MTG Salvation

Quote from Xcric »

Quote from Legend »

Quote from joejack8445 »

I think most of the confusion for Paradox Engine's banning is why now and not 20 months ago?

The RC/CAD is between a rock and a hard place.
Ban it early on and be criticized for not giving it a chance.
Give it a chance and be criticized for not banning it early on.
They chose the latter, which I tend to agree with.

if it took this long to realize it was a problem what game are they even playing?

there's giving things a chance, and then there's not doing anything. the card's been out so long its rotated out of standard... that should have been plenty of time to say hey wait a minute, even in decks that use it "fairly" its degenerate.

When, exactly, is the perfect time to ban a card in Commander?
A time that isn’t too early or too late?

There have been many cards over the years that were predicted to be ZOMGSO broken in Commander (and other formats) that turned out to be fine or even duds.
Perhaps the RC/CAD thought/hoped Paradox Engine would be one of them.
Assume the best about people. It’ll brighten your outlook and theirs.

Quote from joejack8445 »

I think most of the confusion for Paradox Engine's banning is why now and not 20 months ago?

The RC/CAD is between a rock and a hard place.
Ban it early on and be criticized for not giving it a chance.
Give it a chance and be criticized for not banning it early on.
They chose the latter, which I tend to agree with.

The usual suspects all work well with this.

• Armory Automaton
  
• Auriok Windwalker
  
• Balan, Wandering Knight
  
• Brass Squire
  
• Grip of Phyresis
  
• Hammer of Nazahn
  
• Kazuul's Toll Collector
  
• Kor Outfitter
  
• Magnetic Theft
  
• Nahiri, the Lithomancer
  
• Quest for the Holy Relic
  
• Sigarda's Aid
  
• Stonehewer Giant
  
• Vulshok Battlemaster
  

Would have made a nice Desert.

Quote from AnImAr_ »

This couldn't be a 3/4?

I’d settle for a 1/4.

MTGN > MTGS

I’m holding a live multiplayer Brawl tournament (with prize support) on July 20th at a local shop. I find it interesting and satisfying that so many players (even Spikes) want to enter despite the bad press the format has received online. I’ll also be playing in the tournament, legendary themed Orzhov with Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord at the helm, whose static goes very well with Command the Dreadhorde.

“Food?”
“Check!”
“Shelter?”
“Check!”
“Clothing?”
“...”
“Clothing!?”
“...”

Saw a guy wreck a draft with Parhelion. The last play of the final game was attacking with Parhelion. It was a glorious sight. Even the runner up enjoyed it.

Quote from cryogen »

Could you elaborate some? What would you change about our moderation style?

Stop being thought police. Sometimes it’s like 1984 around here. For example, Person-A can call Person-B a “Nazi” with impunity, but B gets infracted for using the abbreviation “SJW”. My point isn’t that negative terminology should be permitted, but that moderators should moderate with equity, rather than favoring one group and alienating another. That sort of moderating has directly resulted in many decent members leaving the site for good. Members that were deemed toxic because they had different views than the moderators. 🙂

I enjoyed designing the Setha and Gvar Partners so much that I felt inspired to make more. This time the focus is on WUBR Wizards.

NAME, Replacer Mage 2UB
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever you cast a spell that targets a single creature, you may create a token that's a copy of that creature.
Whenever another creature dies, if you control a creature with the same name as that creature, you may draw a card.
Partner (You can have two commanders as long as both have partner.)
2/4

This Wizard serves House Dimir, specializing in cloning individuals then eliminating the original and replacing them with their doppelganger. It's a classic clone conspiracy. Mechanically this not only works well with Cipher but also with combat tricks, removal, and sacrifice effects such as Exploit.

NAME, Ordruun Warmage 3RW
Legendary Creature - Minotaur Wizard
Vigilance, haste
Instant and sorcery spells you control have lifelink.
R, T: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Partner (You can have two commanders as long as both have partner.)
3/3

This Minotaur warmage is part of the Boros Legion. She has vigilance and haste so as to be able to play well with the usual Boros aggro tactics, she turns Lightning Bolts into Lightning Helixes, and she has a tap ability that copies instants and sorceries, which works well in tandem with haste. Most likely she learned that last trick from the Izzet.

I do wonder though if red's still allowed to copy spells your opponents control? Seems like a useful answer to counterspells which is in keeping with red having anti-counter effects, but as I recall a lot of recent red spell copying effects have been restricted to spells you cast. I also wonder if this design is a little too much value for a Partner legend? I could see this lady holding her own without Partner, adding Partner just opens up the range of burn spells she can enhance and copy (Rakdos's Return, Savage Twister, Prophetic Bolt). Not to mention comboing with cards like To Arms! and Dramatic Reversal.

I brainstormed this design today, an Abzan Elf legend from Kaladesh that can function as a commander for Fabricate and Revolt.

Shani, Servo Stylist WBG
Legendary Creature - Elf Artificer
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may pay X. If you do, Shani gains fabricate X.
1, Remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control: Create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.
1, Sacrifice an artifact: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
3/3

The basic idea is that you can exchange your +1/+1 counters for Servos and vice versa. As a result the design ended up quite similar to Ghave, Guru of Spores, but a Ghave-like design just happens to work so well for Fabricate and Revolt. Finding the right curve proved tricky, so I opted for an X cost that determines the value of Shani's Fabricate ability. Putting the X in the mana cost could theoretically work, but that would prevent players from being able to flicker Shani for more counters and tokens like they can for other Fabricate creatures. So, you pay X as she enters the battlefield instead.

Originally her sacrifice ability accepted creatures or artifacts, but I felt it didn't match the flavor as Shani doesn't turn people into Servos, plus she's an artificer so she can get away with just sacrificing artifacts. Part of the reason I made her an Elf is for the sake of type line space, not to mention we have yet to get an Abzan Elf so there's some novelty there.

I am interested in considering alternative design concepts, though, like maybe using +1/+1 counters as a resource to flicker, or using artifact sacrifice for removal?

Heya! I'm still designing for Viperdale, a rival school for Strixhaven. I want to keep the instant / sorcery theme, so here is a mechanic to bolster the triggers: Scrolls.

