Combat Calligrapher
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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
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Combat Calligrapher

Creature — Bird Cleric

Flying

Inklings can't attack you or planeswalkers you control.

Whenever a player attacks one of your opponents, that attacking player creates a tapped 2/1 white and black Inkling creature token with flying that's attacking that opponent.

king-saproling on Arms Race (Boros Aikido)

1 week ago

Hey ShieldOfHolyShadows your reasoning makes a lot of sense to me. I admire that you don't want to compromise the nature of deck, and I think keeping it less aggressive and allowing your opponents to make their own choices is really cool.

In light of that, I believe the non-threatening facade of the deck paired with Noble Heritage's built-in protection means you don't need to run cards like Windborn Muse and Ghostly Prison. Also those propaganda effects are slightly antithetical to your ethos imo. Yes the opponent still has a choice, but is it much of a choice? Pay a bunch of mana to attack me (the non-threat), or attack the real threat for free. Also why would they attack you in the first place unless they absolutely had to, at which point you use your aikido cards right?

As for the angel subtheme, I am a big anti-lifegain person haha. I think lifegain is pointless without payoffs (e.g. cards like Light of Promise). In fact, it gives opponents an excuse to attack you because you have the most life. As for having flying blockers, this may be personal bias, but I rarely see someone snag a win because they had multiple connects with beefy fliers. Combat-based wins are already pretty uncommon and when they do happen, the horde/voltron is overhwelming. Having a couple angels on board would not save you.

I think spurring combat between opponents makes more sense than hiding. It allows opponents to take each other out with damage when otherwise they wouldn't be able to. It also makes your aikido cards hit harder. Hiding is slower and aids the combo and control players. Maybe you already considered these but here are a few more warmongery cards that come to mind: Assault Suit, Rite of the Raging Storm, Varchild's War-Riders, Dictate of the Twin Gods, Combat Calligrapher

Coward_Token on Murders at Karlov Manor

4 months ago

Aurelia (and the Boros precon) makes my Marisi, Breaker of the Coil deck hope there's going to be some good token-gifting cards (like Combat Calligrapher).

I wonder what "Disguise" refers to. Something like Ninjutsu? Or Morph? Feels pretty blue either way for a Naya deck.

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

1 year ago

Guerric

Got another couple games in today:

I made some swaps prior to today's match incluuding:

Crashing Drawbridge for Lightning Greaves

Smuggler's Share for Esper Sentinel

Search for Glory for Steelshaper's Gift

I think our decks are still functionally the same but I have a lot of the tech you were heavily considering already swapped in and will be focusing on their performance in multiplayer format.

Opponents: Arvinox, the Mind Flail, Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, Ryu, World Warrior

Starting Hand?: Prismatic Vista, Windswept Heath, Myriad Landscape, Soul's Attendant, Generous Gift, Lightning Greaves, Folk Hero

Forgot to snap a picture of my starting hand but I think it was something like that. Important play of the game was Firkraag playing an early Agitator Ant. By turn 3 I had Giada equipped with a Lightning Greaves and slowly played out my hand, focusing on dropping lands and playing removal. I constantly dumped the +1/+1 counters onto Giada and since she had the greaves equipped she was basically untouchable.

After bringing Arvinox and Ryu down to the low 20's with just Giada I began dumping the counters onto a Bishop of Wings that I drew into so I could start swinging at Firkraag. Ryu also got in 2 Hadokens against Firkraag's board to draw cards. I only got 1 swing into Firkraag before they boardwiped.

I was able to recast Giada and cast an Angelic Page drawing me a card off Folk Hero. I also cast a Pyre of Heroes excited to chain it off for some spicy tech. Unfortunately Ryu was at low life and killed shortly after the boardwipe. As the other 2 players had no board they scooped to end the game so we could start the next, giving me the win.

Opponents: Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools/Armix, Filigree Thrasher, Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Starting Hand: Plains, Mutavault, Pearl Medallion, Righteous Valkyrie, Sigarda's Vanguard, Well of Lost Dreams, Steelshaper's Gift

T1 - Plains into Steelshaper's Gift tutoring Lightning Greaves

T2 - Plains (drew) into Pearl Medallion

T3 - Mutavault into Lightning Greaves & Giada (Sworded by Isshin)

This game had some intense interactions. Isshin had a turn 1 Authority of the Consuls. Tevesh nearly played a turn 2 Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools with a Jeweled Lotus but was countered by Muldrotha. Firkraag played a Pursued Whale giving us all Pirate tokens and forcing us to attack. Isshin played into that with a Combat Calligrapher. The entire table started swinging into each other with increasingly multiplying Inkling tokens. After Isshin's Combat Calligrapher was blown up and they took a bunch of damage from their own Inklings they decided to super wipe the board with a Ruinous Ultimatum but luckily their board was pretty sparse.

