Magic the Gathering Thread XXIV: *Slaps Roof* This Thread Can Hold So Many Chandras!

[noob]

Presumably, there are different names because Artisan is a rotating format, whereas Silverblack is an eternal one.

I could be wrong, though.

EDIT: I have another really stupid custom card:

Spoiler

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Subvert Preparations - 5UB
Sorcery - M (Dimir watermark)
Choose a permanent you don't control with Hexproof, Protection, or Shroud. Gain control of that permanent and everything attached to it.

So choose does not target?
Because if it does target then it does not work.

[Shadow of the Sun]

'Choose' specifically does not target.

[Silfir]

It functions as advertised. It is indeed really stupid, though.

[Spore]

As a somewhat budget-ish MTGA player, I want to try to get into Historic. What are good uses for my WCs, remaining gold and which deck directions would you guide towards?

I enjoy Rakdos, Mono Red, Grixis, but the occasional Stompy or Gruul aggro/MR deck is not beneath me. Blue or White are not my colors, except for Mono Blue Tempo or White Weenies.

[enderlord99]

CHALLENGE: Build a Constructed deck for a non-Singleton format that fits the requirements for all fivefour Blue companions, without being utter trash.

...

Is that even possible? Gyruda effectively makes Keruga's minimum 4 instead of 3, since 3 isn't even...

[Mystic Muse]

CHALLENGE: Build a Constructed deck for a non-Singleton format that fits the requirements for all five Blue companions, without being utter trash.

...

Is that even possible? Gyruda effectively makes Keruga's minimum 4 instead of 3, since 3 isn't even...

No, it's really not.

Yorion increases your deck size by 20
Lutri forces you to play singles only.
Keruga makes it so you can't play anything that costs less than 3.
Gyruda makes it so you can only play even cost cards.

All without much payoff since you can only have one companion.

You are basically nit doing anything until turn 4 at least.

[Fable Wright]

CHALLENGE: Build a Constructed deck for a non-Singleton format that fits the requirements for all five Blue companions, without being utter trash.

...

Is that even possible? Gyruda effectively makes Keruga's minimum 4 instead of 3, since 3 isn't even...

No, because there are only four blue Companions.

Otherwise, you're asking if it's possible to make a Lands deck non-trash in a non-singleton format but without Crucible of Worlds, Ranumap Excavator, Crop Rotation, Life from the Loam, or, well, any of the tutors. And also 80 cards instead of 60. Is it doable? Probably not.

[Amechra]

I think the only color where following all of the limits is impossible is Black, because you have to worry about both Gyruda and Obosh. It's also important to bear in mind that you won't actually be able to include most of the Companions in your deck - Red and Green can only include Jegantha, while White can't run any of them in the main deck (thanks to Lurrus).

And yeah, Gyruda's the only blue Companion you could actually have in the blue deck - the other three have odd CMCs.

EDIT: Here are the collective limits for Red, Green, and White:

Red: Your deck is singleton. All of your cards must have an odd CMC, can't repeat mana symbols, and permanent cards must have at least one activated ability.
Green: You can only run lands and one other card type - if that type is Creature, they must be Beasts, Cats, Dinosaurs, Elementals or Nightmares. You can't repeat mana symbols, and all of your non-lands have to cost 3+.
White: Your deck can't run permanent cards with a CMC greater than 2, and those permanents must have activated abilities. If you're running creatures, they have to be Beasts, Cats, Dinosaurs, Elementals, or Nightmares. Oh, and you need to increase your deck size by 20 cards.

Of those three, White seems the most doable?

[mythmonster2]

I'd say green, actually. Its creatures above 3 CMC are good, and Beasts are a solid creature type.

[enderlord99]

I'd say green, actually. Its creatures above 3 CMC are good, and Beasts are a solid creature type.

Maybe, but many of the good Beasts have (G)(G) in their mana-costs.

[Laughing Dog]

As a somewhat budget-ish MTGA player, I want to try to get into Historic. What are good uses for my WCs, remaining gold and which deck directions would you guide towards?

I enjoy Rakdos, Mono Red, Grixis, but the occasional Stompy or Gruul aggro/MR deck is not beneath me. Blue or White are not my colors, except for Mono Blue Tempo or White Weenies.

