ToastedBagl on Lands Don’t Matter…They Kill
2 hours ago
Sorry. Disregard. Just saw the "sorcery" section.
ToastedBagl on Lands Don’t Matter…They Kill
2 hours ago
Recommended: Life from the Loam and cycling lands.
shadow63 on New Horizons 3
2 hours ago
Wotc released an article and officially revealed a lot of the leaked cards
Tsukimi on Card creation challenge
2 hours ago
Dreamweaver Loom
Artifact
: Create a Weaving enchantment token. (Weaving enchantment tokens have : Sacrifice this token and return target spell to its owners hand.
"Kamigawa likes to see itself as the pinnacle of technological advancement, but this? The Loom? This was a creation on par with any of Kamigawas most advanced drones."
Looms!
Wildcard.
rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …
4 hours ago
Sometimes when I'm deckbuilding, I focus less on the commander and more on an interesting concept/combo that I want to use or exploit. This is the case with one of my favorite decks in my profile and actually one of the first commander decks I ever built. This deck began years ago when Magic finally started caring about the EDH format. It was a more simple time then, Rhystic study was $1.27 (exactly the price I paid for mine over 10 years ago), Cyclonic Rift was a bulk rare, and demonic tutor could be found for $10.
The combo that I was interested in was Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator. The latter was my favorite card at the time and is still one of my favorites. It was a great tool and with all the ETB effects that were out around then it was an underrated and uber powerful card. In fact, the entire blink mechanic was and is a very powerful strategy.
When I built this deck, I played a few times in shops and was quickly told that edh is a casual format and interaction of any kind is not fair (was told this by a land destruction deck...) So this deck is definitely more on the competitive side, but it would be the distant fringe of cedh. Alright with that let's get into it.
Initial thoughts
So we have a combo that we like Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, but we don't even have a commander yet and going mono-blue seems not great, so we want to figure out what color(s) to add and what commander to choose. In a combo deck, there are generally three things that I like to make sure I include beyond the normal ramp, and card draw. That is redundancy, the ability to tutor up my combo pieces, and ways to protect my combo. So when thinking about tutoring up my combo pieces, I generally like to have the best tutors. Those are in black. So things like Wishclaw Talisman, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Imperial Seal (if you have money to burn or your playgroup is fine with you proxying the best cards so you can obliterate their precons j/k I proxy all my expensive cards and put them in a binder in case someone has an issue).
So we have Blue and Black and we can certainly add another color if we wanted to, but at the time I liked Dralnu, Lich Lord because Snapcaster Mage was in standard and flashback was cool. So I stuck with it when I revamped it, but decided that I wanted something that could ensure I can protect my combo from any threat and then also use it to win if I wanted to. The answer came in the form of Ertai Resurrected. He can counter basically anything from spells to activated abilities (which will come in handy) or he can take a threat on the field at the cost of letting your opponent draw a card.
So now that we have our commander, how to build the deck?
Redundancy
Combo decks need redundancy. If you don't get your two cards or one of them gets exiled, you need a backup plan, or scooping is your only option. Fortunately, there are some great redundancies here. We have Ghostly Flicker and Displace. Both of these will blink your creatures (ghostly flicker will also blink artifacts). Displacer Kitten can be helpful too, but I don't own it and it is a little more chaotic than I need it to be. Palinchron is great because you can return it to your hand and potentially play it again and create infinite mana through the use of High Tide, but a similar combo that has added benefits is Peregrine Drake, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. This bounces both the drake and the archaeomancer untapping 5 lands, and returning ghostly flicker to your hand. Rinse and repeat for infinite mana. Archaeomancer also will help in returning key counterspells and tutors to your hand. Nothing like doing double duty. Mnemonic Wall and Great Whale also fit here. The great thing about this combo is that each component is useful in and of itself. Bring out your Great Whale early untap some lands and do some other stuff or play out the rest of your combo with the untapped lands. Cast Archaeomancer to grab a used tutor for another combo piece.
One note here, if you get Peregrine Drake (or one of the other two) paired with Deadeye Navigator and you generate infinite mana you can now draw your deck with Ertai as commander:
Step 1: Bounce Deadeye, when he enters don't soulbond with anyone.
Step 2: Cast Ertai, don't choose anything or if you want kill one of your opponent's creatures. It doesn't matter.
Step 3: Soulbond ertai and deadeye.
Step 4: Bounce Deadeye and while that is on the stack bounce Ertai.
