Barrier Breach

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Barrier Breach

Instant

Exile up to three target enchantments.

Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

MortisAngelus on Forged Execution (Gruul Land-Hate)

2 years ago

@wallisface

Hey! Thank you so much for the extensive feedback! You make a lot of good points!

However, I think you underestimate the power Splinter brings. Being able to remove all win cons from a combo deck or removing all basic lands of one type is what really makes ppl hate it. But I have been considering bringing the count down to 3.

I am surprised about you also not liking Smash to Smithereens; I see your point with always having a destruction card, but ultimately, the end goal is to kill the opponent, not just control them. So killing a permanent and pinging them 3 seems like a win-win imho. Or?

Ancient Stirrings is definitely something I must try to insert here. I have played against it; how have I not realized how good it would be here?..

And Barrier Breach I have already considered for side board. :) Gotta deal with those pesky God-creatures.

Ultimately, 4x Rootbound Crag is what I want for this deck. I am considering switching the Kazandu Refuge cards for the scry-equivalent cards instead. But we'll see.

But we never solved the original question, if you left the deck as it is for now, and only thought about Sunder Shaman vs Rust Scarab , which one would you insert?

Anyway, thanks a lot for all the feedback! Have a lot to think about now.

wallisface on Forged Execution (Gruul Land-Hate)

2 years ago

Nice build! Very juicy!

Some thoughts from looking through the list:

  • As you already mentioned, Shenanigans looks really good here. But I wouldn't necessarily drop Ancient Grudge for it, as Grudge will almost always be a 2-for-1, where as Shenanigans will always be a 1-for-1 (it's just you can have it in hand whenever you want it). Shenanigans is better than all of Destructive Revelry, Smash to Smithereens, and Splinter, so I'd suggest ditching one of them (if it were me, it'd be Splinter.

  • Your land count is really low. A bunch of your cards need for you to be at 3 mana, which you're going to only reach unreliably at 20 lands. I'd suggest going to 22 personally. This will also help you actually get Rust Scarab out too (which I personally think works good as a 1-or-2-of)

  • I'm really unconvinced by Splinter. If you're hosing your opponents boardstate, it usually won't matter whether they have more copies of a particular card in-deck. More often than not, it'll be the instants/sorceries giving you grief rather than the permanents (and Splinter can't hit those). This'd be the card i'd be ditching for Shenanigans as mentioned above. Splinter is a sideboard card at-best.

  • You mentioned on the forum-thread potentially using Voltaic Key, but I don't think this is necessary, as once the engine is going, the untap of the Key is just overkill. Something like Ancient Stirrings might be better suited though, as it gives you a turn 1 play, and lets you grab either additional lands, or grab additional Liquimetal cards (I would suggest staying at 20 lands if you added a playset of Ancient Stirrings).

  • Barrier Breach feels really strong here, though probably just as a 2-of. The cycling is nice if you're in a bad spot, but it's also going to end the game on-the-spot if you have multiple Liquimetal cards in play.

  • I reeaallly don't rate taplands (Kazandu Refuge). They're going to trip you up more often than they're going to help you colour-fix. Personally I'd sooner be running all your lands as basics, than include the Refuge. Only running 2 colours, and nothing needing multiple of a particular-pip you're very likely to be fine just running all basics anyway.

If it were me, I'd be ditching 4x Splinter, 4x Tin Street Hooligan, and 1x Smash to Smithereens, for 3x Shenanigans, 4x Ancient Stirrings, 2x Barrier Breach - but that's just me. You'll have a better idea of whether this sounds viable or nonsense.

NicodaPico on Fynn, Lord of Poison

3 years ago

The fynn deck looks good on creatures and doesnt need alot of ramp cuase your decks really low to the ground. One thing it does need tho is more removal. Greens got so much enchantment and artifact removal with Return to Nature Nature's Claim Wilt Barrier Breach

also in this deck some fight spells can be pretty effective Clear Shot Ram Through Ambuscade Prey Upon and can even replace a land with Khalni Ambush  Flip

king-saproling on D.D. Soldier Lady

3 years ago

Cool deck! I wish the eldrazi processors (e.g. Void Attendant) were better since they interact with Anafenza in a fun way. Could be worth it for the memes though!

