- Ubermegapwnzod
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Oct 28, 2016Ubermegapwnzod posted a message on The World of Alara Part II: Legends of The Sundered PlaneAren't we fairly certain that Dominaria IS Bolas' home? The Dragon Wars and the histories of him and his brothers were Dominarian events, no? And he was not a Planeswalker during those times.Posted in: Articles
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That is, you have this out, you cast Tormenting Voice. You discard a card, and it gets exiled because of Bag. But it's not exiled WITH Bag. Right?
EDIT: It's a trigger, not a replacement ability, my bad (though I am still confused)
I'm pretty sure this is just straight up infinity. So if it gets Swords'ed or gains lifelink, you'll be at infinity. No arbitrary number, no amount of Deceiver Exarchs or Felidar Guardians, can affect you.
The only question in that situation is, what if you then get hit by an opponent's Infinity Elemental? I think mathematics would say that you stay at infinity, but I wonder if the FAQ might differ.
And that, I think, is the joke here. Any fixed card would be seen as a disappointment, so now if the fanboys complain they just change it. It's a gag I would hate to see often, but on a single, very-hard-to-cast mythic, I think it works.
I'm beginning to understand how First Pick got its name...
I stand corrected. Even better, then!
Almost. Spike can't actually fetch Voltaic Key. But you can go for Black Lotus, Lion's Eye Diamond, Time Vault, and Demonic Tutor (for Key). A Spike commander deck could do this turn 1 with some consistency, thanks to Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Lotus Petal, Crystal Vein, Dark Ritual, etc. Good times, good times.
Yeah, the title is a bit of a question mark. When I set out building it (basically, a week after Paradox Engine was spoiled) the idea was Selvala Eggs, but that would clearly not be accurate here. I suppose it's a storm deck without the storm mechanic, the way modern Affinity retains the style and themes of that archetype without actually running any cards with Affinity (beyond the occasional Thoughtcast).
For what it's worth, the informal name of this deck is 'Parley Vous?'
No, the reason I don't recommend this deck is because it is the most ludicrously degenerate commander deck I have ever seen, and it is absolutely miserable to play against. The combo turn is excruciating, and generally features drawing a good 20-30 cards before you can demonstrate a deterministic loop, and then Parleying everyone to death while you survive the wreckage with either Abundance or Green Sun's Zenith to stop from milling. As you go off, be sure to take note of floating green, white, and generic mana, as well as Selvala's power. If your playgroup insists on you keeping track of your life total as well, it could be a long day (one variation of this deck is to use Aetherflux Reservoir, which would also require you to add storm count to that list).
The gameplan is fairly simple: play a mana dork turn 1 and Selvala turn 2. As soon as she can activate, start chaining untap spells and effects (primarily targeting your general) to run through your deck while building up mana. As mentioned above, you're not actually building towards anything in particular, just trying to get the engine flowing to the point that you can run through everyone's deck.
A few details and card notes:
- If you have enough mana and an Enlightened Tutor at any point, Paradox Engine is the best card you can get. It is the easiest way to perpetuate the loop. The second most common tutor target is Cloudstone Curio, which I'll get to below.
- Feel free to mulligan until a turn-3 active Selvala is possible. That means making sure that you have a mana dork / rock and enough lands. Watch out for white mana - it's one of your most limited resources. You will not get much chance to play this deck before really feeling the hate, so make it flashy.
- If you have any way of granting haste, Seeker of Skybreak is likely your best target for creature tutors. There are a lot of effects that untap multiple creatures, and double-parleying is very powerful.
- Crop Rotation offers ramp in a pinch. It can work in place of a mana dork by fetching a turn-1 Remote Farm, and if you happen to have Mana Crypt in your opener, you can rotate for Sungrass Prairie for the devastating first turn Selvala.
- Rishkar's Expertise is a very important card, and building to a big one of these is a great way to close out the game. This is why you need to track Selvala's power.
- Cloudstone Curio can go off in a couple ways: by looping Wirewood Symbiote and an elf (especially if you have a haste enabler), or by looping Nature's Chosen / Instill Energy and another enchantment.
- Ranger of Eos will usually grab Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote. Keep in mind this is most often equal to three untaps, as you lead with Ranger, bounce a forest, play Symbiote, bounce Ranger, replay the forest, replay Ranger, bounce the forest again. Speaking of which...
- Save your 3rd turn land drop until you absolutely need it. You never know what may come up.
- Your best cards, and the keys to having turns that finish the job rather than just spinning the wheels for a bit, are the ones that dig deepest. Credit Voucher can be vital, Nostalgic Dreams is stellar, and Memory Jar and Alhammarret's Archive are important tools if you have a lot of mana but are low on gas.
- If you have a lot of mana to throw around, and something like Weird Harvest, go ahead and grab Dosan. May as well erase all doubt.
