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  • posted a message on Brainstorming Gyrus, Waker of Corpses
    At first I thought about building Gyrus similar Karador or Grenzo but while working on my first draft I realized it was more or less a multicolor Kiki-Jiki. It should be feasible to play a value game with Panharmonicon/Parallel Lives while setting up a Purphoros or Aggravated Assault finish.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Gyrus questions
    Thanks. Love the sources.
    Posted in: Magic Rulings
  • posted a message on Gyrus questions
    I haven't play MtG in, like, two years and my rules knowledge is failing me. I have some questions about Gyrus, Waker of Corpses.

    Does Gyrus have to seperate triggers for exile a creature from my graveyard and creating a token? Or are both resoloved in one step?

    The token Gyrus produces is created before blockers, yes? If I created a token of Mogis's Marauder would both creatures be attacking with intimidate?

    Does the token Gyrus produces also attack the same target? If I attack player A with Gyrus can the token attack player B? Can the token attack a planeswalker that player A controls?
    Posted in: Magic Rulings
  • posted a message on Stuck for ideas (u/x control)
    You could try Kess, Dissident Mage, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, and Dralnu, Lich Lord as a control heavy commander. They're all UB and have built in graveyard access. Toshiro Umezawa is also worth considering. Mono has limited options for counterspells but discard effects play similar roles.

    You can also try going for artifact control. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Sydri, Galvanic Genius are good options for this. Esper tends to be the best colors for artifact control. Oloro is generically good by continuing to buff your life total while Sydri has some fun interactions with certain artifacts. If you want to go with artifact control but also want graveyard recursion than you can also try Sharuum the Hegemon or Hanna, Ship's Navigator.

    Zedruu the Greathearted is an interesting option. Most people try donating cards like Flame Swathe but you can also play a more traditional control deck as well. A lot of the best control cards in EDH are artifacts and enchantments like Torpor Orb, Stony Silence, or Arcane Laboratory that be donated to other players while still hampering gameplay.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on How do you count the cards in this combo?
    Typically only the relevant cards/effects are counted towards the combo. Commanders (assumed to always have) and tutors (usually aren't what kill) shouldn't be counted toward the card count. Meeting specific conditions such as dealing, sacrificing a creature, or having a certain number of things are assumed to be easily achievable if such requirements are needed.

    Examples Buried Alive + Ever After + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts
    • Two Card Combo A: Buried Alive and Ever After are the combo pieces. It's assumed that KikiConscripts could be any two card combination and therefore insignificant.
    • Two Card Combo B: Kiki-Jiki and Zealous Conscripts are the combo pieces. Creatures naturally go the graveyard as the game progresses. Buried Alive speeds up the inevitable. Any graveyard recursion would enable the combo. Buried Alive and Ever After are insignifigant. KikiConsripts is what wins the game.
    Both ways of looking at it are valid. You make an argument that it's a 3 or 4 card combo but it would be disingenuous.
    Quote from Carthage »

    buried alive for necrotic ooze, Phyrexian Devourer, triskelion and then reanimating the ooze for a win would also be a one card combo of buried alive, because the reanimation is so easily redundant and necrotic ooze is guaranteed to be in the graveyard after buried alive.
    It doesn't matter if the reanimation effect is redundant. Buried Alive by itself doesn't do anything. Two cards are still required.
    Quote from Carthage »
    But buried alive for mikaeus, the unhallowed and triskelion and then victimize to bring them both out would be a 2 card combo because victimize isn't an effect that is easy to get. The victimize additional cost is too easy to fufill to be counted as a third card.
    This is also a two card combo. The combo is Buried Alive + a reanimation effect that bring back two or more cards. Additional costs shouldn't be taken into consideration. Especial creature based requirements. You always have a commander to sacrifice.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Best land ramp spell for each cmc?
    1. Green Sun's Zenith
    2. Nature's Lore / Three Visits / Sakura-Tribe Elder
    3. Cultivate / Kodama's Reach / Wood Elves
    4+ Don't

    Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor is the best turn 1 land ramp. Crop Rotation is a close second. The XGG from from GSZ is better than the X2 provided by the Crop Rotation play. Burgeoning and Exploration aren't land ramp effects. They're hand dumps for powerful card draw engines.

