I'm afraid your deck is a bit too Competitive for what I'm aiming for! My playgroup outright ruled that infinite combos don't happen more than a couple of times simply because it ruins the fun.
Still, I'll see what I can adapt.. might be some ways to make my deck stronger but not too overpowered.
Oh God I hadn't even realised my mana-base was a mess. Well that explains some stuff at least, thanks. What do you think to cards like Grim Monolith or Mana Vault in this sort of deck?
Hey all, I'm currently finding my Thraximundar deck massively underwhelming, and I'm not really sure what to do to fix it. I'm specifically finding that the deck either loses steam and stops doing anything, or that anything I put down on the board doesn't last more than 1 turn. Plus whenever I do make something stick, the whole table seems to focus me down as the biggest threat (I guess throwing down a Sheoldred, Whispering One and Blood Tyrant will do that).
I know that I could run it as a Voltron-type deck but I play in games with 4 players so it just seems that I'd have issues beating down 3 other people with just the 1 creature, especially if he gets tucked. I wouldn't mind Voltron, but I'm just not sure how to make it work in a multiplayer environment.
The deck, obviously, needs building for my meta. At current I've got to contend with:
Okay, so anything that triggers on Dying needs to have the creature ending up in the graveyard.. but anything that triggers on Sacrifices only cares if the creature left the battlefield?
Yeah sorry, I just wanted to know the opinionated reasoning on why he was banned.
Back on to a more rules-related question then, if you Sacrifice your Commander but replacement-effect it in to the Command Zone, is it considered Sacrificed? I'm assuming no, since:
701.14a. To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner's graveyard.
Does this mean that if I were to attack my opponent with Thraximundar and they sacrificed their Commander to the trigger (and moved it to the Command Zone), no +1/+1 counters would be given to Thrax? What if I were to use a Birthing Pod on my own Commander, would the ability happen?
Thanks for the replies guys. So out of interest, since Kokusho, the Evening Star wouldn't do anything when sent to the Command Zone.. why is he banned as a Commander?
My understanding is he was banned for being too easy to repeatedly trigger, but surely then Child of Alara is just as bad? Is he just banned for simply being able to guarantee finding him every game?
Hey all, just want to clear something up. When a Commander dies and you get the opportunity to replace that effect so that the Commander goes to the Command Zone instead of the graveyard, does the Commander still die and trigger things like Morbid or does it have to end up in the graveyard for it to have been considered to have 'died'?
I've been wondering if there's some kind of deck to be found in making people draw loads of cards, and then making them discard loads of cards.. and then killing them via Liliana's Caress because of the discards. My guess would be Grixis colours for this, Blue for the drawing, Black for the discarding, and Red for burning.. but I'm not sure red would be necessary and it should just be UB. Any thoughts?
If I use Jace, The Mind Sculptor's -1 ability and target a token (lets say a 3/3 Green Beast as produced by Garruk Wildspeaker) would that token be a legal target? If it is, would I be correct in thinking that Jace's ability would simply destroy the token since you can't put tokens into your hand?
Actually, wouldn't it work that It That Betrays would get it because it only relies on the creature being sacrificed.. not entering the graveyard. If it never reaches the graveyard, then surely Necroskitter won't get a chance to trigger?
I say this because Necroskitter specifically says "is put into a graveyard" rather than say "would be put into a graveyard" like with Darksteel Colossus or Demonfire? I'm still unsure though, the rules on Sacrifice seem to say that it moves directly to the graveyard.. would It That Betrays stop it from entering?
501.6. Sacrifice
501.6a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the in-play zone directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.
Thought Hemorrhage and Sadistic Sacrament put this deck in a world of hurt. Got repeatedly beaten down by Jund and Vampires last night by having the bad luck of opponents drawing more of them than I could get Negates and Flashfreezes out.
Perhaps you should consider an everflowing chalice, it counts an artifact and you can drop it for free if you need to to boost your glassdust hulk/ filigree cast and it also makes it far easier to cast said filligree/ sharum
man lands were terrible since if I ever had mana to activate them I always had something else going on.