Scrolls work much like Adventures, except they are closer to Split cards with Fuse. You get either the Creature or the Sorcery, or both at the same time (in this case, the sorcery becomes a copy and must follow the creature.)
In equation form:
Adventure: Creature, --or-- Sorcery then Creature.
Scroll: Creature --or-- Sorcery --or-- Creature plus copy of Sorcery.



This allows us to create cards like:

Rummage 1U
Instant - Scroll
(Cast this alone, or as a copy alongside)
Draw a card.
--
Rummaging Thief 2U
Creature - Human Rogue
Whenever Rummaging Thief deals combat damage to an opponent, cast a copy of its scroll without paying its mana cost.
1/2

So this is a Ophidian with Cycle, but it also cantrips for 3UU, and helps trigger those Magecraft abilities. Also adds a flavor of "a creature, plus its signature spell."


Grobbler's Curse 2B
Sorcery - Scroll
(Cast this alone, or as a copy alongside)
Target player sacrifices a creature.
--
Grobbler, Rot Warlock 4B
Legendary Creature - Human Warlock
Deathtouch
When Grobbler dies, exile it. You may cast Grobbler's Curse alone from exile.
4/4

A fun design that works like a backwards adventure. Cast Grobbler first, then its spell. (Or both, and then just its spell.)

Edit: Like one hout later, I just read Maro's article today! They actually had Scrolls as inside a card during desing! That's so awesome

nothing from one of my sets, just an idea I've been playing with lately.

Mech Armor (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and return this Equipment to your hand)

Example:

Stingray Hardsuit 4
Artifact - Equipment (Uncommon)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2.
If equipped creature is blue, it has flying.
Mech Armor (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and return this Equipment to your hand)
Equip 2

Pristine Hardsuit 2
Artifact - Equipment (Rare)
Equipped creature gets +1/+0 and can't block.
Mech Armor (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and return this Equipment to your hand)
Equip 1

Hardskull Battersuit 6
Artifact - Equipment (Mythic)
When Hardskull Battersuit enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 colorless Pilot creature token then attach this to it.
Equipped creature gets +4/+4 and has trample.
Mech Armor (If equipped creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and return this Equipment to your hand)
Equip 6

In casual games outside of sanctioned tournaments, with Living Wish you can choose any "creature or land card you own from outside the game"; in general, the comprehensive rules do not limit this choice depending on how many cards with the same name as that card are in your deck (review C.R. 400.11), but see comment 5. See also this thread. Note that under C.R. 103.1, each player's deck becomes a library, so no longer counts as a deck; see also the glossary, which defines "deck" as "the collection of cards a player starts the game with".

EDIT (Apr. 17, 2020): Edited to conform to rule update with Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

(04/15/20): Beginning with Ikoria, I will no longer be updating this primer location. You can find my primer continued HERE, along with a consistently updated decklist. Thank you all for your ongoing support over the years, I have been proud to continue to keep this primer alive and well, and will continue to do so elsewhere.



Introduction:

Momir Vig, as a card, commander, and deck, is predicated on synthesis: A fusion of two very different elements. It brings together the best of blue and the best of green into an unstoppable monstrosity… Just like Vig created Experiment Kraj. As you enter into this deck primer, be prepared to experience just that – a synthesis of knowledge and strength.

This is a competitive EDH deck primer. If you are looking to play a more casual game with Momir Vig, please ask, I would be happy to give some input on how you can do this.

Short history and bio:

The deck has undergone many changes over the years, and I have whittled the average mana cost down. For a time I used to play mostly 3 and 4-cost spells and creatures; now I have a concentration at CMC 2. What started as goodstuff.dec has evolved into a lean competitive control-combo deck. Rather than play cards like Craterhoof Behemoth, Consecrated Sphinx, and Deadeye Navigator, this deck focuses on low-cost, high value creatures.

Much of the change that this deck has gone through was as a result of meta calls at the time. After a time though, changes were less dependent on what I needed to play against specific decks, and focused more on making the deck better at what it tries to do. Faster ways of making infinite mana, while keeping the deck reliable and consistent. This deck, and commander, specialize in creature tutoring. I have tried to make it consistent and hard to beat at that, and so there are multiple failsafes in place before you can truly throw your hands up and say "there's no way I can win."

One small note about the deck: THIS IS NOT ELF/HACKBALL MOMIR VIG. Different Vig builds exist that rely heavily on cheap mana dorks to trigger Vig’s green ability, and run a package of elf dorks. This deck plays only a few mana dorks. Personally, I believe that this gives you a lot more resiliency, even if it makes you a little slower. Toxic Deluge is not your friend, and if you’re risking your mana base in a wrath, then that just sets you back even more.

The Play of the deck:
This deck is designed as a competitive creature-based combo deck that has the added bonus of not relying on graveyard shenanigans. Very basically, you use Momir Vig’s ability to tutor up whatever your heart desires, and assemble a win by making infinite mana, or drawing your entire deck.

Why do I want to play this deck?

This deck is for you if:

• You like to play the colors blue and green – objectively the best colors in Commander.
• You like to win with creatures on the board.
• You like to play counterspells.
• You like to win out of nowhere with a totally empty board.

This deck may not be for you if:

• You feel bad when your turns take ten minutes while your opponents wait for you to finish.
• You dislike stacking triggers and sequencing cards.
• You don’t like winning with creatures/dislike playing permanents.
• You like winning with creatures, but only when they attack. This deck NEVER attacks.

Other commander options:
Momir Vig is a tutor on demand. He freely tutors things into your hand or on top of your library any time you do what your deck already likes to do – just casting creatures. For a competitive deck in these colors, he is probably your best choice, but you may be able to find some similar replacements:

Prime Speaker Vannifar - This is probably the only card I have ever considered replacing Momir Vig with. Like Vig, Vannifar operates on a specific combo, and can win a single turn after coming down. However, Vannifar has important issues that cannot be solved easily. One of Vig's strengths is that there is no over-reliance on the commander, whereas you NEED Vannifar to win the game. If you are interested in playing UG combo decks, Vannifar would be my second recommendation behind Vig.