Depends. Are you looking for more competitive or casual? For competitive I recall that mono-black devotion is a thing, while porting over a mono-white lifegain deck from recent standard also works. Temur adventures is still relevant, while green stompy is definitely around. Red deck wins is always relevant as well. For casual? Port your favorite standard decks that rotated and tweak them as you play.

For wild cards I recommend grabbing Ugin (SD) and Ulamog. Leylines are always useful, as are the various board wipes. Be sure to have answers for enchantments, as shrines are annoying. Have quick answers for fish-with-sticks.

[Tvtyrant]

I found my new favorite combo for EDH: Shark Typhoon and Hall of Heliod's Generosity. Late game it lets you generate an uncounterable shark token each turn, or a bigger shark token every few turns as needed.

[Zhentarim]

Are these two cards good for building a commander deck?

[Tvtyrant]

Are these two cards good for building a commander deck?

As commanders: They don't have complimentary themes, so you are going to be building good stuff or picking one of them to focus on.

As colors: Two out of the three good colors, so yes. Green nets you ramp and fatties. Black gets you tutors, removal, and card draw. White is essentially there for board clears and removal so it overlaps with black, but you get cheaper exile effects. If you go good stuff Junk is pretty good, just a little less so then Sultai.

[Amechra]

As commanders: They don't have complimentary themes, so you are going to be building good stuff or picking one of them to focus on.

They have a little overlap - you could build an Aristocrats or Pox deck around them. Reyhan helps your board keep any +1/+1 counters you've built up as things die, and Ravos makes sure that you won't run out of creatures you can play as sacrifice fodder (or recurs important outlets).

[Zhentarim]

As commanders: They don't have complimentary themes, so you are going to be building good stuff or picking one of them to focus on.

As colors: Two out of the three good colors, so yes. Green nets you ramp and fatties. Black gets you tutors, removal, and card draw. White is essentially there for board clears and removal so it overlaps with black, but you get cheaper exile effects. If you go good stuff Junk is pretty good, just a little less so then Sultai.

I thought there would be good synergy, since ravos adds a +1/+1 counter to all creatures, and reyhan allows me to move +1/+1 around the board if my buffed permanent dies. I think creatures with hexproof and cards like "Kindred Boon" could do well in a deck like this.

[Fable Wright]

I thought there would be good synergy, since ravos adds a +1/+1 counter to all creatures, and reyhan allows me to move +1/+1 around the board if my buffed permanent dies. I think creatures with hexproof and cards like "Kindred Boon" could do well in a deck like this.

Ravos doesn't add +1/+1 counters. The +1/+1 he provides is static and can't be moved, and unlike counters, disappears after he leaves the battlefield.

[Rakaydos]

Rehan actually probably works better with a Simic deck. Gatherer seems to be down so I cant search for a good partner, but giving everything in a Graft deck Modular feels strong.

[Laughing Dog]

Are these two cards good for building a commander deck?

Well, the obvious theme for having those two as your commanders would be things dying and not staying dead. Something like adaptive shimmerer would be something that you could kill each turn, put counters on something else, then flash back in on the opponents turn. Good choices for other cards would be Renata, Great Henge, (for the extra +1/+1 counters); anything that has a beneficial effect upon your creatures dying, things that trigger when your creatures leave the graveyard, and of course sac outlets.

[tonberrian]

There's an awful lot of ways to build saprolings with tons of +1/+1 tokens on them. And then you can make something invincible in the inevitable board wipe and then swing with your biggest boy.

It might not be the most effective deck but it sounds like a lot of fun.

[Tvtyrant]

Works pretty well with Abzan Ascendancy. Crack creatures, get spirits, grow spirits.

[Mystic Muse]

I feel like Ghave Guru of Spores is also just generally nice in a +1/+1 counter themed deck.

[Amechra]

Rehan actually probably works better with a Simic deck. Gatherer seems to be down so I cant search for a good partner, but giving everything in a Graft deck Modular feels strong.

May I suggest Scryfall?

