AzureShadow, I also run smallpox, but your build might not work for that. If you are willing to go much slower, consuming vapors or barter in blood can work, but overall I think verdict is the best sideboard option against boggles and should replace doom blade. You do lose some flexibility against twin by not having doom blades, and while that might be the easier matchup, it is also more common.
Mad hearts Steele27, those are very interesting recommendations. I just wonder if blightning is too expensive, although a deck that wants waste not probably wants to wait to fire off the best discard on turn 3.
Thanks everyone for making this one of the best deck threads on MTGsalvation, period. As someone who was looking for a new modern deck (recovering affinity player here) the fact that there was over 150 pages of analysis and discussion is what sold me on this deck more than anything else. I have a few questions for the more experienced players here (if they would kindly answer), regarding splashing and slotting waste not coming from M15:
1. I am trying to decide between white and red or sticking to straight black. My meta is at least half aggro decks.
White gives me stony silence, lingering souls, and superior removal in the form of path to exile. I think this will significantly boost my aggro matchups on paper, but I don't have enough experience with this yet to know for sure. I also want a good lifegain card from the board, and I am not sure if timely reinforcements is the best call or not.
Red gives lightning bolt, and blood moon plus rakdos charm from the board. Charm is good, not great against a ton of matchups, but seems to really boost sideboard flexibility. It might be rotten in this deck because you can't hold it up for the best time with lily. Blood moon takes away a lot of my fear of top decking out of the lock, but has anyone had experience with this to see if it really matters? It feels like it might just be win more.
2. Is bitterblossom the card to replace now that waste not exists? I think we only need a few two drops, so I feel that this is the place to make the decision or split. On the faerie maker, I kind of hate the life loss against more aggressive decks, but the flying creatures that can block animated nexus and delver is nice. Waste not seems superior when played early, but it is not a good top deck. This is my key dilemma with the deck currently. I haven't seen much consensus in the previous pages, but it is very early in testing.
3. Are there playable mono-black lifegain cards to help versus burn? All I can come up with is pharika's cure and tendrils of agony.
The current problem is that it is really, really heavy on 3 drops (17, or nearly a third of the deck). This makes this deck very slow, but it has tons of game against midrange. D-sphere, and the entire blue splash, is really a concession to pack rat. It exists, you have to be able to kill it. Still, enchantments are a bit hard to remove right now, for mono-blue and black, so unless they start splashing soon for white removal, you have a great deal of toughness against most elimination, since heliod and assemble can go long, and get pumps from other effects in the deck. In general, boros reckoners are the first cut, although the anthem effects can be ditched too against black. The deck has felt pretty good, just a bit clunky due to the bulk of 3 drops and more expensive cards. The scry lands help with this, since your early turns can just be devoted to scry. Missing having supreme verdict and sphinx's revelation, but I don't want to turn this into a bad version of UW control. The new aggro decks have a rough, rough time against reckoner and ram, which I have loved so far.
Sometimes, you just want to spike out. Sometimes, people saying “EDH is a casual format” gets on your last nerve. Sometimes, everyone will be against you from the start because of the stylish suit you are wearing and the fact that your opening hand costs more than the rest of the decks at the table. Sometimes, you just want to watch your table burn.
This is the deck I play during those times. Essentially, it is my vote for the “who’s who” of edh: the most powerful cards you can play, across the five colors, with the most cohesive strategy designed to win.
Sliver deck? No, it’s a commander ready to come out and nuke the board leaving you with a million power to everyone’s nothing once you have gone beast mode and made infinite mana. And that is only if your first win condition of a trillion 3/3 haste creatures was busy slaughtering other people. This is a mean, mean combo deck, and is at best, a three trick pony.
Trick one: tooth and nail or defense of the heart accelerated out so you can kiki-jiki and zealous conscripts everyone for a million.
Trick two: make infinite mana with palinchron and either deadeye navigator or vorniclex, voice of hunger. Use that mana to play sliver overlord, and use his search ability to get sliver queen and necrotic sliver. Make millions of slivers, sacrifice dozens to kill everything on the board, then play a sliver legion to create an army of gigantic chittering beasts.
Trick three: Don’t want to combo? Use the insane card quality this deck offers to just beat people down with superior dudes spurred on by fast mana. Bribery an eldrazi? Sure! Treachery a massive commander? OK! Cyclonic rift everything and attack with giant avenger tokens? It gets there!
Children will gasp. Women will swoon. And your enemies will weep bitter tears as they see what you have done to their casual format.
Notes on card choices: Sliver Overlord" target="blank">Sliver Overlord: Primary reason for him is the colors. However, if you hit an infinite mana combo, or even just a ton of mana, you can search up sliver queen and necrotic sliver, and go to town on trouble cards. Being able to threaten a 100% board wipe for everyone else when you have sufficient mana is a pretty nice feeling. Overlord can also drag out the other legendary slivers to build a big army of the cheap. Also look to tutor Harmonic sliver as a silver bullet to disrupt a combo or dangerous artifact or enchantment.
Creatures: bloom tender" target="blank">bloom tender: Just taps for a ton of mana with the general out, and a decent amount even without him. phantasmal image" target="blank">phantasmal image: being able to copy anything for two mana is just too good. Can combo with palinchron and sufficient blue mana to make infinite mana. Scavaging ooze" target="blank">Scavaging ooze: against a graveyard based deck, it can be nice to be able to maintain disruption beyond a one shot effect. Ooze can also be gigantic later in the game, so it is worthwhile for that reason as well. eternal witness" target="blank">eternal witness: Fetching back any lost card is just massive game. She can join into recurring tooth and nail if you have a clone, allowing you to chain them off. harmonic sliver" target="blank">harmonic sliver: with sliver queen, you can really smash up the board. Really in the deck to allow the general to tutor up a way to blast a troublesome enchantment or artifact without having to use the next man to do it… necrotic sliver" target="blank">necrotic sliver: Useful even as a 6 mana kill spell, his big move is to join with sliver queen and infinite mana to make an army of 1/1s that can nuke any permanent for three mana. Part of the infinite sliver kill combo, but also usable without infinite mana to just team up with queen and read “5: kill anything”. trinket mage" target="blank">trinket mage: because sol ring, mana crypt, and skullclamp are that good. Sensei’s top too. glen elendra archmage" target="blank">glen elendra archmage: persist means you can stop counterspells twice. Good insurance to go off, or to protect a board from a wipe. phyrexian metamorph" target="blank">phyrexian metamorph: probably the best clone in the format. solemn simulacrum: fantastic for fixing mana and speeding you up, it’s a small advantage that adds up. kiki jiki, mirror breaker" target="blank">kiki jiki, mirror breaker: With zealous conscripts, you can uptap kiki, make another conscript, and repeat until you have enough 3/3 hasters to smash everyone. It’s the instant win part of the tooth and nail package. sliver legion" target="blank">sliver legion: the card most likely to be cut. It is win more, but if you need to go long with sliver queen and just beat down, he helps get you there. Might become a maelstrom wanderer. sliver queen" target="blank">sliver queen: she is the general if you just want to make infinite 1/1s with your mana combos, but since we also want to wreck everyone, she remains in the deck to be tutored to join in the degenerate fun. zealous conscripts" target="blank">zealous conscripts: It’s a combo piece that also can help with odd game situations; I’ve killed people with their own general, grabbed a propaganda to attack with a swarm of critters, or joined him with deadeye navigator to steal a ton of stuff from an opponent and sac it all. Consecrated sphinx" target="blank">Consecrated sphinx: draws too many cards. deadeye navigator: pure brokenness. Any enter the battlefield ability is good, some are just insane. grave titan" target="blank">grave titan: starts you at 10 power, then just steamrolls from there. sharuum the hegemon" target="blank">sharuum the hegemon: sometimes you just want to get back some artifact ramp for value. Another potential cut, although it’s been alright so far. sun titan" target="blank">sun titan: lots of fetch lands means this guy is actually doing a decent impersonation of primeval titan. Avenger of Zendikar" target="blank">Avenger of Zendikar: board wipe or die, friends. Stay thirsty. diluvian primordial" target="blank">diluvian primordial: didn’t think that storm herd would get you there? You were right, it will get me there instead! Palinchron" target="blank">Palinchron: part of just about every infinite mana combo in the deck. The most important card to protect, deploy it only when the coast is clear. sylvan primordial" target="blank">sylvan primordial: get a bunch of lands out, and destroy the best things everyone else has. If this is fair, what is degenerate? vorniclex, voice of hunger" target="blank">vorniclex, voice of hunger: doubling mana will often just let you win without resorting to other tricks.
