Sure. Both triggers come from the same event (Gilded Drake entering the battlefield) and since he is the controller of both he can put them on the stack in any order he chooses. Since the choice of what to sacrifice is made on resolution you can resolve Drake's trigger first then the Tainted Aether.
Actually, no. If he stacks it like that, the new controller of Gilded Drake is the one who has to sacrifice something. It says so specifically in the ruling of Tainted Æther ( :
Since I'm a new player, I tend to prefer the modern frame over the old one, but both are fine. As long as there are no white borders or futureshifted frames :mad:, I'm okay with it.
Sounds good. I mention right at the front of the primer that if you don't like goodstuff.dec then optimized creature/combo versions of Riku aren't really going to appeal to you, so very good on you for looking for a creative way around it.
The only thing I see being a pain in the butt for you, logistically speaking, is the actual hot-swapping of the 40+ cards for when you change your mind. You have to go through your deck, set aside all the lands, then the 20 staples or so, and then you have 40 cards left to change sleeves. I guess that method is pretty reasonable and after shuffling probably doesn't take more than 15 minutes so you're probably OK here.
Seems awesome from a flavor perspective too. 2 decks for 2 Rikus.
Yeah, I'm super-happy I found a workaround. I'll still play powerful decks (90% optimalized, perhaps?), but cards like Mystical Tutor in the creature version make my brain spin around itself, because it tutors instants and sorceries. #Perfectionist
I'll keep lists in the same deckbox (but probably remember all the cards anyways because of eidetic memory and how I build decks), and sleeve the 40-card piles with the same sleeves as the base deck. I don't expect it to take more than 5 minutes, which is a reasonable break between commander matches ( :
First of all, thank you so much for this primer, it has been really useful.
Second, this commander has frustrated me for a while now.
I fell in love with Riku from the moment I saw him. His abilities and his colors fit my playstyle perfectly, and I bought the Commander box as soon as I could. The deck was fine, and especially with the budget rares I included, he was a lot of fun.
After getting access to more and more powerful cards, I of course included a lot of them in the deck, because I didn't win too much (and I wanted my favorite commander to be able to win games). After a while, I noticed my deck had become the feared "goodstuff.dec", where every card was just mashed in there because it was that good in the format. We're talking all the clones and Prime Time with Avenger of Zendikar and whatnot. This got boring really fast, and the deck's been "on hold" for a year now.
Today I finally solved what's so frustrating about this commander for me. I realized after building a masterpiece of a Borborygmos Enraged deck (I'm quite proud :D), all I really crave in Magic is synergy and themes. Lots and lots of it. And Riku synergizes with too many cards. Really, just look at this primer. There's a toolbox version, a spellslinger version, a token version, and that's probably just the tip of the iceberg. Too. Many. Themes. I don't want to choose one and forget the other 4-5 of them.
Solution? The Riku Deck Assembly Box (in lack of a better name at the moment).
What I'm going to do, is make a base for the deck consisting of 60 cards (38-40 lands and 20-22 ramp cards/staples). Then, there will be separately divided stacks of 40 cards specifically made for one or the other side of this great commander. I'll start by making the spellslinger and the creature toolbox one (the two reflections of Riku), and go from there. Thus, whenever I feel like playing the spellslinger version, I shuffle up the base pile of 60 cards + the spellslinger pile of 40. Vice versa for the other side. I get to play on-theme with highly synergistic cards, and if I grow tired of one side, I simply take out the spellslinger cards and shuffle up the 40 other ones.
I have no clue when it comes to japanese, but doesn't the guy clearly say "Merfolk Mutant" when he's saying the creature type at 14.30?
As for the card, I feel like this is a vital piece to drafting an Evolve-centric deck in Gatecrash limited. I don't think I'll feel bad about first-picking this one (:
I can see this as a 1/2-of in a UWR control shell. It's great tech against other revelations, where your copy goes on the stack last, resolves, and then draws you into the counterspell you needed for the actual revelation on the stack.
I took a version of the deck to this week's FNM, and went 3-1. The only loss I had was to Jund, and that was a really tight match. I'll try to break it down in rounds:
Round 1 (5-color reanimator): First game my opponent didn't do much. He only showed me four colors of mana and didn't play a single spell. Rancored tokens took this one down. In game 2, I tried guessing on it being some kind of reanimator deck from looking at his mana base game 1, and was rewarded when I drew Deathrite Shaman right after his first Mulch. Hardcast Angel of Serenity met Selesnya Charm, and he couldn't do much after that.
1-0
Round 2 (Jund): I had playtested against this guy before, and this matchup is tough. I managed to beat him down first game with Rancored soul tokens while he was stuck on 4 lands, but Golgari Charm and Abrupt Decay on flipped Garruk Relentless meant he got enough time to stabilize in game 2 and run me over with card advantage. In game 3, Sigarda, Host of Herons got out and started chopping away at his life total. At a moment, he was down on his last card in hand, and a Thragtusk + Huntmaster of the Fells on board versus my Sigarda and two 1/1 spirit tokens + Gavony Township (tapped). My hand was Rootborn Defenses and Oblivion Ring. On his end step, I gambled on him not having anything relevant, and cast Defenses to be able to untap and start getting in with one more townshipped token. The game would be over after two hits from Sigarda and those three tokens, but the last card was a Golgari Charm to take them out in response. Drew dead after that and got beat down on the ground. Still happy with the outcome, the games were great, and I feel it was down to luck who would come out victorious at the end. I don't think I could've played much differently.