From that link, none of the Partners that would let Reyhan spread into Blue (for those sweet Evolve/Graft cards) really look like they'd work well with +1/+1 counter shenanigans. Maybe Kydele would work, if you're running cards like Fathom Mage or the like? Or some kind of four-color Ishai Voltron? If you wanted to go Jund instead, Rograkh and Tana look like your best bets,

There is actually a really good option for adding White, thanks to Commander Legends. Specifically, say hello to Alharu. White's actually pretty nice for this kind of deck, because it lets you play stuff like Hamza in your 98.

---

On a semi-related note, I love Bell Borca. He's a cool guy - solved his own murder and doesn't afraid of anything.

[Zhentarim]

May I suggest Scryfall?

From that link, none of the Partners that would let Reyhan spread into Blue (for those sweet Evolve/Graft cards) really look like they'd work well with +1/+1 counter shenanigans. Maybe Kydele would work, if you're running cards like Fathom Mage or the like? Or some kind of four-color Ishai Voltron? If you wanted to go Jund instead, Rograkh and Tana look like your best bets,

There are actually a really good option for adding White, thanks to Commander Legends. Specifically, say hello to Alharu. White's actually pretty nice for this kind of deck, because it lets you play stuff like Hamza in your 98.

---

On a semi-related note, I love Bell Borca. He's a cool guy - solved his own murder and doesn't afraid of anything.

If I pair Reyhan with Ishai, there is synergy there and it gets me blue cards, but that's a 4-color deck, and I was told playing commander with more than 3 colors is a bad idea.

If I paired Reyhan, Last of the Abzan with Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, would that work or do I now have too many colors in my deck to have a reliable mana curve? I'm thinking such a deck would probably want to be simic primary with an orzhov splash.

[Rakaydos]

May I suggest Scryfall?

From that link, none of the Partners that would let Reyhan spread into Blue (for those sweet Evolve/Graft cards) really look like they'd work well with +1/+1 counter shenanigans. Maybe Kydele would work, if you're running cards like Fathom Mage or the like? Or some kind of four-color Ishai Voltron? If you wanted to go Jund instead, Rograkh and Tana look like your best bets,

There are actually a really good option for adding White, thanks to Commander Legends. Specifically, say hello to Alharu. White's actually pretty nice for this kind of deck, because it lets you play stuff like Hamza in your 98.

---

On a semi-related note, I love Bell Borca. He's a cool guy - solved his own murder and doesn't afraid of anything.

Silas Renn, seeker-adept would work with classic mirrodin Modular cards, and other token-based artifact creatures, along with Simic graft cards.
Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is just a Clone, who opens up graft ane evolve. Simple, and as good as the rest of your deck allows.

[DeTess]

If I pair Reyhan with Ishai, there is synergy there and it gets me blue cards, but that's a 4-color deck, and I was told playing commander with more than 3 colors is a bad idea.

More than 3 colors means that you need to put a lot more attention into the manabase, but it's not necessarily a bad idea if you can (afford to) optimize the manabase so that it works. I wouldn't recommend more than 3 colors to a novice, because it does require some knowledge of both the available cards, and what hands to keep or mulligan to make it work.

Also, if a pair of commanders have the colors you want, and one you don't, you could always just focus on those three colors, splashing just enough lands and mana-rocks to ensure you reliability play the commander. A friend of mine plays a temur deck as if it's a simic deck (I think there's like 2 other red cards outside his commander in there), and it's a very nasty deck nonetheless.

[Zhentarim]

More than 3 colors means that you need to put a lot more attention into the manabase, but it's not necessarily a bad idea if you can (afford to) optimize the abasement so that it works. I wouldn't recommend more than 3 colors to a novice, because it does require some knowledge of both the available cards, and what hands to keep or mulligan to make it work.

Also, if a pair of commanders have the colors you want, and one you don't, you could always just focus on those three colors, splashing just enough lands and mana-rocks to ensure you reliability play the commander. A friend of mine plays a temur deck as if it's a simic deck (I think there's like 2 other red cards outside his commander in there), and it's a very nasty deck nonetheless.

I know a little about the game, sure, but there is more that I don't know than what I know.

I feel like a +1/+1 counter based commander would stack really well with hexproof.

[Ninjaman]

Posting in card designs would be threat necromancy, so I guess I'll just post here.