Here's the list:
1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
Other Creatures (18)
1x Arbor Elf
1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birchlore Rangers
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Boreal Druid
1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Elvish Spirit Guide
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Magus of the Vineyard
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Ranger of Eos
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Seeker of Skybreak
1x Skyshroud Ranger
1x Village Bell-Ringer
1x Wirewood Symbiote
Artifacts (19)
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Chromatic Sphere
1x Chrome Mox
1x Cloudstone Curio
1x Credit Voucher
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lotus Petal
1x Magewright's Stone
1x Mana Crypt
1x Memory Jar
1x Mox Diamond
1x Paradox Engine
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Umbral Mantle
1x Abundance
1x Concordant Crossroads
1x Eladamri's Vineyard
1x Exploration
1x Instill Energy
1x Nature's Chosen
Sorceries (8)
1x Edge of Autumn
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Mobilize
1x Nostalgic Dreams
1x Open the Armory
1x Rishkar's Expertise
1x Steelshaper's Gift
1x Weird Harvest
Instants (17)
1x Aim High
1x Benefactor's Draught
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Burst of Energy
1x Burst of Strength
1x Colossal Heroics
1x Crop Rotation
1x Emerald Charm
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Gerrard's Command
1x Hope and Glory
1x Ornamental Courage
1x Roar of the Kha
1x Savage Surge
1x Spidery Grasp
1x Summoner's Pact
1x To Arms!
1x Touch of Vitae
1x Vines of the Recluse
1x Vitalize
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Flooded Strand
1x Forbidden Orchard
8x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Hickory Woodlot
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Mana Confluence
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Razorverge Thicket
1x Remote Farm
1x Savannah
1x Sungrass Prairie
1x Temple Garden
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wirewood Lodge
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
Thoughts, suggestions, and questions are welcome, and I invite anyone to test this deck for themselves. It's a ton of fun to goldfish.
Now that would be fun!
My biggest questions are 1) are there any cards that I'm missing that could make this deck even more consistent / powerful / annoying / resilient-without-sacrificing-the-first-three? And 2) is there a way to get this deck to a point where it retains its identity but doesn't become either oppressive and awful to play against or a lightning rod for hate? Curious to hear thoughts and suggestions.
I'm posting the 'full-power' list here - I myself don't have Cradle or the Zen fetches, so they're not in my build.
Feel free to test this out - it's a ton of fun to goldfish!
1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
Other Creatures (18)
1x Arbor Elf
1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birchlore Rangers
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Boreal Druid
1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Elvish Spirit Guide
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Magus of the Vineyard
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Ranger of Eos
1x Sakura-Tribe Scout
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Seeker of Skybreak
1x Village Bell-Ringer
1x Wirewood Symbiote
Artifacts (20)
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Chromatic Sphere
1x Chrome Mox
1x Cloudstone Curio
1x Credit Voucher
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lotus Petal
1x Magewright's Stone
1x Mana Crypt
1x Memory Jar
1x Mox Diamond
1x Paradox Engine
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Umbral Mantle
1x Well of Lost Dreams
1x Abundance
1x Abundant Growth
1x Concordant Crossroads
1x Eladamri's Vineyard
1x Exploration
1x Instill Energy
1x Nature's Chosen
Sorceries (8)
1x Edge of Autumn
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Mobilize
1x Nostalgic Dreams
1x Open the Armory
1x Rishkar's Expertise
1x Steelshaper's Gift
1x Weird Harvest
Instants (17)
1x Aim High
1x Benefactor's Draught
1x Burst of Energy
1x Burst of Strength
1x Colossal Heroics
1x Crop Rotation
1x Emerald Charm
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Hope and Glory
1x Ornamental Courage
1x Roar of the Kha
1x Savage Surge
1x Spidery Grasp
1x Summoner's Pact
1x To Arms!
1x Vines of the Recluse
1x Vitalize
1x Blasted Landscape
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Flooded Strand
1x Forbidden Orchard
8x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Hickory Woodlot
1x Mana Confluence
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Razorverge Thicket
1x Remote Farm
1x Savannah
1x Sungrass Prairie
1x Temple Garden
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wirewood Lodge
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
Or 'Curses' and just have all the negative effects? Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, Chalice, Thorn, Wasteland, Pox, Smallpox, Pestilence, Damnation ( ). Ankh of Mishra would be perfect for this... almost.
MaRo did give us a heads up that some of the upcoming Masterpiece series aren't such clean fits as KLD. So we will see.
Granted, that deck loses a ton with the departure of Dark Petition, but a boy can dream!
Edit: also still probably not worth it to give the opponent an extra card with a max hand size of 0, but it could be nice in some Commander games.
While going all in on the combo is an option, you can also just build around Coating and Saheeli value and make the combo more incidental. Trinket Mage is a must, as that will allow you to run a singleton altar, and it's great to flicker with Saheeli, especially with a toolbox (E.E., Relic, Chalice, etc.)