this deck but that wand has slipped my notice.
mana web is a fairly decent card but I find a lot of players just play around it.
The only player it stops is the blue dude at the table and his handful of counters. I ran it for a little while and found it to be worse than I had hoped.
I definitely see conduit of ruin as one of your weakest cards, that and void winnower but void winnower has some serious stopping power on the board. The only reason I see it as weak is because of the cost vs what it does to progress the game plan. The best thing it has going for it is stopping kozilek getting chumped by tokens.
What sort of decks are in your meta? Are you facing a lot of token strategies or graveyard plays? If so I recommend cards like ratchet bomb or grafdigger's cage. Or if you are having trouble with the counters and removal maybe defense grid?
The card tag is the little mtg card on the right of the toolbar in the comment box, 4th from the right. You can either highlight the name you typed out and click it or click it and type the same between the html it brings up.
Yeah, anything that plays with lands is amazing with winter orb.
I used to play with both static orb and trinisphere with clock of omens and icy manipulator but I just found myself messing about with my own board trying to fight my own effects!
I am at home watching movies drinking a beer but the next beer will be on you Rasputin101
Going back to your reply I don't encounter a lot of reanimator strategy's mostly tokens and big creatures but I will take your suggestions on boards, thanks dude.
Ok so since I last posted I've done some testing with [Chaos wand] after a few games these are some of the results I've had so far.
Mono Black player - /Doom Blade /Increasing Ambition /Hero's Downfall /ultimate price /Gild /Walk the Plank /Murder /yahenni's expertise /Read the bones /in garruk's wake the only dud I missed in a few of those games was /Torment of Hailfire
Red / Blue Player - [rally the horde] /anticipate /tormenting voice /Fabricate /clear the mind /manifold insights /Brainstorm The only miss I had was /past in flames only because I didn't have any instants and sorceries in my GY.
I am really falling in love with /Chaos Wand everytime it comes out I am super excited to see it haha. Makes games more interesting for one cause Kozilek is a linear commander and having a bit of spice in the deck is a nice addition.
Changes I have made to the deck - In a multiplayer format I have found [geode golem] to be killed every time I have got him down early. He progresses our game plan but I found if you're playing a deck like this and if people are clued up on what this deck does people will have none of it and kill / exile him asap. So I have decided to include /Welding Jar It still helps our overall gameplan and it can help a number of important artifacts in this deck! so [welding jar] welcome to the deck.
I have removed /conduit of ruin and replaced it with /Relic of Progenitus so my choice for picking this card came down to two things [silent gravestone] doesn't allow me to grab lands from my deck with /crucible of worlds and /grafdigger's cage doesn't allow us to use /Planar Portal in our deck so I felt the correct choice was the relic its great early game and it helps remove cards throughout the game. And if I happen to draw it late just use it as a cantrip and exile all the cards in the graveyards
Final notes - play /Chaos wand unlease Chaos on your playgroup today!
So chaos wand really took advantage of that black player hahaha
Might have to play test it. Top deck tutors are very common in my meta. Being able to take that away from my opponents would be really useful.
welding jar is great. There's always something worth saving and just by having it on the field deters your opponents from wasting a removal spell knowing it likely won't resolve (unless the table turns on you (and playing Kozi they often do)
I also find geode golem struggles to see a combat phase. He's absolutely amazing but our opponents know that. It's 5 cost makes that sting pretty bad when it gets destroyed. Losing a Metalworker at 3 hurts a lot less than the five mana and I find Metalworker gets allowed more times than a geode golem.
Check out this post and check out the card tags section which gives detail on tagging cards. Probably explains it better than I did lol.
Ah I understand it now! in future i'll be able to link cards to better explain myself haha.
So I played a bit more today and I've found teferi temporal archmage isn't nice to play against.. He was playing the stax build so back to basics shut down the deck hard. I got my own back on the group though second game I turn two kozilek butcher of truth and everyone scooped so win some loose some.
ah so in your opinion what graveyard hate card has the most application ? so grafdigger's cagewould shut down crucible of worlds If I am correct ? it's really hard to say.
back to basics is a painful one to see across the table. I'd rather see a blood moon!
Because we don't have access to very many removal spells that can deal with it.
Make sure that player is punished for it next game (which I think a T2 Kozi would have easily done).
