Clutch of the Undercity

Instant

Return target permanent to its owner's hand. Its controller loses 3 life.

Transmute {1}{U}{B} ({1}{U}{B}, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost/mana value as this card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

nothingstar on

11 months ago

This is a good start, you have some really nice lifegain synergies going. It doesn't really seem like a card draw deck to me, though. It leans more towards the lifegain world of Aetherflux Reservoir than to the U/B world of card draw. There are a lot of black cards that exchange life for cards; if you want card draw, you should get a Graveborn Muse leave the Reservoir behind.

If you go the true lifegain route, you might add transmute effects for tutors, like Clutch of the Undercity or Dimir House Guard. And another good wincon could be Celestial Convergence + Solemnity. And Test of Endurance. Though those will require more counters/protection than you have right now.

I have learned from experience that strategies that ping your opponents for one or two life every turn get you killed very quickly, because they make you stand out even when you're doing very little. So things like Drana's Emissary are kinda dangerous.

In that same vein, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose will draw hate. It's Sanguine Bond on a stick, and when people see half of the Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood combo, they shoot it immediately.

One final bit of overarching advice -- since this is a 3-color deck, I suggest staying away from cards that require a lot of one kind of mana. Particularly lots of black mana, like Underworld Dreams or Peer into the Abyss, since this deck is heavily U/W right now.

Okay, now some slightly more nitpicky things about card choices:

• Since the Mages only seem to fetch mana rocks at this point, might you switch them out with myrs? Like Alloy Myr.

• I'd replace Folio of Fancies with Temple Bell, personally, because I like having to spend less mana per draw.

• Serra Avatar might be better than Celestial Force. But also I just really like Serra Avatar.

Again, this is quite good, just needs a bit of focusing towards the endgame. All the nitty-gritty of the mana curve and stuff you'll work out in playtesting, and what you have so far is workable.

Lhurgyof on Be'lakor / Gyruda (Companion)

1 year ago

Maybe Clutch of the Undercity to transmute for Mortuary?

+1 from me, cool deck idea.

DreadKhan on Merieke, the executioner

3 years ago

Have you considered adding Zur the Enchanter to help put into play your enchantments? He's a really, really good enchantment tutor on a stick if you only need CMC 3 or less to do work. Clutch of the Undercity and Dimir House Guard can help find him on a budget.

Retreat to Coralhelm might be a good fit too, you can either scry or untap Merieke for each land.

abby315 on Kaldheim Brainstorming

3 years ago

Skyshroud Poacher and Moggcatcher search for any creature and puts it into play. Goblin Recruiter can stack your library with all of your creatures.

You're also going to want the max amount of tutors for the Nexus: Enlightened Tutor, Reshape, Tinker, Transmute Artifact, Clutch of the Undercity, Crookclaw Transmuter, Dimir House Guard.

I'd also recommend some good Shapeshifter cards, so you have things to do/find with these cards even without the Nexus. Maybe Altered Ego, Chameleon Colossus, Crib Swap, Duplicant, Evil Twin, Masked Vandal, Unsettled Mariner, and definitely Mirror Entity and Realmwalker. Morphon himself is also a good include.

Finally, you might want the Kindred cards that are good: Kindred Discovery, Kindred Dominance, maybe Kindred Boon.

Sounds like a fun idea!

Optimator on Mermaider

3 years ago

Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire, Painful Quandary, Breathstealer's Crypt (love this one!! Like, a lot), Forsaken Wastes, Vile Consumption, Sovereign's Bite, Profane Command, Phthisis, Famine, Undermine (love this one!), Clutch of the Undercity, Twilight Prophet, Netherborn Phalanx, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Erebos, God of the Dead, Duskmantle Seer, Dire Fleet Ravager, Urza's Guilt, Laquatus's Champion, Howling Banshee, Pierce Strider

Yarok on Self Treestruct

4 years ago

Looks great, try putting in tutors. A few of my personal favorites are Diabolic Tutor (Because Demonic tutor is not legal, but it is ok), Diabolic Revelation(For multiple cards), and Clutch of the Undercity(It will search for any card with cmc 4, like tree or starts). Hope this can help. You can use these cards to tutor for the tree, one with the stars, and any other important card of your game plan.

king-saproling on Etrata, the bouncer

4 years ago

Cool deck! You might like these: Nephalia Smuggler, Helm of the Host, Vedalken Mastermind, Dimir Infiltrator, Clutch of the Undercity, Sanctum of Eternity, Archaeomancer, Merchant Scroll, Kaho, Minamo Historian, Escape Routes, Disappear, Night Dealings

Austin_Smith_of_Cards on Need Help - The Dimir …

5 years ago

Thanks legendofa! I found a pre-Guildpact version of Solar Flare that was mostly UB, very helpful to my research. I can add Dimir Doppelganger , Dimir House Guard , and Clutch of the Undercity to my list of Dimir cards played.

Still looking out for the straight UB control list though...