Dromoka's Gift

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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
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Dromoka's Gift

Instant

Bolster 4. (Choose a creature with the least toughness among creatures you control and put four +1/+1 counters on it.)

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.

PaulH__51 on

6 years ago

Went 1-2 against another modern deck in vanilla mode. I had no enchantment, artifact or creature removal.

Took out Dromoka's Giftx2, Basalt Monolithx1 and Forestx2. Inserted Talara's Battalionx2, Naturalizex2 and Dismemberx2.

I was apprehensive on removing two forest, but it doesn't seem to slow it down any.

Akkrand on Zada Storm Grinder

7 years ago

That is not correct. It may affect Zada when she is attacking (because she's the only creature you have attacking), but it does so without targeting Zada.

This is important, as Zada's triggered ability explicitly requires the spell to have a single target, and that target to be Zada. Gorilla War Cry satisfies neither of those requirements.

To have a target (as per Zada's triggered ability), the spell must literally say 'target'. GWC does not contain that word, therefore it does not target. Some spells can affect a single permanent or player without targeting anything, like Dromoka's Gift, as the rules for Bolster simply says 'choose a creature' - if Dromoka's Gift was a red spell, in a Zada deck, then if you cast it and were able to choose Zada to bolster, you would not copy the spell and bolster all of your creatures.

This is also how a Progenitor Mimic can enter the battlefield as a copy of Inkwell Leviathan even though Inkwell Leviathan has Shroud and so can't be the target of spells or abilities. Progenitor Mimic chooses a creature, and does not target it, therefore it can choose the IL, and Shroud does not prevent that.

Another example, a player (A) has Aegis of the Gods in play, and another player (B) has Saskia the Unyielding enter the battlefield - player B is free to choose player A for Saskia, since player A's hexproof does not prevent Saskia choosing him, as choosing is not targeting.

It's one of the quirks of the way targeting, hexproof, and shroud works. But back to my original point - Gorilla War Cry does not target anything, ergo it does not trigger Zada's ability, ergo you draw a single card.

Austin_Smith_of_Cards on WE ARE THE GLORIOUS FUTURE

7 years ago

Crafting your decklist with the evolve mechanic in mind is a great take on a Simic EDH deck. However, since Ezuri is very much a build-around-me commander, there are some specific questions you need to ask yourself for each and every card:

Question #1: Does it not also benefit from, but also synergize with, +1/+1 counters?

Technically, the evolve mechanic is counterintuitive to Ezuri's +1/+1 counter-stacking ability, but cards like Experiment One, Gyre Sage, and Simic Manipulator who have counter-related abilities benefit from the extra boost. Other cards that have silly combinations with +1/+1 counters are Sage of Hours (obviously), Fathom Mage, Mycoloth, Champion of Lambholt, Forgotten Ancient, Chasm Skulker, and Crystalline Crawler.

Question #2: If it has power 2 or less, does it have a relevant ability?

Just because it can trigger Ezuri's ability doesn't necessarily mean the card is fit for EDH. If it's an evolve creature, keep it for your deck's theme, especially if it has a powerful ability. Card considerations in this category would be Cold-Eyed Selkie, Hornet Queen, Blighted Agent, Mulldrifter, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Eternal Witness, Coiling Oracle, Trygon Predator, Mystic Snake, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Solemn Simulacrum, Reclamation Sage, and Thrasios, Triton Hero.

Underpowered cards to cut:Beetleform Mage, Bond Beetle, Frilled Oculus, Mist Intruder, Nimbus Swimmer, Palace Familiar, Reverent Hunter, Sandsteppe Scavenger, Scourge of Skola Vale, Sidisi's Faithful, Verdurous Gearhulk, Vinelasher Kudzu, Dromoka's Gift, Hydroform, Lead by Example, Unnatural Aggression, Slip Through Space, Bonds of Mortality, Retreat to Coralhelm, Cranial Archive, and Verdant Haven.

Beetleform and Oculus's abilities aren't relevant enough to keep, Reverent Hunter and Kudzu both suffer from the problem of vanilla big creatures that don't really synergize with Ezuri, Mist Intruder isn't good in traditionally multiplayer EDH, Swimmer and Scavenger are too expensive, Beetle is cute but doesn't do enough, Palace Familiar might be worth keeping if you absolutely need card draw, but it's pretty weak otherwise, and Sidisi's Faithful is too slow and bad in multiplayer. Skola Vale uses +1/+1 counters, but it's not terribly good. I ran Gearhulk in my decklist for a short period of time, but if you aren't running proliferation or ways to make the spreading out of the counters relevant, it's not worth it. Dromoka's Gift is too expensive for its lack of control, Lead by Example is too weak, Hydroform makes a land vulnerable to removal for a turn, Unnatural Aggression is too expensive, Slip and Bonds are alright but there are more powerful options (Aqueous Form and Arcane Lighthouse), Retreat doesn't help your gameplan, Cranial Archive should only be played if there is a mill or graveyard deck in your meta, and Verdant Haven is outclassed by better cards (Utopia Sprawl/Fertile Ground).

Powerful cards to add:Cold-Eyed Selkie, Mycoloth, Champion of Lambholt, Gyre Sage, Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, Hornet Queen, Blighted Agent, Mosswort Bridge, Forgotten Ancient, Mulldrifter, Eternal Witness, Trygon Predator, Prime Speaker Zegana, Mystic Snake, Swiftfoot Boots, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Simic Signet, Krosan Grip, Solemn Simulacrum, Chasm Skulker, Kodama's Reach, and Reclamation Sage.

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

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