Arena of the Ancients
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Oldschool 93/94 Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Arena of the Ancients

Artifact

Legendary creatures don't untap during their controllers' untap steps.

When Arena of the Ancients enters the battlefield, tap all legendary creatures.

RiotRunner789 on Favorite EDH Cards

1 week ago

My favorite card is Grave Pact but that isn't quite niche. I don't seem to have as many oddball fun cards that I tend to play but there are a few oddball or less played ones at least.

Black: Koskun Falls is a favorite of mine. I prefer decks that do not attack, so the tapping is not a big downside. Tainted Remedy because it makes opponent's creatures with lifelink funny. Gift of Doom which doesn't use the stack when morphing which has come in handy more than once. Pestilence is one of my favorite black board wipes which typically is on my board with an indestructible creature. Dystopia since at least someone is playing Selesnya.

White: Peacekeeper because no means no. Aura of Silence use to be more niche but has seen some prominent reprints. Solid removal with a tax effect has tripped up more than one opponent. Mandate of Peace is a great fog and a counter spell in some situations. Underplayed.

Green: Hall of Gemstone for any monogreen deck. Had a blue player try to win on my endstep and about 5 minutes into their combo, I asked where there blue mana was coming from.

Orzhov: Batwing Brume has killed a few Kranko players for me and saved me several times.

Colorless: Null Brooch is just Isochron Scepter with Negate already attached. Arena of the Ancients is great for when my commander doesn't need to tap, or attack, or is played after this and has vigilance. Great card no one expects.

Red: Apocalypse or Jokulhaups for the hard reset. Stranglehold because blue players are the worst and tutoring takes too long.

Blue: Mana Vortex for the slow decent into hell.

Cop400 on Karona Backgrounds EDH

1 year ago

Yeah I was thinking the same thing

Arena of the Ancients is a cool tech, I like it!

carpecanum on Karona Backgrounds EDH

1 year ago

My Karona deck has fun with Legerdemain, Stuffy Doll (which becomes political very fast), Blessing of the Nephilim and Arena of the Ancients (Karona will untap in Upkeep, not Untap step)

You may need a little more Defense. Even if Karona can't attack you she can give all the other creatures +3/+3 and THEY can attack you.

ClockworkSwordfish on Criminally Underplayed EDH Gems

2 years ago

No shortage of 'em, that's for sure...

Hull Breach: The same card advantage of Return to Dust and at the same speed... but for half the mana. It's a common, too. How this two-for-one superstar was ever forgotten was beyond me!

Blood Frenzy: Mono-Red is somewhat lacking in hard removal. Sure it can throw direct damage at creatures, but EDH is the world of big plays, and sometimes a fattie will come along who is simply too big to burn. Blood Frenzy can kill any attacking or blocking creature for just two mana - while coming with a free Scorching Missile! This type of card takes advantage of the multiplayer format that EDH often is: If Player A attacks Player B with a big creature, you can use Blood Frenzy to make the creature hit Player B for four more points while conveniently disposing of it right after. Whoops, you just did Doom Blade better than black could ever dream of.

Aftershock: Blood Frenzy is cheap and powerful but a little specific in what it can target. Aftershock can flat-out destroy any permanent of the three most common types with no restrictions! This kind of versatility at four mana comes with the acceptable caveat of 3 life, which is a pittance when you start with 40. If you're making a mono-red deck, the flexibility of Aftershock should make it a staple.

Repopulate: Graveyard hate for decks without access to black - and it's an instant, so you don't lose the element of surprise like if you run artifact solutions. It can also fight against milling effects if you're desperate. Don't need graveyard hate? Hey, you can just cycle it away for something else!

Kill Switch: Playing a colour that can't deal with artifacts? Crank this guy every turn and you'll shut them all down! A Blightsteel Colossus is only scary if it can move. You can even still use mana rocks and attack with artifact creatures on your turn, then activate Kill Switch afterwards to keep anyone else from having access to their own trinkets.