I find a lot of games end in a scoop win if I play Kozilek early enough.
Stax can be tough if you don't have an explosive start. If you do, Kill the stax player!
So grafdigger's cage prevents creatures entering the battlefield from libraries and graveyards.
That means you can use planar bridge but you can't go and get a creature which usually isn't a big deal.
Reanimator stretegies or cards that stock the graveyard also hate this card. Generals likegrenzo, dungeon warden use the graveyard then ping to the battlefield but the cage stops that completely.
It's second rules text says spells can't be cast from graveyards.
Lands are played, not cast. Casting is the act of putting a spell with a cost on the stack, paying mana for that spell and have it resolve.
Lands don't use the stack when they're played or tapped for mana so grafdigger's cage doesn't care what you do with lands.
It'll hose a general like Muldrotha the Gravetide because although they can still play a land, they can't play permanent spells.
Anything with the flashback mechanic is rendered useless when in the graveyard.
If you can get a decent Butcher draw engine going then distortion works well because you can keep those pseudo counterspells coming. It's circumstantial but its a hard stop. defense grid just forces the counter player to keep far more mana open and makes their counters much less viable if they want to establish their board. A talrand, sky summoner however will work through the mana cost and still counter your spells because they want those drakes!
Do you play with sideboards?
Because all these cards can be sideboarded for when you play these specific archetypes. Yeah, you might not see them coming game one but you cam swit H them in for game 2
Against Graveyards there's not much that's really good. I used to play Tormod's Crypt and Relic of progenitus. I have since removed some petcards like a land i really liked, and added a Scavenger Grounds instead. So im not playing Tormod's Crypt atm, which opened up another slot.
Mana Web is a card i should get. The most problem i usually have is against certain blue players. And besides, everybody is only fetching for island x type of duals in their multicoloured decks anyway ^^' . Or they're monoblack etc.
I still haven't gotten too many games in. Last cards i removed was Blightsteel Colossus (i wonder if i should replace this one with one of the other big eldrazis instead. I have a lot of options in the Eldrazi way. ) and Tangle Wire(really miss this card, i think it was a mistake to remove it.
Im also considering Void Winnower again, would be cool to see how it would impact a game today. It would/could shutdown quite a few commanders in our meta atm.
Too bad it does not stop the typical "Mana Flare" enchantments.
Scavenger Grounds is one I've been considering for a while. I'm thinking of taking out one of the weaker utility lands for it. Maybe Thespian's Stage because I rarely ever use the ability unless I'm copying a Strip Mine of the occasional Eldrazi Temple.
I tested Void Winnower and ran it in the deck for a few months after its release but I found it to just cause the table to have laser focus on my field and it generated far more hate than I was willing to deal with.
The problem with running that many high cost cards in your deck is that what're the chances of an opponent playing a 9 drop for you to pitch it to the Great Distortion? It doesn't pose that double use for you.
Blightsteel is another dude I pulled ages ago. He's a good substitute for Kozi with how oppressive it is and I used to run it with a janky infinite combo with Mirrorworks but I took out the infect monster. I can't remember my reasoning other than maybe taking it out for something more reactive or that offered filtering.
Scavenger Grounds is one I've been considering for a while. I'm thinking of taking out one of the weaker utility lands for it. Maybe Thespian's Stage because I rarely ever use the ability unless I'm copying a Strip Mine of the occasional Eldrazi Temple.
I tested Void Winnower and ran it in the deck for a few months after its release but I found it to just cause the table to have laser focus on my field and it generated far more hate than I was willing to deal with.
The problem with running that many high cost cards in your deck is that what're the chances of an opponent playing a 9 drop for you to pitch it to the Great Distortion? It doesn't pose that double use for you.
Blightsteel is another dude I pulled ages ago. He's a good substitute for Kozi with how oppressive it is and I used to run it with a janky infinite combo with Mirrorworks but I took out the infect monster. I can't remember my reasoning other than maybe taking it out for something more reactive or that offered filtering.
Yeah im just where you are with all of that haha. Been thinking if i should maybe move some big eldrazis to the sideboard and play my foil Spawnsire of Ulamog in their place. So i can play them from the sideboard. Problem is that my kozilek isn't as much of a threat like the Butcher, so i need some firepower. But we'll see.
I'm not a huge fan of Spawnsire.