So I've been working on a custom set for about 8 months now over at he Custom Magic discord server, and I finally managed to fill all my entire card file, so I thought that was a good time to share it here. Obviously I will need to go through many more iterations of the cards before I can call the set done.
Orestan

[Techwarrior]

I started looking it over, here are some early thoughts. I'll take a look at more of it later.

Spoiler: White

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White looks to be the aggressive deck in this format, I have a lot of thoughts written down here, but that's because White has the effects you need to make aggro good, and how good aggro is defines your format pretty heavily.

Blessing of Unity - The extra text on this card looks to be relatively easy to trigger in color, making this give +1/+0 and Indestructible. This is probably too good as a combat trick.
Candlebearer - With the amount of tokens in color this churns through your deck really quickly. I wouldn't hate this being non-token because of the token theme in white.
Compassion - This is good, but might be too weak for a rare. It really depends on how good 2/2's attack and block in the set. See Liliana's Mastery (AKH)
Dissenter's Wrath - This is a strictly better Inspried Charge, and that card was really good in Core 2020. White on it's own enables this pretty well.
Dormancy - Pacifism with some amount or upside. It's going to depend on how good Exiling is as opposed to how much of a downside the targetting is.
Entity of Equilibrium - This is at Mythic, on first glance I'd have assumed it was a Rare. This is good for the dedicated aggro decks, but bad for the midrange and control decks. An efficient creature that draws cards better for aggro than for midrange and control is troubling. That said, I love the white feel of the card draw.
Fade into Oblivion - I would word this as a choose one card just to avoid confusion. It took at least two readings for me to make sure I understood it, and I'm one of the players at the draft table people go to for rulings questions.
Forbiddance - This is effectively impossible to play around, costs W, and is again much better for aggro than it is for any midrange style. This is because putting it on top of your opponents deck is as good as actual Counterspell when you're ending the game quickly.
Glory, the Steadfast - This is a sweet card, and is powered about appropriately for it's rarity. If you were trying to push this as a more midrange card I could see this being a 2/4 instead of a 3/3.
Guide of the Forsaken - This might get out of control too quickly for one mana. A curve of this into "On Patrol" is actually insane. If it wasn't quite as easy to get this going I could see this being fine, but at the moment I would expect that it should be pushed to 1W and maybe given a weak keyword.
Hallowed Slayer - This is a weirdly pricey way to get First Strike. I feel like as is the ability is too costly, but if discarding is a good thing in this format I could see it being fine.
Howling Fledgeling - This is the buffest grizzly bear I've seen in a while.
Impeccable Skill - If this doesn't get countered on the way down it's very problematic. This is the kind of Aura that's pretty good. Maybe too good?
Loyal Detainer - Basic tapper, the fact that this flies is neat, but probably fine.
Purpose - White Giant Growth (mostly).
Rebellion Angel - 3/3 Fliers for 5 with minor upside are almost always playable. This has some hoops to jump through but it's a 3/3 Flier that draws a card for 5. That's pretty good at common.
Regret, Prophecy's Demise - The god flavor text is neat, but it's still graveyard hate. See what I said above, except this is removal. At Rare (maybe Mythic) this is probably fine.
Renegade Marshal - This is pretty solid in an aggressive token strategy, which White pushes pretty hard, and it draws a card on death.
Renowned Guardian - This feels awkward. a 5 mana 3/4 is pretty weak, but if you can give the +1/+1 to an evasive threat it's pretty decent. Like a flying grizzly bear.
Repressive Skyguard - 3 mana 2/3 flyer that can attack as a 3/3 is solid. The incidental graveyard hate is also cool.
Swift Justice - This is a really good combat trick. +1 power, first strike, and lifelink swings combat on a lot of board states.
Unity - The recursion mechanic on this is interesting. White has some Exile removal, which might make this worse. Sigiled looks a bit hard to maintain.

Spoiler: Blue

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Blue looks to be doing standard blue things here, mostly being slow and durdly and then going over the top with value, card draw, and flyers. I looked over all the blue cards, and it looks like most of them are fine. I'm not sure if the whole of it is good enough that it's "too good," but these are the cards that I have thoughts on.

