MTG Salvation

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

• Prossh, Skyraider of Kher + Food Chain = 1 card combo. You always have access to Prossh and only need to find one card.
• Marath, Will of the Wild + Cathars' Crusade + Earthcraft = 2 card combo. You always access to Marath and only need to find two cards.
• Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood + Trigger = 2 card combo. You only need to assemble two cards. The damage is assumed to be easily obtained.
• Staff of Domination + Priest of Titania + 5 or more elves = 2 card combo. Only two unique cards are required. If you're building around this combo it's assumed that the other elves are easily obtained.

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.

Quote from vandertroll »

Just a small bump to ask Airithne for opinions about the new AER cards. Or anyone else

A quick run through of the spoiler didn't show anything noteworthy for Token Marath strategies. Although less common Marath archetypes got a fee new option

Midrange Marth decks have a few new options. The most noticeable is Felidar Guardian. It's really good any deck that runs Birthing Pod. It serves all the same functions that Restoration Angel does while also filling the niche roles that were previously held by Heartmender and Dross Scorpion. Felidar Guardian allows Birthing Pod to turn any three mana creature into a KikiConscripts finish. Although KikiGuardian will also work. Felidar Guardian and Restoration Angel can also blink each other forever to burn people with Purphoros, God of the Forge. Less interesting but equally useful, Felidar Guardian can also untap Priest of Titania, Gaea's Cradle, and activate Xenagos, the Reveler and Garruk Wildspeaker twice per turn. A step by step procedure for the Felidar Guardian-Birthing Pod chain is under the spoiler bellow.

Creature heavy Midrange Marath lists can also make use of Renegade Rallier and Lifecrafter's Bestiary. I haven't looked into the combo potential Renegage Rallier may or may not have but should always be a decent value play which is good enough. Lifecrater's Bestiary is a good draw engine for creature heavy lists. It's also mana intensive. It will be pretty good with Priest of Titania mana package though. If you aren't running a Mana Elf package or are running a token list than Mentor of the Meek will be better.

Paradox Engine is excellent and should be considered in any deck running green. Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid can produce large amounts of mana very quickly. Pardox Engine and Earthcraft are match made in heaven. With these two cards and a draw engine online you should be able to play your entire deck. Paradox Engine is also strong with Cryptolith Rite and Rishkar, Peema Renegade although there are a few more stipulations to achieve the same success.

Rishkar, Peema Renegade has potential to be a decent card. It's best in decks that focus on a +1/+1 counter theme, but there are fewer hoops to jump through since Marath can share his +1/+1 counters. This card looks to best in decks running Cathars' Crusade or Ivy Lane Denizen. Token decks that run one of those cards probably the most likely to put Riskaar to good use.

Super Friends list got a couple of new additions. Oath of Ajani is phenomenal for the archtype. Ajani Unyielding also seems to be a decent planeswalker. He provides card advantage, removal, and cool ultimate. This Ajani is a little expensie though. A lot of other people are excited about Maulfist Revolutionary for this archetype. I don't see the hype. It adds a single loyalty counter to a single planeswalker. I don't think its worth it.

Treasure Keeper and Servo Schematic exist for the more obscure Stax Marath lists out there. I've never played the archtype before so I can't provide much more commentary but those two cards are good in theory.

New players picking up Marath for the first time may want to pick up a copy of Ajani, Valiant Protector. Since this Ajani comes in its own theme deck it should be pretty accessible to all players. It's not a strong planeswalker but it has enough impact see play in Commander. If you need to "draw" cards you use the +1 ability and if you need to "recast" Marath then use the +2 ability. If you're a new player and think playing with some planeswalker would be fun than you should pick this up.

Aid from the Cowl and Rishkar's Expertise are worth looking into. They both seem good in decks with a lot of fatties. Aid from the Cowl could be good in token decks or Skullclamp friendly decks. The effectiveness of these cards is dependent on deck construction. These are both card advantage engines and I think there better options than these. They are playable but I'll pass on using them.