Prime Speaker Zegana – This deck requires a slightly different build, with more in-deck tutors and bigger creatures, but works on generally the same principle. You have a draw engine in the command zone, which you should be able to easily abuse to draw a bunch of cards, more or less netting the same effect as Vig, which is card advantage. She is a good choice for a more casual build, or a deck that wants to play bigger creatures that do more things.

Ezuri, Claw of Progress – While the two decks play very differently, both rely heavily on small high-value creatures. If you’re picking this deck up to play small creatures efficiently and do crazy things with them, Ezuri might not be bad alternative pick for you.

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter/Thrasios, Triton Hero – Rashmi employs the same kind of value strategy that Vig likes to play: getting things off the top of your library for free. She is a little less efficient than Zegana or Vig, but you can tailor the deck to be more of a control-combo deck, rather than combo-control (meaning that you can play a dedicated UG control deck with a combo finish, rather than a deck that seeks to combo, with control elements). Thrasios also offers you a more traditional card advantage route, ignoring for a moment the storm deck potentials he has.

Kruphix, God of Horizons/Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix - Both of these commanders serve to help you generate loads of mana, and allow you to then put that mana to to good use by casting a giant Genesis Wave or sinking it into Helix Pinnacle. While Vig used to run both of these cards, it has since moved away to becoming more creature-focused.

Master Decklist by card type:

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 1 Arbor Elf 1 Birds of Paradise 1 Elvish Reclaimer 1 Llanowar Elves 1 Caustic Caterpillar 1 Sylvan Safekeeper 1 Cloud of Faeries 1 Coiling Oracle 1 Collector Ouphe 1 Hermit Druid 1 Genesis Hydra 1 Gilded Drake 1 Kiora's Follower 1 Biomancer's Familiar 1 Destiny Spinner 1 Lotus Cobra 1 Painter's Servant0 1 Phantasmal Image 1 Thassa's Oracle 1 Thrasios, Triton Hero 1 Eternal Witness 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1 Spellseeker 1 Reclamation Sage 1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways 1 Shardless Agent 1 Somberwald Sage 1 Trophy Mage 1 Nylea, Keen-Eyed 1 Temur Sabertooth 1 Vizier of the Menagerie 1 Beast Whisperer 1 Prime Speaker Vannifar	Instants 1 Worldly Tutor 1 Noxious Revival 1 Flusterstorm 1 Pact of Negation 1 Crop Rotation 1 Swan Song 1 Memory's Journey 1 Cyclonic Rift 1 Mana Drain 1 Muddle the Mixture 1 Chord of Calling 1 Force of Negation 1 Force of Will Sorceries 1 Sylvan Tutor 1 Neoform 1 Finale of Devastation 1 Eldritch Evolution 1 Timetwister Enchantments 1 Utopia Sprawl 1 Wild Growth 1 Mystic Remora 1 Survival of the Fittest 1 Sylvan Library 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc 1 Aluren Artifacts 1 Chrome Mox 1 Mox Diamond 1 Mana Crypt 1 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Sol Ring 1 Cloudstone Curio Planeswalkers 1 Oko, Thief of Crowns 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales	Lands 1 Botanical Sanctum 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge 1 Dryad Arbor 1 Ancient Tomb 1 Yavimaya Coast 1 Winding Canyons 1 Hinterland Harbor 1 City of Brass 1 Mana Confluence 1 Reflecting Pool 1 Forbidden Orchard 1 Breeding Pool 1 Cavern of Souls 1 Command Tower 1 Flooded Grove 1 Flooded Strand 1 Gaea's Cradle 1 Lotus Field 1 Misty Rainforest 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 1 Polluted Delta 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Deserted Temple 1 Tolaria West 1 Tropical Island 1 Verdant Catacombs 1 Waterlogged Grove 1 Windswept Heath 1 Wooded Foothills

Below you will find the nonland cards organized by what role they play. Some of these cards fit into multiple roles, and so I tried to pick the best roles for them, and how I use them most often. For example, I have Genesis Hydra listed under “protection” because while it can also be placed under “Card advantage” (because it puts another permanent in addition to itself on the field) 9/10 times I use it as a means of getting a creature onto the field in an uncounterable manner, thus using it as “protection.”

Master Decklist sorted by function

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Kill cards (wincon pieces) 1 Cloud of Faeries 1 Temur Sabertooth 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways 1 Hermit Druid 1 Thassa's Oracle 1 Memory's Journey High Value Cards 1 Nylea, Keen-Eyed 1 Biomancer's Familiar 1 Aluren 1 Cloudstone Curio 1 Painter's Servant 1 Phantasmal Image Protection 1 Noxious Revival 1 Sylvan Safekeeper 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1 Eternal Witness 1 Genesis Hydra 1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales 1 Destiny Spinner Counter Suite 1 Flusterstorm 1 Swan Song 1 Pact of Negation 1 Mana Drain 1 Muddle the Mixture 1 Force of Negation 1 Force of Will	Removal 1 Caustic Caterpillar 1 Reclamation Sage 1 Cyclonic Rift 1 Gilded Drake 1 Collector Ouphe 1 Oko, Thief of Crowns Tutor 1 Worldy Tutor 1 Sylvan Tutor 1 Crop Rotation 1 Elvish Reclaimer 1 Survival of the Fittest 1 Neoform 1 Chord of Calling 1 Finale of Devastation 1 Eldritch Evolution 1 Prime Speaker Vannifar 1 Spellseeker 1 Trophy Mage Ramp 1 Arbor Elf 1 Birds of Paradise 1 Llanowar Elves 1 Fyndhorn Elves 1 Utopia Sprawl 1 Wild Growth 1 Kiora's Follower 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder 1 Lotus Cobra 1 Somberwald Sage 1 Earthcraft 1 Sol Ring 1 Mana Crypt 1 Mox Diamond 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc	Card Advantage and Selection 1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Growth 1 Coiling Oracle 1 Shardless Agent 1 Vizier of the Menagerie 1 Duskwatch Recruiter 1 Thrasios, Triton Hero 1 Beast Whisperer 1 Mystic Remora 1 Sensei's Divining Top 1 Sylvan Library 1 Timetwister

Individual Card Analysis:
The deck has a nearly 3-way split for each portion of the deck: 1/3 creatures, 1/3 lands, 1/3 noncreature, nonlands. I will first address cards by type and CMC, and then sort them into a second decklist by function.