If you sideboard a ton of threats and it gets taken out, you then have a sideboard full of useless.
But, on the same note as before at least you haven't just got bombs in your hand that don't pose as sufficient counters for Kozi2.0.
If you're playing a Timmy deck full of Craterhoof Behemoths and the like they might just work but more than likely you're going to be up against synergy builds who's curves are lower to the ground.
It serves you better to be sitting in the 1,2,3 drops to act as counters.
I'm not a huge fan of Spawnsire.
If you sideboard a ton of threats and it gets taken out, you then have a sideboard full of useless.
But, on the same note as before at least you haven't just got bombs in your hand that don't pose as sufficient counters for Kozi2.0.
If you're playing a Timmy deck full of Craterhoof Behemoths and the like they might just work but more than likely you're going to be up against synergy builds who's curves are lower to the ground.
It serves you better to be sitting in the 1,2,3 drops to act as counters.
I think blinkmoth urn took me so long to cut was mainly because most of the times when I got it it was at a more or less decent time in the game. There were a few times when I drew it and it wasn't impactful but I must have been clinging onto memories of 'that time it won me the game'.
It's out now and it's unlikely to ever go back in at this point.
I'm actually going to test chaos wand that @SirSimic gave feedback on. My meta is rife with top deck tutors and decent green ramp spells that are asking to put wastes onto the field.
I don't usually go for card that yield unknown results but if the result is a player not getting to draw that bitter ordeal they went for with mystical tutor then it's definitely worth a punt. Don't know how I feel about holding 4 open though
I'm very excited for the new Karn... if he's not a fake. Karn, the Great Creator (for when the card goes live)
Karn, the Great Creator4 Legendary Planeswalker - Karn
Artifact abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated
[+1]: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost.
[-2]: You may choose an artifact card you own from outside the game or in exile, reveal that card and add it to your hand.
This dude is a one card, 10 mana win.
Cast Karn, activate his -2 and dip into your sideboard for Mycosynth Lattice.
Cast it.
Your opponents are dead in the water because they can't even use their lands.
His +1 could turn something like relic of progenitus into a chump blocker is a crisis as it's then a creature until your next turn, or after the mycosynth lattice resolves you could animate your opponents lands making them 0/0's which go straight to the yard.
Time to build a proper sideboard full of answers to the deck's problems.
I'm thinking cards like ratchet bomb for when the token strategies are getting on top and threatening a win.
Or just more removal: Unstable Obelisk, Meteor Golem and the like.
My worry is because the MycoSynth lattice combo is so obvious and anyone can play it as it's colourless, Karn might get banned. But then that's my fear with all strong cards we get.
EDIT: here's me thinking its a great card because we can play it... But didn't even think what would happen if an opponent played their own copy... No! Completely hoses the deck!
Burn every copy and never let it see the light of day
It's definitely a super powerful card for this deck, particularly with the absurd amount of mana this deck can consistently generate. I think the new Karn is actually a great choice for Commander because mana rocks are so prevalent, particularly in the cEDH world. The fact that you can also create a hard board lock with Karn (for a lot of mana, of course) opens up interesting lines for mono-Gray.
With all the new hate cards for artifacts in Rakdos, I sense that there's some sort of artifact presence coming down the line. Hopefully there will be a few boons on par with Paradox Engine. I love that card.
There does seem to be a lot of hate towards the grey cards so with any luck they'll give us something with some real strength.
With any luck with Modern Horizons will have at least one or two decent artifacts to abuse.
I'm hoping the new Ugin is going to be a decent walker too, hopefully with another board wipe. Can always use the sweepers!
Btw I've been trying out the butcher for a while. Often times i just cast him and nothing else. People still has to respond to him and such, but i seldomly get to swing.
This is my list so far. I think i have a bit many lands, but there's been so much artifacthate that i can't really go without it. And i added a Mox Diamond + a Tabernacle ;)For prices sakes haha.
EDIT: (Seems like I've alternated with Fractured Powerstone(I don't have a Thought Vessel !)
How long have you been playing it?
No, you're right on chaos wand, that's what you get from reading cards at midnight and trying to make an informed decision on them hahaha.
Yes, no mana to pay so the wand will throw out the instant or sorcery for free if you want it to.