1-1
Round 3 (White Weenie): This guy was new to Standard and had amassed a white weenie deck with Cathars' Crusades. Flew right past him with Lingering Souls and took the match fairly easily.
2-1
Round 4 (BG Control): First game he Mutilated my two spirits, but couldn't manage to stay alive after flashbacking Lingering Souls and casting Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. In the second game, I was facing down a Vampire Nighthawk on the offensive and a Dreg Mangler on the defensive. My hand consisted of two Sorin, one Garruk, land, Oblivion Ring and Midnight Haunting. On the board was a lonely Centaur token. Since he opted not to attack with Dreg Mangler, I figured I'd set a trap. So I attacked with my Centaur, allowing the trade, then cast Sorin and +1ed him to four loyalty. My opponent had to use scavenge to kill him on the next turn, and afterwards I put down Oblivion Ring to take care of his Nighthawk. He did have Abrupt Decay to destroy it on his turn, but I cast Garruk Relentless and made him fight the Nighthawk. A second Sorin and a few 3/3s and 1/1s after secured the win.
A few notes:
- My sideboard is heavily based on meta. I knew what my friends were bringing, and I also lend out cards to other people assembling standard decks.
- Selesnya Charm is absolutely a 4-of after today, never unhappy to see it. Choosing when to use it, and what to use it for, is a skill test though.
- Collective Blessing didn't do much for me, I think I want another Garruk or other 4/5-drop over it. 6 mana is a lot, and it messes with my curve too much since I'm only running the 4 pilgrims. Also, enchantment hate game 2 made me side it out almost every time.
- The two Rancor were great at getting through enough damage without letting yourself over-commit against decks with sweepers. I also did the Rancor+Selesnya Charm trick today, getting rid of one scary Olivia Voldaren before she managed to ping away any of my tokens. Also drew 7 off of a rancored centaur once with big Garruk.
- Faith's Shield is amazing. Completely blanked a Sever the Bloodline with it.
- One Armada Wurm as a search target for Garruk Relentless was okay, he mostly got killed before I had a chance to search this time, but having the option to do this once he flips feels correct to me.
I'm seeing a wacky toolbox rites deck with this as a 1-of take shape. Mulching after this hits play just seems unreal. Also, it's not too uncommon to be sitting with a few lands at turn 4, when you'd normally want to reanimate something big. I'm aware that this sounds suboptimal (Angel of Serenity says "get your own grave!"), but the card is still sweet in its own way.
Actually, no. If he stacks it like that, the new controller of Gilded Drake is the one who has to sacrifice something. It says so specifically in the ruling of Tainted Æther ( :
(Letter at the bottom of the article)
Creatures:
- Leonin Shikari
- Whitemane Lion (Kitty Cat-Stonecloaker!)
- Auriok Windwalker
- Auriok Survivors
- Jareth, Leonine Titan (Also a Cat!)
- Raksha Golden Cub
- Auriok Steelshaper
Equipment:
- Argentum Armor
- Loxodon Warhammer
Buried Ruin and Marshal's Anthem are also considerations. Also, why no Helm of Kaldra when you have the other two? =P
Yeah, I'm super-happy I found a workaround. I'll still play powerful decks (90% optimalized, perhaps?), but cards like Mystical Tutor in the creature version make my brain spin around itself, because it tutors instants and sorceries. #Perfectionist
I'll keep lists in the same deckbox (but probably remember all the cards anyways because of eidetic memory and how I build decks), and sleeve the 40-card piles with the same sleeves as the base deck. I don't expect it to take more than 5 minutes, which is a reasonable break between commander matches ( :
Second, this commander has frustrated me for a while now.
I fell in love with Riku from the moment I saw him. His abilities and his colors fit my playstyle perfectly, and I bought the Commander box as soon as I could. The deck was fine, and especially with the budget rares I included, he was a lot of fun.
After getting access to more and more powerful cards, I of course included a lot of them in the deck, because I didn't win too much (and I wanted my favorite commander to be able to win games). After a while, I noticed my deck had become the feared "goodstuff.dec", where every card was just mashed in there because it was that good in the format. We're talking all the clones and Prime Time with Avenger of Zendikar and whatnot. This got boring really fast, and the deck's been "on hold" for a year now.
Today I finally solved what's so frustrating about this commander for me. I realized after building a masterpiece of a Borborygmos Enraged deck (I'm quite proud :D), all I really crave in Magic is synergy and themes. Lots and lots of it. And Riku synergizes with too many cards. Really, just look at this primer. There's a toolbox version, a spellslinger version, a token version, and that's probably just the tip of the iceberg. Too. Many. Themes. I don't want to choose one and forget the other 4-5 of them.