I lost Pearl Medallion, Well of Lost Dreams, Sword of the Animist, Lightning Greaves and Righteous Valkyrie. This set me back really far but luckily I had been ramping every turn with Sword of the Animist and kept some strong angels in hand.

I recast Giada, and played Archangel of Tithes, Angelic Field Marshal and Lyra Dawnbringer with Mutavault giving me the extra +1/+1 counter. At this point Isshin started going off and nearly killed me with a combination of Tectonic Giant, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Aurelia, the Warleader but they tapped out for Dihada, Binder of Wills to give Krenko vigilance, lifelink and indestructible. When they tried to swing at me, they forgot about the tax for Tithes and instead knocked out Tevesh and Muldrotha. Muldrotha took out Aurelia, the Warleader as retribution.

On the final turn I was left with only Oblation and Breathkeeper Seraph in hand. I had the choice to use it on one of Isshin's creatures but they were in such a dominating position that giving them 2 cards was probably a bad idea. Instead I used it on a tapped Emergence Zone and drew into Thraben Watcher and Sigarda's Vanguard. With the combination of all the angels I brought Isshin down to 3 and Firkraag cleaned up but had nothing against my board so scooped.

Opponents: Alela, Artful Provacateur, Jared Carthalion, Gishath, Sun's Avatar

Starting Hand: Cavern of Souls, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Esper Sentinel, Path to Exile, The Ozolith, Teferi's Protection

I debated even listing this game as it was over so fast. Alela burst out on turn 1 with an Island into Sol Ring into Arcane Signet. Turn 2 they played a Smothering Tithe. Turn 3 they played a Bolas's Citadel. In one of their turns they cast a Vendilion Clique bottoming my Teferi's Protection. Despite whiffing for 2 turns off the top of their library they were so ahead with ramp that they quickly overtook the game. I died by turn 5 to 35+ damage from a faerie army beefed up with Coat of Arms. The other 2 players scooped as they had no interaction with the Coat.

T1 Esper Sentinel did some amazing work here. I drew off every player at least 2-3 times so it netted me like 7-8 cards for just 1 mana.

I also attempted to attack with Battle Angels of Tyr but it was bounced to my hand by next turn.

The Ozolith ended up doing nothing this game but that's more due to having no boardstate. Together Forever wouldn't have done anything in this game either so its impact still hasn't been seen. Other players did comment that it could be a problem with a bigger board.

I did have a misplay here as I should have held up mana for removal spells which I had in my hand. My final hand was Vanquisher's Banner, Archangel of Thune, Angelic Accord, Serra Paragon, Valkyrie Harbinger, Path of Exile and Swords to Plowshares. I just didn't expect Alela to quintuple their damage in one turn.

Opponents: Phenax, God of Deception, Jared Carthalion, Gishath, Sun's Avatar

Starting Hand: Secluded Steppe, Emergence Zone, Plains, Pearl Medallion, Thorough Investigation, Angelic Field Marshal, Angel of Vitality

T1 - Secluded Steppe tapped

T2 - Plains into Pearl Medallion

T3 - Emergence Zone into Thorough Investigation and Giada, Font of Hope

I had several misplays this game as it had been a long day. The first was using my Clues too early instead of playing out my hand and refilling it later with the Clues.

Phenax became a huge threat towards mid-game as they had a Haunt of high tower on board along with their commander Phenax, God of Deception. They forced Ghisath to mill 40+ cards with 4 creatures. I had Kabira Takedown  Flip in hand but it wouldn't put a dent in the Haunt. Instead I opted for player removal and swung with everything knocking them out.

My second misplay here was not tapping Giada to cast Angelic Field Marshal which would've given all my creatures vigilance. I was so used to swinging with Giada first and then tapping her that I failed to see her as a mana dork. Since I had Archangel of Tithes out it would've prevented huge swings against me as well.

Since I was wide open Gishath took the advantage and swung at me dropping a good number of dinos on their board. However on their next turn when they tried to use Silverclad Ferocidons with Pyrohemia Jared saved the day by sacrificing Primeval Spawn into a Time Warp.

When I tried to rebuild I realized I had no clues left and no attackers to draw into answers. I also made my third misplay by wasting a Path to Exile on a random dinosaur thinking it would sacrifice Pyrohemia but then stupidly played Bishop of Wings so I could trigger my The Book of Exalted Deeds by replaying Giada.

I died on the next turn to due to lethal Gishath commander damage. If I had saved my Path I could've used it on Gishath and played out more angels for the lifegain.

Ended up winning 2/4 games and was the second biggest threat in the 2 games I lost. I think I would've had a chance in game 4 if I hadn't had so many misplays.

Lightning Greaves was amazing in the 2 games it was played. It was so great that Isshin focused Giada when it came back out. In fact I like it so much that I'm going to try and find a spot for Swiftfoot Boots so I can keep equipping without removing the protection.