I like the interaction and I suppose if your opponent is in green with a decent ramp package you'll be able to dig out your wastes pretty easily too.
If it left those cards in exile I'd prefer it more but it only really take out maybe a third of their deck best case scenario. If it's working for you keep it but I would try and take note of how many times it swings and misses. If you had staff of domination instead of the staff you will 100% win the game if you had paradox engine and a few mana rocks.
lotus bloom in an opening hand is good because as you said, you've got the same effect of LED without the downside but I often find LED doesn't have that bad of a downside. I've never had to discard more than 3 cards to it and they were cards I was happy to chuck anyway given what's usually in front of me.
The two downsides of lotus bloom is that late game it's tricky to get into play to have a use when you need it.
If you've dropped most, if not all of your hand into getting Kozi out and you draw up lotus bloom and another rock, lotus bloom isn't gonna give you the reach to the next Kozi cast unless the other rock taps for more than 2, you've got to wait 3 turns and the game may not even last that much further. LED would come in and be used and more than likely you'll have no cards in hand when you activate it.
The other problem I have is that lotus bloom is an easy counter. Your opponents have all the information they need in front of them from your board state to see whether that 3 mana will put you in a position to cast your commander. They have three turns to hold up a counter to prevent it happening.
I get why you would run it and you make a decent case for the card but personally I think there are more downsides to lotus bloom than there are LED.
Nevinyrral's disk will wreck your creatures but it'll also wreck your opponents creatures too. If they have none and you have none, then you cast your commander you'll have about the same amount of creatures you started with! Plus you get to draw up and carry on. They'll struggle to keep up the pace and will fall behind every time you activate the disk.
I run it as a board wipe. My meta is heavy with artifact removal just from this deck being in the pool, I activate the disk when I've been set so far back it no longer matters and puts me back on the same level field as my opponents.
Im not a fan of conduit of ruin. It's a card that comes in and doesn't really improve the board state all that much, and guarantees that our next card isn't ramp. He's an extra body yes, but I don't feel he's worth his mana cost. If it put that creature it searched for to our hand, different story!
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
I've only played the chaos wand since yesterday and it's hit twice so far that it's been out. So still early days in terms of testing. What a like about it is the utility and chances are if I wiff I accept that that's what will happen from time to time. I've also realised that if I have enough mana rocks in play with Paradox engine if my first activation fails to hit anything I can I cannot use the card in that moment I can choose to let it resolve with minimal effect that turn to then recast it again and spin the wheel! also if I wiff I can play something from my hand and go again. I will definitely keep using it and track the data for the amount of times it has hit and missed. This card also interacts well with rings of brighthearth, two activations for the price of one!
You could make the same argument for when LED has been cast at the beginning of the game like lotus bloom that if our opponent chooses to counter kozilek it isn't that much of a set back considering like you said yourself in your write up of the commander that he is the god of deception! we'll draw 4 cards and he'll come back down again very soon. also I found that if you lead up with a winter orb coming to the counterspell it puts our opponents in an awkward position to counter him cause it sets their game plan back. Assuming the cmc of the counterspell and how much mana it costs to put them back.
there are two cards I am considering to replace conduit of ruin with either Nevinyrral's disk or mana web. You made your case for nevinyrral's disk which I can see the pay off when you've either fallen to far behind and can cast kozilek back down again. Now mana web works brilliantly with urborg tomb of yawgmoth it basically turns all their lands into swamps so if they play anything tap everything down! but that is two cards in the deck that might not come up often so I don't know how viable it is.
side note - I do have staff of domination in my current build and it has performed well with tapping down voltron commanders as well as just generally combo'ing off. It's a great mana sink!
Still new here so I do apologize for not enabling links to the cards I am talking about. How do I link cards directly ?
If there was anything you would replace conduit of ruin with what would your recommendation be ? I am thinking of soul of new phyrexia for the extra protection in big multiplayer games. I am finding it very difficult to make cuts in the deck now The only card that seems like the weakest link is conduit.
Been waiting since it was spoiled. The funny thing is we only abuse it to such a small level compared to the decks that have one or more colours.
It's a ridiculous card!
Everyone foils their Kozi deck. It's so strange. Mine is all foil (apart from those that aren't available obviously), it's taken me years to track down all the judge promos and alternate arts to really pimp it out!
