Pestilence
Maze of Ith
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Mind Twist
Sanity Gnawers
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- Forgotten One
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Member for 12 years, 3 months, and 16 days
Last active Fri, Apr, 20 2018 23:36:53
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I hate to burst your bubble, but no it cannot. Once Mirage Mirror becomes a copy of another permanent, it loses it's ability to copy stuff until end of turn. The card is still an absolute house, but it is not so good that it can copy permanents at will. So while you may have an issue destroying it while it sits unused, once the activated ability resolves it is vulnerable.
- Sandstone Oracle - For my Bosh deck that can sometimes generate tons of mana but has issues drawing cards, having card draw stuck on an artifact creature that can be recurred can be amazing for the deck. I did not expect to like an otherwise unimpressive 7-drop.
- Lifecrafter's Bestiary - For my Ezuri deck it's the same as Bosh; sometimes you have a ton of mana and you need to draw cards. I didn't immediately like the added cost, but I fond myself wanting to wait to play creatures till I could pay for the cost because it is just that good.
- Eliminate the Competition - I have a few sacrifice themed decks that I tried this in, not expecting that it would work out. I was very pleasantly surprised as to how much the card just works so well if you have a plan to generate any sort of sacrificial fodder.
- Honor-Worn Shaku - I threw this into my Captain Sisay deck because it was on-theme, but I found that this has been so much better than I could possibly imagine. Given the recent changes to Planeswalkers to being Legendary, the card is even better.
- Azor's Gateway - I was like a lot of people writing this card off because of how difficult it is to flip, but getting a cheap "looting" effect has proven to be really good for some decks and with Paradox Engine and/or Seedborn Muse, the card is actually almost easy to flip.
- Decimate - I always felt like this card would never have all the targets necessary to ever play it, but I was wrong.
- Nahiri's Wrath - I felt like this was going to be a card that seemed like it could be good but would turn out to be trash. I was totally wrong. In any deck that wants the mana savings over the card savings, this card is legit.
- Painful Quandary - I generally dislike any cad that gives my opponent the choice, but in a discard-themed deck the choice is always so good for me that this card has been a very pleasant surprise.
- Survival Cache - I tried this on a whim in my Trostani Lifegain deck and it was way better than I expected. In-theme card draw like that is amazing in a deck like that.
- Thrull Parasite and other inexpensive cards with Extort - When updating my "Drain Life" themed deck, I decided to try out Pontiff of Blight just to see how Extort would play out. I worked out so well that I decided to try a few more cheaper Extort cards just to see what would happen, but I was totally not expecting to like them. I was wrong; wrong to the point that the deck ended up incorporating 9 of the 13 possible Extort cards that were printed.
- Synthetic Destiny - When I first assembled my Jalira deck, I didn't even try it. Someone mentioned it, so I felt like I should at least give it s try, so I proxied it up and played it. It was pleasantly surprising, then eventually became a deck mainstay.
When Lithl posted that he had completed his quest, he also listed all his commanders.
We have the following commanders in common: Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Wort, the Raidmother, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Uril, the Miststalker, and Ghave, Guru of Spores.
I don't know about you, but I actually found that keeping a notebook with any potential ideas for cards helps me remember that I want to change out a certain card or go back and try a card that might have looked interesting in another player's deck or that I saw online. That way, when I do make updates when I get new cards at set releases, I can make the other changes at the same time. But I otherwise agree that trying to tweak decks on the fly constantly is too much. If something isn't working with a deck, I just set it aside and play something else instead of worrying too much about it.
As for some of the cards in your deck, I would offer the following comments:
- Dualcaster Mage - A fine card, but with only 8 targets it seems like a dead card too often. If you are looking for card advantage options, I would suggest checking out Mind's Eye, Oracle's Vault, or Sandstone Oracle.
- Semblance Anvil - I suggest switching to Cloud Key
- Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk - You have a ton of mana rocks, so these hurt you a lot more than you probably want. I would suggest some sweepers that leave artifacts alone like All Is Dust, Bonfire of the Damned, Blasphemous Act, and Starstorm
- Grafted Exoskeleton, Loxodon Warhammer - You have a lot of equipment in the deck (8 total) that I think you should shed a few and these strike me as the least useful. I suggest perhaps adding in some cards that synergize well with Bosh like Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient (copy Bosh activations as well as Burnished Hart, Dreamstone Hedron, Trading Post, etc.), Neheb, the Eternal (a pretty amazing mana generator), or Treasure Keeper (nice card to sac to Bosh, Daretti, Welder, etc. without losing a card)
- Steel Hellkite - Don't forget that Steel Hellkite also deals with enchantments. Chaos Warp is also an inexpensive option. There are also a lot of more expensive options like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Karn Liberated, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
Commander quickly morphed into looking at old cards and grouping them by theme to create synergy between cards that I would have never had reason to play together before. Building around a commander or having a commander suggest a theme wasn't always an option back then; we didn't have a lot of commanders that just screamed what you "should" be doing with it. It became fun to try and find out of the way cards to add to those themes to create decks that did certain things very well, and then find commanders that not only gave me the right colors but also made sense to synergize with my theme.
Where things really turned for me was when I decided that the goal of having one deck in each color combination was a) something that I thought I could actually achieve, b) would be a fun goal to strive for even if I never got there, and c) would give me a place to flush out as many different themes as I wanted. So I dismantled all of my Vintage and Legacy decks to salvage all my ABU dual lands and other good cards, traded off or sold some of the pieces that I didn't think I would ever want to use, and started looking for more decks to build and play.
Right now, I have 24 out of the original 27 color combinations (missing colorless, mono-W, and Mardu) although I ended up with 3 Selesnya decks and I'm not sure that I want to stick with my current Jund (Prossh Dragons), Jeskai (Zedruu Donate), or 5-color (Progenitus) decks. This gives me a ton of options to play, share with friends, and plenty of places to find home for new cards that I like from new sets (which seem chock full of Commander-ready cards every set). The highlander rules and somewhat random nature of the format that brings with it has always appealed to me, so having even more variety of games because of having a lot of deck options always made a lot of sense to me. Playing and maintaining that many decks can seem like a chore to some people, but I personally like it.
Right now, my motivations are a) to finish the original 27 color combinations without forcing it (like playing Edgar Markov Vampires even though I didn't enjoy putting the deck together much less playing it), b) finding a reason to build 4-color decks with themes that I haven't touched yet, then c) eventually circle back to a few color combinations that I already have a deck but I want to build a different commander or theme (looking at Esper artifacts, Bant Merfolk, a Planeswalker deck, Charge Counter deck, a color matters deck, recreating my "top of the deck matters" deck, a Cycling deck, and a 4 or 5-color Affinity for Artifacts).
Yeah, I don't run Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, or Earthcraft that would enable that level of shenanigans, so I think I'm okay.
- Karn, Scion of Urza will somehow fit into Bosh, Iron Golem that will like both the CA and the generation of Construct tokens.
- Board the Weatherlight will get a tryout in Captain Sisay that already runs 41 Historic cards (and perhaps more after this update)
- Evra, Halcyon Witness will get a tryout in Trostani, Selesnya's Voice that likes a huge life total and the fact that it has Lifelink
- Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle will get a tryout in Captain Sisay. I currently have 10 possible creatures for it to recur, including several with built-in sacrifice effects.
- Urza's Ruinous Blast will go into Captain Sisay for sure as a totally on-theme removal spell.
- Karn's Temporal Sundering will go into Riku of Two Reflections as something totally awesome to copy
- The Eldest Reborn will get a tryout in Nicol Bolas Discard deck as it is both on-theme mechanically and storywise
- Josu Vess, Lich Knight will go into Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Zombies
- Torgaar, Famine Incarnate will go right into Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder as a powerful in-theme finisher
- Yawgmoth's Vile Offering will likely find a spot in Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord sacrifice shenanigans
- Fight With Fire seems perfect for Wort, the Raidmother as either an early removal spell or late game finisher worthy of being Conspired
- Jaya Ballard will go into Gisela, Blade of Goldnight as a way to generate both mana and card virtual CA.
- Jaya's Immolating Inferno will go into Wort, the Raidmother as an upgrade over pretty much any X-spell the deck runs
- Kamahl's Druidic Vow will get a tryout in Captain Sisay although I know I am going to ask myself why I'm not just running Genesis Wave at that point.
- Marwyn, the Nurturer straight into Ezuri, Renegade Leader Elves
- Saproling Migration will get a tryout in Wort, the Raidmother as another source of early tokens
- Spore Swarm will replace Predator's Howl in Wort, the Raidmother
- Garna, the Bloodflame looks like it might have a spot in Wort, Boggart Auntie Goblins
- Grand Warlord Radha will get a tryout in Wort, the Raidmother as yet another mana engine
- Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain will get a tryout in Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind; it will trigger off of 17 artifacts, and 4 other cards in addition to Niz-Mizzet from the Command zone so it may be worthwhile.
- Muldothra, the Gravetide will get a tryout in Damia, Sage of Stone for no other reason than it works with the colors and I like the card
- Oath of Teferi makes me want to get my act together and actually build Atraxa Planswalkers
- Slimefoot Stowaway will get a tryout in Ghave, Guru of Spores unless I find a way that it goes infinite with Ghave
- Tatyova, Benthic Druid will get tried in Vorel, Derevi, Damia, Riku, and pretty much any other UG deck I make. Card is so much value.
- Helm of the Host is going somewhere, I just haven't quite figured out exactly where
- Mishra's Self-Replicator is going into Bosh, Iron Golem and is going to get a tryout in Captain Sisay
- Mox Amber is going into Captain Sisay, but I think I'm going to try it out in a few other decks as well just to see where the htreshold lies with this card on the number of cards needed to make it good.
- Weatherlight is going into Captain Sisay as a good source of card advantage
- Cabal Stronghold is going into Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder and Obzedat, Ghost Council
- Firesong and Sunspeaker is going into Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Burn
In 2018, I think that Shrouded Lore has a place in Commander in the right kind of deck, but you really need to want to recur a very specific card in order for it to be good (like Lithl wanting to recur enchantments in mono-black), you need to not have a better way to recur those specific cards (such as Regrowth or Reanimate effects), and you need a way to thin your graveyard profitably (with Delve being the best option as others have pointed out). Otherwise, I think you have several better options.
The best nugget from that article for me was this:
This should be stickied to the top of this forum. Permanently.
Anything with Upkeep/Cumulative Upkeep that you wouldn't normally want to pay for will be good, but I mentioned LED specifically because of how much the ability is really only going to be constrained by the amount of mana you have available and having a pseudo-Black Lotus every turn will go a long way towards Muldothra going from viable to really good.
I never said anything about packing "a whole truck load" of graveyard hate. It costs most decks almost nothing to add in 1-3 cards specifically to reign-in graveyard shenanigans. When a lot of players consider what removal they want to run, GY removal is often overlooked. I also don't think you would need a lot of graveyard hate to slow down a Muldothra deck; just exiling a key permanent or two will help significantly, and most decks can muster that without sacrificing many card slots that fit thematically.
I get that there is a definite danger to running the card, but I don't see that being as big of an issue in a lot of decks. I also think that maybe I play a lot more non-commander legendary creatures and/or planeswalkers than other people.
I agree that they did a pretty good job of catering to both Standard and Commander with this set, but I would not say that it is strictly for the EDH crowd. I think they had Brawl in mind when designing some of the set. The offbeat tribes are fanservice callbacks to older cards for nostalgia sake if anything and not really an EDH thing.
I think that because the Brawl card pool is so small, they were almost forced to make the abilities on potential commanders more generic and open-ended. Even with only 60-card decks, flushing out a theme with good cards will be difficult. It also allows players some room to get creative with how to best build around a commander (versus a commander like Nekusar that only really has one good way). Muldothra is a good example; normal EDH can find a bunch of potential cards that get really good with her in play, but I can also see a player looking to build a Brawl deck and looking at Muldothra as a good commander for a Cycling deck. Being a little generic is probably a good thing from that standpoint.
Yea, Muldothra was probably an oversight. The card is sick with Lion's Eye Diamond and it has a really good ability that (once again) just emphasizes to people how much they should be packing graveyard hate. I wouldn't put it in my Top 14, but I think it will make some waves in most Casual Commander scenes.
What they need to do is revisit the idea of Commander's Arsenal. Cut the oversize cards, sleeves, and 'battle marks', expand the selection to 100-120 cards, and package them in 10-card (1 Mythic, 3 Rares, 6 Uncommon/Commons) boosters with a decent MSRP. With enough rarity shifting, you can probably get a really good set and dramatically increase the availability of certain cards. You might run into an issue with the secondary market bumping the booster pack cost to more than MSRP if you make the cards too good, but that is probably okay; I'd rather pay a bit more for good value than less for potential chaff.
What I think will end up happening is that we will continue get more Masters sets that look to incorporate popular yet hard-to-find cards that are in high demand across several formats, but will still be a draftable set and will look to have a $10 MSRP (which is probably about the highest threshold I can see people willing to pay in the near future). If we can continue to reprint cards that have never been reprinted, need a version in the new card frame, or can use a reprint in order to have a version with the correct Oracle wording, then all the better.