Creatures:
The Commander
Momir Vig triggers when you cast either green or blue creatures. Green creatures will allow you to effectively cast a Sylvan Tutor, placing the creature you tutor for on top of the library. Blue creatures will allow you to reveal the top card of your library, and put it into your hand if it’s a creature (NOT draw, a key distinction!). Green-Blue creatures will let you do both, in whatever order you choose.
More often than not you will want to stack Blue then Green triggers, wanting the Green to resolve BEFORE the Blue trigger (resolves in reverse order). But sometimes there is a card on top that you want in your hand, and you can take that and then resolve the green trigger.


Noncreature, nonland cards

Lands:

Cards that didn't make the cut:
This section is about cards that didn't quite get there for me, or that I'm not currently playing for one reason or another. This list will be expanded as necessary. Many of these cards are meta choices that can come in and out of the deck depending on what your meta requires.

Synergies, Combos, and Tips:
Here is the section on explaining the basic interactions in the deck. Remember, you must have a way to USE infinite mana once you have generated it!

Making infinite mana:
Temur Sabertooth + Cloud of Faeries
This combo is generally used at earlier stages in the game. It requires Gaea's Cradle that taps for GGGG, and 2 Islands or U producing lands. To cast and bounce Cloud of Faeries costs 2GU for the process. Any time you can tap 2 lands to produce 5+ mana you will make infinite mana. Once you have made infinite G with Cradle and 1 Island, repeat the process by untapping 2 Islands instead of 1 with Faeries, generating infinite U at a conversion rate of GGG = U. Also works with Nykthos (as long as you can produce enough G or U to keep it going and adding mana to your pool).

NOTE: The colors of mana do not matter if you control Vizier of the Menagerie.

Temur Sabertooth + Cloud of Faeries + Aluren
Allows you to make infinite mana with Cradle only tapping for GG, which is literally just the Sabertooth and Faeries on the field. Aluren lets you cast the Faeries for free, reducing the cost of the cycle to just 1G. The second land you untap with CoF generates the infinite mana.

Temur Sabertooth + Cloud of Faeries + Aluren + Biomancer's Familiar
Allows you to combo infinitely with any 2 lands. Faeries is free, Temur Sabertooth only costs G to activate. You spend G to untap 2 lands, making infinite mana. Can also make infinite without Aluren (just Biomancer's Familiar) if 2 lands untap for at least 4 mana (Since cycle will cost 1GU to repeat).

Cloud of Faeries + Aluren + Cloudstone Curio
You need only Faeries and another creature with CMC 3 or less to go infinite. You just keep recasting one and bouncing the other for free.

Cloud of Faeries + Cloudstone Curio
In order for these to go infinite with Curio, all you need is a second creature that costs less than the mana you make. So if you have Cloud of Faeries, Cradle, and Curio on the field, and a second creature to let cradle tap for GG, all you need is a CMC 1 creature (mana dork or otherwise), you can go infinite right there! Cradle taps for 3 mana, a blue land taps for U, and you make UGGG while spending UGG, generating a net G each cycle.

Spending infinite mana:
Temur Sabertooth + Coiling Oracle
Play every land in your deck, put every nonland in your hand.

Thrasios, Triton Hero
Play every land in your deck, put every nonland in your hand.

Nylea, Keen-Eyed
Put every creature in your hand.

Once you have your deck in your hand, proceed with the following steps:

1. Overload Cyclonic Rift: Bouncing your opponents' boards is critical.
2. Cast Shaman of Forgotten Ways: One of the actual wincons.
3. Cast Finale of Devastation for X=10+: This is to ensure all your creatures have haste.
4. Activate Shaman of Forgotten Ways’ second ability, the Biorhythm effect. Use it to put people’s life totals to 0 after a Cyclonic Rift.

NOTE: Optionally, once you have all your creatures on the field, you can swing for lethal when every creature has nearly infinite power from Finale of Devastation.

The Other Combo
With the printing of Thassa's Oracle, winning the game has never been easier. Oracle helps us win in one of two simple ways:

1. After drawing your entire deck, simply cast Thassa's Oracle on an empty library. Once the ETB trigger resolves, even if the Oracle is removed and you otherwise have 0 devotion (highly unlikely), you will win the game on the spot.

2. Casting the Oracle when you control a Hermit Druid that does not have summoning sickness. Once the Oracle resolves and the ETB trigger is on the stack, activate Druid to mill your entire library. This will allow for the Oracle's ability to resolve right after you mill your library, winning you the game.

NOTE: Do NOT attempt to activate Hermit Druid BEFORE the Oracle has resolved and the ETB trigger is on the stack. If the Oracle gets countered, you will lose the game next draw step for having no cards in library. The only thing that would save you then is a Timetwister cast before you untap next turn.

The risky win: Speed at the cost of security
There is one other means of winning with the Hermit Oracle combo. This is by far the fastest, as well as riskiest way to win. Do NOT attempt this mode if you suspect or see any kind of graveyard hate.

With this method, you do not need to have Thassa's Oracle in your hand to win the game. After casting Hermit Druid, pass the turn and proceed with the following actions on your next turn:

Mana required: UUGG

1. Upkeep: Activate Hermit Druid, mill entire library
2. Upkeep: Cast Memory's Journey for its Flashback cost. Return Thassa's Oracle* to your deck.
3. Draw: Draw the Oracle
4. Main 1: Cast Thassa's Oracle, win the game

Using this method negates the need to have tutored Thassa's Oracle to hand to go off. Memory's Journey effectively acts as a tutor in this case.

*NOTE: Sometimes it is important to play it safe when choosing what to return. If you suspect people can interfere with the top card of your library, or may have targeted exile effects to get rid of Thassa's Oracle, you must decide if you wish to save yourself by getting back other cards - which reduces your chances of winning that turn if you do not have any form of topdeck manipulation available. Getting back Oracle alone guarantees a 100% chance of drawing it. Oracle + 1 card gives you a 50% chance, and Oracle + 2 cards gives you a 33% chance to win that turn. Determining the willingness to take the risk is ultimately up to the pilot.