Step 5: Ertai enters the battlefield counter the Deadeye bounce on the stack Draw a card
Step 6: Soulbond ertai and deadeye again rinse and repeat. Draw as many cards as you need. Which means draw until you find your wincon.
Wincon
Since this is an infinite mana combo we need something to use all that mana. Obviously the activated ability on deadeye is great, but we need something to actually win with. I went with Commander's Insight and Blue Sun's Zenith. Both of these cards are useful even when they aren't being used to force your opponents to draw their cards. Blue Sun's Zenith works nicely because once you cast it goes back into your deck, which I showed above you can draw as many cards as you need so you cast it once, put it in your library draw again until you find it, cast it again on the next opponent, then again. You can also tutor them up or bring them back from the graveyard with the tutors or the archaeomancer/mnemonic wall from earlier. I like this more than straight damage, because if you don't have infinite mana these cards will still draw you cards.
Tutors
This is a fairly simple step, we need some good tutors. There are a number of good choices in black so I won't belabor that too much. I don't have some of the standard ones and feel like the deck performs fine with the ones it currently has. I do have a Tribute Mage in the deck because nearly all my mana rocks are 2 mana and so is Wishclaw Talisman. I found that the consistency with the deck is vastly improved by being able to tutor up my ramp. Also with deadeye I can bounce it multiple times and get more rocks or the talisman.
Protecting the combo
So I needed to figure out how to protect my combo and do so in a way that is flexible or can be used as needed. So Counterspell. Honestly, this part was fairly simple, most blue counter magic is here. Only reason Fierce Guardianship isn't here is because I don't have it. Other than that we have the typical cards here Force of Will, Mana Drain, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, etc.
I also have a couple other standouts. Venser, Shaper Savant is great here as it can be bounced with Deadeye Navigator to essentially boomerang my opponent's board and all their spells. Ertai Resurrected also protects the combo and with deadeye becomes a nice repeatable counter/removal spell.
glen_elandra_archmage can be bounced when she has her -1/-1 counter allowing her to be used again and again to counter noncreature spells.
Typical stuff
There is a lot of ramp in the deck, so Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and other mana rocks including some larger ones like Gilded Lotus and Basalt Monolith to really get the ramp going, the sooner you can get to 7-8 mana the sooner you can combo out.
For card draw some key performers here are Rhystic Study, Black Market Connections, Phyrexian Arena, The One Ring. Mystic Remora. In my initial hand I want to have 3 lands, and one of these/tutor to find one or I typically mulligan.
Special notes
A couple other cards deserve mention here. Time Stretch and Time Warp. These are both repeatable with Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall and I can honestly say that if I'm able to resolve either of these, it is unlikely that I'm going to lose, especially Time Stretch. With the ramp in the deck or a well timed Dark Ritual/High Tide I can play this fairly early and get a huge advantage.
Lands
Since this deck tends to be fast, you don't want lands that come into play tapped, so this deck uses fetch lands, shock lands, and duals that have the ability to come in untapped. (there are a couple that come into play tapped, but they are fetchable so I fetch them only when I know that I'm not going to be able to use the mana and only on an opponent's turn.)
I've had this deck for a while and it performs far better than any of my other decks. It always presents interesting lines that if followed will lead to surprising victories. As always let me know what you think in the comments and if you have a commander in mind that you want to see me build put it in the chat.
shadow63 on Looking for a way to …
4 hours ago
There's a bit of a dispute about how effective traditional IQ test for testing how smart someone is. But from what you've explained here she is a very smart woman. But use your parents old engagement ring I bet she'll love it
shadow63 on The Iron Giant: the 25th …
4 hours ago
I never cared for the movie. I was born in 1992 so its.not like I was too old or too young for the movie when it came out. I used to hate the movie as a child because cartoon network would run a 24 hour marathon of just that during either Thanksgiving or Easter every year.
Dwarf-Scum on Gruul Aggro
4 hours ago
Yeah, this list is from a couple of point changes ago, I haven’t updated it since WOE. Probably spend those points on Jitte or cut strip mine for sol ring.
Rhadamanthus on Do suspended cards being cast …
6 hours ago
Yes, that works. In the detailed rules for suspend, "play" means "play it if it's a land and cast it if it's a spell". Since you're casting the spell, Caetus gives it convoke and Kasla will trigger from that. Just in case this is also a question: you don't actually need to tap any creatures for convoke to get a trigger from Kasla. The fact that a spell has the convoke ability is enough.