Esper Sentinel was also great the 1 game I got it out. Drawing that many cards for 1 mana is just too good to pass up. If you haven't purchased Smuggler's Share yet I'd say go for Esper first.

Archangel of Tithes was SO GOOD. It saved me from lethal once and would've again a second time if I didn't misplay again. With vigilance it does double duty.

Well of Lost Dreams felt a little clunky in game 2. I want to like it, it has a high ceiling but it needs some prep work to start drawing. Either I drop it instead of a threat or I play it much later. I also need lifegain and the mana to draw from it. With the amount of work that goes into it to activate it, a board wipe usually turns it off. We have no other lifegain outside of creature based lifegain. So we would only draw with an established board presence and we're using mana to draw into threats rather than play them. It feels either like a win-more card or a hail mary to get something good. I'm actually debating its place in this deck and what may be a better card draw. Court of Grace at least replaces itself on our end step and provides either an Angel or Spirit on our upkeep. It also requires no additional maintenance to get it going.

Others at the table commented that Authority of the Consuls is a better option to the soul sisters. While I do like the tap mechanic of Authority, it doesn't trigger off my creatures. Also having it be an enchantment means that most people won't bother with it all game. Soul sisters typically get wiped with the rest of the board whereas opponents have to target Authority. I find that I don't usually hit the payoffs on opponents turn but on my own turn. However, I only hit the magic 4/5 life when Bishop of Wings or Righteous Valkyrie is out, not off a soul sister. I know that you really like the soul sisters but practically every game I've had a board wipe and the payoffs haven't been worth it.

Kabira Takedown  Flip has its uses but in terms of removal is pretty poor for the slot. After a boardwipe it's practically worthless.

Even though I STILL haven't pulled off Pyre of Heroes properly I'm once again debating Recruiter of the Guard and Weathered Wayfarer. Since they're both humans they can chain into our human sub-theme. Weathered Wayfarer can be sacrificed into Bishop of Wings to get our lifegain payoffs going. It also helps grab lands for Emeria Shepherd if we want to recur stuff from the graveyard. Recruiter of the Guard can tutor for Starnheim Aspirant, Esper Sentinel, Inspiring Overseer, Thraben Watcher and can be sacrificed into Mangara, the Diplomat.

Crow_Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

1 year ago

Thank you for the suggestions CommanderNeyo, also cool user name. Kind of a shame we didn't see more of Commander Neyo in later seasons of Clone Wars.

You have some pretty interesting suggestions, mixed in with a couple of cards I have played before. I'll do my best to address my thoughts on each. Of your suggested cards, I do have Breena, the Demagogue & Mardu Ascendancy in my obnoxiously convoluted Maybe List. A long response for a long post:

  • Mardu Ascendancy has been on my radar since the earliest days of this deck's creation. I agree that it could fit right on, but haven't been able to decide what to swap it for.

  • Breena, the Demagogue used to be in earlier versions of this deck. I swapped it out for Tymna the Weaver a few months ago. I think I swapped it out because there are 2 Breena decks in my meta that I play against semi-regularly, and I wanted to cut down on potential confusion with multi-Breenas out. Agreed though, I have had rotations in the past where I'd draw multiple cards. Might revisit this and swap Tymna back out, especially since Professional Face-Breaker fills a similar function as Tymna.

  • Fiery Emancipation is cool, but I'm a bit more inclined to play that in something like Tor Wauki the Younger, which is more pinger damage focused. The triple color pip investment is not my favorite for 3 color decks. Cool card though, I can definitely see the value as a rec.

  • Dismantling Wave and Wear / Tear - I've been running both of them in my 99 for this deck since its inception more or less. I like removal options that are versatile, and/or can hit multiple targets at once without necessarily being a wipe. I like both cards. Dismantling Wave feels helpful and relevant each time I've played it, & usually takes care of at least one value engine per board.

  • Death Tyrant is an admittedly funky inclusion. Definitely a more experimental and flex spot that I've changed around the most over the past 10 months. I do play in a pretty token heavy, go-wide meta. I frequently play against the likes of Jetmir, Nexus of Revels, Xyris, the Writhing Storm, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, Chatterfang, Squirrel General, and Krenko, Mob Boss. I've seen Death Tyrant pop off for the Wilhelt deck. I've tempered my expectations that it would do a fraction of that here. Definitely a spot I could try something else. Possible landing spot for Mardu Ascendancy?

  • Boros Charm is great. I liked it a lot in my Osgir, the Reconstructor deck when it was still built. I think between Teferi's Protection, Akroma's Will, and Flawless Maneuver I feel pretty decent on instant speed protection. Definitely something I've considered, especially with the other modal options. I love modal spells lol.