Devoted Seer - This is good if there's enough cheap spells (with a one color splash) but otherwise this is pretty meh.
Discerned Neverfolk - Is there upside to Examining? Otherwise this looks like a 2/1 with downside.
Dragged Through Time - I'm not sure if this feels too expensive or not. It's very slow as a counterspell, and not great as removal.
Gliding Magus - This is a very fast clock and allows you to hold up countermagic. It's very fragile though, so it's probably fine.
Herald of the Aether - I'm not seeing much in the way cheap stuff to make this good.
Look Beyond - This is the Examine payoff I was looking for.
Spell Capture - This is a worse Condescend. I'm not sure that this needs to be worse even with the Scry payoffs, but I might be wrong. X Counterspells are hard to get right.
Unravel - This is one of the best Cancels I've ever seen. Cancel is generally a touch awkard in limited, but still good.
Wailing Oracle - Is this self mill? I could see this being good as part of a dedicated mill deck for your opponent. Mono-Blue has been looking for a win condition beyond just having a 2/2 left over from all their accumulated value for a bit.

[Ninjaman]

I started looking it over, here are some early thoughts. I'll take a look at more of it later.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look through it.

Spoiler: White

Show

White looks to be the aggressive deck in this format, I have a lot of thoughts written down here, but that's because White has the effects you need to make aggro good, and how good aggro is defines your format pretty heavily.

I will definitely need to do more testing, but from what I have done it feels in pretty good place. I did change a couple very defensive commons at one point to make aggro more viable.

Blessing of Unity - The extra text on this card looks to be relatively easy to trigger in color, making this give +1/+0 and Indestructible. This is probably too good as a combat trick.

I'll keep an eye on it. I did consider making it 3 mana at always having the pump at first.

Candlebearer - With the amount of tokens in color this churns through your deck really quickly. I wouldn't hate this being non-token because of the token theme in white.

I specifically wanted this to support the token themes. If it ends up too good It's more likely I'll make it more expensive.

Compassion - This is good, but might be too weak for a rare. It really depends on how good 2/2's attack and block in the set. See Liliana's Mastery (AKH)

This was an uncommon at first and was changed due to being too powerful. If you had just a couple more creatures it pumped it presented a lot of power very easily, and it got very out of hand with both Deployed Husks and multiples of itself.

Dissenter's Wrath - This is a strictly better Inspried Charge, and that card was really good in Core 2020. White on it's own enables this pretty well.

I didn't play much Core 2020, but I know Inspired Charge generally hasn't been considered strong. I am definitely keeping my eyes on this though.

Dormancy - Pacifism with some amount or upside. It's going to depend on how good Exiling is as opposed to how much of a downside the targetting is.

I'd say generally the downside is bigger than the upside, but not by a lot, and Pacifism tends to be one of the best white removal spell in limited.

Entity of Equilibrium - This is at Mythic, on first glance I'd have assumed it was a Rare. This is good for the dedicated aggro decks, but bad for the midrange and control decks. An efficient creature that draws cards better for aggro than for midrange and control is troubling. That said, I love the white feel of the card draw.

Had a bit of a split for whether people thought it was a rare or agreed it was a mythic, but with more leaning mythic so far.
Some draw engines are strongest in aggro, I'll need to do constructed testing at some point to figure out if it's too strong, but I doubt it will be.
Notably I think aggro is the archetype that needs this, since midrange and control are more likely to play other colors and not rely on white for their card draw.

Fade into Oblivion - I would word this as a choose one card just to avoid confusion. It took at least two readings for me to make sure I understood it, and I'm one of the players at the draft table people go to for rulings questions.

That's very fair, I'll ask for what people prefer on the discord.
Edit but not really: I asked and people were in favor of making it a modal spell, thanks for the suggestion.

Forbiddance - This is effectively impossible to play around, costs W, and is again much better for aggro than it is for any midrange style. This is because putting it on top of your opponents deck is as good as actual Counterspell when you're ending the game quickly.

It is easier to play around than Spell Pierce. The spells you usually want to counter are planeswalkers and sweepers, which will often be good next turn as well.
Forbiddance definitely had some discussion, but by and large people thought it was okay.

Glory, the Steadfast - This is a sweet card, and is powered about appropriately for it's rarity. If you were trying to push this as a more midrange card I could see this being a 2/4 instead of a 3/3.