FauxFaux on Card creation challenge
6 hours ago
Azor, Law Incarnate
Legendary Creature - Sphinx
Flying
Whenever ~ enters the battlefield or attacks, tap target creature an opponent controls, then draw a card.
Whenever you gain life, you may Fateseal X, where X is the amount of life gained. This ability triggers only once each turn.
"Freed from the command of the Guildpact, Azor looked to the Omenpaths; routes that he could use to spread more of the Divine Law the multiverse so desperately needed."
4/5
Wild!
Grenthox on Do suspended cards being cast …
9 hours ago
Say I'm suspending instants with Gandalf of the Secret Fire and I have a Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia Flip and a Kasla, the Broken Halo in play. Does the suspended card gain Convoke from Caetus and trigger Kasla when cast?
seshiro_of_the_orochi on Card creation challenge
10 hours ago
Webtangle
Instant
For each of up to X target creatures, create a Web Token and attach it to that creature. (A web token is an enchantment aura with enchant creature. It has "Enchanted creature can’t attack or block, and its activated abilities can’t be activated", and "At the beginning of the end step, if enchanted creature’s power is 4 or greater, destroy this token.")
So web token is basically Arachnus Web. And because of the rule that if an aura enters the battlefield without a target, you may attach it to any legal target without targeting, TypicalTimmy's creature is even cooler.
Create a MV5 mythic rare creature.
seshiro_of_the_orochi on Looking for a way to …
11 hours ago
There might be others better equipped to define what the IQ tells you, as it's pretty specific, but not a perfect value to tell someone's smarts.
Nonetheless, IQ is spread on a Bell curve, with 68% of an average population somewhere between 85 and 115. So 152 is pretty damn smart.
TheFallingWhale on Can You Smell What Yarok …
11 hours ago
Helix Pinnacle or Epic Struggle aren't bad win cons
Vessiliana on Voja, the Avatar
13 hours ago
KlesathJ, I am glad you're liking it! I am enjoying it, too.
TypicalTimmy on Looking for a way to …
14 hours ago
This is going to sound absolutely absurd, and I perfectly understand that.
So my girlfriend is currently enrolled in college, studying endocrinology. She is on an accelerated program - essentially meaning 3 semesters a year (No summers or spring break) and will get her PhD ahead of schedule.
She is currently being flown all across America to study under seminars to learn more about the field. It's not just her, but a bunch of students.
She is also currently assisting her professor research Type 3 Diabetes, which is diabetes of the brain. This is thought to be the cause for Alzheimer, dementia, etc.
She is currently doing laboratory work with mice brains to look into ways to ameliorate the symptoms, and are moving toward approval for pig brains, then monkey brains and eventually Human brains.
When I asked her just how freaking smart she is, she said numerous tests have continually placed her IQ at an average of 152.
So like... help me quantify that. What the heck does an IQ of 152 even mean?? I mean it's like, I can only view the world with my silly little brain so I literally have no perspective on this.
Does that mean that she like, idk, reads super fast? Just memorizes things really well? Like what the heck man
(I say girlfriend, but we have already spoken about marriage and a family together. We both want it, and I've told her once I can afford a nice ring I'll propose properly. Tbh I recently found my mom's old engagement ring from my dad, and am working up the courage to ask if I can propose with that since my mom is now engaged to her current fiance {Dad passed in 2009 and she rekindled with an old highschool crush all of these years later})
TypicalTimmy on Card creation challenge
17 hours ago
There are 2 white spiders, 4 red spiders and surprisingly one blue? But the options are so limited overall that it isn't worth including other colors just for minor options.
Ishkaru, Web of Lies
Legendary Creature - Spider
Reach, deathtouch
Graft X where X is the number of times you've cast Ishkaru this game.
Whenever you move a +1/+1 counter from Ishkaru onto another spider you control, create a Web token.
2/2
Hmm... so here's an interesting challenge.
You see that Web token I just mentioned? Noticed how I left out what that token actually is or even does?
