War Tax

Enchantment

(X)(Blue): Creatures can't attack this turn unless their controller pays (X) for each attacking creature he or she controls.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

YesterdaysGhost on I'm Playing Blue So...

2 weeks ago

Thanks for stopping by, DreadKhan! You certainly get the spirit of this deck with your very tasty suggestions! I love that Mass Diminish is just a far more painful Polymorphist's Jest that you can enjoy twice in a game! In fact every card you've suggested sounds like the sort of fun I want to have with this deck! I'll keep my eyes out for some of these, in particular Mass Diminish, War Tax and Empress Galina.

I'm a huge fan of the art for Cultural Exchange as well, certainly love the far older art style of the early hears of MtG!

DreadKhan on I'm Playing Blue So...

2 weeks ago

Pet decks are so much fun to play, just drawing into certain art (even if they're dead cards at the time) can feel pretty sweet. Here are a few of my favorite Blue cards that can also make an opponent's life difficult! War Tax can be really crazy, you can use it during anyone's turn to limit their attacks. Cultural Exchange can let someone else enjoy your Seacoast Drake (it seems mean to hog fun cards like that, right?), it can also generate a lot of advantage. Mass Diminish is a weird card even by the standards of weird cards, the effect last for a REALLY long time in a bigger game, and it inexplicably has Flashback at a low MV. I'm not sure if it needs support to 'work', but not many cards are as annoying to a table as a resolved Counterbalance. She used to be pricey, but Empress Galina is a REALLY weird Blue card to throw in, if people can't answer it they are going to lose their Commanders. Callous Oppressor is pretty good, steal the best thing and then use it to chump the new biggest thing (and then steal that thing with Oppressor). Fatespinner is a nifty Stax piece that can slow your opponent's game plan quite a bit (but it doesn't nothing if they're wildly ahead, so it's still 'fun'). Not sure if you want the removal, but Transmogrifying Wand is a very good effect if it sticks around, but Oxing even 1 creature can be pretty helpful.

DreadKhan on Imperium (Marneus calgar)

7 months ago

Sorry if some of these are pricier than what you're looking for, here are a few cards that are probably pretty good with Marneus. Pack Rat is probably worth a look, even if you use no other rats. Ogre Slumlord is a nice budget source of tokens, since the tokens have Deathtouch you have decent odds of making more tokens if people attack you. Ophiomancer is an interesting way to draw cards, you probably want some sacrifice outlets to draw a card on each turn. Shorikai, Genesis Engine works with or without your Commander, as does Faerie Formation. I think Mirror-Sigil Sergeant is pretty cool if you have your Commander out, you can make quite a few tokens if the Sergeant survives, but each is it's own trigger, so you'll draw lots of cards I think. Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia is an unusual token generator, though it'll max out at 1 token per turn it offers a way for that token to die each turn to make space. Pitiless Plunderer is probably a shoo-in with your Commander, Plunderer + Ashnod's Altar + Marneus = Draw your deck and infinite ETB/Death triggers. Similar to Plunderer but a bit different, Revel in Riches will draw a card each time an opponent's creature dies, and if you can amass enough treasure you just win on the spot.

If you typically have lots of small tokens as your main attack force you could try Meekstone, this type of card can be annoying if you play it without a plan, but most decks care more about untapping large creatures than you do. That said, it may attract some negative attention, something to keep in mind. There are also things like Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, War Tax, and Windborn Muse to consider, there are other similar cards.

DreadKhan on Jinx Master of Chaos

8 months ago

I could be wrong, but I think part of your problem is that you can't run enough wipes to keep pressure down but also cannot run enough creatures to deal with aggro. Some stuff that can help with this include Propaganda, maybe War Tax do a good job at deterring early aggro. Callous Oppressor type cards are pretty powerful, creature theft effects allow you to keep up with aggressive decks running powerful creatures without having to run or cast them yourselves. There might be a couple useful token generators that might fit, Ophiomancer and Ogre Slumlord both provide endless Deathtouch blockers and can deter attacks. My final suggestion to help prevent losses is dedicated blockers, cards like Brash Taunter, this sweet blocker survives many wipes and can make brute force risky to use vs you. There are also cards like Fog Bank that can block fairly well, but remember that low toughness means you're vulnerable to Trample.

I would try out Rite of the Raging Storm, it puts a lot of pressure on the board for anyone but you who can't block a 5/1 trample. Mask of Griselbrand works really well with Rite, but it also works well with any other non-flyer you want to attack with, and helps incase you get wiped/targeted with removal since it can draw cards. The lifegain is a nice perk. Viashino Heretic is a way to blow up artifacts repeatedly that also can deal some damage, if people use large artifacts it can be a lot of damage for mana.

DreadKhan on Merieke Esper Control

8 months ago

I had a longer post but it got lost in the shuffle. Anyways, I like what you're doing here and hope some of these janky ideas will work!

I like Grasp of Fate in a deck like this. If you know who is able to remove it you can make a point of not targeting anything too serious of theirs, in some metas it's not hard to keep this out (lots of decks without Green or White). Stroke of Midnight is another reasonable removal spell with a high level of versatility.

Since you run a lot of wipes and removal I feel like Kothophed, Soul Hoarder is a pretty solid include. As long as he kills what he blocks he'll draw a card each time, any removal that sends stuff to the graveyard is much better, and your wipes can easily feel like Decree of Pain, obviously not great if everyone is on infinite creature combo (in which they don't win that turn as well) but if people have ~10 creatures out you'll get a new hand. Kothophed also draws cards vs things like Fetchlands and Treasure/Clue tokens, I think he's more risky if you don't have a good counter package.