Q: What cards should I get back with Memory's Journey apart from Thassa's Oracle?
A: This depends on the situation. Destiny Spinner and Cavern of Souls protect Thassa's Oracle from being countered. Timetwister refills your deck in the event of a combo failure. Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, Noxious Revival, and Eternal Witness further protect you from losing immediately (Noxous Revival gives you an extra draw step as well by putting a card on top of your library instead of into your hand).

Synergistic interactions:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary + Shardless Agent + Coiling Oracle.
One of the best sequences nets you a possible 4-for-1, and populating the board aplenty (which helps massively when you have Gaea's Cradle down). Cast Shardless Agent, and stack the Momir Vig triggers and Cascade triggers like so:

1. Resolve the green trigger first, search for Coiling Oracle, put it on top of your library.
2. Cascade into the Coiling Oracle, which triggers Momir Vig once again. Search for whatever you want (I tend to prefer Kiora's Follower, as untapping your Cradle is so sweet.) and use both the new Green and Blue triggers to put what you search for in your hand.
3. Follow it up with the Coiling Oracle ETB trigger. If you get lucky once again, you've just ramped into a land. If not, you draw a card.
4. Use the additional blue trigger from the Shardless Agent cast. If you're lucky, you'll reveal a creature, and bam! Another free card. Best case scenario, you'll gain four cards for just 1GU.

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary + Vizier of the Menagerie OR Beast Whisperer OR Painter's Servant + Aluren
Having these 3 cards enables you to cast any green creature, and tutoring for a cheap creature (CMC 3 or less) and put it on top of your library. Vizier lets you cast the top card, and Aluren lets you do it for free. Vig allows you to replace the card you just cast with another card put on top. It creates an endless cycle that allows you to power out most of the creatures in your deck.

How do I win if...
...Cloud of Faeries gets exiled?
Cloud of Faeries is the lynchpin of the deck. It is what singlehandedly enables you to generate infinite mana. Without it, you can make a lot of mana, but it's very difficult to go infinite. Palinchron may come back into the deck to compensate if CoF is getting removed a lot. In case of emergency, the alternate wincon is to overload Cyclonic Rift and then activate Shaman of Forgotten Ways' Biorhythm effect. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

NOTE: In this case, you can also rely on your other combo, "Hermit Oracle" (Hermit Druid + Thassa's Oracle) to win.

...Temur Sabertooth gets exiled?
A: You will have to rely on Cloudstone Curio to carry the day. You can still make infinite mana with Cloud of Faeries and another creature and proceed with your combo as planned. Curio offers redundancy for Sabertooth.

...Thrasios, Triton Hero gets exiled/stolen/exiled without recovery (facedown)?
A: You still have Nylea, Keen-Eyed and Coiling Oracle to spend infinite mana on.

...My good lands like Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx get removed?
A: If they're destroyed, there are a number of different ways to get them back from the graveyard. If they're exiled, you can still make infinite mana with other options like Growing Rites of Itlimoc as a backup, though it's harder to find, as you can't tutor for it. Lotus Field, or lands enchanted with Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth can all serve as infinite mana enablers in a pinch.

NOTE: In this case, you can also rely on your other combo, "Hermit Oracle" (Hermit Druid + Thassa's Oracle) to win.

...Shaman of Forgotten Ways gets exiled?
A: Play all your creatures, then cast Finale of Devastation for X=infinite. Swing at all your opponents for super lethal.

NOTE: In this case, you can also rely on your other combo, "Hermit Oracle" (Hermit Druid + Thassa's Oracle) to win.

...Hermit Druid gets exiled?

A: Proceed with the infinite mana plan.

...Thassa's Oracle gets exiled?

A: You can still win in the traditional manner without winning "on the spot" with an Oracle ETB. Go infinite, cast Finale for a billion, and activate Shaman or swing with your board for lethal.

...Thassa's Oracle gets exiled after I have activated Hermit Druid, in response to me using Memory's Journey to put it back in my deck?

A: This kind of situation is the diciest. In most cases, you will simply end up losing regrettably. Mass graveyard removal is essentially game over. Faerie Macabre spells doom as well. To play around Faerie Macabre, your goal should be to use Memory's Journey to get back Eternal Witness, Noxious Revival, and Thassa's Oracle. Ideally, with the Macabre they will likely select Thassa's Oracle and Eternal Witness to exile, leaving you Noxious Revival (or potentially E-Wit if they want to keep your deck empty). You do this so that you may use the one card that has not been exiled to retrieve Timetwister, to refill your library if your Hermit Oracle combo is disrupted.

...Multiple pieces of the wincon gets exiled/removed?
A: This is the toughest problem, and it very much decreases your chances of winning. But you can STILL win! In one very improbable game, after having all my infinite mana outlets removed, I had a bunch of creatures out with a Nykthos. After some shenanigans (like casting Eternal Witness to get a land from the yard) I was able to generate exactly 18 mana, overload a Cyclonic Rift for 7, and then activate Shaman of Forgotten Ways for the other 11, winning me the game all in one turn. Unless you get hit with a particularly unfortunate Ulamog attack and he exiles almost every wincon piece, this deck has a ton of recovery options and backups to still win the game.

Important Tips:
Earthcraft + infinite mana engine
With Earthcraft, you are able to tap the creature you just cast for mana as well, reducing the land requirements (and color requirements as well, if you can untap a basic Island). Cloud of Faeries lets you effectively untap three lands this way, making infinite much easier.

Hermit Oracle NOTE: This section does not apply with the Hermit Oracle combo in the deck: There are no basics, so you cannot run Earthcraft.

Building your landbase:
This is a tip that should generally apply to all decks, but is especially important for this, and other competitive decks. Right now, the only land that I run that enters the battlefield tapped is Tolaria West. In constructing the land base for this deck, I would recommend running as few lands that ETB tapped as possible. The less your lands ETB tapped, the faster your deck is. Half the battle is being able to cast a 2 drop on turn 2, instead of having to wait until turn 3 to cast a 2 drop. Fixing is important, but you shouldn't sacrifice speed for it, especially not in only a 2-color deck. On a budget, running a few cards like Temple of Mystery is okay, but I would try to avoid playing too many, especially bad ones like Thornwood Falls or Lumbering Falls.

