Brain Freeze

Instant

Target player mills three cards. (They put the top three cards of their library into their graveyard.)

Storm (When you cast this spell, for each spell cast before this one, copy this. You may choose new targets for the copies.)

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
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

SufferFromEDHD on Petulant Petitioners

2 months ago

No Brain Freeze in your mono blue storm deck?

Maddening Cacophony end the game.

Retraced Image neat ramp for islands and petitioners.

Azoth2099 on A WOMAN'S INTUITION (NARSET)

4 months ago

Hypersayia9001

Hey man, thanks for checking out my list!

So this particular iteration is definitely pretty light on rituals as you can see, instead opting for an abundance of low-cost mana rocks along with a few ways to quickly get Dockside Extortionist into your hand - namely Gamble, Imperial Recruiter & Recruiter of the Guard. The curve of the deck is fairly low, and you shouldn't run into too many problems if you play your cards right (lol), but I can definitely see how the lack of rituals could be seen as problematic if we're talking about going fast af. The main reason that I chose to opt for rocks over rituals is the fact that Narset's ability is centered around the combat phase, and it's just more difficult to squeeze value out of rituals in that context than mana rocks, especially since the rocks can also be cast from the graveyard. I do think that something like Storm-Kiln Artist deserves consideration here, though. I've actually been trying to find space for that guy for a few weeks if you have any suggestions on what to cut. If I'm going to slot him in, though, I'd almost rather slot in Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip so that I can combo with Sensei's Divining Top & Elsha of the Infinite for more sweet, sweet resilience.

Getting to the decks wincons, It's admittedly relying on Intuition to an extreme degree to set up a win by Tutoring up Underworld Breach, Sevinne's Reclamation & Brain Freeze. This strategy relies on the pilot having Lion's Eye Diamond on the board prior, but considering Narset can snatch other people's Tutors from their Graveyards and cast them for free as well as your own, this is actually quite a bit more feasible than it seems at a glance. Remembering that everyone's Graveyards are pretty much yours for the taking is super important here.

Mana Geyser is a timeless banger, but I struggle to find justification for it beyond 2-color builds. There's just not enough room for it compared to other essentials in most 3-color lists within {R} that I've built, unless I'm able to either cast it at instant speed or for a heavily reduced cost, preferably both. My standards for rituals in general may have been ruined by Dark Ritual & Culling the Weak, though...Once you go {B}, ya know...

All of my lists undergo constant editions, though, and I'm sure this one will be no different. I can actually feel the next version brewing in my mind right now lol, thanks for your feedback!

Hypersayia9001 on Martial Prowess

4 months ago

Azoth2099

Loving a lot of these suggestions. Pull from Eternity is insane value, especially if I opt to put it onto Isochron Scepter. Conqueror's Flail also looks like it'd be a very good choice, seeing how it's +3/+3 by default and that silence effect is very nice.

I'd have to double check with my pod vis a vis proxies, but Intuition is a very nice tutor for a commander who can cast things from the graveyard. Enlightened Tutor, Solve the Equation and Personal Tutor are also very good, but I'm struggling to mentally justify the others. Like, using Idyllic to net me Jeskai Ascendancy and Sorcerer Class is good but I'd need to then have Haze of Rage or View from Above to translate that into a win.

Brain Freeze has been mentioned before, and I won't say it doesn't strike me as something useful, just kinda inefficient. Saying that, it would definitely go great with Underworld Breach, especially with a solid mana source. Similar vein, I feel like I'd need Underworld Breach to really justify Traumatize. While milling half a library will definitely give Narset a lot of options to play with, it feels like overkill given that Narset can only cast once per combat, and a bit of a waste to target myself because that's wasting a cast of each noncreature spell I could have potentially drawn. It's also why most of the discard-draw cards don't massively appeal to me. Again, maybe with Underworld Breach. Saying all that, I think I'd probably need a fair few of those discard-draws just to keep up with Underworld Breach's escape cost.

Now, I very much considered Lightning Greaves when I first built this deck but the shroud really doesn't work with how I play it. One of my backup strategies is to buff Narset up heavily and take someone out with Commander Damage, something I'm relatively consistently able to do with a single hit when I get going, but that requires me to be able to keep casting buffs on her, especially if I get tricky and cast them on my combat phase. And... well, I'd need to constantly be un-equipping and re-equipping the graves for that to work.

Hypersayia9001 on A WOMAN'S INTUITION (NARSET)

4 months ago

Azoth2099 Thanks for your suggestions on my own Narset deck. There's some very interesting things that I'm definitely going to be thinking about.

In regards to this deck, this might just be me, but looking at this in it's current state, I feel like you're liable to struggle to really combo properly when you get Underworld Breach online. No issue keeping the graveyard full, but there's only really Jeska's Will and Rite of Flame in terms of rituals, so I see you running out of Mana fairly easily if you don't draw/mill either of them. (Not difficult, in hindsight seeing how many tutors there are, but still)

I'd see about trying to fit Mana Geyser in there for some extra red and Storm-Kiln Artist for some colour fixing as you go.