You might like these too: Lifeline, Ill-Gotten Gains, Living Death, Empty the Catacombs, Pyrrhic Revival, Twilight's Call, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Dust to Dust, Return to Dust, Barrier Breach

slashdotdash on

3 years ago

Hey there Kronhamilton,

First of all, I like the improvements you’ve made to your deck. It’s already looking a lot slicker and I can see you’ve made some very fun looking changes to how the deck plays.

You’ve got a nice array of threats (I always love to see the Bringers and Ur-Dragon) and a decent amount of ramp which are both a big plus. Additionally, you’ve got the beginnings of some nasty graveyard synergy shaping up, which looks really, really cool as a sort of plan B.

That being said, I’d like to make a few suggestions to help guide you toward a more consistent and powerful Golos deck. Please remember that these suggestions are just my informed opinion, and that I totally respect whatever deck choices you decide to make. I really just want to help you get comfortable with deck building and learning what to look for in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ card.

Broad Suggestions

I would encourage you to add 2 Lands, 3 Removal cards, and 8 Draw cards. I’d also think about adding 2 more Ramp cards, but that is less critical to the overall health of the deck. Your Threats look great and I think your Sweepers are also appropriate. Anything that synergizes with your graveyard backup plan is great.

There are a couple of things to think about as you play this deck; 1. “Am I happy or sad to be holding this card in my hand or drawing it off the top of my deck?” – If a card seems to constantly be ‘the wrong card’ for the situation, or you can never seem to cast it, or you always play other cards instead, or you tend to die while holding a certain card, then you probably want to think about how well that card fits in your deck and whether or not you should cut it or modify the deck to support it. 2. “What ongoing advantage does this card give me?” – Some cards seem like a decent card based on having decent power/toughness, a fair cost, and some neat keywords or abilities. Just having those upsides alone though doesn’t make a card truly powerful. Instead, try to think about what ways a card can synergize with your deck to create crazy effects or otherwise how it will become more dangerous as the game progresses (like a Quartzwood Crasher, Scute Swarm, or Giant Adephage). Additionally, try to find cards that do multiple things such as Chasm Skulker which gets bigger when you draw cards and also explodes into tokens when it dies, or even Ravenous Chupacabra which deals with a threat and also acts as a blocker when you are facing pressure. The key is finding a way to levarage the most amount of value in each individual card – even a 2 mana ramp spell will set you up to play all of your future spells 1 turn earlier than normal for the rest of the game, which can be an insane advantage when you think about it. 3. “Am I out of options?” – If you can’t seem to find a solution to a problem or you’re ‘running out of steam’, then it is likely that you need more card draw and more ways to create ‘engines’ that accrue value. An example of an engine would be Fertilid + Evolution Sage or Rampaging Baloths + Elemental Bond or Kruphix, God of Horizons + Victory Chimes or Atraxa, Praetors' Voice + Ajani, the Greathearted or Anointed Procession + Endless Ranks of the Dead or Search for Azcanta  Flip or Deadbridge Chant or Mind Unbound, etc.

Ramp

Your ramp looks pretty good with 10 dedicated Ramp cards. I’d suggest adding 2 more Ramp spells to really help speed things up early. Examples would be Kodama's Reach, Llanowar Elves, Wild Growth, Farseek, Rampant Growth, Springbloom Druid, etc.

Ramp - 10

Not Ramp

Draw

Overall, I think your card draw package needs a little bit of love. I want to note I see a lot of ‘looting’ effects like the ones on Teferi, Master of Time or Obsessive Stitcher and while these cards are great for a graveyard strategy they still don’t count as card draw. I’d keep most of these ‘looting’ type cards, but try to find cards that get you about 2 or 3 cards such as Harmonize, Concentrate, Escape to the Wilds, Urban Evolution, Moldervine Reclamation, Deathreap Ritual, Recurring Insight, Mind Unbound, Underworld Connections, Cloudblazer, Mulldrifter, Drawn from Dreams, Return of the Wildspeaker, Harvester of Souls, Momentous Fall, Dream Trawler, Keeper of Fables etc.