Planeswalkers: Jace, the mind sculpter" target="blank">Jace, the mind sculpter: simply the best, brainstorms better than all the rest. Tezzeret the seeker" target="blank">Tezzeret the seeker: untapping artifacts is fun, but so is getting mana crypts or sol rings for free. He is basically a blue mana acceleration card.
Enchantments: Aura of silence" target="blank">Aura of silence: slows down other unfair decks. Defense of the heart" target="blank">Defense of the heart: see tooth and nail, only cheaper, but you let them know it is coming. rhystic study" target="blank">rhystic study: a three mana draw 6+. survival of the fittest" target="blank">survival of the fittest: grab the perfect critter for the situation. The situation is usually “end of turn everyone is tapped out? Grab palinchron, win.” sylvan library" target="blank">sylvan library: huge draw power for little cost. Treachery" target="blank">Treachery: tons of things you want to grab usually, and its better if they are free.
instants/sorceries: beast within" target="blank">beast within: killing anything at instant speed is absurd. Bribery" target="blank">Bribery: You can win just off of this, but usually, it sets up a bigger turn where you grab something nasty, everyone responds to it, and then you can win. Cultivate" target="blank">Cultivate: fast mana fixing. cyclonic rift" target="blank">cyclonic rift: bounce everything, always. Damnation" target="blank">Damnation: because sometimes you just need to sweep. demonic tutor" target="blank">demonic tutor: gets you tooth and nail. enlightened tutor" target="blank">enlightened tutor: gets you defense of the heart kodoma's reach" target="blank">kodoma's reach: more mana fixing. It’s five color, ok? maelstorm pulse" target="blank">maelstorm pulse: maybe not long for the deck, but being able to kill anything is pretty useful. path to exile" target="blank">path to exile: fast enough to break up critter combos. And that is what it should generally be used for. rite of replication" target="blank">rite of replication: sometimes five of something gets there on its own. swords to plowshares" target="blank">swords to plowshares: see paths. tooth and nail" target="blank">tooth and nail: with so many critters that just win the game, this is the key spell to resolve. vampiric tutor" target="blank">vampiric tutor: gets you tooth! Vindicate" target="blank">Vindicate: see pulse. wrath of god" target="blank">wrath of god: see damnation.
Artifacts: coalition relic" target="blank">coalition relic: explosive mana and fixing, big game. crucible of worlds" target="blank">crucible of worlds: fetch lands and wastelands join together to make the mana great. fellwar stone" target="blank">fellwar stone: basically a two mana any color rock usually. gilded lotus" target="blank">gilded lotus: yes, it usually gets blown up. But that means something else broken lives! grim monolith" target="blank">grim monolith: speed. lighting greaves" target="blank">lighting greaves: protect the dudes, make them waste removal on greaves. mana crypt" target="blank">mana crypt: sppppeeeeedddd. mana vault" target="blank">mana vault: see above. memory jar" target="blank">memory jar: seeing 7 cards is awesome. With this amount of ramp, you can usually play a few. nevinyrral's disk" target="blank">nevinyrral's disk: sometimes, wipes are necessary. sensei' divining top" target="blank">sensei' divining top: insane selection. Skullclamp" target="blank">Skullclamp: insane draw, and with a queen out, it is 3 mana to draw two cards. Otherwise, profit from the death of your men. sol ring" target="blank">sol ring: speedy speed thran dynamo" target="blank">thran dynamo: skip to turn win.
Lands: Fetches: 10 of them to get your mana perfect. Shocks: these can be dual lands instead, but it is up to you and your budget, life isn’t too pressing a concern usually, but you will take about 10 pain from your lands over the game. 5 basics: for the search cards, and to protect against non-basic hate. ancient tomb" target="blank">ancient tomb: mad ramp command tower: mad fixing evolving wilds: same exotic orchard: same maze of ith" target="blank">maze of ith: rattlesnake card to deter attacks. reflecting pool: more perfect mana simic growth chamber" target="blank">simic growth chamber: blue and green are more used, so this gets the nod over other bouncelands. strip mine: kill trouble lands or slow down an opponent. temple of the false god" target="blank">temple of the false god: speed. terramorphic expanse: fixing vesuva" target="blank">vesuva: copy your best stuff. Wasteland" target="blank">Wasteland: see strip mine.
Notes on metagame and related considerations: My meta is very devoid of counterspells, and as a result, I run much more spot removal than I would in a meta that favors counters. Against a counter heavy meta, consider pact of negation, teferi, mage of zalfir, defensive grid, arcane denial, and boseiju, who shelters all in the place of some of the instant and sorcery spot removal. If everyone decides to gun for you, odds are, you are going to lose. However, at a table where other people are threats and not merely foils, be patient, then make a move at the right time. Keys here are developing mana, using card draw and recursion from creatures, and forcing fights over things that are not your combo pieces so you can resolve your combo creatures.
I'm toying with something like this too. I'd consider 2 gruul guildgates, in place of a mountain and forest, because hitting your colors is important, and 8 of your rampers only make green (and one takes red to play). You may not need all 12 as well, and if you are going to cut, I think dropping a zhur-tar is right just because of the tougher mana requirement.
i'd take out at least one domri and one xenagos from the main and play 2 chandras. You won't glut on specific planeswalkers, and her zero is great for your deck to get lands or big critters into play. Shooting another mana dork also will be great in the mirror.