Let me know where you land on chaos wand. I can't say I've ever seen it which is rare, I've play tested so many colourless cards in this deck but that wand has slipped my notice.
mana web is a fairly decent card but I find a lot of players just play around it.
The only player it stops is the blue dude at the table and his handful of counters. I ran it for a little while and found it to be worse than I had hoped.
I definitely see conduit of ruin as one of your weakest cards, that and void winnower but void winnower has some serious stopping power on the board. The only reason I see it as weak is because of the cost vs what it does to progress the game plan. The best thing it has going for it is stopping kozilek getting chumped by tokens.
What sort of decks are in your meta? Are you facing a lot of token strategies or graveyard plays? If so I recommend cards like ratchet bomb or grafdigger's cage. Or if you are having trouble with the counters and removal maybe defense grid?
The card tag is the little mtg card on the right of the toolbar in the comment box, 4th from the right. You can either highlight the name you typed out and click it or click it and type the same between the html it brings up.
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Also, congrats on primer tag!
Yeah, anything that plays with lands is amazing with winter orb.
I used to play with both static orb and trinisphere with clock of omens and icy manipulator but I just found myself messing about with my own board trying to fight my own effects!
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Going back to your reply I don't encounter a lot of reanimator strategy's mostly tokens and big creatures but I will take your suggestions on boards, thanks dude.
Mono Black player - /Doom Blade /Increasing Ambition /Hero's Downfall /ultimate price /Gild /Walk the Plank /Murder /yahenni's expertise /Read the bones /in garruk's wake the only dud I missed in a few of those games was /Torment of Hailfire
Red / Blue Player - [rally the horde] /anticipate /tormenting voice /Fabricate /clear the mind /manifold insights /Brainstorm The only miss I had was /past in flames only because I didn't have any instants and sorceries in my GY.
I am really falling in love with /Chaos Wand everytime it comes out I am super excited to see it haha. Makes games more interesting for one cause Kozilek is a linear commander and having a bit of spice in the deck is a nice addition.
Changes I have made to the deck - In a multiplayer format I have found [geode golem] to be killed every time I have got him down early. He progresses our game plan but I found if you're playing a deck like this and if people are clued up on what this deck does people will have none of it and kill / exile him asap. So I have decided to include /Welding Jar It still helps our overall gameplan and it can help a number of important artifacts in this deck! so [welding jar] welcome to the deck.
I have removed /conduit of ruin and replaced it with /Relic of Progenitus so my choice for picking this card came down to two things [silent gravestone] doesn't allow me to grab lands from my deck with /crucible of worlds and /grafdigger's cage doesn't allow us to use /Planar Portal in our deck so I felt the correct choice was the relic its great early game and it helps remove cards throughout the game. And if I happen to draw it late just use it as a cantrip and exile all the cards in the graveyards
Final notes - play /Chaos wand unlease Chaos on your playgroup today!
Might have to play test it. Top deck tutors are very common in my meta. Being able to take that away from my opponents would be really useful.
welding jar is great. There's always something worth saving and just by having it on the field deters your opponents from wasting a removal spell knowing it likely won't resolve (unless the table turns on you (and playing Kozi they often do)
grafdigger's cage doesn't shut down Planar bridge. The bridge doesn't cast, it literally takes a permenant and put it on the field.
Also, crucible of worlds doesn't target so silent gravestone will still let you play lands from your graveyard.
relic of progenitus is good and with rings of brighthearth you can draw up a few cards with the trigger.
I also find geode golem struggles to see a combat phase. He's absolutely amazing but our opponents know that. It's 5 cost makes that sting pretty bad when it gets destroyed. Losing a Metalworker at 3 hurts a lot less than the five mana and I find Metalworker gets allowed more times than a geode golem.
Check out this post and check out the card tags section which gives detail on tagging cards. Probably explains it better than I did lol.
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
So I played a bit more today and I've found teferi temporal archmage isn't nice to play against.. He was playing the stax build so back to basics shut down the deck hard. I got my own back on the group though second game I turn two kozilek butcher of truth and everyone scooped so win some loose some.
ah so in your opinion what graveyard hate card has the most application ? so grafdigger's cagewould shut down crucible of worlds If I am correct ? it's really hard to say.
There are blue players in my meta so I am wondering if I should include either defense grid or put kozilek the great distortion back in.
back to basics is a painful one to see across the table. I'd rather see a blood moon!
