Cached Defenses

Sorcery

Bolster 3. (Choose a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control and put three +1/+1 counters on it.)

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

Discussion (14)

SilentPlague on Taking all the turns

3 years ago

HyperViper191, those 2 have so much potential here. May end up subbing out Cached Defenses for a few of those. Likely think about pulling out a couple Clockspinning to get a few more in. I'll have to play test. I like Clockspinning because of the buy back. It makes the deck feel like it has more instances than it does, but the cost of +3 makes the feature a little slow.

bushido_man96 on

4 years ago

Pir, Imaginative Rascal is another option to add counters. Rishkar, Peema Renegade will turn any creature with a counter on it into a mana dork, ramping you well. Fertilid becomes very nice if you can keep adding counters to it, basically allowing you to Rampant Growth every turn. Spike Feeder and Spike Weaver are also great. Shalai, Voice of Plenty is a great mana sink for a 1/1 counter deck like this. Champion of Lambholt is another solid creature to consider in this setup.

I think I'd cut Abzan Ascendancy and Cached Defenses . You'll have plenty of bolstering opportunities on creatures and whatnot, so I'd consider another removal option or card draw option instead. Cut three lands, too.

I encourage you to get more card draw and ramp. Zendikar Resurgent provides both, and is fairly budget. Mirari's Wake is nice, but pricier. Shamanic Revelation , Rishkar's Expertise , and Beast Whisperer are all nice card draw options. You should run about 10 if you can. Some good options in include Greed , Vampiric Rites , and Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip.

lilgiantrobot on Dromoka, The Eternal Counters

6 years ago

36 lands is as low as I'd want to go here. So if I were going to cut 5 cards, they might include the following.

Cached Defenses/Dromoka's Gift - I don't like the cards that only Bolster, since you can't pick your target and they only affect one creature.

Sandsteppe Mastodon - Very powerful, but as a one time ability on a high costing card I'm not a fan.

Dromoka Captain - I feel like this will take too many attacks before it starts generating real value, and on its first attack is so easy to block and kill.

Not Forgotten - Pretty narrow at sorcery speed.

There are some other cards I'd consider making swaps for too, but I think these are less important than upping our lands first. But some choices:

Naga Vitalist/Druid of the Cowl/Honored Hierarch - These could be Rampant Growth, Kodama's Reach, or Cultivate. Things that put lands into play are usually better in Commander, since board wipes are so common. The Rishkar, Peema Renegade mentioned earlier would be the only creature I would really consider here, but thats just me.

Celestial Flare/Swift Reckoning - Looking at removal, Blessed Alliance has a little more flexibility. Beast Within is a little costly, but its one of the best things green can run since it hits everything. Sylvan Reclamation fixes land, or gets rid of two problem artifacts or enchantments, very useful! Ainok Survivalist is another possible option, again b/c you don't have many things to deal with artifacts or enchantments. Caustic Caterpillar is worth a look too.

If you already have the cards in your list, then try them out before swapping over this is all just general thoughts since I haven't played the deck. Adding those lands is really my #1 desire.

octopimp on Slumbering Counters

7 years ago

If you want to build up creatures, definitely consider Earthen Arms, Cached Defenses, and Incremental Growth. I usually use them with Winding Constrictor or Jack, but Hardened scales works just as well.

kengiczar on Kaladesh Spoiler Thread

7 years ago

Cards that get stuff out of the graveyard saying Target is just a habit and expectation at this point but not an iron clad rule:

Standard examples that defy this:
Grapple with the Past
Seasons Past
Corpse Churn

Also we have had plenty of cards and abilities that put +1/+1 counters on things without targeting them:
Savage Summoning
Dromoka's Gift
Cached Defenses
Scale Blessing

To get something out of the graveyard you can do any of these:
- Not target anything
- Target a player's graveyard
- Target a player
- Target the cards in the graveyard
- A combination of the middle 3

As a side note the best counter they could ever print would say "Exile a spell on the stack" because the opponent would have to respond before you've made it clear which spell you want to exile. Once they let you choose which one you wanted to exile it would be to late for them to respond. This is generally why cards do say "target". Being able to get something back for or without telling an opponent what you're getting back until the spell resolves is much stronger and really punishes cards like Surgical Extraction if they are drawn later in a game.

An extreme example of this would be playing against a deck in EDH that has two combos: Pestermite + Splinter Twin and Grim Monolith + Power Artifact . Imagine they have a Grim Monolith on board and 6 cards in hand with a Splinter Twin and Power Artifact in the graveyard. The odds are that they don't have the Pestermite but what if they did? In this case if they target one I can fire back with Surgical Extraction and stop them. If they don't have to target I either let the spell respond or blindly guess which half they have in hand and may just loose.

Of course I should really be playing Bojuka Bog + Crop Rotation but what can I say I haven't pulled a C-Rotation yet. XD

Anyways with all of this said I really think Grapple with the Past deserves serious consideration in any commander deck.

griffstick on

7 years ago

Myriad Landscape, and Blighted Woodland.

Plus even in two colors Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is still good.

Cauldron of Souls is perfect with your commander

Cards to take out...

Hunting Triad is weak

Cached Defenses is also weak

Dromoka's Gift is also another weak bolster card.

Bramblewood Paragon is redundant

Sandsteppe Mastodon isn't good enough

Oona's Blackguard same reason as above

ShadowNinja0704 on Bolster and Heroic

8 years ago

If I cast Cached Defenses and I choose Phalanx Leader, does his heroic ability trigger, or does it not because I didn't "target" him? Also, would enchanting the leader work?

Barbarian_Sun_Pope on

8 years ago

If you're worried about losing card draw potential with the interaction between Cached Defenses and Inspiring Call I would suggest going with the "support" mechanic instead of bolster. Inspiring Call only cares about how many creatures you have with +1/+1 counters on them. Bolster only pumps one creature, but you have enough cards that do that through the "exalted" mechanic that has the added flexibility to choose which creature you want to pump. Also if you intend to use the card draw function of Inspiring Call, it would probably be better to add a few more copies (you have enough creatures to justify it).

Cards to support Inspiring Call

-Relief Captain: Relatively cheap, is a knight and pumps creatures on his way in for no additional cost. At the very least he can come in as 4/3 for four by putting one of the counters on himself and pumping another.

-Shoulder to Shoulder: A little slow and about as fast as Cached Defenses, but easier to cast since most of your deck is white. It doesn't add as much power, but provides a little additional card draw, which I think is more helpful.

-Lead by Example: Faster, cheaper, and makes a great two card combo for five mana with Inspiring Call. Doesn't draw you cards otherwise though.