The hydra is good, and I am even a fan of the ember swallower, but not in these numbers. I think you need ghor-clan rampager in the deck somewhere. Between letting a mana dork surge through to kill an early planeswalker to letting a big, non-trample guy close out the game, he is relevant at every stage and board state.
3x of ruric thar might be too much. I'd go down to 2, and if you still have room, consider arbor colossus as a one of.
One last option might be hammer of purpheros, because fires is a fun deck style, and it makes late lands relevant. It probably is a sideboard option vs. control.
My observations so far, without a list because it is in flux:
Aetherling is our best late game win condition against nearly everything. So much so that I hate slaughter games coming in from jund builds; it is really hard to win after that. I would play 2 going forward: one copy can stay buried in your deck, and 3 risks glutting on them. You want to see the card sometime after turn 10. It's trickier now to do that without think twice, but scry can help.
Elspeth is playable and often great. You can typically ride one to victory, but she has a big target painted on her, and I've seen enough hero's downfalls and stormbreath dragons that she might be a lackluster play. Still, I am running 2 now, because when she is great, she is unstoppable. She is also an out against blood baron, if you drop her and minus.
Jace AoT is good, but I think I am happier with 2-3 instead of 4. Still, I would say running a minimum of 2 is a requirement, because he always has a relevant ability you want.
4 charms are essential now that we are missing our 2 mana action spells. But I usually find myself cycling these and being dissatisfied, even if it is the right play.
Not thrilled about omenspeaker, but she does help find verdicts and can speedbump aggro. Aggro doesn't seem as good post rotation. Midrange is scarier, and she doesn't help there much. Other than saving voice damage and saving maybe 2 points against red, I don't see much from this. Probably not worth the slot.
I'm running 4 verdicts and 3 revelations. I always need a verdict, and usually need more stuff to offer resistance than needing a hand full of revelations.
Celestial flare is one of the few options we have against a monstrous lion, and it is not optimal because there typically is a voice in support. I think the GW gameplan vs. us might just be to savage summon a lion with enough mana to go monstrous, because that is next to impossible for us to deal with. Not sure what other options we have but throwing tokens in front of it (which doesn't work vs. unflinching courage) or just having to aetherling blink in front of it. I am on the verge of sideboarding soldier of the pantheon since he can block lion (and BTE and other junk) all day. But that is still a nombo with our board wipes.
Really missing snapcaster and angel, because our deck feels much less flexible now, and can struggle to close out games even when ahead and in control. I'd like more options to pressure the other side in the middle of the game, but I am not seeing them.
Other thoughts:
1. maindeck ratchet bombs may be necessary, but are stinkers in plenty of matchups.
2. Lavina is an interesting thought, although she would start in my sideboard. I need a cool way to blink her though, since locking down mana dorks and tokens is great.
3. Divination feels too slow, but finding non-sweeper card advantage is necessary I think.
4. I am tempted to durdle with Thassa, and heliod is pretty good against midrange decks where the games go long, we have tons of mana and not much to do with it.
5. Although there is less haste now, blind obedience seems good because of how it slows down hammer decks, nullifies ozbedat, and saves 4 from dragons.
The point behind the rule is to promote a specific kind of EDH game (longer, more smashy and interactive), while at the same time not keeping people from playing the busted cards or having to memorize and build to a second ban list. I don't think it would be used in every game. Casual only games wouldn't need it, and cutthroat spike games wouldn't want it. Instead, it is supposed to bridge those two play groups. We just need an alternative to the common questions heard before game three: "do you have another deck that doesn't just use the same combo?" or "do you want to play standard instead?"
While I appreciate the call for using league rules, relying on league rules isn't an option right now for my store. A league hasn't been set up, and our attendance is variable, so the solution we need is one that doesn't rely on any in store record keeping or continuity.
Similarly, a split between casual and competitive is something we want to avoid. It already happens to some extent, but we don't want newer players to feel excluded. Part of what will get them hooked into EDH is seeing the more powerful decks and playing with the better players, but this is an uneven playing field now.
As for defining degenerate: it is certainly an open question, but feedback from newer players is that many of them don't like it when the game ends on turn four after all they have been able to do is play some lands. This rule is designed to give them some ways to meaningfully interact with resource denial and combo strategies without having to build their deck to focus on disruption.
@Neptune: helping newbies build better decks is very important. But even well developed metagames have found that packing lots of disruption and cheap removal can be suboptimal. It doesn't advance your board, and the disruption runs out fast in games where there are three players to disrupt instead of just one. Additionally, not all new players want to be the sheriff. Most want to play big, smashy timmy magic. The favor is supposed to help with that by providing a buffer against other strategies.
@Saelon: I have less of a problem with something that doesn't kill everyone at once, especially since helm and RiP is a bit more vulnerable to disruption and removal since it can only take out one player at a time. Still, the anti-combo exile rule might be modified to be used on two card combos that one-shot a player, although this starts a much more slippery slope.
Hey everyone, looking for some input on a solution to a common EDH problem.
My local game store is finally starting to run an EDH night, and there is a good deal of interest so far. The issue we have is that there is a stark divide in the player base. There are some players with 10+ EHD decks who have built them to be highly competitive and can combo off on or before turn 5, and numerous players who are just getting started, and have far less powerful decks. I want to make sure the environment is fun, casual, and welcoming to new players. But, there are enough players in the store who want to run highly tuned and powerful decks (including, I admit, me), so the arms race is inevitable. This creates a situation where many new players with fair decks are at a significant disadvantage in the format.
Most solutions are inelegant. Having people play weaker decks is a non-starter. Same with appeals to just get the "spirit" of EDH, because some people want to play infinite combos and powerful, smashy synergies. A league point system is hard to keep track of, and doesn't necessarily stop bad behavior in game, especially for pick up games. Only relying on in-game political solutions, like ganging up on a player who will combo off, might just mean that another player gets to instead after the counters and spot removal is gone. And trying to separate out the competitive players from the less competitive players creates a divide that is contrary to the sense of community we want.
Essentially, we need an in-game handicap that can protect the newer and weaker players from the harsher realities of the format, while still allowing those strategies to be available to the players who want to run them. I am brainstorming a solution.
In another TCG, Legend of the Five Rings, there is game concept called the Imperial Favor. It is essentially an emblem that has multiple effects that can be used by giving up control of the favor. For example, in L5R, it can be used to remove a character from combat, prevent honor (life) loss, cycle cards, ect. Players get to lobby for the favor, i.e. use resources to gain control of it. An "imperial favor" in EDH could be a house rule that provides some in-game protection against degenerate strategies.