Rafiq rides on a fluffy lion. This is an easy decision.

Quote from Pumpkin_Eater »

There are a lot of ways that Marath can go infinite and most of the pieces are good on their own anyway. This post is not exhaustive, but here are some of the pieces to look at: Hardened Scales, Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, Illusionist's Bracers, Cathars' Crusade, Mana Echoes, Earthcraft, Cryptolith Rite (requires haste enabler), Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Warstorm Surge/Purphuros (adds damage to a pointless loop).

Marath + Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth

Marath + Food Chain + Mana Echoes
Marath + Food Chain + Ashnod's Altar

Marath + Earthcraft + Primal Vigor
Marath + Earthcraft + Doubling Season
Marath + Earthcraft + Cathars' Crusade
Marath + Earthcraft + Ivy Lane Denizen

Marath + Mana Echoes + Primal Vigor
Marath + Mana Echoes + Doubling Season
Marath + Mana Echoes + Cathars' Crusade
Marath + Mana Echoes + Ivy Lane Denizen
Marath + Mana Echoes + Hardened Scales

Marath + Phyrexian Altar + Primal Vigor
Marath + Phyrexian Altar + Doubling Season
Marath + Phyrexian Altar + Cathars' Crusade
Marath + Phyrexian Altar + Ivy Lane Denizen

Marath + Ashnod's Altar + Primal Vigor
Marath + Ashnod's Altar + Doubling Season
Marath + Ashnod's Altar + Cathars' Crusade
Marath + Ashnod's Altar + Ivy Lane Denizen
Marath + Ashnod's Altar + Hardened Scales

About half of these need a fourth card to win the game by immediately. You can use Purphoros, God of the Forge for combos that only a lot of tokens or ETB triggers and Valakut Invoker can be used for combos that produce lots of mana.

That map was far more detailed than I anticipated. Absolutely fantastic work!

Though could you increase the contrast between the continents and ocean? It's hard to differentiate the two - especially along the coastline.

I don't think there are enough playable vampire for vampire tribal to be viable tbh. The only good pay off I know of Captivating Vampire but there are only a couple of vampire token produces to support him. But I run werewolf tribal so what does my opinion on EDH tribal matter?

As for you concerns:

Is the deck plausible. Most likely. Reanimation packages don't need to take up a lot of room. Especially when you have a discard outlet as a commander. If you still have room for 10 or so cards after you've chosen all of your vampire tribal things, your support effects, and your lands then it should definitely work. I don't know how many fatties or reanimation targets you'd want but 10 should be a good number for a sub theme. I wouldn't feel comfortable with less than a 3/5 fatty/reanimation split myself.

Black decks should never have a problem with running out of cards. You have access to Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Dark Confidant, Pain Seer, Read the Bones, Phyrexian Rager, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, Necropotence, Wheel of Fortune, Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving, Graveborn Muse, Ob Nixilus, Reignited, Promise of Power, Bloodgift Demon, Phyrexian Gargantua, Dragon Mage, Spinerock Dragon, Baleful Force, and many other cards I missed. And those are just effects that draw cards. There are also tons of multi-target removal and virtual card advantage to make use of.

Comment Hidden

Quote from Khaine_Jester »

Okay, I've been playing EDH for going on 3 years now and I feel like I'm running out of commanders that excite me or that I myself getting excited about their play styles. Yeah, I know. That's thrown around here a lot. But I'm really looking to the future here. I'm currently running/using/refining/reinforcing 3 different EDH decks. It took me a bit of time to figure out what I like in a commander deck:

1. I'm a big creature guy.

You want Mayael the Anima

Shriekmaw, Bone Shredder, and Vulturous Aven seem like good inclusions. All have good effects and all sacrifice themselves to give experience counters.

Quote from The Imperator »

Quote from Airithne »

The faerie is an interesting idwa. Unfortunately, it only works when you have two or more experience counters. Assuming I read her ability correctly, it's not a may.