Hermit Oracle combo EDIT: The above text applies in the case of running no basic lands, though somewhat less so. There will inevitably be more lands that enter tapped or do less, such as Dryad Arbor or Hinterland Harbor with only 2 Islands or 3 Forests in the deck to let it ETB untapped. While regrettable, the efficiency and speed of the Hermit Oracle combo is such that these sacrifices are worthwhile.

How to play the deck:
Momir Vig operates on slightly slower timetable from T1 CEDH combo decks. Where those decks can win as soon as T2-3 Vig will usually go off on turns 4-5, and sometimes turn 3. A turn 2 win is possible, but it requires nearly perfect draws. Some may complain that this is too slow to go toe-to-toe with the top competitive decks, and they may be correct in that assessment. However, in my personal experience, the deck pilots much more consistently when you can reliably win later on, and set up a lot of value to get you there, rather than try to explode as quickly as possible and pray they don’t have a Toxic Deluge.

In typical CEDH pods in my experience, decks faceoff in a "Mexican standoff" where everyone tries to be the second person to combo. Combo too soon and your opponents will meet you with counters and removal. Combo too late and you'll let someone else win. My personal experience tells me that a T4 win (most common in this deck) is the perfect balance between keeping up answers/counters for your opponents, and comboing off after others have spent their resources and getting shut down.

Draw your opening hand:
In your opening hand you usually want to have anywhere between 2 and 3 lands. 4 often too much, especially if you have mana dorks in hand. Anything less or more will make you too unreliable. Too few lands and you get screwed and you’re out of the game. Too many and you’re flooded. If you have artifact or creature based ramp, or card selection, you can afford to keep fewer lands. For instance, keeping 2 lands and a Sylvan Library is somewhat risky, but can potentially lead to high payoffs.

An opening hand should have lots of early action. You should be playing lots of ramp and tutors, as well as powering out your small creatures. If you're casting Momir Vig on turn 5, you're already going too slow. Make sure your hand allows you to have some card advantage in the early turns.

Start of the game:
Your first two turns should be focused on ramping and establishing a board presence. The deck offers a multitude of options and paths to take, and so it’s important to learn how to respond to different cards through playtesting.

Turns 1-2: Build up the board
The first two turns are usually the safest turns. People are still building their boards themselves, so this is when you should take the opportunity to play your most valuable cards as quickly as possible. It's important to balance casting creatures and holding them up for Vig triggers. This changes from game to game, and from hand to hand, but sometimes you need to hold creatures back so they can provide more advantage later. If you topdeck a turn 2 Llanowar Elves, casting them may provide +1 mana on turn 3, but if you know you can cast Momir Vig on turn 3, you may want to hold the Elves to cast them and trigger Vig for cheap.

Remember that Momir Vig is a toolbox commander: You should tutor for things that you need when you need them. A default “value play” would be casting Shardless Agent into Coiling Oracle. It generates a potential 4-for-1 card advantage, plus establishes greater board presence (interaction explained in Synergies and Combos section). Another good play would be to get Sylvan Safekeeper or Kira out to protect your creatures.

Turn 3: Protecting what you’ve got and setting up to win
By the time Turn 3 rolls around, assuming you haven’t been interacted with too strongly, the deck should be poised to set up for a win in the next two turns. Once a sufficient board presence has been established, you should be tutoring to put that board to good use. Tutor for cards that you think will assist you in the given context. If the board is cleared and people are tapped out, tutor for your wincons and try to setup a win next turn. If you’re running low on resources, Seedborn Muse + Thrasios, Triton Hero or Duskwatch Recruiter is a fine play, to activate on each player’s turn. If people are holding up mana and counterspells, bring in some protection like Teferi, Kira, or Sylvan Safekeeper.

Turns 4-5: Winning the game.
For all intents and purposes, these should be the last turns of your deck in most cases. Sometimes turns take longer because you did not draw as expected. Sometimes they can go faster and you can be looking at an infinite combo on turn 3. Turn 4 is usually the average turn to win. Cast Spellseeker, go get Crop Rotation, find Gaea's Cradle, and go to town.

Strengths:
Consistency: Momir Vig has a lot of built-in consistency in the deck. There go many games where casting Vig is unnecessary; the cards you draw will get you across the finish line by themselves. And if one door closes, another one opens. If Temur Sabertooth is exiled, you still have Cloudstone Curio. And in the direst of circumstances, you can EOT (end of turn) Overload a Cyclonic Rift, and follow up with a Biorhythm effect from Shaman of Forgotten Ways. There are many paths to victory with this deck.

Resilience: The deck has the ability to bounce back and win out of nowhere. In one awful six-player game, I was once down in the dumps. I was hitting no good cards to cast. One player landed a turn 2 Luminarch Ascension and started hitting me with angels because he was afraid of my deck. In a matter of turns I was put to 8 life without so much as casting a spell. I literally only had lands on the field. As another player, playing Chainer, Dementia Master started to get out of control, people eventually started to ignore me and try to deal with the Chainer player, who was controlling the playing field by preventing the other 2 reanimation decks from using their graveyards. Finally, someone committed all their resources to casting a Grave Titan, followed by Diabolic Intent, into Damnation, to deal with the Chainer issue. With all potential threats tapped out and problem cards removed, I drew, and with just enough lands, played Palinchron into Phantasmal Image for an instant victory. Time and again the deck has been able to power out a win after being completely destroyed otherwise.

Combo-control: As a combo deck with control elements, you are able to master your own fate, while still denying others the opportunity to do what they want. Unlike direct combo, which has very little interactions with others, Vig offers you the ability to play an intermediary game, one that doesn’t explode and fizzle in flashfire, or take too long like a big-mana deck.

Weaknesses:
Toxic Deluge and Wraths: A common play against this deck is to go “Turn 2 Demonic Tutor for Turn 3 Toxic Deluge”. The deck runs many cheap counters for a reason! Protect your board at all costs! This goes for all kinds of wraths. Clearing your board of creatures is not the end of the world, but it’s definitely a setback we would rather not have.