The main issues I want to address are infinite combos, excessive ramp, excessive/overly long tutoring, blowing out a player with an alpha strike, land/mana destruction, mana screw, and unanswerable voltron generals. I don't want these things to be impossible to use, but to have to come later in the game, by having an inexpensive foil to them early. Fighting over the imperial favor is also a way to have players be able to use extra mana. If you want to blow up the world or go infinite, you will have to have worn down the other player's life totals and gained control of the favor yourself.
So, the Imperial Favor house rules I am working on look like this so far:
The Imperial Favor Emblem- Command Zone (Use a spin down 20 to represent this emblem)
The Imperial Favor begins the game under the control of the player who has played Magic for the least amount of time.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you by any one source. Each source may have its damage prevented in this way only once per game.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Exile target permanent or spell that has been used in repeatable loop at least three times (this is the infinite combo disabler. Table vote determines what a repeatable loop is).
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: If this is a player's consecutive turn, that player skips any remaining extra turns.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: The next time target player would search a library, they may only search the top six cards of that library instead.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: If an effect would destroy two or more mana producing lands or artifacts, it only destroys one instead. (if it is a global effect, it only destroys one permanent per player.)
Pay mana equal to the number of counters on the Imperial Favor: Gain control of the Imperial Favor and add a counter to it. Play this ability only as a sorcery.
Pay half your life, rounded up: Gain control of the Imperial Favor and add a counter to it. Play this ability as an instant. You may only use this ability if you have thirty or more life.
Gonna take this for a roll soon at the next EDH night. I'm Looking for thoughts/comments on how to tweek this, if abilities need to be added, removed, or changed, and any other thoughts. I am also not sure how to counter ramp or sensei's tops, unless it gets a 7th ability to "split second-destroy target ring or top."
TL;DR: proposing a house rule emblem in EDH that can be used to neuter degenerate strategies early.
My card concept:
"unending inquisition". You interrogate the opponent to 'steal thoughts' from them. "mini-game."
Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. Name a card. That player reveals a card at random from their hand. If that card is the named card, you draw a card and they discard that card.
Cost: one Black or colorless and black (depending on power level as a one drop/two drop)
Conceptually, this is a black mage using his power to interrogate another mage. Asking the right questions will uncover the opponent's secrets, and give you knowledge in return. Goal is to progressively rip away their hand, which black likes to do anyway. The reveal each turn can also set up additional discard, especially targeted discard. It will play nicely with cabal therapy, duress, inquisition, and others. Mechanically, it turns "off" once their hand is empty, which signals that they don't know anything else of value. It makes it harder for them to hold back cards to bluff with.
Library Matters: This would explain why the FFL was so afraid of birthing pod. It also seems like a theme that could hold up for one set, but wouldn't go too much further.
The storyline for the set is "what happens after the Helvault gets broken open?"
Looking at Eye of Ugin as a plant for Rise of the Eldrazi, it signaled big colorless monsters, and the format was designed to make playing them possible and matter, so it was slower, a.k.a. battleship magic.
If the demons are going to escape or emerge from somewhere (thematically, the helvault), and it is not your graveyard, then library seems like a good choice. The demons will likely have abilities that let them be played from the library when something special happens or the gamestate is at a certain place, but get shuffled back in when something else happens. This is a thematic extension of the flip cards (the no spells/two spells events) that does not require a flip trigger. The new flip trigger will be [whatever] and you get to unleash some demons. The format will revolve around making that game state happen.
Something like a modified hellbent would work, i.e. one of the conditions might be having fewer cards in hand than the opponent. It encourages playing out cards (and not holding them, like in Saviors of Kamigawa, which slowed down the format), and not caring if they go into the graveyard (which helps the themes from Innistrad). You risk losing card advantage by emptying your hand, but the extra demons you get can balance this out.
It's unclear if Avacin has been corrupted or just beat on a bit while trapped in the vault, but she might be pulling a Batman from "Knightfall", trying to round up all the Demons and get them back in jail.
2 card combo... that needs a third in play to work...
Invests 3 mana at sorcery speed to do 1 damage.
DAMN.
THATS BROKEN.
Youd only need like... 60 mana to kill someone.
Thats some efficiency.
Unless you have a lord out...
Then it only takes 30 mana!
Holy god thats crazy!
Sorry to burst your bubble chap, but that is only some decent synergy.
Nothing there to break anything.
Dont get me wrong.
A ton of good synergy put together can make a good deck.
Thats what most tribal decks are.
But broken? Hardly.
It is just synergy, its not supposed to be a game ending combo... but, this is basically baby punishing fire. 2 cards (and any third zombie in play), and then it is 3 mana for one damage, but it is repeatable. Lots of things in standard have 1 toughness right now, and the ability to just tap 3 lands and kill them resembles a (clearly worse) version of punishing fires... but so far, in testing, it is still really good. Killing haunt tokens, killing delvers, lavamancers, and being able to tap 6 to kill 2 toughness critters is still pretty decent if you just need something to grind them out. The best part is that pod is relevant early game as well (picking off any of the aforesaid dorks)
This is basically zombie's version of moorland haunt: for when your game goes long and you need to get value. Every bit adds up when you are out of gas.
Just an FYI, testing I did over the weekend shows that mortarpod might be the card to break this deck. Here is what it does:
1. Shoots unflipped delver, tokenless stromkirk noble, Snapcaster, grim lavamancer, and mana dorks.
2. Is three mana per point of damage with gravecrawler.
3. The above combo also takes a life when you have diregraf captain out.
4. Combos with captain to kill anything (just fire it off during a combat so you get the deathtouch).
5. Combos with messenger to make it bigger and get a free use.
6. Tragic slip is a super tragic -13/-13 when you fire a critter off the pod first.
7. Fits in that nice 2 drop void.
While I am sticking U/B for now (since Havengul Lich has won a long game or two recycling awesome guys, and diregraf captain is the best lord right now) B/R has some alure from the burn.
Still, zombies backed by a few cheap counters (mana leak, negate, ect.) rolls a lot of decks, being delver like tempo, with awesome resilience. Biggest issue is if cage starts to get played, but you might be able to stop it with mental misstep or steel sabotage.
I do like this card, since it will trade with a titan, can get absurd with equipment, and looks like it would work well in a deck with pristine talisman or the new chalice. You just face more risk, since it doesn't give you an ETB ability, so removal is a 1-1 trade, instead of incremental advantage. I think the combo applications are probably more likely, at least while titans still roam standard.
Force of Will for sure. Everything from the mismatched, but still wonderful art, to the layers of strategy involved, to just being able to stop degenerate combos, it is the reason to play blue. At least when I am not playing white weenie.
1. I am trying to decide between white and red or sticking to straight black. My meta is at least half aggro decks.
White gives me stony silence, lingering souls, and superior removal in the form of path to exile. I think this will significantly boost my aggro matchups on paper, but I don't have enough experience with this yet to know for sure. I also want a good lifegain card from the board, and I am not sure if timely reinforcements is the best call or not.