    Nature's Lore and and Three Visits can search for non basic forest like Savannah or Stomping Grounds. This alone makes them better than every other two mana land ramp. They also put the lands into play untapped which makes them functionally cost one mana when played off curve. Sakura-Tribe Elder is the best two mana creature ramp. Require no additional mana to activate its ability, blocks well, and can traded in with Skullclamp when you no longer need ramp.

    Cultivate and Kodama's Reach ramp, color fix, and guarantee a land drop for the next turn. Best three mana ramp spells. Nissa's Pilgrimage is also good if you play mono green. Wood Elves is a three mana version of Nature's Lore. As a creature it has the added benefit of wearing equipment - most noticeably Skullclamp.

    You shouldn't run ramp that costs four mana unless it has synergy with other cards in your deck. At this mana threshold mana rocks start being better than land ramp effects. Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo will put you further than Skyshroud Claim while also having synergies with artifacts matter cards like Unwinding Clock or Goblin Welder. Even land enchantments are better at this point since auras like Dawn's Reflection have synergy with Verduran Enchantress or Earthcraft.

    You also risk the very possible threat of miss your natural fourth land drop. The Skyshroud Claim that's stuck in your hand isn't going to be of any use. If you don't topdeck a land the next turn it won't help you catch up either. There's nothing that 4+ cmc ramp spell can do that 3 or lower cmc ramp spell could not.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Neheb, the Eternal question
    That answers my questions. Thank you
    Posted in: Magic Rulings
  • posted a message on Best Beginner-Friendly Mono Colored Commanders
    Whatever you decide with I think you should make sure there is synergy between at least two of the commanders. It'll make it a lot easier for the new player to know what's going on if their choice in commanders paint a good picture. I went through all of the available mono color commanders to see what I'd choose.

    WWW: Sram, Senior Edificer, Kemba, Kha Regent, and Raksha Golden Cub.
    Mono white is terribly lacking in card draw so I felt Sram was a necessary selection. Since equipment is the only realistic way to profit from Sram, Kemba was the best choice for a second commander. She continues the equipment theme and opens up a token theme. I debated between Jazal Goldmane and Raksha Golden Cub for the third commander. Both helped push damage but I thought Raksha did better job of conveying the equipment and cat token theme the other two commanders set up.

    UUU: Baral, Chief of Compliance, Talrand, Sky Summoner, and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar.
    Talrand is my first choice for a mono blue commander. Converting spells in to small threats is fun. Baral helps enable Talrand, but he also allows for a more control or combo oriented game plan with is secondary effect. Since the majority of spells in Talrand and Baral are either cantrips or card draw I thought Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar would be a fun choice. Tomorrow allows the player to avoid flooding or sculpt an explosive hand. Arcanis the Omnipotent is another good choice.

    BBB: Toshiro Umezawa, Horobi, Death's Wail, and Sheoldred, Whispering One.
    Normally I prefer Erebos as my mono black commander, but Toshiro Umezawa provides a similar effect and has a more obvious cross synergy. Horobi is unique commander that has fun synergy with Toshiro. I wanted a reanimator commander for the last general I chose Sheoldred since she also enables Toshiro.

    RRR: Neheb, the Eternal, Ashling the Pilgrim, and Akroma, Angel of Fury.
    The last time I played mono red I found I was lacking in card draw. There are more options now for card draw but I wanted to assume I needed mana sinks to keep up in the late game. Akroma is a late game beatstick style of mana sink. Ashling is an early/mid game board control mana sink. If Neheb works the way I think he does with Ashling he should generate a lot of mana. Seems fun to me. Akroma is pretty replaceable honestly.

    GG G: Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Surrak, the Hunt Caller, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds.
    Good assortment for mono green ramp or good stuff. Selvala provides reliable ramp and card draw. Kamahl is one of the better mono green commanders. If you have both Selvala and Kamahl then you double overrun. Surrak, the Hunter Caller and Yeva, Nature's Herald do more or less the same thing. There are a lot of good mono green commanders to use in the third slot. Although, since non of the mono green commadners have XG mana cost to guarantee a Selvala proc.

    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Neheb, the Eternal question
    Two questions.

    1.) Assume Neheb, the Eternal is on the field and Ashling the Pilgrim pops for 5 damage in the first main phase. If I have three opponents does Neheb produce 15 at the start of my second main phase?

    2.) Does Neheb need to be on the field to track damage that was done? SayI popped Ashling for six or more then played Neheb before moving on to my second main phase. Would I gain a bunch of mana in my second main phase or none?