  • Ramp overall feels fairly solid. Admittedly, I don't like the Signets as much because of the activation cost. My deck is fairly low to the ground, and rarely have felt the need for it. Zhentarim Bandit and Captain Lannery Storm can really gas things up with 1-2 swings each. Each time I've played Sword of the Animist, I wasn't the biggest threat until a couple turns later, and most of my Basics are on board now.

  • Austere Command is a top end removal option I've gone back and forth on. I recently added Ruinous Ultimatum to the deck as my top end nuclear option. It sat in my hand during a game I played this past weekend where I had the 7 mana, but one of the mana generators was Liquimetal Torque lol. On paper, I like Ruinous Ultimatum as a problem solver, but am not a fan of the very specific color pip investment.

  • Segue to Liquimetal Torque - I run it in most of my decks as just a rock. There's been a couple of occasions where I was able to turn something into an artifact when a Vandalblast went off. Not often, but still cool to know the option is there.

  • Guild Artisan and Veteran Soldier - I honestly hadn't considered them at all. I don't attack with Isshin often. The times I do, he's wearing Boots or Greaves, Dolmen Gate or Iroas are on board, or I have some kind of protection in hand ready to go. I try not to risk him in combat if I don't have to.

  • Combat Calligrapher was in one of the earliest versions of the deck that had more "pillow" effects like Marchesa's Decree. I played it once or twice, but my opponents would swing with it a couple times to get their Inklings, then kill the Calligrapher so they could then attack me with the creatures I gave them. One of the aforementioned Breena decks in my meta runs Calligrapher. They have had similar things happen to them lmao.

CommanderNeyo on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

1 year ago

I have a deck with a similar playstyle, but I went with Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Tymna the Weaver as the commanders.

I think you should seriously look at Mardu Ascendancy, since it has the potential to generate you a ton of tokens (on top of having some built-in protection).

Another card I would recommend taking out of the Maybeboard is Breena, the Demagogue. She has worked extremely well for me, and she will easily draw you four cards in one turn all the while buffing your creatures into large threats.

I also think that Fiery Emancipation is a great card, and worth a consideration. The triple-damage easily ends games on the spot, and is a huge swing not many people are prepared for.

How is Dismantling Wave working for you? I like that it hits all opponents, but seems a bit pricey for artifact/enchantment removal. I run Wear / Tear instead, but might give Wave more of a look.

Death Tyrant seems fairly mana-intensive for its effect, does your meta run a lot of token decks?

Surprised not to see Boros Charm here. I would definitely give it a look, it has personally saved me more than once!

For ramp, I see you don't have any of the traditional signets (Boros Signet, Rakdos Signet, Orzhov Signet). Do you feel as though you have enough ramp already? Also, how has Liquimetal Torque worked out for you? I have considered it in the past, but never knew how often its ability would be useful.

Because your creatures are low to the ground, have you considered Austere Command?

Have you considered some of the backgrounds, namely Guild Artisan and Veteran Soldier? Artisan will generate you four treasures, and Veteran will generate 6 tokens.

Have you also considered Combat Calligrapher? Every swing will generate you a good amount of tokens, and it lures your enemies into attacking each other.

My apologies for the long post, but I hope it is helpful!

jarncards on destroy build destroy

1 year ago

id probably start with cutting Glorious Anthem, Duelist's Heritage, Strionic Resonator, Sunforger, Navigation Orb, Defiant Strike, Deflecting Palm, Night's Whisper, Rakshasa Debaser, Shakedown Heavy, Hoarding Ogre, Imperial Recruiter, Inferno Titan, Wingmate Roc,

Combat Calligrapher will get you killed ,

Tori D'Avenant, Fury Rider is fair if you go the exalted route, idk about tokens,

maybe Tuktuk Rubblefort, you could always useUrabrask the Hidden instead

Throw in a random Tainted Strike. It probably wont be too hard to kill hit for 9 with a single creature.

Slashdance on Endless Assault

1 year ago

Removed Combat Calligrapher and replaced with Winota, Joiner of Forces.

The power of Winota is obvious, and when doubled is even better!

We didn't like Combat Calligrapher as much because the tokens it creates for our opponents, while not being able to attack us, can still block us. We prefer to give no advantage to opponents where possible.

Gleeock on Cards that put creature token …

2 years ago

In 2-color - Breena, the Demagogue is pretty ideal for this strategy.

Combat Calligrapher is pretty great for what you are asking Agitator Ant is good in

For 3-color gifting strategy Jund, Naya, & Mardu all have some strong points

Thantis, the Warweaver has access to solid finishers when you populate the board Vicious Shadows. Green has some really fun options: Grismold, the Dreadsower, Oath of Druids

Marisi, breaker of coils is pretty good with the large suite of Naya token gifting cards out there

Queen Marchesa isn't specifically built for it, but she works well with it. Mardu may be one of the best/strongest with a good combination of token gifters, strength enhancers, pillow, & aristocrats.

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