I'm also kinda struggling to see a definitive win condition. Might be me being dumb, but I'm not seeing anything that'd clear the board, damage the opponent or mill anyone out, aside from maybe comboing Traumatize and Brain Freeze while Underworld Breach is active, but you'd then need some crazy mana for that to work. That in mind, Cyclonic Rift is a good way to clear out the board for an attack, Grapeshot can easily storm out if you get a loop going, and Jaya's Immolating Inferno can just incinerate everyone if you build up a decent pool of mana.

Azoth2099 on Martial Prowess

4 months ago

Hypersayia9001

I'll try to keep this brief with only a few suggestions.

You seem to have a solid grasp of what you're doing with this Commander, so I'm not gonna go on any huge rants lol.

Traumatize is pretty much your Ad Nauseam here. It being Sorcery speed is admittedly a big deal, but the card efficiency is enough of an upside to make that tradeoff very much worth it imho.

Brain Freeze is honestly really great here, even if you're not running Storm. The right moment can net you at least 10 cards, easy. Tolarian Winds, Careful Study, Faithless Looting & Windfall are great card draw here, too.

If your pod is comfortable with proxy, Intuition will pretty much win you the game if you pair it with Underworld Breach, Sevinne's Reclamation & Lion's Eye Diamond. Might as well suggest Wheel of Fortune as well if we're taking it there.

Speaking of Intuition, you need more Tutors for sure. Enlightened Tutor, Solve the Equation, Personal Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Fabricate & Reckless Handling are all worth it here alongside Mystical Tutor.

Conqueror's Flail is crazy here, Ramping you via Narset's cost reduction while also hitting your opponents with a Silence effect is nuts. You probably want Lightning Greaves to protect her, too, alongside your Swiftfoot Boots.

Lastly, the innocuous Pull from Eternity offers huge consistency here.

Would love your feedback on my own list if you're down; A WOMAN'S INTUITION (NARSET)

Peace!

Azoth2099 on Chun - li countless tokens

4 months ago

DreadKhan

Wow, not sure how I managed to misread Nexus of Fate like that smh, thank you for that correction haha. That's what I get for trying to Magic while sleepy.

Now that I'm rested, let's try to suggest things again...fingers crossed lol.

A really great one that comes to mind is Evacuation. Continuously wiping the board of creatures AND giving you a way to consistently recast Chun-Li for more value is super good. Curfew would be another great way to do this if you're trying to keep the curve low. Filter Out seems like a great way for this deck to consistently control the board very heavily, too. Since this is essentially a graveyard deck, Mesmeric Orb, Windfall, Brain Freeze & Tolarian Winds are all worth considering for sure. Chain of Vapor is ridiculous here too, considering the sheer multi-utility with the Commander imho.

Being dependent on Combat, I'd say Reconnaissance is potentially an auto-include. Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar pulls weight here too, with it's baby cousin Cunning Evasion slotting in for 1 less mana if that matters.

Sorry if I goofed again with these further suggestions!

Hypersayia9001 on Martial Prowess

7 months ago

Made_Compleat, thanks for commenting. Some interesting things to consider.

Brain Freeze is a decent spell, but I think it'll be a bit too clunky to really get the best benefit. I'd need a storm count of somewhere in the ball park of 85-ish to guarantee a win with it. I'm not against using it to self mill to get a win with Jace, which sounds like it'd be a VERY good win con combined with Archmage Emeritus, Thousand-Year Storm and Veyran, Voice of Duality, or to fill the graveyard for me to cheat something out with Narset, but I wouldn't really consider that ideal in that circumstance because the ideal situation (in my mind, at least) is I'm using Narset to cast something twice.

Astral Steel is a solid-ish buffing spell, but Haze of Rage does similar with the added benefit of having a fairly easy buyback cost, especially with some of the combos I have available. Saying that, Someone I know IRL suggested Feather, the Redeemed, which would return Astral Steel to my hand at the end of turn. So that could actually be quite interesting to try out.

Galvanic Relay isn't bad, but I'd need to have a LOT of potential mana to truly benefit from it. It'll work with the Jeskai Ascendancy + Sorcerer Class combo, but for THAT to work I'd need something like Haze of Rage to build a good storm count and if I reach THAT point the smarter bet is usually to either swing in or Grape Shot

Mind's Desire, however... I like. For a few reasons but the key one is explicitly because of how it can interact with Narset. I find a way to discard it, probably though Jeskai Ascendancy, build up a decent storm count, then swing in with Narset. Exile Mind's Desire to cast a copy of it, during the combat phase, cast as many instants as I've exiled. On the second main, cast everything else. Even if that doesn't WIN I get a VERY solid board state.

Made_Compleat on Martial Prowess

7 months ago

...

Mind's Desire?

Also Brain Freeze to either mill out opponents or deck and win with Jace, and Astral Steel is alrightish storm card that works well with Narset. So is Galvanic Relay.

I love this deck! It seems incredibly fun and evil. I've wanted to build a spellslinger deck for a while, so this seems like a good starting point.

I'm also looking for some feedback on one of my similar decks, Oops, all blightsteels! [Brudiclad EDH]. If you could look it over, that would be great!