    Thanks for any answer
    Posted in: Magic Rulings
  • posted a message on Recurrable removal
    In my experience creatures with repeatable effects tend to activate twice. In those situations you're better off using spells that can be cast multiple times. Viashino Heretic is good and all but often times a single Hull Breach, Wear // Tear, Ancient Grudge, or Shattering Spree will do the same amount of work. Why use Intrepid Hero when Sever the Bloodline will kill roughly as many creatures. You know, aside from color identity. I'd even prefer graveyard recursion like Snapcaster Mage or Regrowth as they can be artifact removal, kill spells, or card draw.

    You can go to Gatherer and look for cards with the keywords Aftermath, Buyback, Conspire, Escalate, Flashback, Forecast, Kicker, Multi Kicker, Overload, Rebound, Recover, Replicate, Retrace, or Strive. All of these mechanics functionally allow a card to be cast multiple times and very valuable on creature with good enter the battlefield effects.

    You can also search for creatures with Embalm, Persist, Undying, and Unearth. These effects allow the creature they're on to be played twice. Finally you can look for cards with Cascade, Entwine, Fuse, or Madness. These mechanics won't let you use the spell twice but will let you cast two spells at once or cast a spell and "draw a card". Though they are not the same as reusing a removal spell repeatedly they do provide a similar form of card advantage.

    There are also a lot of build around cards that allow for constant removal effects. Things like Grave Pact, Astral Slide, Salvaging Station, Glissa, the Traitor can function as repeatable removal when properly supported.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Green hug EDH
    You might be interested in an enchantress subtheme. Enchantments can target any valid target which means you can use Wild Growth, Market Festival, or Elvish Guidance to help ramp other players; Blanchwood Armor to give another player a large threat; or something like Ordeal of Nylea to help someone else out and ramp yourself. Using Verdant Enchantress and friends allows you to maintain a card draw engine while also helping others out.

    If you decide to use land auras than you can use Magus of the Candelabra or Candelabra of Tanwos as ramp tools. You can also Heartbeat of Spring as well. However, you may not want to use them as Heartbeat as it affects everyone but some players will be better able to use it than others. If you're trying to help out another green player you can use Gauntlet of Power or Extraplanar Lens instead.

    There are some other narrow effects you could look into. If you and another player are doing some +1/+1 counters shenanigans you be interested in Obsessive Skinner, Maulfist Revolutionary, or Rishkar, Peema Renegade.

    Alternatively you could ask someone to flip your werewolves for you. Duskwatch Recruiter/Krallenhorde Howler, Hermit of the Natterknolls/Lone Wolf of the Natterknolls, and Sage of Ancient Lore/Werewolf of Ancient Hunger are good effects to have in Commander if you keep them flipped reliably. And if you're being nice to someone it's only fair that they help you out as well, is it not?

    You might also want to consider Heartwood Storyteller and Weird Harvest. Technically they affect all players rather than a targeted individual but if you're trying to help out someone with a creature heavy deck than those cards pretty effective.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on Marath, Will of the Wild [Tokens+Combo+Birthing Pod]
    1. How much ramp do I need?

    It depends on the deck's play style. Decks can have as few as a single Sol Ring to over twenty additional mana sources. Midrange, Control, and other value over time decks tend want 8-12 supplementary ramp effects so they can maintain tempo in the early game. Ramp and Combo decks will generally want more for earlier threat application and to more reliably dodge interaction.

    You seem to have enough ramp for what your deck wants to do. Your deck seems to somewhere between a ramp and midrange deck with some smaller token and combo strategies going. I would say 9-12 would be appropriate here and the 14-ish mana accelerants you're running isn't unreasonable.

    This deck doesn't do much until you hit four or five mana and your choices of mana ramp should reflect that. You cannot capitalize on one mana creature accelerants and four mana accelerants are going to take a back seat to more impactful cards. You should be using either three mana accelerants that either ramp straight to six mana (Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone), come with a body (Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf), ensure additional land drops (Cultivate, Kodama's Reach), or two mana accelerants that come into play untapped (Gruul Signet, Talisman of Unity, Nature's Lore, Three Visits).

    I generally don't supplementary mana sources that come into play tapped unless it comes with a body attached. Untapped mana ramp will functionally have its mana cost reduced when played off curve. That doesn't sound like a bid deal but has more impact that it sounds. When you have five mana you could play Farseek into Fires of Yavimaya, or you could play Gruul Signet into Garruk Wildspeaker or Fires of Yavimaya. Play untapped ramp over tapped ramp when you can.

