Consecrated Sphinx and Rhystic Study are two cards that I got tired of really quickly. I don't like either of them in general, but I won't (seriously) get on anyone for playing them but I have started to actively keep them out of my own decks. They're plenty powerful but I was plenty happy to trade my copies away for more fun cards.
Since you love sacrificing creatures for fun and profit, might I suggest Falkenrath Noble. I don't go infinite in my Ghave deck and still end up draining 15 to 25 life pretty routinely.
Aura Shards is brutal artifact and enchantment removal, especially in a token deck. It completely wrecks certain decks and even if you're not playing any artifact or enchantment dependent decks there's still likely to be a good target on the board more often than not. Plus you can fetch it with Academy Rector if you go that route.
Blade of the Bloodchief is a good way to build up counters. Ghave decks love to sacrifice creatures and this card rewards you for doing that. And it's got some obviously good synergy with Ghave if you like going the counter route.
Praetor's Counsel is a pet card of mine. I put it into all of my Green decks and have never regretted it. Winning off the back of this card is not terribly uncommon. It's fantastic.
And this may seem obvious but Grave Titan has been fantastic in my deck. He can pump out a steady stream of tokens (good as attackers and sac fodder) and is a really solid body on his own.
I've drawn it a couple times in my mono-black zombie deck and it was fantastic. I could sweep the board, recur multiple creatures, and then have enough mana to really press the advantage.
Now that I'm shifting that deck into Grixis colors, I wonder if it's still gonna hold up. Anyone have experience running it in a deck that goes more than two colors?
Steel Hellkite may not be an Elf, but he is a house. He's also colorless removal alongside Brittle Effigy, Duplicant, and Spine of Ish Sah (which can be reused the next time Animar comes out). I've never played against a truly cutthroat Animar but removal seems like the best way to stop him. Mono-green hurts for creature removal but there are still options out there, use them all.
I second both Bear Umbra and Blade of the Bloodchief. Batterskull is really strong, it can gain you huge amounts of life if it sticks around for long. Whispersilk Cloak is good, but that two mana can be annoying if you want to equip something else to Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. However, if spot removal is a big problem for you, Hexproof is the best in the business but Shroud still stops Path to Exile dead.
Uhhh, it says target (Ashling)... That doesn't get around it in the slightest. In fact that's actually bad against them because you might not even kill any of their creatures.
Basically though, sweepers are your best bet.
Huh, I see lol. I didn't make the connection that I couldn't target the creature in the first place to force the opponent to sac it. My bad.
Sneak Attack is one of the many lines of flavor text that is just so perfectly goblin that I can't help but love it. I'm looking around for some of my other favorite goblin-centric flavor texts lol.
So not long ago, the "Wizards Asks" segment on Daily MTG was about one's favorite flavor text. I love the general flavor in Magic and flavor text is no exception and it seems like a worthy thread to make. I didn't find any other threads specifically for flavor text like this, so here it is. Funny, serious, whatever. Come one, come all.
One of my favorites is from Cannibalize, it's just hilarious. Simple and to the point, love it.
Wreath of Geists has really cool flavor text from a set full of great flavor.
Balthor the Defiled is a great bit of flavor text because it delves into what it's like to be a sentient zombie, not just a mindless flesh-eater.
I'll add more as I remember them, but I really wanna see what you guys (and gals) dig.
Well its good to know there's hope for the physical cards themselves.
As for animate dead's wording; it is clunky as hell, there are a few cards that need more than just an oracle word change, it needs a type change.
I don't mean to derail this thread with a rules judgement, but I'd like your opinion on this interpretation:
Animate Dead 1B
Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield, return target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control, and Animate Dead becomes an Aura attached to that creature with "Enchanted creature gets -1/-0" and "If Animate Dead would not be enchanting this creature card, enchanted creature's controller sacrifices it."
Functionality different no doubt, but conveys the spirit of the card? It's happened in the past where textbook magic-lingo is discarded in favor of readability.
*FYI* The above interpretation does take up considerably less space.
I'm prolly not as experience in Magic as you, but that wording still seems like it could be cut down.
Maybe...
Enchant creature card in any graveyard.
Enchanted creature has -1/-0.
If Animate Dead is removed from creature, that creature's own sacrifices the creature.
I'm sure there's some touch-up that could be done but that feels a bit smoother to me.
Stonebrow: Kessig Wolf Run, Hall of the Bandit Lord, Ghost Quarter, and/or Homeward Path
Ghave: Gavony Township, Yavimaya Hollow, Vault of the Archangel (it's sooo good), Mosswort Bridge, Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, and/or Strip Mine
All of that depends on the situation though.
Aura Shards is brutal artifact and enchantment removal, especially in a token deck. It completely wrecks certain decks and even if you're not playing any artifact or enchantment dependent decks there's still likely to be a good target on the board more often than not. Plus you can fetch it with Academy Rector if you go that route.
Blade of the Bloodchief is a good way to build up counters. Ghave decks love to sacrifice creatures and this card rewards you for doing that. And it's got some obviously good synergy with Ghave if you like going the counter route.
Praetor's Counsel is a pet card of mine. I put it into all of my Green decks and have never regretted it. Winning off the back of this card is not terribly uncommon. It's fantastic.
And this may seem obvious but Grave Titan has been fantastic in my deck. He can pump out a steady stream of tokens (good as attackers and sac fodder) and is a really solid body on his own.
Reanimate has been a little disappointing for me. I prefer reusability, maybe test out Phyrexian Reclamation.
Now that I'm shifting that deck into Grixis colors, I wonder if it's still gonna hold up. Anyone have experience running it in a deck that goes more than two colors?
Well. That's flat-out fantastic. I want a copy. Right now.
And in green it can be recurred pretty easily to keep punching through that damage.
Huh, I see lol. I didn't make the connection that I couldn't target the creature in the first place to force the opponent to sac it. My bad.
Day of Judgment is always really cool to read.
Sneak Attack is one of the many lines of flavor text that is just so perfectly goblin that I can't help but love it. I'm looking around for some of my other favorite goblin-centric flavor texts lol.
Door is fantastic haha. Always love that text.
One of my favorites is from Cannibalize, it's just hilarious. Simple and to the point, love it.
Wreath of Geists has really cool flavor text from a set full of great flavor.
Balthor the Defiled is a great bit of flavor text because it delves into what it's like to be a sentient zombie, not just a mindless flesh-eater.
I'll add more as I remember them, but I really wanna see what you guys (and gals) dig.
I'm prolly not as experience in Magic as you, but that wording still seems like it could be cut down.
Maybe...
Enchant creature card in any graveyard.
Enchanted creature has -1/-0.
If Animate Dead is removed from creature, that creature's own sacrifices the creature.
I'm sure there's some touch-up that could be done but that feels a bit smoother to me.