Spot removal: Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares are very good cards. Riftsweeper often comes in and out of the board depending on how prevalent the cards are. Abrupt Decay also gets around Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, remember that!

Control: This deck plays lots of counterspells, very little removal. The purpose of this is to play ways to protect your combo, rather than play control. If you’re in the situation where you can afford to play control after establishing a large board presence, great, you’re about to win! Otherwise, if you’re playing control with a lack of resources, you’re fighting against the tide; you’re going to lose. If you’re getting into counter wars, you’re not doing well. Decks with more answers than you have protection are going to be an issue, especially if those answers are uncounterable or plenty of spot removal.

Dedicated hate cards: The three big ones are Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Cursed Totem, and Torpor Orb, or their counterparts, such as Hushwing Gryff. Aven Mindcensor and Stranglehold turn off most of the deck too. Humility is also a headache and a half. If you can’t activate your creature’s abilities to make infinite mana, you can’t win. Period. At this point my recommendation is to rely on the card filtering to hope you draw the Cyclonic Rift or removal you need to clear the problem cards. Prevent these from resolving AT ALL COSTS. Surprisingly, I would also watch out for Phenax, God of Deception. While it's definitely not a competitive commander, keep in mind that they can mill at instant speed. If you have G and U Momir Vig triggers, they can let the G resolve (search for a creature and put it on top) and then while the blue one is on the stack, tap a creature to mill your tutor into the graveyard.

Slower deck: This deck is definitely not as fast as it used to be. Prophet of Kruphix ban significantly hurt this deck, moreso than other decks who used her. What the deck lacks in speed it makes up in resiliency, but sometimes people are just going to be faster than you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It comes with the territory of playing a Tier 2 competitive commander.

Budget Options:
After reading this primer, your reaction may be "Oh wow, this is an awesome deck! I really want to build this! ...But I don't have the money to buy all those awesome expensive cards." This deck contains a large quantity of expensive cards. Below I have listed every card that is near $20 or more at time of writing, and talk about its importance/necessity in the deck, and talk about potential replacements! Please keep in mind that with every budget version you go with, you are decreasing the consistency and speed of the deck.

Gaea's Cradle: This is the most important card to splurge on, bar none. It makes the deck very fast, and is very easily abusable. The only card that could replace it is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and that card is already in the deck. This should be the first big-ticket item you buy when you get the chance. If you absolutely cannot afford it, I would first ask my playgroup to let me proxy it. Past that, there really aren't any viable replacements.

Tropical Island: I would rate this card at pretty high importance. Being able to grab a blue source with a Wooded Foothills, or a Skyshroud Claim, is crucial. If Wizards had decided to print more enemy-colored lands with basic subtypes, then I would recommend playing one of those instead. As it stands, a Tropical Island should be "up there" with cards worthy of splurging on. But then again, so are all ABUR duals. If you can't afford one, I would recommend playing a basic Island, Yavimaya Coast, or Botanical Sanctum.

Gilded Drake: This card is not very important for the main purpose of the deck. If you can't afford it, you can run a UG creature in its place to trigger Momir Vig, but I would still try to run something to steal high-value cards from opponents. You never know when you need to steal a Turn 2 Hermit Druid from someone.

Painter's Servant: This is a fairly important card to run. I would try to acquire it when possible, though it's not absolutely essential to play the deck. There are not many replacements for this card.

Thrasios, Triton Hero: While not an essential card, it is the best way to generate card advantage and to draw your deck. I would try to get this card when possible. River Hoopoe is an acceptable, albeit much slower replacement if need be.

Mana Crypt/Mox Diamond: In a competitive environment, it is important to be as fast as possible. Fast mana rocks such as these allow you to do just that. Not running them severely impairs your ability to keep up the pace with faster decks. If you have to pick one, go with the Mana Crypt. If you can't afford either, I would recommend playing Nature's Lore or Birds of Paradise instead. Voyaging Satyr works as well, but remember that your wincon in the deck is to untap lands, so you need lots of them on the field!

Mana Drain: Another fantastic card, but one that is not super important to have. You can cut this for Arcane Denial, Disallow, Dissipate, or any other counter you feel you can reasonably run instead.

Force of Will/Pact of Negation/Force of Negation/Flusterstorm/Mana Drain: These counterspells are very important tools to keep your combo safe when you are trying to win the game. If you can only get one, get the Force of Will. If you can't get any, I would recommend running low CMC counterspells instead like Delay, Arcane Denial, and Counterspell.

Survival of the Fittest: This is probably the best tutor for creatures in the game. While it is not a core component of the deck, it is a very powerful card, and if you can get it, I would try to. In dire situations, you can replace it with Fauna Shaman, but the creature version is a lot more fragile, and much slower.

Earthcraft: This is a very important card to have. In this deck, when you swarm the field with creatures, you want to be able to put them to good use in generating high levels of mana. This card allows you to do that. I would not cut this card unless you absolutely had to. Citanul Hierophants or Cryptolith Rite are worse versions of this card if you really can't afford it.

Aluren: While this deck does not need Aluren, having the card can make it bonkers. If you can get it, I would recommend picking a copy up. But it is of a lower priority. Of the three aforementioned reserved list enchantments (Aluren/Earthcraft/Survival) I would personally say that their order of importance should be 1. Earthcraft 2. Survival 3. Aluren.

Sylvan Library: A very useful piece of card advantage, I would prioritize this card fairly early. Mirri's Guile, while still expensive, may be an acceptable replacement.

Timetwister: It is the most expensive card in the deck, bar none. You are not at fault whatsoever if you can't afford to splurge on a piece of Power. If you still want the effect, I would try running Time Spiral or Echo of Eons.
Cavern of Souls: If your meta does not run many blue decks with counterspells, this card becomes less important. I would rate it at moderate importance. Your deck won't suffer too much without it, but I would recommend getting one at your nearest convenience.