Red gives lightning bolt, and blood moon plus rakdos charm from the board. Charm is good, not great against a ton of matchups, but seems to really boost sideboard flexibility. It might be rotten in this deck because you can't hold it up for the best time with lily. Blood moon takes away a lot of my fear of top decking out of the lock, but has anyone had experience with this to see if it really matters? It feels like it might just be win more.
2. Is bitterblossom the card to replace now that waste not exists? I think we only need a few two drops, so I feel that this is the place to make the decision or split. On the faerie maker, I kind of hate the life loss against more aggressive decks, but the flying creatures that can block animated nexus and delver is nice. Waste not seems superior when played early, but it is not a good top deck. This is my key dilemma with the deck currently. I haven't seen much consensus in the previous pages, but it is very early in testing.
3. Are there playable mono-black lifegain cards to help versus burn? All I can come up with is pharika's cure and tendrils of agony.
4 precinct captain
3 brimaz, king of oreskos
2 heliod, god of the sun
2 spear of heliod
3 Elspeth, sun's champion
2 dictate of heliod
3 assemble the legion
1 ephara, god of the polis
4 banishing light
4 detention sphere
4 boros reckoner
3 nykthos, shrine to nyx
4 sacred foundry
4 hallowed fountain
4 temple of enlightenment
4 temple of triumph
6 plains
4 nyx-fleece ram
2 reprisal
2 deicide
3 negate
2 pithing needle
2 mizzium mortars
The current problem is that it is really, really heavy on 3 drops (17, or nearly a third of the deck). This makes this deck very slow, but it has tons of game against midrange. D-sphere, and the entire blue splash, is really a concession to pack rat. It exists, you have to be able to kill it. Still, enchantments are a bit hard to remove right now, for mono-blue and black, so unless they start splashing soon for white removal, you have a great deal of toughness against most elimination, since heliod and assemble can go long, and get pumps from other effects in the deck. In general, boros reckoners are the first cut, although the anthem effects can be ditched too against black. The deck has felt pretty good, just a bit clunky due to the bulk of 3 drops and more expensive cards. The scry lands help with this, since your early turns can just be devoted to scry. Missing having supreme verdict and sphinx's revelation, but I don't want to turn this into a bad version of UW control. The new aggro decks have a rough, rough time against reckoner and ram, which I have loved so far.
Would love some feedback.
If you load up the dredge effects (commune with the gods, grisly salvage, kruphix's insight) then you might be able to do more with pharika or even try out immortal servitude.
Sometimes, you just want to spike out. Sometimes, people saying “EDH is a casual format” gets on your last nerve. Sometimes, everyone will be against you from the start because of the stylish suit you are wearing and the fact that your opening hand costs more than the rest of the decks at the table. Sometimes, you just want to watch your table burn.
This is the deck I play during those times. Essentially, it is my vote for the “who’s who” of edh: the most powerful cards you can play, across the five colors, with the most cohesive strategy designed to win.
Sliver deck? No, it’s a commander ready to come out and nuke the board leaving you with a million power to everyone’s nothing once you have gone beast mode and made infinite mana. And that is only if your first win condition of a trillion 3/3 haste creatures was busy slaughtering other people. This is a mean, mean combo deck, and is at best, a three trick pony.
Trick one: tooth and nail or defense of the heart accelerated out so you can kiki-jiki and zealous conscripts everyone for a million.
Trick two: make infinite mana with palinchron and either deadeye navigator or vorniclex, voice of hunger. Use that mana to play sliver overlord, and use his search ability to get sliver queen and necrotic sliver. Make millions of slivers, sacrifice dozens to kill everything on the board, then play a sliver legion to create an army of gigantic chittering beasts.
Trick three: Don’t want to combo? Use the insane card quality this deck offers to just beat people down with superior dudes spurred on by fast mana. Bribery an eldrazi? Sure! Treachery a massive commander? OK! Cyclonic rift everything and attack with giant avenger tokens? It gets there!
Children will gasp. Women will swoon. And your enemies will weep bitter tears as they see what you have done to their casual format.
2 bloom tender
2 phantasmal image
2 scavaging ooze
3 eternal witness
3 harmonic sliver
3 necrotic sliver
3 trinket mage
4 glen elendra archmage
4 phyrexian metamorph
4 solemn simulacrum
5 kiki jiki mirror breaker
5 sliver legion
5 sliver queen
5 zealous conscripts
6 Consecrated sphinx
6 deadeye navigator
6 grave titan
6 sharuum the hegemon
6 sun titan
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 diluvian primordial
7 palinchron
7 sylvan primordial
8 vorniclex, voice of hunger
Planeswalkers:
4 Jace, the mind sculpter
5 Tezzeret the seeker
Enchantments:
3 Aura of silence
4 Defense of the heart
3 rhystic study
2 survival of the fittest
2 sylvan library
5 treachery
instants/sorceries:
3 beast within
5 bribery
3 cultivate
2 cyclonic rift
4 damnation
2 demonic tutor
1 enlightened tutor
3 kodoma's reach
3 maelstorm pulse
1 path to exile
4 rite of replication
1 swords to plowshares
7 tooth and nail
1 vampiric tutor
3 vindicate
4 wrath of god
3 coalition relic
3 crucible of worlds
2 fellwar stone
5 gilded lotus
2 grim monolith
2 lighting greaves
0 mana crypt
1 mana vault
5 memory jar
4 nevinyrral's disk
1 sensei' divining top
1 skullclamp
1 sol ring
4 thran dynamo
Lands:
0 flooded strand
0 polluted delta
0 bloodstained mire
0 wooded foothills
0 windswept heath
0 scalding tarn
0 arid mesa
0 marsh flats
0 verdant catacombs
0 misty rainforest
0 Hallowed fountain
0 watery grave
0 blood crypt
0 stomping grounds
0 temple garden
0 steam vents
0 sacred foundry
0 Godless shrine
0 overgrown tomb
0 breeding pool
0 island
0 mountain
0 swamp
0 plains
0 forest
0 ancient tomb
0 command tower
0 evolving wilds
0 exotic orchard
0 maze of ith
0 reflecting pool
0 simic growth chamber
0 strip mine
0 temple of the false god
0 terramorphic expanse
0 vesuva
0 wasteland
Notes on card choices:
Sliver Overlord" target="blank">Sliver Overlord: Primary reason for him is the colors. However, if you hit an infinite mana combo, or even just a ton of mana, you can search up sliver queen and necrotic sliver, and go to town on trouble cards. Being able to threaten a 100% board wipe for everyone else when you have sufficient mana is a pretty nice feeling. Overlord can also drag out the other legendary slivers to build a big army of the cheap. Also look to tutor Harmonic sliver as a silver bullet to disrupt a combo or dangerous artifact or enchantment.