Duskmantle, House of Shadow: Does anyone in your playgroup run Cruel, Enlightened, Mystical, Personal, Sylvan, Vampiric or Worldly Tutor? How about Harbingers, Volrath's Stronghold or Momir Vig? It can be comforting to have an anti-tutor just sitting in play, making mana when you don't need it.

Mitotic Manipulation: Monoblue can't do mana acceleration, right? Under most circumstances, Mitotic Manipulation is three mana to put an Island into play untapped - last I checked, that's better than the ever-popular Wayfarer's Bauble. Plus, once in a while you might get to pull out a Sol Ring, Gilded Lotus or other format staple if one of your opponents already has theirs.

Coalition Honor Guard: Long before Spellskite was zooming the toys away from Boggles decks, this unassuming common was doing the same. The Honor Guard is a nightmare for any Voltron-style deck that leans heavily into auras, including the common Zur and Uril builds. It also soaks up removal that would be pointed at key cards, such as your own commander.

Warping Wail: This counterspell can be played in any colour and even has some other modes. Any EDH deck without access to blue can still run this to prevent untimely board wipes, extra turns, and plenty of game-ending cards: Debt to the Deathless, Exsanguinate, Finale of Devastation, Genesis Wave, Insurrection, Rise of the Dark Realms, Torment of Hailfire... any number of effects you never want to see your opponent resolve.

Heat Shimmer: This mundane-sounding sorcery can do some heavy lifting, particularly in a colour pie as shallow as red's. Shimmer allows you to bring the heat by copying not only the best comes-into-play trigger on the field, but also any fun triggers from attacking, dealing damage, and so on. This can be a roundabout way for red to ramp, draw cards or borrow the nasty abilities of Resolute Archangel, Terastodon and other off-colour haymakers. Don't forget you can also get a permanent copy of your token if you Populate it before it's gone.

Bind: The best cards are often not only powerful but completely unexpected. Green isn't exactly known for its countering, but this cheap cantrip lets any mono-green deck stop combos, hose Strip Mine/Ghost Quarter, prevent a planeswalker ultimate or turn Aetherflux Reservoir into a losing proposition. All this for two mana and it even replaces itself!

Arena of the Ancients: We all know Karakas is banned for hosing commanders too hard, but the Arena does a decent impression and is still fair game. This cheap artifact can tap down even commanders with hexproof or vigilance and keeps them locked down - especially useful for colours that don't typically have strong control options, like black and/or red. It's another easy answer to voltron commanders.

Righteous Aura: This card doesn't read as too impressive, but performs a lot better than you might think. 2 life is a pittance in the face of some of the steroid monsters you'll see in any given EDH game, and it allows you to ignore Commander damage entirely as well as any other non-creature or even non-permanent threats that might take a chunk out of you. Best of all, it doesn't even target, allowing it to bypass hexproof, shroud and protection.

DreadKhan on Prove Your Worth: Etrata, The Silencer

4 years ago

Any reason you wouldn't run Arena of the Ancients in this? You've got no legendary creatures other than Etrata, who doesn't care about the effect, right?

Meshuvel on Fateshifted

4 years ago

Currently trying to find room for some defensive cards: - Maze of Ith - Parallax Wave - Arena of the Ancients

And I accidentally took out all my creature recursion facepalm, so I need to fix that.

K1ngMars on Help Finding Cards for a …

5 years ago

I'd consider cards that tap all the creatures of your opponents (which also protects from incoming attacks your planeswalkers):

And I'd also consider cards that double the damage rowan can deal with her minus ability, so that you can better clean the board:

griffstick on Ramos, Tribal Legend

5 years ago

Blackblade Reforged

Helm of the Host

Leyline of Singularity

Karn's Temporal Sundering

Heroes' Podium

And I saved the best for last Arena of the Ancients ... kidding. Lol

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