Solution? The Riku Deck Assembly Box (in lack of a better name at the moment).
What I'm going to do, is make a base for the deck consisting of 60 cards (38-40 lands and 20-22 ramp cards/staples). Then, there will be separately divided stacks of 40 cards specifically made for one or the other side of this great commander. I'll start by making the spellslinger and the creature toolbox one (the two reflections of Riku), and go from there. Thus, whenever I feel like playing the spellslinger version, I shuffle up the base pile of 60 cards + the spellslinger pile of 40. Vice versa for the other side. I get to play on-theme with highly synergistic cards, and if I grow tired of one side, I simply take out the spellslinger cards and shuffle up the 40 other ones.
What do you guys think? ( :
As for the card, I feel like this is a vital piece to drafting an Evolve-centric deck in Gatecrash limited. I don't think I'll feel bad about first-picking this one (:
Life's Finale comes to mind, just to present a modern example of the opposite direction.
Also, if fake, this is a really good one.
Round 1 (5-color reanimator): First game my opponent didn't do much. He only showed me four colors of mana and didn't play a single spell. Rancored tokens took this one down. In game 2, I tried guessing on it being some kind of reanimator deck from looking at his mana base game 1, and was rewarded when I drew Deathrite Shaman right after his first Mulch. Hardcast Angel of Serenity met Selesnya Charm, and he couldn't do much after that.
1-0
Round 2 (Jund): I had playtested against this guy before, and this matchup is tough. I managed to beat him down first game with Rancored soul tokens while he was stuck on 4 lands, but Golgari Charm and Abrupt Decay on flipped Garruk Relentless meant he got enough time to stabilize in game 2 and run me over with card advantage. In game 3, Sigarda, Host of Herons got out and started chopping away at his life total. At a moment, he was down on his last card in hand, and a Thragtusk + Huntmaster of the Fells on board versus my Sigarda and two 1/1 spirit tokens + Gavony Township (tapped). My hand was Rootborn Defenses and Oblivion Ring. On his end step, I gambled on him not having anything relevant, and cast Defenses to be able to untap and start getting in with one more townshipped token. The game would be over after two hits from Sigarda and those three tokens, but the last card was a Golgari Charm to take them out in response. Drew dead after that and got beat down on the ground. Still happy with the outcome, the games were great, and I feel it was down to luck who would come out victorious at the end. I don't think I could've played much differently.
1-1
Round 3 (White Weenie): This guy was new to Standard and had amassed a white weenie deck with Cathars' Crusades. Flew right past him with Lingering Souls and took the match fairly easily.
2-1
Round 4 (BG Control): First game he Mutilated my two spirits, but couldn't manage to stay alive after flashbacking Lingering Souls and casting Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. In the second game, I was facing down a Vampire Nighthawk on the offensive and a Dreg Mangler on the defensive. My hand consisted of two Sorin, one Garruk, land, Oblivion Ring and Midnight Haunting. On the board was a lonely Centaur token. Since he opted not to attack with Dreg Mangler, I figured I'd set a trap. So I attacked with my Centaur, allowing the trade, then cast Sorin and +1ed him to four loyalty. My opponent had to use scavenge to kill him on the next turn, and afterwards I put down Oblivion Ring to take care of his Nighthawk. He did have Abrupt Decay to destroy it on his turn, but I cast Garruk Relentless and made him fight the Nighthawk. A second Sorin and a few 3/3s and 1/1s after secured the win.
3-1
This is the list I ran:
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Woodland Cemetery
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Gavony Township
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Armada Wurm
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Lingering Souls
4 Selesnya Charm
3 Midnight Haunting
4 Call of the Conclave
1 Faith's Shield
1 Collective Blessing
2 Rancor
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Rootborn Defenses
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Faith's Shield
1 Golgari Charm
1 Ultimate Price
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Druid's Deliverance
3 Erase
1 Sundering Growth
A few notes:
- My sideboard is heavily based on meta. I knew what my friends were bringing, and I also lend out cards to other people assembling standard decks.
- Selesnya Charm is absolutely a 4-of after today, never unhappy to see it. Choosing when to use it, and what to use it for, is a skill test though.
- Collective Blessing didn't do much for me, I think I want another Garruk or other 4/5-drop over it. 6 mana is a lot, and it messes with my curve too much since I'm only running the 4 pilgrims. Also, enchantment hate game 2 made me side it out almost every time.
- The two Rancor were great at getting through enough damage without letting yourself over-commit against decks with sweepers. I also did the Rancor+Selesnya Charm trick today, getting rid of one scary Olivia Voldaren before she managed to ping away any of my tokens. Also drew 7 off of a rancored centaur once with big Garruk.
- Faith's Shield is amazing. Completely blanked a Sever the Bloodline with it.
- One Armada Wurm as a search target for Garruk Relentless was okay, he mostly got killed before I had a chance to search this time, but having the option to do this once he flips feels correct to me.