Creatures:
bloom tender" target="blank">bloom tender: Just taps for a ton of mana with the general out, and a decent amount even without him.
phantasmal image" target="blank">phantasmal image: being able to copy anything for two mana is just too good. Can combo with palinchron and sufficient blue mana to make infinite mana.
Scavaging ooze" target="blank">Scavaging ooze: against a graveyard based deck, it can be nice to be able to maintain disruption beyond a one shot effect. Ooze can also be gigantic later in the game, so it is worthwhile for that reason as well.
eternal witness" target="blank">eternal witness: Fetching back any lost card is just massive game. She can join into recurring tooth and nail if you have a clone, allowing you to chain them off.
harmonic sliver" target="blank">harmonic sliver: with sliver queen, you can really smash up the board. Really in the deck to allow the general to tutor up a way to blast a troublesome enchantment or artifact without having to use the next man to do it…
necrotic sliver" target="blank">necrotic sliver: Useful even as a 6 mana kill spell, his big move is to join with sliver queen and infinite mana to make an army of 1/1s that can nuke any permanent for three mana. Part of the infinite sliver kill combo, but also usable without infinite mana to just team up with queen and read “5: kill anything”.
trinket mage" target="blank">trinket mage: because sol ring, mana crypt, and skullclamp are that good. Sensei’s top too.
glen elendra archmage" target="blank">glen elendra archmage: persist means you can stop counterspells twice. Good insurance to go off, or to protect a board from a wipe.
phyrexian metamorph" target="blank">phyrexian metamorph: probably the best clone in the format.
solemn simulacrum: fantastic for fixing mana and speeding you up, it’s a small advantage that adds up.
kiki jiki, mirror breaker" target="blank">kiki jiki, mirror breaker: With zealous conscripts, you can uptap kiki, make another conscript, and repeat until you have enough 3/3 hasters to smash everyone. It’s the instant win part of the tooth and nail package.
sliver legion" target="blank">sliver legion: the card most likely to be cut. It is win more, but if you need to go long with sliver queen and just beat down, he helps get you there. Might become a maelstrom wanderer.
sliver queen" target="blank">sliver queen: she is the general if you just want to make infinite 1/1s with your mana combos, but since we also want to wreck everyone, she remains in the deck to be tutored to join in the degenerate fun.
zealous conscripts" target="blank">zealous conscripts: It’s a combo piece that also can help with odd game situations; I’ve killed people with their own general, grabbed a propaganda to attack with a swarm of critters, or joined him with deadeye navigator to steal a ton of stuff from an opponent and sac it all.
Consecrated sphinx" target="blank">Consecrated sphinx: draws too many cards.
deadeye navigator: pure brokenness. Any enter the battlefield ability is good, some are just insane.
grave titan" target="blank">grave titan: starts you at 10 power, then just steamrolls from there.
sharuum the hegemon" target="blank">sharuum the hegemon: sometimes you just want to get back some artifact ramp for value. Another potential cut, although it’s been alright so far.
sun titan" target="blank">sun titan: lots of fetch lands means this guy is actually doing a decent impersonation of primeval titan.
Avenger of Zendikar" target="blank">Avenger of Zendikar: board wipe or die, friends. Stay thirsty.
diluvian primordial" target="blank">diluvian primordial: didn’t think that storm herd would get you there? You were right, it will get me there instead!
Palinchron" target="blank">Palinchron: part of just about every infinite mana combo in the deck. The most important card to protect, deploy it only when the coast is clear.
sylvan primordial" target="blank">sylvan primordial: get a bunch of lands out, and destroy the best things everyone else has. If this is fair, what is degenerate?
vorniclex, voice of hunger" target="blank">vorniclex, voice of hunger: doubling mana will often just let you win without resorting to other tricks.
Planeswalkers:
Jace, the mind sculpter" target="blank">Jace, the mind sculpter: simply the best, brainstorms better than all the rest.
Tezzeret the seeker" target="blank">Tezzeret the seeker: untapping artifacts is fun, but so is getting mana crypts or sol rings for free. He is basically a blue mana acceleration card.
Enchantments:
Aura of silence" target="blank">Aura of silence: slows down other unfair decks.
Defense of the heart" target="blank">Defense of the heart: see tooth and nail, only cheaper, but you let them know it is coming.
rhystic study" target="blank">rhystic study: a three mana draw 6+.
survival of the fittest" target="blank">survival of the fittest: grab the perfect critter for the situation. The situation is usually “end of turn everyone is tapped out? Grab palinchron, win.”
sylvan library" target="blank">sylvan library: huge draw power for little cost.
Treachery" target="blank">Treachery: tons of things you want to grab usually, and its better if they are free.
instants/sorceries:
beast within" target="blank">beast within: killing anything at instant speed is absurd.
Bribery" target="blank">Bribery: You can win just off of this, but usually, it sets up a bigger turn where you grab something nasty, everyone responds to it, and then you can win.
Cultivate" target="blank">Cultivate: fast mana fixing.
cyclonic rift" target="blank">cyclonic rift: bounce everything, always.
Damnation" target="blank">Damnation: because sometimes you just need to sweep.
demonic tutor" target="blank">demonic tutor: gets you tooth and nail.
enlightened tutor" target="blank">enlightened tutor: gets you defense of the heart
kodoma's reach" target="blank">kodoma's reach: more mana fixing. It’s five color, ok?
maelstorm pulse" target="blank">maelstorm pulse: maybe not long for the deck, but being able to kill anything is pretty useful.
path to exile" target="blank">path to exile: fast enough to break up critter combos. And that is what it should generally be used for.
rite of replication" target="blank">rite of replication: sometimes five of something gets there on its own.
swords to plowshares" target="blank">swords to plowshares: see paths.
tooth and nail" target="blank">tooth and nail: with so many critters that just win the game, this is the key spell to resolve.
vampiric tutor" target="blank">vampiric tutor: gets you tooth!
Vindicate" target="blank">Vindicate: see pulse.
wrath of god" target="blank">wrath of god: see damnation.
Artifacts:
coalition relic" target="blank">coalition relic: explosive mana and fixing, big game.
crucible of worlds" target="blank">crucible of worlds: fetch lands and wastelands join together to make the mana great.
fellwar stone" target="blank">fellwar stone: basically a two mana any color rock usually.
gilded lotus" target="blank">gilded lotus: yes, it usually gets blown up. But that means something else broken lives!
grim monolith" target="blank">grim monolith: speed.
lighting greaves" target="blank">lighting greaves: protect the dudes, make them waste removal on greaves.
mana crypt" target="blank">mana crypt: sppppeeeeedddd.
mana vault" target="blank">mana vault: see above.
memory jar" target="blank">memory jar: seeing 7 cards is awesome. With this amount of ramp, you can usually play a few.
nevinyrral's disk" target="blank">nevinyrral's disk: sometimes, wipes are necessary.
sensei' divining top" target="blank">sensei' divining top: insane selection.