That's your challenge. Make her token!
gatotempo on Card creation challenge
17 hours ago
Alchemy Cauldron
Artifact
Sacrifice four tokens: Copy target spell
Make a spider with graft
JimboSliceJr on Ruh-Roh-Roggy… It’s Hammer Time
18 hours ago
DreadKhan Ah! That’s perfect. Definitely missed that one
austintayshus I like the idea of more counters in the deck. Makes the tutor just that much more versatile, hell yea!
rosasimms on Ulalek, Fused Atrocity (upcoming MH3 …
19 hours ago
https://tappedout.net/users/EquivocalVision/ and now i get excited for devoid legend crown
Apollo_Paladin on Bonny & Beau, Multiplied
20 hours ago
Cool build variant using a lot picks from some of the more recent sets; and +1 just for seeing another Arena player on here!
KongMing on List of Bugs and Feature …
21 hours ago
Correct.
I never received notifications of those folder adds. I only know it was added because of the counter on the deck tag. I did receive notification of it being added to the Lord Windgrace folder after I added it to one of my folders, but did not receive any others.
jarncards on vaal hazak
23 hours ago
In Garruk's Wake, Plague Wind, Rise of the Dark Realms, Torment of Hailfire, Exsanguinate for uses for your witherbloom mana
thepunkface on Tiamat: The Three Hunters
23 hours ago
This is just way too loony. Well done for coming up with it
jarncards on vaal hazak
23 hours ago
Three Visits Open the Way Nature's Lore are better ramp
Second Harvest, Culling Ritual, Return of the Wildspeaker, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Beseech the Mirror, Moment's Peace, Obscuring Haze, Spore Frog, Darkness, Constant Mists
Femme_Fatale on List of Bugs and Feature …
23 hours ago
Okay so the issue is: That other people added this new deck to their folders and that prior to you adding it to one of your own you cannot see which folders it was added to, correct?
Do you still have the notifications of which users added it to their folder?
TypicalTimmy on Card creation challenge
1 day ago
Windchill Elemental
Creature - Elemental
Flying
Whenever Windchill Elemental attacks, you may exert it. If you do, tap target creature an opponent controls. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
2/6
Wild
Brilleaben on Ice Cream Knuckle Sandwich (With …
1 day ago
What cards from the sideboard would you look to swap, and what would you swap it with? (:
SaberTech on Kykar kicks ass (Suggestions needed!) …
1 day ago
As a couple of budget options:
In the past I've found Intangible Virtue to be very handy in Kykar. The vigilance that it gives tokens makes your combat planning much easier and the power boost to your tokens is well worth just 2 mana.
And while I haven't had a chance to try it myself yet, I think that Embrace the Unknown is worth considering as a value piece. It gives you a repeatable way to trigger a bunch of your cards throughout a game and the costs of your other cards are generally low enough that I don't think you'll have to worry about being unable to play most of the cards that you exile.
BenTim on Tiamat: The Three Hunters
1 day ago
hey man, you good? this is the kind of thing you make when your best friend stole your girl and beat you in a tournament in the same day.
DreadKhan on Ruh-Roh-Roggy… It’s Hammer Time
1 day ago
Urza's Saga might be useful, it can find MV 0 or 1 equipment, and it can also make chump blockers for you which Arden can equip in a pinch.
Goldberserkerdragon on Full Metal Alchemist
1 day ago
Maverick_Titan Definitely. 35 lands is ok, could cut a few. I find 33 and 13 pcs of ramp help me always have mana and a land drop per turn. But (shrug)... Some lesser cards for the theme usually end up being cut. Alas, just play play play! You'll know :)
KongMing on List of Bugs and Feature …
1 day ago
I just got a notification it has been added to a folder, and I can see the new folder and the one I added it to, but not the others prior to this yet.
ldvatwa on Super Hippo - MURDER MODE …
1 day ago
Any purple hippo enjoyer deserves some love! Great build. I love how much you put into the wincons. Whenever I go back to the hippo, it always ends up as pure group hug as a way to turn my brain off after too many edh games. Just let everyone have an amped up version of their deck and see what happens while I'm along for the ride.
ldvatwa on Volrath: No School, like Old …
1 day ago
I love that you run all the old versions of these great cards. I remember pulling those versions of Avatar of Woe, Mutilate, and Phyrexian Reclamation out of packs. Good times!
ldvatwa on Garden of Damia
1 day ago
I love the build! As you mentioned Ruin Crab above, it always puts in work in my mill decks. Even in non-ramp decks like my Kwain, Itinerant Meddler mill deck. As well The Wise Mothman and my now defunct Lord Xander, the Collector. Few things felt as good as dropping a Boundless Realms or Reshape the Earth with Ruin Crab on the board!