Because we don't have access to very many removal spells that can deal with it.
Make sure that player is punished for it next game (which I think a T2 Kozi would have easily done).
I find a lot of games end in a scoop win if I play Kozilek early enough.
Stax can be tough if you don't have an explosive start. If you do, Kill the stax player!
So grafdigger's cage prevents creatures entering the battlefield from libraries and graveyards.
That means you can use planar bridge but you can't go and get a creature which usually isn't a big deal.
Reanimator stretegies or cards that stock the graveyard also hate this card. Generals likegrenzo, dungeon warden use the graveyard then ping to the battlefield but the cage stops that completely.
It's second rules text says spells can't be cast from graveyards.
Lands are played, not cast. Casting is the act of putting a spell with a cost on the stack, paying mana for that spell and have it resolve.
Lands don't use the stack when they're played or tapped for mana so grafdigger's cage doesn't care what you do with lands.
It'll hose a general like Muldrotha the Gravetide because although they can still play a land, they can't play permanent spells.
Anything with the flashback mechanic is rendered useless when in the graveyard.
If you can get a decent Butcher draw engine going then distortion works well because you can keep those pseudo counterspells coming. It's circumstantial but its a hard stop.
defense grid just forces the counter player to keep far more mana open and makes their counters much less viable if they want to establish their board. A talrand, sky summoner however will work through the mana cost and still counter your spells because they want those drakes!
Do you play with sideboards?
Because all these cards can be sideboarded for when you play these specific archetypes. Yeah, you might not see them coming game one but you cam swit H them in for game 2
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Mana Web is a card i should get. The most problem i usually have is against certain blue players. And besides, everybody is only fetching for island x type of duals in their multicoloured decks anyway ^^' . Or they're monoblack etc.
I still haven't gotten too many games in. Last cards i removed was Blightsteel Colossus (i wonder if i should replace this one with one of the other big eldrazis instead. I have a lot of options in the Eldrazi way. ) and Tangle Wire(really miss this card, i think it was a mistake to remove it.
Im also considering Void Winnower again, would be cool to see how it would impact a game today. It would/could shutdown quite a few commanders in our meta atm.
Too bad it does not stop the typical "Mana Flare" enchantments.
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
I tested Void Winnower and ran it in the deck for a few months after its release but I found it to just cause the table to have laser focus on my field and it generated far more hate than I was willing to deal with.
The problem with running that many high cost cards in your deck is that what're the chances of an opponent playing a 9 drop for you to pitch it to the Great Distortion? It doesn't pose that double use for you.
Blightsteel is another dude I pulled ages ago. He's a good substitute for Kozi with how oppressive it is and I used to run it with a janky infinite combo with Mirrorworks but I took out the infect monster. I can't remember my reasoning other than maybe taking it out for something more reactive or that offered filtering.
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Yeah im just where you are with all of that haha. Been thinking if i should maybe move some big eldrazis to the sideboard and play my foil Spawnsire of Ulamog in their place. So i can play them from the sideboard. Problem is that my kozilek isn't as much of a threat like the Butcher, so i need some firepower. But we'll see.
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
If you sideboard a ton of threats and it gets taken out, you then have a sideboard full of useless.
But, on the same note as before at least you haven't just got bombs in your hand that don't pose as sufficient counters for Kozi2.0.
If you're playing a Timmy deck full of Craterhoof Behemoths and the like they might just work but more than likely you're going to be up against synergy builds who's curves are lower to the ground.
It serves you better to be sitting in the 1,2,3 drops to act as counters.
Play Butcher!!!!
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Main decklist changed.
Blinkmoth Urn out, Kozilek, the Great Distortion in.
Details in Changelog and card selection.
No updates from Guild of Ravnica (No new toys, BOOOO).
Hopefully Modern Horizons will bring bombs!
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
I never have such a problem really when it comes to the counters. Spawnsire was loud thinking haha.
But i was suprised that you even played Blinkmoth Urn, that was a card i quickly removed.
And i do play Butcher! Sometimes! Gonna try it this week just because!
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
It's out now and it's unlikely to ever go back in at this point.
I'm actually going to test chaos wand that @SirSimic gave feedback on. My meta is rife with top deck tutors and decent green ramp spells that are asking to put wastes onto the field.