Meren's ability has you choose the creature separate from the experience counter part of the ability. You choose the creature. Then you check to see if you have enough experience counters, then if so, put it into play. If not, it goes back to your hand. Which then allows you to discard it again and target your graveyard hate.

I'm also thinking about building a Meren deck, dumping my Jarad deck which everyone in my play group knows well enough that I can't win often with it anymore, so I'll be watching your endeavors, I like the list.

I think he meant to say two or less. It would be very interesting if you could return Faerie Macabre to your hand while you had three or more experience counters though.

Start lowing your curve. You don't need many cards that cost more than four.

If you aren't a "go wide" aggrieved deck than you don't a lot of creatures. It's not uncommon to see Crypt Ghast as the only creature aside from the commander.

For ramp you have Sol Ring, Mind Stone, Coldsteal Heart, Charcoal Diamond, Jet Medallion, Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Leaden Myr, Plague Myr, Palladium Myr, Alloy Myr, Burnished Hart, and Solemn Simulacrum.

Good cheap spells include Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Doom Blade and any of its varrients, Snuff Out, Slaughter Pact, Murderous and Death Rattle (they're usually 1-3 mana), Dark Confidant, Skullclamp with Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton, and cards like Phyrexian Arena, Phyrexian Etchings, and Necropotence.

Gyrus's abilities are set out in two separate paragraphs (C.R. 112.2c). When Gyrus's second ability resolves, you may exile the targeted creature card from your graveyard, and you create a token if you do (C.R. 608.2c, 603.5). If a token is created this way, you exile that token "at end of combat", more specifically, when the delayed triggered ability created this way and that triggers "at end of combat" resolves (C.R. 603.7a, 603.7).

In general, an ability that triggers during the declare attackers step (such as Mogis's Marauder's ability or Gyrus's second ability) will also get to resolve in that step, before blockers are declared (C.R. 500.2, 506.1, 116.4, 508.2). (Likewise, in general, an ability that triggers during the declare blockers step will also get to resolve in that step, before combat damage is assigned [C.R. 500.2, 506.1, 116.4, 509.4; see also this thread].)

Gyrus's second ability doesn't say which player or planeswalker (not: target) the token is attacking, so you (as the token's controller) choose which player or planeswalker that is (compare Gyrus with Kaalia of the Vast) (C.R. 508.4, 110.5a).

EDIT (Apr. 13): Correctness edit.

1. When Neheb's second ability resolves, you add R for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn, which is not necessarily the same as adding as much R as damage dealt to those players this turn (under C.R. 119.3, damage to players usually causes loss of life, but not always). For example, the ability also counts life lost by an opponent of yours this turn due to Neheb's afflict ability (C.R. 702.129a).
2. Neheb's second ability counts the total amount of life lost by your opponents this turn by any means, whether by damage or otherwise and whether or not Neheb was on the battlefield when such life loss happened (see also C.R. 112.7a).

EDIT (Dec. 1, 2018): Correctness edit.

Just out of curiosity, what is the difference between these two scenarios, both assuming you also have no board state and no way to respond:

Someone has a clear board state. At the end of your turn, they cast Artifact Mutation on someone's Mind's Eye and get five saproling tokens. They untap, cast Craterhoof Behemoth, and swing at you for 46 damage. You die.

-OR-

Someone has a clear board state. At the end of your turn, they cast Artifact Mutation on someone's Mind's Eye and get five saproling tokens. They untap, cast Triumph of the Hordes, and swing at you for 10 poison damage. You die.

I mean, there are a couple differences, of course. You can respond to the Triumph with a Swan Song or a Negate, which wouldn't answer the Hoof, but you can't respond to Triumph with a Remove Soul. Hoof is more easily tutorable in mono-green, but creature tutors require you to reveal the tutored card, so it won't be a surprise. It's a bit easier to recur Hoof, but Eternal Witness would fetch either one of them. And, lest we forget, Triumph of the Hordes costs literally HALF the mana that Hoof does.