Draw - 2

Not Draw

  • Barrin, Tolarian Archmage – drawing 1 card does not really count. If anything, Barrin is like slow, bad removal for dealing with your opponents’ stuff temporarily. If you’re interested in reusing Golos’s land finding ability I would recommend playing Soulherder instead.

  • Solemn Simulacrum – He has sort of ‘incidental value’ with his death trigger but doesn’t actively net you a bunch of cards like Keruga, the Macrosage or Beast Whisperer. Sad Robot is still great though.

  • Titanoth Rex – still keep this guy because he is a threat that isn’t dead in your hand on turn 5.

  • Void Beckoner – same story as the Rex

  • Teferi, Master of Time – Teferi’s great, but he is really at his best when you’ve got 4-7 card in hand so that you can throw a bunch of big threats to the graveyard and hopefully draw a reanimation spell. Other than that, Teferi isn’t going to refill your hand so he doesn’t count as true draw.

Removal

Your removal package looks like it needs a couple more additions to keep your deck responsive and able to handle imminent-doom type threats. It is worth noting that cards like Blatant Thievery or Mythos of Illuna can save you in certain situations, but be wary of their crazy mana costs and the fact that they are not instant-speed answers. Examples include Mythos of Nethroi, Beast Within, Price of Fame, Reality Shift, Terminate, Return to Nature, Putrefy, Utter End, Eat to Extinction, Murderous Rider, etc.

Removal – 4 (aim for 7)

Cuts

There are several cards that I would consider cutting first when modifying the deck.

  • Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast - he relies very heavily on luck and only interacts with creatures. This makes him good with only 30% of your deck. Additionally, Lukka can’t ‘protect’ himself like Garruk can (making tokens to block for him), nor does he have an immediately accessible removal ability like Teferi. Overall, Lukka is interesting but a little lacking in consistency, defensibility, and power.

Azusa, Lost but Seeking – you don’t have enough land + card draw to really capitalize on Asuza’s ability. Yes, you can use the double lands (like Gruul Turf) to bounce a land to hand and then play that land with Asuza, but realistically that’s such a narrow and relatively tame synergy (in this non-landfall deck, that is) that you would be better off playing a Farseek or a Rampant Growth or even a Fertile Ground.

  • Sparkhunter Masticore - This little fellow has a major drawback and no seriously crazy abilities that make him worthwhile. Yes he can deal with planeswalkers, but so can a Murderous Rider or an Eat to Extinction. Yes he can be an indestructible 3/4, but you have to pay 3 mana just to make him indestructible. Under normal circumstances that’s 6 mana for a 3/4 that dodges death one time - a 3/4 just isn’t fantastic. The biggest bad news about this robocat is its “additional cost to cast” ability which means that even if you hit it with Golos’s ‘Rainbow Wheel of Death’ ability, you still have to discard a card for a 3/4. I just honestly think you’d rather have a removal spell (Beast Within, Mythos of Nethroi) instead of this cat any day.

  • Pursued Whale - While this whale is kinda cool and he does force combat, he is just sorta expensive for what he does. 7 mana for an 8/8 is pretty standard and giving your opponents tokens (that they could just attack you with or sacrifice to an effect) can be a bad idea in some situations, such as when they have an Beastmaster Ascension or a similar effect on the field. While his semi-hexproof ability (3 more mana to target) seems nifty, that is one of the only really powerful highlight abilities of this card, meaning that ability is protecting a relatively low-powered card. A couple immediate alternatives come to mind for me; Geode Rager to force combat AND keep you safe, and Dream Trawler for a flying, hexproof, lifelinking, card drawing threat.