This is how I've always found it, and it's why I'm not very keen on Celestial Colonnade. I think they're really there just incase you have excessive mana available, but the way this deck usually plays you tend to have plenty of choices in hand at all times.
Just wondering why those who love the manlands aren't is bothing with Creeping Tar Pit instead of Celestial Colonnade? Lets you find black mana, costs less to activate, is slightly more vulnerable to getting splattered (land that can be killed off with a Lightning Bolt = sadface) but it's unblockable instead of being able to fly.
3. Inkwell Leviathan is a card I'm not sure of, I'm aware it syncs up well with Spreading Seas and is a pretty ridiculous card, but for 1 less mana you could put in a Sphinx of the Steel Wind which imo is even better considering the current meta.
Still, I'll see what I can adapt.. might be some ways to make my deck stronger but not too overpowered.
I know that I could run it as a Voltron-type deck but I play in games with 4 players so it just seems that I'd have issues beating down 3 other people with just the 1 creature, especially if he gets tucked. I wouldn't mind Voltron, but I'm just not sure how to make it work in a multiplayer environment.
The deck, obviously, needs building for my meta. At current I've got to contend with:
- An Allies combo deck, using Horde of Notions
- A Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir control deck
- A Kaalia of the Vast beatdown deck
Also, the Teferi and Kaalia players have alternative decks, using Brion Stoutarm and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord respectively.I'd appreciate any help anyone could offer, or any strategy/tactics people could suggest!
Link to the deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/edh-grixis-mk2/
EDIT: Updated the deck, added and removed some bits and pieces. Could still probably do with some changes, let me know if you can think of anything.
Back on to a more rules-related question then, if you Sacrifice your Commander but replacement-effect it in to the Command Zone, is it considered Sacrificed? I'm assuming no, since:
Does this mean that if I were to attack my opponent with Thraximundar and they sacrificed their Commander to the trigger (and moved it to the Command Zone), no +1/+1 counters would be given to Thrax? What if I were to use a Birthing Pod on my own Commander, would the ability happen?
My understanding is he was banned for being too easy to repeatedly trigger, but surely then Child of Alara is just as bad? Is he just banned for simply being able to guarantee finding him every game?
However the person who activated it will still get to Draw a card, but the Sensei's will remain in the graveyard.
I say this because Necroskitter specifically says "is put into a graveyard" rather than say "would be put into a graveyard" like with Darksteel Colossus or Demonfire? I'm still unsure though, the rules on Sacrifice seem to say that it moves directly to the graveyard.. would It That Betrays stop it from entering?
^^This. Several times I've cast an Everflowing Chalice for 0 just to trigger Glassdust Hulk's ability. Great thing to do in the turn after dropping an Open the Vaults.
This is how I've always found it, and it's why I'm not very keen on Celestial Colonnade. I think they're really there just incase you have excessive mana available, but the way this deck usually plays you tend to have plenty of choices in hand at all times.
Just wondering why those who love the manlands aren't is bothing with Creeping Tar Pit instead of Celestial Colonnade? Lets you find black mana, costs less to activate, is slightly more vulnerable to getting splattered (land that can be killed off with a Lightning Bolt = sadface) but it's unblockable instead of being able to fly.
1. I don't like Celestial Colonnades because I feel they're pretty wasteful.. did they work out okay for you though? I'd probably swap them for..
2. No sources of black to hard cast stuff if you need to, I'd probably say a Drowned Catacomb or Jwar Isle Refuge would be better instead of the Celestial Colonnades, maybe run 3x Jwar Isle and 3x Kabira Crossroads? If you're still keen on running man-lands, what about Creeping Tar Pit?
3. Inkwell Leviathan is a card I'm not sure of, I'm aware it syncs up well with Spreading Seas and is a pretty ridiculous card, but for 1 less mana you could put in a Sphinx of the Steel Wind which imo is even better considering the current meta.