Skullclamp" target="blank">Skullclamp: insane draw, and with a queen out, it is 3 mana to draw two cards. Otherwise, profit from the death of your men.
sol ring" target="blank">sol ring: speedy speed
thran dynamo" target="blank">thran dynamo: skip to turn win.
Lands:
Fetches: 10 of them to get your mana perfect.
Shocks: these can be dual lands instead, but it is up to you and your budget, life isn’t too pressing a concern usually, but you will take about 10 pain from your lands over the game.
5 basics: for the search cards, and to protect against non-basic hate.
ancient tomb" target="blank">ancient tomb: mad ramp
command tower: mad fixing
evolving wilds: same
exotic orchard: same
maze of ith" target="blank">maze of ith: rattlesnake card to deter attacks.
reflecting pool: more perfect mana
simic growth chamber" target="blank">simic growth chamber: blue and green are more used, so this gets the nod over other bouncelands.
strip mine: kill trouble lands or slow down an opponent.
temple of the false god" target="blank">temple of the false god: speed.
terramorphic expanse: fixing
vesuva" target="blank">vesuva: copy your best stuff.
Wasteland" target="blank">Wasteland: see strip mine.
Notes on metagame and related considerations: My meta is very devoid of counterspells, and as a result, I run much more spot removal than I would in a meta that favors counters. Against a counter heavy meta, consider pact of negation, teferi, mage of zalfir, defensive grid, arcane denial, and boseiju, who shelters all in the place of some of the instant and sorcery spot removal. If everyone decides to gun for you, odds are, you are going to lose. However, at a table where other people are threats and not merely foils, be patient, then make a move at the right time. Keys here are developing mana, using card draw and recursion from creatures, and forcing fights over things that are not your combo pieces so you can resolve your combo creatures.
i'd take out at least one domri and one xenagos from the main and play 2 chandras. You won't glut on specific planeswalkers, and her zero is great for your deck to get lands or big critters into play. Shooting another mana dork also will be great in the mirror.
The hydra is good, and I am even a fan of the ember swallower, but not in these numbers. I think you need ghor-clan rampager in the deck somewhere. Between letting a mana dork surge through to kill an early planeswalker to letting a big, non-trample guy close out the game, he is relevant at every stage and board state.
3x of ruric thar might be too much. I'd go down to 2, and if you still have room, consider arbor colossus as a one of.
One last option might be hammer of purpheros, because fires is a fun deck style, and it makes late lands relevant. It probably is a sideboard option vs. control.
Aetherling is our best late game win condition against nearly everything. So much so that I hate slaughter games coming in from jund builds; it is really hard to win after that. I would play 2 going forward: one copy can stay buried in your deck, and 3 risks glutting on them. You want to see the card sometime after turn 10. It's trickier now to do that without think twice, but scry can help.
Elspeth is playable and often great. You can typically ride one to victory, but she has a big target painted on her, and I've seen enough hero's downfalls and stormbreath dragons that she might be a lackluster play. Still, I am running 2 now, because when she is great, she is unstoppable. She is also an out against blood baron, if you drop her and minus.
Jace AoT is good, but I think I am happier with 2-3 instead of 4. Still, I would say running a minimum of 2 is a requirement, because he always has a relevant ability you want.
4 charms are essential now that we are missing our 2 mana action spells. But I usually find myself cycling these and being dissatisfied, even if it is the right play.
Not thrilled about omenspeaker, but she does help find verdicts and can speedbump aggro. Aggro doesn't seem as good post rotation. Midrange is scarier, and she doesn't help there much. Other than saving voice damage and saving maybe 2 points against red, I don't see much from this. Probably not worth the slot.
I'm running 4 verdicts and 3 revelations. I always need a verdict, and usually need more stuff to offer resistance than needing a hand full of revelations.
Celestial flare is one of the few options we have against a monstrous lion, and it is not optimal because there typically is a voice in support. I think the GW gameplan vs. us might just be to savage summon a lion with enough mana to go monstrous, because that is next to impossible for us to deal with. Not sure what other options we have but throwing tokens in front of it (which doesn't work vs. unflinching courage) or just having to aetherling blink in front of it. I am on the verge of sideboarding soldier of the pantheon since he can block lion (and BTE and other junk) all day. But that is still a nombo with our board wipes.
Really missing snapcaster and angel, because our deck feels much less flexible now, and can struggle to close out games even when ahead and in control. I'd like more options to pressure the other side in the middle of the game, but I am not seeing them.
Other thoughts:
1. maindeck ratchet bombs may be necessary, but are stinkers in plenty of matchups.
2. Lavina is an interesting thought, although she would start in my sideboard. I need a cool way to blink her though, since locking down mana dorks and tokens is great.
3. Divination feels too slow, but finding non-sweeper card advantage is necessary I think.
4. I am tempted to durdle with Thassa, and heliod is pretty good against midrange decks where the games go long, we have tons of mana and not much to do with it.
5. Although there is less haste now, blind obedience seems good because of how it slows down hammer decks, nullifies ozbedat, and saves 4 from dragons.
While I appreciate the call for using league rules, relying on league rules isn't an option right now for my store. A league hasn't been set up, and our attendance is variable, so the solution we need is one that doesn't rely on any in store record keeping or continuity.
Similarly, a split between casual and competitive is something we want to avoid. It already happens to some extent, but we don't want newer players to feel excluded. Part of what will get them hooked into EDH is seeing the more powerful decks and playing with the better players, but this is an uneven playing field now.
As for defining degenerate: it is certainly an open question, but feedback from newer players is that many of them don't like it when the game ends on turn four after all they have been able to do is play some lands. This rule is designed to give them some ways to meaningfully interact with resource denial and combo strategies without having to build their deck to focus on disruption.
@Neptune: helping newbies build better decks is very important. But even well developed metagames have found that packing lots of disruption and cheap removal can be suboptimal. It doesn't advance your board, and the disruption runs out fast in games where there are three players to disrupt instead of just one. Additionally, not all new players want to be the sheriff. Most want to play big, smashy timmy magic. The favor is supposed to help with that by providing a buffer against other strategies.
@Saelon: I have less of a problem with something that doesn't kill everyone at once, especially since helm and RiP is a bit more vulnerable to disruption and removal since it can only take out one player at a time. Still, the anti-combo exile rule might be modified to be used on two card combos that one-shot a player, although this starts a much more slippery slope.
My local game store is finally starting to run an EDH night, and there is a good deal of interest so far. The issue we have is that there is a stark divide in the player base. There are some players with 10+ EHD decks who have built them to be highly competitive and can combo off on or before turn 5, and numerous players who are just getting started, and have far less powerful decks. I want to make sure the environment is fun, casual, and welcoming to new players. But, there are enough players in the store who want to run highly tuned and powerful decks (including, I admit, me), so the arms race is inevitable. This creates a situation where many new players with fair decks are at a significant disadvantage in the format.