I'd like it to be viable for both aggro and midrange if possible,

Guide of the Forsaken - This might get out of control too quickly for one mana. A curve of this into "On Patrol" is actually insane. If it wasn't quite as easy to get this going I could see this being fine, but at the moment I would expect that it should be pushed to 1W and maybe given a weak keyword.

On Patrol doesn't trigger this, it gets pumped from creatures without subtypes and On Patrol makes soldiers.
I based it off Champion of the Parish.

Hallowed Slayer - This is a weirdly pricey way to get First Strike. I feel like as is the ability is too costly, but if discarding is a good thing in this format I could see it being fine.

3/1s for 2 are usually pretty fine by themselves, but it's possible the ability could go down to two mana.

Howling Fledgeling - This is the buffest grizzly bear I've seen in a while.

Yeah I'm keeping an eye on it.

Impeccable Skill - If this doesn't get countered on the way down it's very problematic. This is the kind of Aura that's pretty good. Maybe too good?

That's very possible. It's not unthinkable that it wants to grant vigilance instead. Will be trying it out at +1/+1 and vigilance.

Loyal Detainer - Basic tapper, the fact that this flies is neat, but probably fine.

It has played well in testing.

Purpose - White Giant Growth (mostly).

It's usually not, but sometimes it's better.

Rebellion Angel - 3/3 Fliers for 5 with minor upside are almost always playable. This has some hoops to jump through but it's a 3/3 Flier that draws a card for 5. That's pretty good at common.

This is definitely a card I want more testing on.

Regret, Prophecy's Demise - The god flavor text is neat, but it's still graveyard hate. See what I said above, except this is removal. At Rare (maybe Mythic) this is probably fine.

Yeah rares are quite a lot different from commons, but I'll still keep an eye on it since it's a relevant body with removal on ETB.

Renegade Marshal - This is pretty solid in an aggressive token strategy, which White pushes pretty hard, and it draws a card on death.

In the testing I've done with it was good but fair.

Renowned Guardian - This feels awkward. a 5 mana 3/4 is pretty weak, but if you can give the +1/+1 to an evasive threat it's pretty decent. Like a flying grizzly bear.

This is 4 mana.

Swift Justice - This is a really good combat trick. +1 power, first strike, and lifelink swings combat on a lot of board states.

It's a canon reprint.

Unity - The recursion mechanic on this is interesting. White has some Exile removal, which might make this worse. Sigiled looks a bit hard to maintain.

In testing sigiled has been fine to maintain. Being a mythic it's less important if white can support it well in limited, and having immediate impact it doesn't put that much need on maintaining sigiled.

Spoiler: Blue

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Devoted Seer - This is good if there's enough cheap spells (with a one color splash) but otherwise this is pretty meh.

It's a recent change, so no testing is done with it, but it's based on Elusive Spellfist and Burning Prophet.

Discerned Neverfolk - Is there upside to Examining? Otherwise this looks like a 2/1 with downside.

It's an awkward first examine card to see, since I think it's the only card in the set that examines without caring about examined cards in some way.

Dragged Through Time - I'm not sure if this feels too expensive or not. It's very slow as a counterspell, and not great as removal.

It's a griptide with a slight upside. Griptide tends to be fine. If you're set on removal you can cut this, if you're low on removal it can help you out.

Herald of the Aether - I'm not seeing much in the way cheap stuff to make this good.

I think I need more testing to see how it plays. It's possible that too many of the cheap spells are combat tricks, which can make this awkward.

Spell Capture - This is a worse Condescend. I'm not sure that this needs to be worse even with the Scry payoffs, but I might be wrong. X Counterspells are hard to get right.

Condescend is very good. Syncopate is relevant in both limited and standard, and this is comparable in terms of power level.

Unravel - This is one of the best Cancels I've ever seen. Cancel is generally a touch awkard in limited, but still good.

Yeah I'm hoping this is a standard playable Cancel variant which I think it is.
I think the blue decks often want to play one of these but rarely two, which I think is a good place to be.

Wailing Oracle - Is this self mill? I could see this being good as part of a dedicated mill deck for your opponent. Mono-Blue has been looking for a win condition beyond just having a 2/2 left over from all their accumulated value for a bit.

Self Mill is to support sigiled. Blue will typically win with evasive threats. At common it has three fliers and two creatures that can become unblockable.