    I do not like 4cmc ramp. If you ramped previously than effects are redundant. If you failed to ramp by turn four than you be making proactive plays. If you missed failed ramp by turn four and missed your fourth land than 4cmc ramp will be too slow for the rest of the game. You can make a case for Solemn Simulacrum and Oracle of Mul Daya but honestly I feel both are overrated in EDH.

    I would 8-12 of these ramp options: Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Talisman of Unity, Talisman of Impulse, Gruul Signet, Boros Signet, Selesnya Signet, Coalition Relic, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Wood Elves, or Farhaven Elf. I listed them by their general effectiveness, though, the gap between Sakura-Tribe Elder and Farhaven Elf isn't very wide.

    Solemn Simulacrum and Oracle of Mul Daya good cards to run but you should consider them as value creatres rather than ramp.

    2. Is my deck's casting cost have a too high of a curve?

    It's depends both on a deck's playstyle and personal opinion. Personally I wouldn't play something that costs more than six mana unless it wins me the game that turn or puts me so far ahead that I can't lose. Few people share such an opinion. You're curve seems fine though.

    Ramp decks will have slightly higher mana curves, Midrange decks slightly lower, Combo decks lower still, and a token deck's mana curve is dependent on wether it's an aggressive or grindy token deck. A mana curve isn't indicative of a good or bad deck but rather a deck's intended play style.

    Keep in mind that you always win or lose a game with no cards in hand. By which I mean at the end of a game any cards that remained were useless to you as they did not contribute to your loss or victory. You may discarded those cards or even not have drawn them. If you want to know if your curve is too high for the meta you play keep track of how many cards are in your hand at the end of the game. If you often win or lose a game with 3+ cards in hand that's an indication that you have either too high a curve or surplus of card advantage. If you lose a game with no cards in hand that means you should increase your curve or add more card draw engines. I only saw four card draw effects in your list which means you can get a good idea if you have an appropriate mana curve by keeping track of the number of cards in hand at the end of a game.

    An appropriate mana curve is, of course, dependant on the meta you play in. Slow metas allow higher mana curves. Fast metas require more interaction - which generally means cheaper threats, cheaper interaction, or both.

    3. Is 36 lands too much with my current ramp?

    It's fine. The average land count of EDH decks seems to be around 36-37 cards. Most of my decks that have 36 lands curve out at 6 mana and have 5-9 mana accelerants. Again, I feel like your decks wants 8-12 accelerants to function. If you're really scarred about mana screw you can increase it 15 supplementary mana sources.

    4. Do you think Rhonas’s Monument and Oketra’s Monument are worth it in the main deck?

    No. They monuments are generally bad and they're really bad here. The secondary effects are too small and your deck can't trigger them very well. Monuments want to be triggered multiple times per times per turn. While I don't think your mana curve is too high in general it is too high for you to get any value from the monuments. If you want the mana discounts that they provide you're better off with Emerald Medallion, Pearl Medallion, or more mana rocks.

    5. Do have any suggestions overall for cards that could be added/taken away?

    Since your comfortable with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts being in the same deck I suggest you go one step further and add Felidar Guardian, Karmic Guide, and Birthing Pod. All three of those cards are individually useful and together they allow you to transform Marath, Will of the Wild into a instant KikiConscripts combo. I'll leave the details in a spoiler if you're unfamiliar wit the process.


    1. Sacrifice 3cmc creature to Birthing Pod
    2. Bring out Felidar Guardian
    3. Felidar Guardain targets Birthing Pod
    4. Sacrifice Felidar Guardian to Birthing Pod
    5. Bring out Karmic Guide
    6. Karmic Guide reanimates Felidar Guardian
    7. Felidar Guardian targets Birthing Pod
    8. Sacrifice Felidar Guardian to Birthing Pod
    9. Bring out Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    10. Kiki-Jiki copies Karmic Guide
    11. Karmic Guide reanimates Felidar Guardian
    12. Felidar Guardian targets Birthing Pod
    13. Sacrifice Felidar Guardain to Birthing Pod
    14. Bring our Zealous Conscripts
    15. Zealous Consripts untaps Kiki-Jiki
    16. Kiki-Jiki copies Zealous Conscripts
    17. Repeat steps 15&16
    For various reasons I don't think Birds of Paradise, Farseek, Rampant Growth, or Skyshroud Claim are not the sort of mana ramp this deck wants at time. I also don't think Chromatic Lantern is very good. A mana ramp tool needs to 1.) produce two or more mana, 2.) come with a body, or 3.) ensure additional land drops or replace itself. Chromatic Lantern checks none of those boxes and its mana fixing ability doesn't make up for it.