Most solutions are inelegant. Having people play weaker decks is a non-starter. Same with appeals to just get the "spirit" of EDH, because some people want to play infinite combos and powerful, smashy synergies. A league point system is hard to keep track of, and doesn't necessarily stop bad behavior in game, especially for pick up games. Only relying on in-game political solutions, like ganging up on a player who will combo off, might just mean that another player gets to instead after the counters and spot removal is gone. And trying to separate out the competitive players from the less competitive players creates a divide that is contrary to the sense of community we want.
Essentially, we need an in-game handicap that can protect the newer and weaker players from the harsher realities of the format, while still allowing those strategies to be available to the players who want to run them. I am brainstorming a solution.
In another TCG, Legend of the Five Rings, there is game concept called the Imperial Favor. It is essentially an emblem that has multiple effects that can be used by giving up control of the favor. For example, in L5R, it can be used to remove a character from combat, prevent honor (life) loss, cycle cards, ect. Players get to lobby for the favor, i.e. use resources to gain control of it. An "imperial favor" in EDH could be a house rule that provides some in-game protection against degenerate strategies.
The main issues I want to address are infinite combos, excessive ramp, excessive/overly long tutoring, blowing out a player with an alpha strike, land/mana destruction, mana screw, and unanswerable voltron generals. I don't want these things to be impossible to use, but to have to come later in the game, by having an inexpensive foil to them early. Fighting over the imperial favor is also a way to have players be able to use extra mana. If you want to blow up the world or go infinite, you will have to have worn down the other player's life totals and gained control of the favor yourself.
So, the Imperial Favor house rules I am working on look like this so far:
The Imperial Favor
Emblem- Command Zone (Use a spin down 20 to represent this emblem)
The Imperial Favor begins the game under the control of the player who has played Magic for the least amount of time.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you by any one source. Each source may have its damage prevented in this way only once per game.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Exile target permanent or spell that has been used in repeatable loop at least three times (this is the infinite combo disabler. Table vote determines what a repeatable loop is).
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: If this is a player's consecutive turn, that player skips any remaining extra turns.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: The next time target player would search a library, they may only search the top six cards of that library instead.
Lose control of the Imperial Favor: If an effect would destroy two or more mana producing lands or artifacts, it only destroys one instead. (if it is a global effect, it only destroys one permanent per player.)
Pay mana equal to the number of counters on the Imperial Favor: Gain control of the Imperial Favor and add a counter to it. Play this ability only as a sorcery.
Pay half your life, rounded up: Gain control of the Imperial Favor and add a counter to it. Play this ability as an instant. You may only use this ability if you have thirty or more life.
Gonna take this for a roll soon at the next EDH night. I'm Looking for thoughts/comments on how to tweek this, if abilities need to be added, removed, or changed, and any other thoughts. I am also not sure how to counter ramp or sensei's tops, unless it gets a 7th ability to "split second-destroy target ring or top."
TL;DR: proposing a house rule emblem in EDH that can be used to neuter degenerate strategies early.
"unending inquisition". You interrogate the opponent to 'steal thoughts' from them. "mini-game."
Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. Name a card. That player reveals a card at random from their hand. If that card is the named card, you draw a card and they discard that card.
Cost: one Black or colorless and black (depending on power level as a one drop/two drop)
Conceptually, this is a black mage using his power to interrogate another mage. Asking the right questions will uncover the opponent's secrets, and give you knowledge in return. Goal is to progressively rip away their hand, which black likes to do anyway. The reveal each turn can also set up additional discard, especially targeted discard. It will play nicely with cabal therapy, duress, inquisition, and others. Mechanically, it turns "off" once their hand is empty, which signals that they don't know anything else of value. It makes it harder for them to hold back cards to bluff with.
The storyline for the set is "what happens after the Helvault gets broken open?"
Looking at Eye of Ugin as a plant for Rise of the Eldrazi, it signaled big colorless monsters, and the format was designed to make playing them possible and matter, so it was slower, a.k.a. battleship magic.
If the demons are going to escape or emerge from somewhere (thematically, the helvault), and it is not your graveyard, then library seems like a good choice. The demons will likely have abilities that let them be played from the library when something special happens or the gamestate is at a certain place, but get shuffled back in when something else happens. This is a thematic extension of the flip cards (the no spells/two spells events) that does not require a flip trigger. The new flip trigger will be [whatever] and you get to unleash some demons. The format will revolve around making that game state happen.
Something like a modified hellbent would work, i.e. one of the conditions might be having fewer cards in hand than the opponent. It encourages playing out cards (and not holding them, like in Saviors of Kamigawa, which slowed down the format), and not caring if they go into the graveyard (which helps the themes from Innistrad). You risk losing card advantage by emptying your hand, but the extra demons you get can balance this out.
It's unclear if Avacin has been corrupted or just beat on a bit while trapped in the vault, but she might be pulling a Batman from "Knightfall", trying to round up all the Demons and get them back in jail.
It is just synergy, its not supposed to be a game ending combo... but, this is basically baby punishing fire. 2 cards (and any third zombie in play), and then it is 3 mana for one damage, but it is repeatable. Lots of things in standard have 1 toughness right now, and the ability to just tap 3 lands and kill them resembles a (clearly worse) version of punishing fires... but so far, in testing, it is still really good. Killing haunt tokens, killing delvers, lavamancers, and being able to tap 6 to kill 2 toughness critters is still pretty decent if you just need something to grind them out. The best part is that pod is relevant early game as well (picking off any of the aforesaid dorks)
This is basically zombie's version of moorland haunt: for when your game goes long and you need to get value. Every bit adds up when you are out of gas.
1. Shoots unflipped delver, tokenless stromkirk noble, Snapcaster, grim lavamancer, and mana dorks.
2. Is three mana per point of damage with gravecrawler.
3. The above combo also takes a life when you have diregraf captain out.
4. Combos with captain to kill anything (just fire it off during a combat so you get the deathtouch).
5. Combos with messenger to make it bigger and get a free use.
6. Tragic slip is a super tragic -13/-13 when you fire a critter off the pod first.
7. Fits in that nice 2 drop void.
While I am sticking U/B for now (since Havengul Lich has won a long game or two recycling awesome guys, and diregraf captain is the best lord right now) B/R has some alure from the burn.
Still, zombies backed by a few cheap counters (mana leak, negate, ect.) rolls a lot of decks, being delver like tempo, with awesome resilience. Biggest issue is if cage starts to get played, but you might be able to stop it with mental misstep or steel sabotage.
I do like this card, since it will trade with a titan, can get absurd with equipment, and looks like it would work well in a deck with pristine talisman or the new chalice. You just face more risk, since it doesn't give you an ETB ability, so removal is a 1-1 trade, instead of incremental advantage. I think the combo applications are probably more likely, at least while titans still roam standard.