I don't usually go for card that yield unknown results but if the result is a player not getting to draw that bitter ordeal they went for with mystical tutor then it's definitely worth a punt. Don't know how I feel about holding 4 open though
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Karn, the Great Creator (for when the card goes live)
Legendary Planeswalker - Karn
Artifact abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated
[+1]: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost.
[-2]: You may choose an artifact card you own from outside the game or in exile, reveal that card and add it to your hand.
This dude is a one card, 10 mana win.
Cast Karn, activate his -2 and dip into your sideboard for Mycosynth Lattice.
Cast it.
Your opponents are dead in the water because they can't even use their lands.
His +1 could turn something like relic of progenitus into a chump blocker is a crisis as it's then a creature until your next turn, or after the mycosynth lattice resolves you could animate your opponents lands making them 0/0's which go straight to the yard.
Time to build a proper sideboard full of answers to the deck's problems.
I'm thinking cards like ratchet bomb for when the token strategies are getting on top and threatening a win.
Or just more removal: Unstable Obelisk, Meteor Golem and the like.
My worry is because the MycoSynth lattice combo is so obvious and anyone can play it as it's colourless, Karn might get banned. But then that's my fear with all strong cards we get.
EDIT: here's me thinking its a great card because we can play it... But didn't even think what would happen if an opponent played their own copy... No! Completely hoses the deck!
Burn every copy and never let it see the light of day
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Combats all those artifact hate cards like energy flux and kataki, war's wage.
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
With all the new hate cards for artifacts in Rakdos, I sense that there's some sort of artifact presence coming down the line. Hopefully there will be a few boons on par with Paradox Engine. I love that card.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Even outside of colourless decks, pretty much every deck is running the staples: Sol Ring, Sensei's Divining Top, Gilded Lotus, Thran Dynamo, Ashnod's Altar... all rendered useless.
There does seem to be a lot of hate towards the grey cards so with any luck they'll give us something with some real strength.
With any luck with Modern Horizons will have at least one or two decent artifacts to abuse.
I'm hoping the new Ugin is going to be a decent walker too, hopefully with another board wipe. Can always use the sweepers!
EDH:
[Primer]C Kozilek, Butcher of Truth C
RGNikya of the Old WaysGR
This is my list so far. I think i have a bit many lands, but there's been so much artifacthate that i can't really go without it. And i added a Mox Diamond + a Tabernacle ;)For prices sakes haha.
EDIT: (Seems like I've alternated with Fractured Powerstone(I don't have a Thought Vessel !)
Anyway, here's the list:
1x Ashnod's Altar
1x Azor's Gateway Flip
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Clock of Omens
1x Cloud Key
1x Coalition Relic
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Doubling Cube
1x Dreamstone Hedron
1x Erratic Portal
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Expedition Map
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Grim Monolith
1x Hedron Archive
1x Inspiring Statuary
1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
1x Kyren Toy
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Mana Vault
1x Memory Jar
1x Mind Stone
1x Mindslaver
1x Mirage Mirror
1x Mox Diamond
1x Mox Opal
1x Paradox Engine
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Rings of Brighthearth
1x Scroll Rack ZH
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Spine of Ish Sah
1x Staff of Domination
1x Strionic Resonator
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Transmogrifying Wand
1x Unwinding Clock
1x Ur-Golem's Eye
1x Voltaic Key
1x Welding Jar
1x Winter Orb
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Ash Barrens
1x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Blinkmoth Well
1x Buried Ruin
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Command Beacon
1x Crystal Vein
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Deserted Temple
1x Drownyard Temple
1x Dust Bowl
1x Eldrazi Temple
1x Eye of Ugin
1x Ghost Quarter
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Inventors' Fair
1x Maze of Ith
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Mishra's Workshop
1x Phyrexia's Core
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Sanctum of Ugin
1x Scavenger Grounds
1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
1x Strip Mine
1x Tectonic Edge
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Tower of the Magistrate
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Wasteland
2x Wastes
1x Zhalfirin Void
1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Creature (8)
1x Duplicant
1x Geode Golem
1x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
1x Metalworker
1x Palladium Myr
1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Planeswalker (2)
1x Karn Liberated
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon DE
Instant (1)
1x Warping Wail
Sorcery (1)
1x All Is Dust
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer