Kruphix, God of Horizons
3UG
Indestructible
(Devotion clause)
Whenever you cast a creature, enchantment, instant, or sorcery spell, you may search your library for a card that shares a type with that spell and reveal it. If you do, shuffle your library, then put the revealed card on top of it.
5/6
Kruphix, God of Mysteries
3UG
Indestructible
(Devotion clause)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may search your library for an instant or sorcery card and exile it, then shuffle your library.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, you may play a card that shares a name with it exiled by Kruphix.
4/6
Kruphix, God of Time
2UG
(Devotion Clause)
Instants and sorceries you control cost 1 less to cast.
At the end of your turn, if you cast at least two spells with the same name, exile Kruphix and take an extra turn. Return Kruphix to the battlefield at the beginning of an opponent's next turn.
3/7
Kruphix, God of Secrets
4UG
Indestructible
(Devotion Clause)
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, exile the top card of your library face down under that creature.
Whenever a creature you control dies, you may pay (U/G). If you do, reveal the card that was under that creature and play it without paying its mana cost.
4/6
(Apologies if this thread exists somewhere already, I didn't see any that seemed to match.)
Assuming budget is not an issue, what are the cards one would consider "modern staples"? A few things that come to mind:
Fetchlands
Shocklands
Goyf
Bob
Cryptic Command
Aether Vial
Obviously there's tons of other stuff. I haven't really played Modern at all, and I've only watched a bit of it as a spectator, so I just don't know where to start.
The main is full of 1-ofs because I'm not sure what I'm playing against and I want to minimize the chances of getting blown out game 1. I focus much more for g2-g3.
My sample is still utterly skewed, as every deck I played against was highly aggressive (Boros aggro, Boros burn, MBD), but it fared much better than I expected. Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix were MVPs, providing mana fixing, ramp, card advantage, life gain, blockers, and EOT milling when Phenax came out. Seriously, the early green drops were all stars.
I didn't think to try Wall of Frost, I REALLY want to give him a go.
Also worth mentioning, I discovered that Devour Flesh can be a fantastic eleventh-hour reprieve by targeting myself and saccing one of my own creatures (who are all packing higher-than-average toughness to begin with). My favorite play of the night was against Boros Burn: I had a 23/23 Consuming Aberration, 2 life left, and two mana open. My opponent had five cards in hand and six lands on the field (three open), with 25 cards left in his library. My EOT, he casts Boros Charm at my face. I responded by casting Devour Flesh at myself, triggering Aberration and dumping four more cards in his yard. I tapped it to mill him out after the trigger resolved (Devour still on the stack), sacced him to gain 27 life, took the Charm, and passed turn. Even with four cards and six mana, and with me tapped out, that was way too much life for him to burn through.
All three main deck 'walkers felt good. I was always happy to see them, and they all provided great synergy with the other cards on the battlefield or in my hand. I moved Ashiok to the board because I wasn't seeing any Azorius or Esper control, which is where I expect him to really shine. I never drew him, and never missed him, but I don't want to drop him entirely yet.
Very excited about refining this list. Hopefully I can take it to FNM next week and get some feedback against a more well-rounded field.
I love fooling around with mill, I give it a try almost every standard season. My current BRILLIANT* IDEA centers on the potential interaction between Phenax, God of Deception and Consuming Aberration (which has been mentioned in this thread already, but I totally thought of it before I saw it here so I'm running with it!).
I originally planned to stick with a Dimir list, but now I'm leaning towards BUG for the extra stalling power (Fog effects, lifegain) and some incidental synergy with Phenax's mill effect (green dudes love big butts). Here's my first off-the-cuff list.
I don't think there are any cards in that list that I need to explain the reasoning behind, but there are plenty of other cards that may be better in such a list (I haven't playtested this list at all, planning to do so tonight). Other cards on my radar:
Deathrite Shaman
Notion Thief
Mind Grind
Scavenging Ooze
Reap Intellect
Pithing Needle
Aetherize
Breaking//Entering
Read the Bones
Pharika's Cure
The rest of the set has yet to be spoiled, so keep an eye out, as if decks start to rely more and more on one finisher (ie; AEtherling) then this kid will be absolutely bonkers.
I see some potential here, but this is a bit of a sore point in my mind. The very first creature I thought of was Aetherling, of course...who completely negates her +1 ability. She targets Aetherling with the +1, opponent blinks Aetherling before your EOT, Aetherling comes back as a new object and is no longer subject to the fog effect, Aetherling smacks Kiora upside the head and eats a cookie while her controller stares at the board and sniffles.
For not-Aetherling beefy finishers, sure. But I would have preferred something like:
"Name a creature card. Until the beginning of your next upkeep, prevent all damage that would be dealt to or dealt by cards with the chosen name."
I realize that unless I'm also using the same beefy finisher as my opponent, this is strictly better than her actual ability, but I don't think it would have been game-breaking and would have let her address the premiere one-man wrecking crew of standard control decks (I think it's obvious that she already doesn't fare well against aggro decks, where fogging any one creature is going to be trivial).
Also, I haven't playtested enough to figure out how to put a sideboard together, I can say that it loses pretty hard to any kind of hexproof aggro/enchants, since they dodge our removal quite handily. What do you guys think?
Well, I gave this a spin, and I was not unhappy with the results. Some refinement is certainly in order (for example, learning basic math so my sideboard isn't 14 cards :/).
I'm actually inclined to leave it as-is after the first night of testing. It stomped Boros aggro repeatedly, and held its own fairly well against a pseudo-mirror match (4c ramp-sanguine bond-debt combo type thing, was really surprised to see it). I want more experience against control before I say anything one way or the other, but I will say that Pithing Needle, which I forgot in my original post, is an absolute lifesaver. Planeswalkers and Aetherling go from nigh-unbeatable problems to unremarkable background scenery as the opponent gets pummeled to death by Ghost Dad and Blood Baron, or bled out by Sanguine Debts.
More reports to come, I'm going to try this out at FNM tomorrow.
I see this deck winning in one of two ways. The relentless death-of-a-thousand-extortions, courtesy of your Tithe Drinkers and Crypt Ghasts (and Blind Obedience post-board, if the match-up is right), or holding the fort until you can drop a massive Debt to the Deathless fueled by Crypt Ghast mega-swamps or Lili emblem giga-swamps.
Sanguine Bond feels just a bit too cute to me for more than a singleton. If it shows up, great, it might be an occasional "oops, I win", or it might just be a dead draw when you need removal to stay alive.
As usual, sweepers are a major concern for a creature-centric strategy (especially a non-aggro one), so the Whip can give you the gas you need to get there. Or to bring a Gray Merchant out for a second flashy entrance. Lifelink for everybody doesn't hurt, either.
(I'm not sure what the interaction between the Whip and Obzedat is, exactly. I've heard people going both ways on it, but if it turns out that they have synergy, that'd be another amazing trick up your sleeve :))
I'll give this a whirl tonight, let you know what I think, possible improvements, etc. I'm all about Orzhov decks, nice to see someone else working with one, too
The main deck that I usually play in Standard is Grixis Control, and during Innistrad, M13 and RtR, Grixis Control got overshadowed by all of the Esper Control and RWU Control decks.
With Innistrad and M13 out of the picture, and Theros in, I feel that Grixis Control can shine again.
So this is pretty similar to the deck I'm playing (I still don't have all of the dual lands I want, and Ashiok keeps climbing in price, and I'm not one for spending ~$30 on a card.) This is where I plan on having it once it's complete. It may need some more enchantment / artifact hate in the sideboard, but that's more of a green and white thing.
Spellheart Chimera is a lot better than I thought it'd be. In a deck like this, with a few Steam Augurys and Izzet Charms, as well as a bunch of other instants and sorceries, it's actually pretty easy to get Spellheart to 7 or 8 power. I've even gotten it past 10 power before.
I'm running both Read the Bones and Underworld Connections because I feel that drawing Underworld Connections late game is kind of a waste, and getting more than 1 Underworld Connections out can drain your life really fast. Steam Augury also helps keep the deck moving smoothly, and as I stated before, it can throw some instants and sorceries into the graveyard for Spellheart Chimera.
Underworld Cerberus and Nivmizzet both work really well for end game. In a deck like this, it's very rare that the opponent will be able to block Underworld Cerberus, and Nivmizzet does so many different things, it's great.
I try to keep the amount of scry high in this deck. I started playing MTG after Scry was in Standard, but now since it's back, I'm able to use it and I love it in this deck.
Seems like Underworld Cerberus could be a potential liability, since any aggro or midrange deck is going to benefit more from his death trigger.
Also seems like you want life gain in here, badly. Whip of Erebos? Tacking unearth onto your chimaeras as a bonus seems good.
So with the last FNM before rotation looming, I'm looking for a good, fun deck to bring to my LGS. Preferably something with a decent chance of winning (through power or just being so out-of-left-field that no one is equipped to deal with it), but I definitely want it to be something that will make people grin when they realize what I'm playing, and keep grinning even if they lose to it.
Was thinking of an OmniDoor Thragfire 5cc monstrosity, but I've done that before. suggestions for the last FNM before Theros?
And not just that, but exile has become WAY too overused. Things can't be destroyed anymore, they've got to be completely removed from the game. And bury? Pffff, that's so outdated. It's all about the exiling now, even on commons.
I have to agree with this sentiment. I really wish exile were much, much less used.
This is p1p1 material. Screw killing a handful of Mythic Rares. This says kill target creature with Bestow on it. You main this in every deck running green.
This outright Exiles, so you completely negate the trigger clause on Bestow.
This line confuses me. Bestow doesn't care how the creature it's enchanting is removed, it only cares if it's no longer attached to a creature. Exile a creature enchanted by a Bestowed aura, and the aura still transforms into a creature to replace the one that was just removed (the inherent 2-for-1 of Bestow).
Using this card to kill a Bestow aura obviously negates the 2-for-1 aspect, but that's true of any enchantment killing card, so I see nothing special here.
That said, I'm in the dissatisfied camp with this card. With enchantment creatures being a thing in this set, this card is more than just a Naturalize variant; it's a green Murder variant. Green is generally not a color to get flat-out creature removal.
Unless it's a flying creature. Dirty, stupid flyers. Green hateses you!
Why couldn't this have simply read "Exile target non-creature artifact or enchantment"? Mechanically speaking, I think it's still a card that would have a place in many sideboards, if not necessarily main decks, as it answers plenty of troublesome cards in the upcoming limited or standard environments (kill Bestowed auras, get rid of bomby enchantments or artifacts such as the god weapons, etc.). Is the +1 cmc and sorcery speed justified by the exile clause if it doesn't hit artifact creatures or enchantment creatures? I think it would be.
But what strikes me even more is how thematically appropriate a non-creature clause would have been for this card, and once again the argument comes down to the God cards. How can you remove a god by virtue of making it "fade into antiquity" if the people's devotion to that entity is so strong that it allows physical manifestation in the world? Sufficiently reduce a player's devotion to the god's color, cause it to revert to a non-creature enchantment, and THEN strike its existence from the minds and memories of the mortal populace. It just makes much more sense from a flavor standpoint, in my humble opinion.
There are only five God cards in the set, they're mythics, and quite honestly, I do think that cracking one in limited should give you a significant (if luck-based) advantage. Would it really be too much to ask for there to be a devotion-based gating mechanism on a highly versatile common's ability to deal with a set-defining cycle of mythics?
As for standard...meh. See original point about exile being way too overused as a mechanic.
I am not a huge color pie mavin, but is it weird to anyone else that the cost is to discard a card? I cannot recall seeing anything like that in mono-u
Kruphix, God of Horizons
3UG
Indestructible
(Devotion clause)
Whenever you cast a creature, enchantment, instant, or sorcery spell, you may search your library for a card that shares a type with that spell and reveal it. If you do, shuffle your library, then put the revealed card on top of it.
5/6
Kruphix, God of Mysteries
3UG
Indestructible
(Devotion clause)
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may search your library for an instant or sorcery card and exile it, then shuffle your library.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, you may play a card that shares a name with it exiled by Kruphix.
4/6
Kruphix, God of Time
2UG
(Devotion Clause)
Instants and sorceries you control cost 1 less to cast.
At the end of your turn, if you cast at least two spells with the same name, exile Kruphix and take an extra turn. Return Kruphix to the battlefield at the beginning of an opponent's next turn.
3/7
Kruphix, God of Secrets
4UG
Indestructible
(Devotion Clause)
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, exile the top card of your library face down under that creature.
Whenever a creature you control dies, you may pay (U/G). If you do, reveal the card that was under that creature and play it without paying its mana cost.
4/6
Assuming budget is not an issue, what are the cards one would consider "modern staples"? A few things that come to mind:
Fetchlands
Shocklands
Goyf
Bob
Cryptic Command
Aether Vial
Obviously there's tons of other stuff. I haven't really played Modern at all, and I've only watched a bit of it as a spectator, so I just don't know where to start.
Thanks, all!
2x Breeding Pool
2x Forest
2x Island
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Overgrown Tomb
1x Swamp
4x Temple of Deceity
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Watery Grave
Creatures (17):
3x Consuming Aberration
4x Courser of Kruphix
2x Nylea's Disciple
3x Phenax, God of Deception
4x Sylvan Caryatid
1x Wall of Frost
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Devour Flesh
1x Fog
1x Golgari Charm
2x Hero's Downfall
4x Psychic Strike
2x Putrefy
4x Thoughtseize
Planeswalkers (3):
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Jace, Memory Adept
1x Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1x Wall of Frost
2x Devour Flesh
1x Dispel
2x Far//Away
2x Fog
1x Gainsay
2x Golgari Charm
1x Hero's Downfall
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2x Drown in Sorrow
My sample is still utterly skewed, as every deck I played against was highly aggressive (Boros aggro, Boros burn, MBD), but it fared much better than I expected. Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix were MVPs, providing mana fixing, ramp, card advantage, life gain, blockers, and EOT milling when Phenax came out. Seriously, the early green drops were all stars.
I didn't think to try Wall of Frost, I REALLY want to give him a go.
Also worth mentioning, I discovered that Devour Flesh can be a fantastic eleventh-hour reprieve by targeting myself and saccing one of my own creatures (who are all packing higher-than-average toughness to begin with). My favorite play of the night was against Boros Burn: I had a 23/23 Consuming Aberration, 2 life left, and two mana open. My opponent had five cards in hand and six lands on the field (three open), with 25 cards left in his library. My EOT, he casts Boros Charm at my face. I responded by casting Devour Flesh at myself, triggering Aberration and dumping four more cards in his yard. I tapped it to mill him out after the trigger resolved (Devour still on the stack), sacced him to gain 27 life, took the Charm, and passed turn. Even with four cards and six mana, and with me tapped out, that was way too much life for him to burn through.
All three main deck 'walkers felt good. I was always happy to see them, and they all provided great synergy with the other cards on the battlefield or in my hand. I moved Ashiok to the board because I wasn't seeing any Azorius or Esper control, which is where I expect him to really shine. I never drew him, and never missed him, but I don't want to drop him entirely yet.
Very excited about refining this list. Hopefully I can take it to FNM next week and get some feedback against a more well-rounded field.
I originally planned to stick with a Dimir list, but now I'm leaning towards BUG for the extra stalling power (Fog effects, lifegain) and some incidental synergy with Phenax's mill effect (green dudes love big butts). Here's my first off-the-cuff list.
4x Watery Grave
4x Temple of Deceit
3x Overgrown Tomb
2x Breeding Pool
4x Temple of Mystery
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Island
Creatures (14):
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Courser of Kruphix
3x Phenax, God of Deception
3x Consuming Aberration
4x Thoughtseize
2x Fog
2x Cyclonic Rift
1x Golgari Charm
4x Psychic Strike
2x Hero's Downfall
2x Putrefy
1x Devour Flesh
Planeswalkers (4):
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Jace, Memory Adept
2x Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2x Fog
3x Golgari Charm
2x Devour Flesh
3x Drown in Sorrow
1x Hero's Downfall
2x Nighthowler
2x Far//Away
I don't think there are any cards in that list that I need to explain the reasoning behind, but there are plenty of other cards that may be better in such a list (I haven't playtested this list at all, planning to do so tonight). Other cards on my radar:
Deathrite Shaman
Notion Thief
Mind Grind
Scavenging Ooze
Reap Intellect
Pithing Needle
Aetherize
Breaking//Entering
Read the Bones
Pharika's Cure
I see some potential here, but this is a bit of a sore point in my mind. The very first creature I thought of was Aetherling, of course...who completely negates her +1 ability. She targets Aetherling with the +1, opponent blinks Aetherling before your EOT, Aetherling comes back as a new object and is no longer subject to the fog effect, Aetherling smacks Kiora upside the head and eats a cookie while her controller stares at the board and sniffles.
For not-Aetherling beefy finishers, sure. But I would have preferred something like:
I realize that unless I'm also using the same beefy finisher as my opponent, this is strictly better than her actual ability, but I don't think it would have been game-breaking and would have let her address the premiere one-man wrecking crew of standard control decks (I think it's obvious that she already doesn't fare well against aggro decks, where fogging any one creature is going to be trivial).
For those matchups, Devour Flesh or Barter In Blood can be invaluable.
Lifebane Zombie seems like more of a sideboard card to me, or at least some of them.
Also, Pithing Needle needs to be somewhere in your 75, imo. Aetherling is a thing, as are planeswalkers.
4x Godless Shrine
4x Temple of Silence
12x Swamp
4x Plains
Creatures (15):
4x Tithe Drinker
4x Crypt Ghast
3x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Obzedat, Ghost Council
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4x Thoughtseize
4x Read the Bones
2x Doom Blade
2x Hero's Downfall
2x Debt to the Deathless
Planeswalkers (3):
3x Liliana of the Dark Realms
Artifacts (2):
2x Whip of Erebos
Enchantments (2):
1x Sanguine Bond
1x Blind Obedience
2x Pithing Needle
3x Gods Willing
2x Devour Flesh
2x Blind Devotion
3x Shrivel
2x Doom Blade
1x Hero's Downfall
I'm actually inclined to leave it as-is after the first night of testing. It stomped Boros aggro repeatedly, and held its own fairly well against a pseudo-mirror match (4c ramp-sanguine bond-debt combo type thing, was really surprised to see it). I want more experience against control before I say anything one way or the other, but I will say that Pithing Needle, which I forgot in my original post, is an absolute lifesaver. Planeswalkers and Aetherling go from nigh-unbeatable problems to unremarkable background scenery as the opponent gets pummeled to death by Ghost Dad and Blood Baron, or bled out by Sanguine Debts.
More reports to come, I'm going to try this out at FNM tomorrow.
Alms Beast has nice synergy with Erebos, as well. Giving your opponent's creatures lifelink doesn't mean much if they can't gain life.
Efficient 6/6 beater combo aside, the deck does seem to be missing some "oomph".
I'd probably try something like this:
4x Godless Shrine
4x Temple of Silence
9x Swamp
7x Plains
Creatures (15):
4x Tithe Drinker
4x Crypt Ghast
3x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Obzedat, Ghost Council
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4x Thoughtseize
4x Read the Bones
2x Doom Blade
2x Hero's Downfall
2x Debt to the Deathless
Planeswalkers (3):
3x Liliana of the Dark Realms
Artifacts (2):
2x Whip of Erebos
Enchantments (2):
1x Sanguine Bond
1x Blind Obedience
3x Gods Willing
3x Devour Flesh
2x Blind Devotion
3x Shrivel
2x Doom Blade
1x Hero's Downfall
This is very rough, just off the top of my head.
I see this deck winning in one of two ways. The relentless death-of-a-thousand-extortions, courtesy of your Tithe Drinkers and Crypt Ghasts (and Blind Obedience post-board, if the match-up is right), or holding the fort until you can drop a massive Debt to the Deathless fueled by Crypt Ghast mega-swamps or Lili emblem giga-swamps.
Sanguine Bond feels just a bit too cute to me for more than a singleton. If it shows up, great, it might be an occasional "oops, I win", or it might just be a dead draw when you need removal to stay alive.
As usual, sweepers are a major concern for a creature-centric strategy (especially a non-aggro one), so the Whip can give you the gas you need to get there. Or to bring a Gray Merchant out for a second flashy entrance. Lifelink for everybody doesn't hurt, either.
(I'm not sure what the interaction between the Whip and Obzedat is, exactly. I've heard people going both ways on it, but if it turns out that they have synergy, that'd be another amazing trick up your sleeve :))
I'll give this a whirl tonight, let you know what I think, possible improvements, etc. I'm all about Orzhov decks, nice to see someone else working with one, too
Seems like Underworld Cerberus could be a potential liability, since any aggro or midrange deck is going to benefit more from his death trigger.
Also seems like you want life gain in here, badly. Whip of Erebos? Tacking unearth onto your chimaeras as a bonus seems good.
Was thinking of an OmniDoor Thragfire 5cc monstrosity, but I've done that before. suggestions for the last FNM before Theros?
I have to agree with this sentiment. I really wish exile were much, much less used.
This line confuses me. Bestow doesn't care how the creature it's enchanting is removed, it only cares if it's no longer attached to a creature. Exile a creature enchanted by a Bestowed aura, and the aura still transforms into a creature to replace the one that was just removed (the inherent 2-for-1 of Bestow).
Using this card to kill a Bestow aura obviously negates the 2-for-1 aspect, but that's true of any enchantment killing card, so I see nothing special here.
That said, I'm in the dissatisfied camp with this card. With enchantment creatures being a thing in this set, this card is more than just a Naturalize variant; it's a green Murder variant. Green is generally not a color to get flat-out creature removal.
Unless it's a flying creature. Dirty, stupid flyers. Green hateses you!
Why couldn't this have simply read "Exile target non-creature artifact or enchantment"? Mechanically speaking, I think it's still a card that would have a place in many sideboards, if not necessarily main decks, as it answers plenty of troublesome cards in the upcoming limited or standard environments (kill Bestowed auras, get rid of bomby enchantments or artifacts such as the god weapons, etc.). Is the +1 cmc and sorcery speed justified by the exile clause if it doesn't hit artifact creatures or enchantment creatures? I think it would be.
But what strikes me even more is how thematically appropriate a non-creature clause would have been for this card, and once again the argument comes down to the God cards. How can you remove a god by virtue of making it "fade into antiquity" if the people's devotion to that entity is so strong that it allows physical manifestation in the world? Sufficiently reduce a player's devotion to the god's color, cause it to revert to a non-creature enchantment, and THEN strike its existence from the minds and memories of the mortal populace. It just makes much more sense from a flavor standpoint, in my humble opinion.
There are only five God cards in the set, they're mythics, and quite honestly, I do think that cracking one in limited should give you a significant (if luck-based) advantage. Would it really be too much to ask for there to be a devotion-based gating mechanism on a highly versatile common's ability to deal with a set-defining cycle of mythics?
As for standard...meh. See original point about exile being way too overused as a mechanic.
Compulsion, of Psychatog fame.
Turn 5: *durdle*
Turn 6: Elspeth, +1, o hai 12 power on board
Yes, this effectively neuters her -3. I still think that the above scenario could easily be a thing.