    I'd replace Basilisk Collar with Nightshade Peddler. You have more creature tutors than you do artifact/equipment tutors so Nightshade Peddler will more consistent. If you end up running Karmic Guide you will also have a means of reanimating it.

    Consider replacing Krosan Grip and Beast Within. While these are astoundingly definitive and versatile spells they are on the expensive side. You want to leave interactive spells up on your opponents turn for best effect but that's a difficult endeavor when the majority of your spells already cost 4+ mana. A card you cannot cast when relevant is a card you may as well not have. I recommend replacing Krosan Grip with Nature's Claim or Wear // Tear. I value the lower mana costs of these artifact/enchantment removal tools more than I do split second. Beast Within is a bit more defensible because of the number of targets it can hit but I think it cost too much for this deck if you want to use it as instant speed interaction.

    I'd replace Decimate with Wear // Tear or Hull Breach. Decimate is an impressive card when it goes off but the all four targets for it to be castable is a huge strike against it and its higher than needed mana cost is another. While the 2-for-1 you get from Wear//Tear and Hull Breach isn't as good as the 4-for-1 Decimate provides but they make up for that in reliability. I also find that artifacts and enchantments tend be more threatening than creatures so I feel like these are better replacements than Wrath of God. Unless, of course, you find creatures more of a problem.

    I'm not sure all three of Craterhoof Behemoth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, and Triumph of the Hordes are needed. I don't how much of a token strategy you're going for.

    I'd replace Trostani, Selesnya's Voice with Rhys the Redeemed. The life gain from Trostani isn't very relevant and most of your tokens are 1/1s or 2/2s so I don't think populating them is very valuable. Rhys the Reedemed is better token support if you can get it. Unless you plan on making bigger tokens. But in that case why not both?

    This will sound strange but I don't like Doubling Season and Cathars' Crusade in Marath. Not because they aren't good but because they're a part of a fairly interchangeable set of cards that combo with Marath to instantly win. If your opponents recognize the threat those cards could present they'll start targeting your enchantments and you specifically. That's bad. Not because you being singled out isn't fair but because Earthcraft is so strong and you don't want to lose that. Earthcraft is one of the strongest cards green has in EDH and few people recognize that. Seriously, the number of people that ignore that enchantment is ridiculous. Once your playgroup recognizes it as part of a combo they won't let stick around. If you really want to keep Cathars' Crusade and Doubling Season than I recommend doubling down of Marath's combo potential and adding Mana Echoes, Primal Vigor, Ivy Lane Denizen, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Food Chain, and Academy Rector. All these cards enable a mix and match combination of cards that allows Marath to win on spot. I don't remember all of the combos off the top of my head but if Combo Marath sounds like a fun deck to you I'll list them in more detail.

    Without knowing more about what kind of deck you want to play I can't make many more suggestions. I can't make suggestions other than "I prefer X to Y" at the moment. Your deck currently has Aggro Token, Ramp/Attrition, and Combo elements the best way to improve moving forward is to pick a strategy and refine it. Or if you want you can go for a different deck idea. Marath is a great commander for any archetype.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Win Conditions for a Beginner-Level Jori En Deck
    The win condition doesn't need to be strong on its own or even necessarily reliable. From my experience new players seem to react better to flashy, fantastic effects. So basically any build around Izzet card. Aslidsiksoraksi made some good suggestions. Adding to that I'd reccommend Mirari, Cloven Casting, Goblinslide & Skywise Teachings, Metallurgic Summonings, prowess creatures, and prowess-like creatures such as Nivix Cyclops, Pyre Hound, Wee Dragonauts, or Young Pyromancer.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
  • posted a message on MTGO May 10th, the sky is falling
    All Wizard's is doing is introducing the 1v1/French Commander banlist to their online client. Multiplayer and 1v1 have different play experiences and metas. The world isn't ending. If you want to play with the multiplayer banlist than play in multiplayer.
    Posted in: Commander (EDH)
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