I also contend that reprinting a card in a Masters or Arsenal type set doesn't necessitate a card's price tanking; Doubling Season was reprinted in Modern Masters in 2013 and it is still a $60+ card. Jace, the Mind Sculptor was reprinted in Masters 25 and it is still a $120-$140 card. Imperial recruiter was also reprinted in Masters 25 and it might be the best case scenario where the M25 version is $50, but he P3K version is still $150. The prices for these cards isn't tanking; the prices just aren't increasing to ever-higher levels of insanity.
Top
1015 Best Cards0. Mox Amber: In a format where you always have access to a Legendary card, this is ridiculous.
1. Tatyova, Benthic Druid: Ridiculous value and all the more reason to jam your decks full of fetchlands.
2. Helm of the Host: I'm a little leery of the equip cost, but if this ever triggers it can be game-changing.
3. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain: So much value...
4. Marwyn, the Nurturer: Obviously only works for an Elf deck or a +1/+1 counter deck, but this is some serious mana generation.
5. Grand Warlord Radha: That is some potentially sick mana generation.
6. Urza's Ruinous Blast: Nice mass-removal that leaves your commander untouched.
7. Yawgmoth's Vile Offering: A lof of potential card and board advantage wrapped up into one spell.
8. Naban, Dean of Iteration: Aether Adept, Archaeomancer, Augur of Bolas, Champion of Wits, Deputy of Acquittals, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Harbinger of the Tides, Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, Izzet Chronarch, Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, Master of Waves, Prime Speaker Zegana, Reflector Mage, Riverwise Augur, Snapcaster Mage, Sower of Temptation, Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, Vedalken Plotter, and Venser, Shaper Savant all say hello.
9. Karn, Scion of Urza: Being able to generate card advantage in a colorless card for a reasonable price is a good thing, and artifact decks are going to love pushing out huge Constructs.
10. Demonlord Belzenlok: Stacking your deck with Scroll Rack seems like it could be good...
HM. Jaya Ballard: Red decks have issues with mana acceleration and card draw and this addresses both with a solid ultimate to boot.
HM. Garna, the Bloodflame: There are some combo shenanigans possible, but at a minimum this is a ton of value for a color combination that loves to sac creatures for fun and profit.
HM. Karn's Temporal Sundering: Extra turn plus bounce makes this kinda awesome, plus it seems tailor made to be copied with Riku, Melek, Uyo, or Mirari.
Other Cards I Find Interesting
- Evra, Halcyon Witness: Being able to get huge for a turn for a reasonable cost makes me think that this might see some play, especially if granting evasion, trample, or Flinging creatures at your opponent is already part of your deck's plan.
- Shalai, Voice of Plenty: Getting Hexproof for everything you control other than Shalai is a good ability for only 4 mana, and even though the price is steep on teh activated ability it is still very nice given that it is stapled to a 3/4 flyer.
- Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle: There will be plenty of combo loop shenanigans enabled by Teshar with low-cost artifact creatures and a sac outlet. Nothing broken but plenty of value to be had.
- The Antiquities War: Nice enabler/win-con for any artifact deck.
- Naru Meha, Master Wizard: So Azami, Lady of Scrolls will likely be the mono-blue Wizard tribal commander of choice, but this card gives it a run for its money.
- Josu Vess, Lich Knight: For mono black decks that can generated a ton of mana, this seems a legit top-end spell that it also not dead in teh early game.
- Thallid Soothsayer: Another solid sac outlet
- Torgaar, Famine Incarnate: Sees legit with any sort of token making such as Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder.
- The Flame of Keld: I look forward to playing this with Strionic Resonator
- Jaya's Immolating Inferno: Being able to take out multiple opponents with one spell is nice.
- Grunn, the Lonely King: Similar to Evra, this has potential to get huge very quickly and it perfect for a deck that asomehow already grants evasion, Trample, or Flings its creatures at the opponent.
- The Mending of Dominaria: I'm interesting in finding ways to really abuse this, although with all the Sagas the issue is going to be the relatively slow speed with which they affect the game.
- Oath of Teferi: Okay, so I'm going to finally build a Planeswalker deck.
- Slimefott, the Stowaway: A nice non-infinite combo card with Ghave.
- Mishra's Self-Replicator: Playing cards that tack a mana on to the cost of spells you play sometimes don't work out so well, but this seems like it could be busted with Earthcraft (along with all the normal token doublers)
- Weatherlight: Busted in Captain Sisay
- Cabal Stronghold: So it's obviously not close to the power level of Cabal Coffers, but it's still a good inclusion for most mono-black decks I think.
- Firesong and Sunspeaker: I plan on having fun with this card.