Have you thought about something like Sakashima the Impostor to copy Ioreth? If you have your Commander out she can kill off the entire table except the best thing, which you can keep.

Liliana, Death's Majesty is a nice fit in cards that like the idea of a wipe but might already have several, this Liliana makes tokens and can reanimate stuff in a pinch, but it's the wipe that's extra spicy.

War Tax is a janky card that can be used to protect your planeswalkers, but it can also be used politically, though it suffers a lot of people don't keep their word, the way I like to use it is to make deals with people, they agree either to not send at me (or send less at me), and if they do I don't tax, if they don't I either tax or remove stuff of theirs as punishment. It's really good if the next player is the most aggressive, and the effect is worse if you have 'better' things to do with your resources, but this is a mana sink that people really sleep on.

DreadKhan on Bureaucracy!

1 year ago

I didn't realize your deck had a fairly low budget when I first started typing, so a few cards I mention might be out of your budget, but I think some of the stuff might fit.

I have an Azorius deck that has an aspect of bureaucracy in it, have you thought about Preacher and Callous Oppressor? I think they might fit flavor-wise, clergy are in part bureaucrats, and arguably the main part of being a bureaucrat is callously oppressing people/destroying their wills to enable control over them. I also like Bribery and War Tax, maybe Spurnmage Advocate and Pulsemage Advocate, advocacy is common in bureaucracies, as are bribery and taxes.

I'm not sure how eager you are to throw more interaction in, but Dovin's Veto and Disdainful Stroke feel fairly bureaucratic, maybe Generous Gift as removal? Is Visions of Duplicity on theme enough? Duplicity seems pretty on theme, and shuffling other people's creatures is the annoying crap officials get up to when bored.

Cool Vorthos idea, hope you have good match ups in your area!

Darsul on Thought and Talon

1 year ago

Hello,

 If your looking for input and/or Suggestions you need to help us out and give and ideal what your looking for. Raffine, Scheming Seer is a great open ended commander that it's hard to help out w/out know the direction you aiming for. That said, what I found/find out with my deck and no matter how you play him you want to be attacking every turn, this tends to leave you open on the back swing so War Tax cards like Propaganda and Ghostly Prison or flip side play things like Heliod, God of the Sun and Odric, Lunarch Marshal (+ Vigilance toon out). Long story short your deck looks weak to the crack back.

 Another thing I find is the Wonder is < Filth + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
. Most of your team is sporting fly as is.

As for real suggestions how do you want to take him? +1/+1 you could play cards like Tenured Inkcaster or Oona's Blackguard
                                                     Reanimator Unburial Rites or Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator
                                                     Discard    Bone Miser or Faith of the Devoted
                                                     wheel      Queza, Augur of Agonies or Feast of Sanity

anyway, cheers and GL

DreadKhan on

1 year ago

I have a Chaos deck, maybe a few of the cards would work here too? I'm a huge fan of Exquisite Blood, even if you play it without the combo, the effect has big synergy with your Commander's ability, and it helps keep you alive when you're ahead. Another enchantment that works with Esquisite Blood (and your Commander) is Rite of the Raging Storm, this is often good for damage and it makes everyone else play way more cautiously (because anyone but you can be stuck taking 15 damage in a cycle if they can't handle the tokens). Rite itself likes a number of other cards that might work here too, one really sneaky one is Mask of Griselbrand, Lifelink is useful (and stacks with Blood), Flying is useful, and the card draw can be very powerful, obviously this is hilarious with Rite since you can equip the token with the Mask, at which point it's probably getting in for damage and when it dies inevitably you can draw 5 cards. It seems like a good piece of gear for your Commander especially. Berserkers' Onslaught is a funny card sometimes, you do need some kind of board, but even your Commander is openly terrifying with Double Strike. Another card that Rite and your Commander both would love is Dauthi Embrace, Shadow is really good evasion (you might look into Dauthi Voidwalker as well, very useful dual purpose card). Scavenged Brawler is a creature I'm testing in that deck atm, it seems good, offering a useful body that can be 'scavenged' when a wipe happens. If your deck doesn't run combos and is in Black Protection Racket can be a source of life loss for your Commander, your average MV is probably high enough to matter, it can also give cards. It will never give you any lands or 0 MV cards, so it's not a perfect card. Make an Example is a generically good card in my experience, you always get (at minimum) each opponent's most problematic creature. Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep and Shizo, Death's Storehouse are two cards that might help your Commander out, and they're untapped lands, very few drawbacks to those!

Cultural Exchange is a Blue Chaos feeling card I love, I can't decide if you've got enough tokens/creatures you don't care about to make it work, but if you can trade off some small stuff for the best stuff on board then you're doing good I think. I guess it doesn't say anything about untapping, so you can use it to open someone up to attack by trading away all their blockers for already tapped creatures in a pinch. Mass Diminish seems worse than stuff like Sudden Spoiling and Polymorphist's Jest (both great cards though!), but the ability to cast it twice is big, and the effect weirdly lasts a turn cycle, this can help eliminate 2 players sometimes.

Since you probably want your Commander out most of the time, have you considered Stubborn Denial? It's not Fierce Guardianship, but I find Guardianship to be obnoxious.

My final ideas are War Tax and War Cadence, Cadence can easily make your stuff unblockable if people are tapped out, Tax can make it very hard for people to attack in draw out games, but Cadence is probably the better fit.