Fetchlands of all kinds: Fetchlands make this deck sing. This deck shuffles itself a lot, and as such can support a lot of very good card selection tools that make use of shuffling decks. I would prioritize fetchlands pretty highly. If you can't get them all, then at least get the KTK fetches, because they are cheaper. For the rest, I would run basics, even split of Forests and Islands (so if you're missing a Verdant Catacombs, run a Forest. If a Scalding Tarn, run an Island).

NOTE: This advice on running basics does NOT apply if you are running the Hermit Oracle combo, as you can ONLY run nonbasics. With this in mind, I would play any and all nonbasic lands you can that either provide mana fixing, or come in untapped. The faster your mana, the faster your deck operates, the better off you are.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Thank you for looking at my primer!

I was sitting on a bunch of clever legendary designs for the Alezenim mythics. Not the case here. But frenzy is open-ended enough that some should come to me naturally, I think.

INTRODUCTION:

So, like many people who have approached Edgar Markov I started out with a build that utilized a lot of vampires that were fairly good standalone (such as Olivia Voldaren). My original build was more about how many bodies I could move through play and it played off of some token generators that were not at all vampire. This first build did have some success but in this first build I kept noticing how good the cheap 1-2 mana vampires felt because of the efficiency they gave me in the amount of bodies for the mana given Edgar Markov's free token.

After having played my original version for a few weeks, I decided I wanted to investigate what a low curve would look like given how good those cheap vampires kept feeling. As I was feeling this concept out I realized that there was a lot of tempo draw that I could use for such a build for refilling my hand and keeping my deck active. With that, my current version took off.

STRATEGY:

Edgar Markov's free tokens generates sooooo much free value when you look at cheap vampires and getting 2 for 1 bodies on top of the natural abilities of the creatures. When I first built a list like most people I had some expensive vampires and I found that all of my cheap vampires just felt SOOOO much better because of the added value of the vampire token. I have built this list with a super low curve to try to take advantage of those free bodies.

The idea of this build is to curve in with very cheap bodies and utilize the power of the anthems. Edgar Markov himself also cares a lot more about having a swarm of creatures. When I first built Edgar I really never cast him because I wasnt swarming with enough creatures for it to really be a good move. Since moving to more of a low curve swarm deck anthems have picked up a TON of value that they did not have for me in my previous build because I was trying to play standalone good vampires. The move has made the deck work so much better I cant even express how much better it feels now.

The other element of running a low curve is that some cards like Dark Confidant and Ad Nauseam care specifically about what the cost to cast cards are. I run a lot of tempo draw as well such as Wheel of Fortune and Null Profusion that play off of being able to curve the hand in and then refill. Skullclamp and Tymna the Weaver are more examples of repeat draw that I run in here and being able to draw those cards cheaply and then move them really keeps the action of a deck like this high.



CONSIDERATIONS:

• Luminarch Ascension - it seems like a card that could potentially explode with a lot of action. I like that its cheap and could be dropped very early on as well. Its kind of a mana hog if it goes live but if it goes live I don't care its good. The concerns being that you need to probably draw it early and it could possibly suck to topdeck it later. This deck is not really a big mana deck and it generally has a lot of use for its mana so stopping the vamp gameplan to make angels seems questionable.
• Attrition - its a good effect and I have the bodies to fuel it, its just kind of expensive at BB to cast and another B to activate immediately. The restriction of nonblack creatures sometimes does not matter and sometimes it feels like you cant ever hit what you want.
• Gate to Phyrexia - its a little slow but its repeatable and I have the fodder to feed it.
• Raging River - the evasion is alright. I guess its sort of like Menace assuming I am not staring down a bunch of flyers.
• Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant - potentially it lets me attack without fear of blockers / chump block without losing tokens. The life total restriction is a little concerning though as sometimes my life fluctuates depending on how suicidal I get with Necropotence and other suicide draw like Dark Prophecy.

A Toothy will leave the battlefield at most twice in this scenario -- once due to (a copy of) Brago's triggered ability, and again due to the new Felidar Guardian's ability targeting Toothy.

When Brago deals combat damage to a player, its triggered ability will trigger and, soon after, go on the stack (before any player gets priority to activate abilities, such as Strionic Resonator's ability) (C.R. 510.2, 510.3, 603.2, 117.5, 117.1b). It's at that time that you have to target "any number of ... nonland permanents you control" (C.R. 603.3d, 601.2c). If the four permanents you mention are the only nonland permanents you control, that ability can have at most four targets.

When you then copy the Brago ability with Strionic Resonator (C.R. 706.10) (which will happen before the original resolves, that is, before any permanents are exiled with the original [C.R. 608.2b]), you can let those targets be the same or different from those of the original, but you can't change the number of targets the copy will have (C.R. 115.7d, 601.2c, 603.3d). Moreover, if the copy has a given target this way and the copy exiles that permanent, that permanent will be an illegal target for any other ability that targets spell or ability that targeted it (including the original Brago ability), even if the card that permanent becomes returns to the battlefield (C.R. 608.2b, 400.7), and when the original would resolve, if the original—

• specifies targets and all of them are illegal, it will fail to resolve (C.R. 608.2b).
• specifies no targets or has at least one legal target, the legal targets, if any, will still be exiled and those cards are still returned to the battlefield (C.R. 608.2b-c; see also C.R. 115.6).

Therefore, in general, targeting the same permanent this way will have little practical effect, if any. See also this thread.

Note also that spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time (C.R. 117.4) and not simultaneously, including the copy and the original of Brago's triggered ability in this scenario. However, that ability's legal targets will be exiled at the same time, since one instance of an action verb, "exile", is used to refer to that action (C.R. 608.2c). In this case, if Toothy and Felidar Guardian were targeted with that ability, and both targets are legal, the old Toothy's last ability and the new Felidar Guardian's ability will both trigger in the process of resolving the Brago ability (review C.R. 400.7). It's only after the Brago ability finishes resolving that these triggered abilities go on the stack (C.R. 117.3b, 117.5), and when they go on the stack, the new Toothy can be targeted with the new Felidar Guardian's ability (C.R. 603.3d, 601.3c).

EDIT: Clarification, and rule citations added, after comment 3 was posted.
EDIT (Feb. 13): Add rule citation.
EDIT (Dec. 11): Further edits. Some rules were renumbered with Core Set 2020.