  • Renata, Called to the Hunt - She just isn’t fantastic. You aren’t playing a devotion centric deck in which she might become a 10/10, and your strategy doesn’t really care about 1/1 counters either. I would consider replacing her with a Harmonize or another 3 or 4 drop with more impactful abilities. Heck, even another reanimation spell could be nice like Unburial Rites or Grave Upheaval since your deck seems to have some tendency to but things in the graveyard for later.

  • Lorescale Coatl - Cards like this (or his bigger cousin Chasm Skulker) are really designed for “wheel decks” that play “wheel effects” like Windfall or Reforge the Soul. He is fine, but really not much better than that. If you want a threat that can grow faster and do more important things, try Managorger Hydra or even Scute Mob.

  • Colossification - This aura is too expensive, taps your creature down, and worst of all is an aura. Auras are generally quite bad because your opponent can destroy your creature and the aura attached to them with one spell – and odds are they’ll do that because it is usually too juicy not to. The fact that you can’t attach Colossification and attack immediately means that your opponents will have a full turn to deal with it before you get a chance to use it (and keep in mind your Colossified creature needs to survive 3 opponents’ turns!). This means you’ll most likely run out of cards in a hurry without accomplishing anything.

  • Door to Nothingness - Unlike Progenitus, you can’t reanimate the Door, nor can you get its full value off of the Rainbow Wheel of Death. The only time this card does anything at all is when you literally have 10 mana of the exact color combination necessary to use it. It’s still your call, and I know some people make it a goal to Door their opponents, but be warned: you probably don’t have as much ramp as you need to make this work well. I’d consider supporting this crazy cards (and your many expensive threats for that matter) with a few more ramp spells – Boundless Realms, Migration Path, Circuitous Route, Kodama's Reach, Explosive Vegetation, Zendikar Resurgent

  • Azor's Gateway  Flip – This card belongs in a very specific variant of Golos. That variant is the Minamo, School at Water's Edge Golos deck which also runs stuff like Vizier of Tumbling Sands, Fatestitcher, Kiora's Follower, and other payoffs like Jegantha, the Wellspring, or Captain Sisay. Especially considering that Sanctum of the Sun (the flip side) adds X mana of only 1 color, I think this card is just rarely going to work like you want it to unfortunately.

  • Lathliss, Dragon Queen - Basically, you only have 3 other dragons in the deck so I would either exchange a bunch of cards for more dragons or cut Lathliss, since she will rarely be able to use her best ability (5/5 tokens). Keep in mind, you could also run a bunch of cards with the ‘changeling’ keyword if you wanted to get really funky, in which case you may as well also play stuff like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, Reaper King, Crested Sunmare, The First Sliver but that’s a very slippery and insane slope that I’m not sure you want to get sucked into.

Summary

Nice changes Kronhamilton, I can see that your deck is really starting to shape up as a rampy graveyard-mingling Golos deck, and that’s really cool. I encourage you to try and pay attention to what situations you find yourself in, as that’s often the best way to tell what cards you need to cut or add to the deck for it to work best. As a default, I’d consider making a few of the changes I mentioned in the Broad Suggestion section, as those changes should just generally help with your deck’s consistency.

Please do let me know how you decide to tune your deck – it’s really fun to watch honestly, and I’m always down to help advise you. Other than that, take care and enjoy Golos!

Best,

-Slashdotdash

RiotRunner789 on Zaraxa, too many heads!

3 years ago

Elemental Bond should draw you two cards for every hydra and 1 for every other x-spell.

You could consider Primal Rage as another way to get trample but one which is harder to remove than a creature.

Beast Within is some of the best removal you can get with green. And as a bonus, your trample-y hydras shouldn't care about a 3/3.

Icy Blast isn't as all encompassing as Turnabout but is on theme.

Curse of the Swine is good removal and is basically a one sided board wipe.

Depending on your meta, you could get more artifact/enchantment removal. Cards like Barrier Breach, Wilt and Return to Nature.

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