Also, speaking as a green mage, Craterhoof Behemoth does provide the most "surprise" victories, but I do think that Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is an overall better option at closing games out. He doesn't have the same immediate effect, but he sticks around, is repeatable, and even protects your board from wiping. He'd need a ban, in my opinion, long before we got around to Hoof -- but neither one of them needs a ban.

The only explanation I can fathom for people wanting to get rid of Hoof is that he's overplayed. I understand that. I've regretfully added him to some decks. But if we're going to start banning cards for being played where they can be included, wouldn't we have to include things like Sol Ring, Sun Titan, and Command Tower?

Lol no. This card is only ever a problem when tutored out by something like T&N alongside a mass token generator like Avenger of Zendikar, but even then you need a mass haste outlet or enough board presence to attack for lethal. It's a fat creature that relies on you having established a large board presence to win. If you can drop an army and protect it long enough to throw down an eight drop, that's enough work and enough opportunities for disruption and enough resources invested that you've earned the win.

Vorthos Cartography

Hello! Welcome to Vorthos Cartography. I make maps of the various planes of existence. Wizards Creative doesn't have the time or resources to make maps of their worlds, but I do. These are hand drawn from descriptions found in Planeswalker's Guides, Art of Magic books, and story materials.

Current Project:
Innistrad (Avacyn Restored)

Completed Maps
Zendikar (Pre-Eldrazi)

The Short List (Maps I intend to draw in the near future.)
Innistrad (In progress)
Tarkir
Theros
Kaladesh*

*We'll see after the art book is released.

I will do a post-Eldrazi version of Zendikar at some point, but it won't be for at least a year.

I maintain full copyright on all materials in this thread. You can have them for personal use (D&D campaigns, etc.) but absolutely nothing else, espically if it derives revenue from my drawings.

This intro is rather boring. I'll add some more interesting tidbits in the future.

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Innistrad

Map complete! Text and finishing lines are added.

[Full resolution]

Previous versions
Version 3: http://imgh.us/Innistrad_3_full.jpeg
Forests and non-topographical features added. Map is mostly complete, only requires finishing details and lables.
Version 2: http://imgh.us/Innistrad_2.1_full.jpeg
Version 1 with topography added. This only shows physical features of the land: mountains, rivers, cliffs, and hills.
Version 1: http://imgh.us/Innistrad-1._full.jpeg
A basic outline of the continental shape. Area shown is slightly larger than the size of France.

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Zendikar

Map completed! All seven continents are shown, along with an inset of Emeria, the Sky Ruin, as well as a key and scale. Locations are labled with text, instead of my terrible handwriting.

[Full resolution]
[Ultra high-res version] (Version 4, without text)

Previous versions
Version 4: http://imgh.us/Zendikar-4_full.jpeg
Map completed, handwriting needs to be replaced with text.
Version 3: http://imgh.us/Zendikar-3_full.jpeg
Murasa and Emeria are still missing, finishing touches need to be added.
Version 2: http://imgh.us/Zendikar.1_copy.jpeg
Same as version 1, with the addition of Guul Draz and Bala Ged
Version 1: http://imgh.us/Zendikar_map0.1.jpeg
Sejiri, Akoum, and Ondu.

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My Second EDH deck. Tired of losing to people ganging up on me or degenerative combos when I try to play fair. So, this is my new deck to play to keep those people in line while still being able to have fun with others. More like moderating the group from within. I have a pretty high budget with this deck so I tried to not leaving anything out. Any recommendations are of course appreciated and considered.

Quote from SteamMage »

Quote from Zarundar »

I do hope we see this character again and that he interacts with Nissa.

Something in my chest sings a little, but the song isn't for me. My waking mind tells me to ignore the strange humming I feel at a distance. I turn to Chandra.

That line was interesting to me and I hope it'll be brought up again.

Sounds like Aetherborn, or at least Yahenni, can feel when someone uses Magic.

Considering how Nissa likens them to elementals its more probable that the same spell she uses to call out and craft elementals resonates with the aetherborn because they are at heart elementals.

This seems good in EDH...

...wait.