Essence Depleter

Creature — Eldrazi Drone

Devoid (This card has no colour.)

{1}{C}: Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. ({C} represents colourless mana.)

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (36)

trippy_mcfly on Cumly Cube

1 week ago

Introducing Cumly Cube 1.4! Two months ago, Cumly Cube was updated to Cumly Cube 1.3, which was touted as balanced and without any notable flaws. There is no more insidious poison than hubris! Many cards remained that were too strong, or close to unplayable. Many archetypes existed in the cube but had too little support to ever be worth drafting. Many cards failed to fit the ethos of Cumly Cube. With 89 more cuts and adds, I am now pleased to announce that, this time, Cumly Cube has reached a final form! Perhaps a few cards are still too strong, too weak, or out of place, but the vast majority of the draft pool is now in an acceptable state. Any further changes to Cumly Cube 1 will exist as minor updates, swapping out only a few cards at a time. This means that there will never be a Cumly Cube 1.5, only 1.4.1, 1.4.2, etc.

Here are the changes, provided with brief justifications:

REMOVED:

ARTIFACT

1. Basilisk Collar: equipment is not part of Cumly Cube 1
2. Hedron Archive: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
3. Mox DiamondGC: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
4. Mox Opal: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
5. Mox Tantalite: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
6. Sensei's Divining Top:cut to weaken the artifact archetype

CREATURE

1. Academy Manufactor: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
2. Archfiend of Spite: madness is not part of Cumly Cube 1
3. Arsenal Thresher: too weak
4. Augmenting Automaton: too weak
5. Autonomous Assembler: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
6. Baleful Force: too weak
7. Battleground Geist: cut for a better Spirit card
8. Belligerent Hatchling: too weak
9. Bloodpyre Elemental: too generic of a red card
10. Bloom Hulk: there are better proliferate engines available in Cumly Cube
11. Copperhorn Scout: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
12. Crosis, the Purger: too annoying to play against
13. Deathrite Shaman: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
14. Deus of Calamity: too weak
15. Dutiful Replicator: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
16. Dwynen's Elite: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
17. Emperor's Vanguard: cut to weaken green
18. Farhaven Elf: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
19. Fear of Exposure: cut to weaken green
20. Fertilid: cut to weaken green
21. Galazeth Prismari: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
22. Geyserfield Stalker: too weak
23. Greater Gargadon: suspend is not part of Cumly Cube 1
24. Hallowed Priest: cut for an identical card to support the Cat creature type
25. Heedless One: cut for a similar card to better support the Elf creature type
26. Hematite Golem: too weak
27. Hunted Horror: too weak
28. Impetuous Devils: too generic of a red card
29. Jeskai Student: too weak
30. Junktroller: too weak
31. Lashweed Lurker: emerge is not part of Cumly Cube 1
32. Llanowar Visionary: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
33. Lodestone Golem: we have seen enough of this card in other formats
34. Lunar Avenger: too weak
35. Maze Behemoth: cut to weaken green
36. Mishra's Self-Replicator: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
37. Morselhoarder: too weak
38. Night Incarnate: too generic of a black card
39. Omnath, Locus of the Roil: cut to weaken the Elemental creature type
40. Phantom Nishoba: too weak
41. Quirion Ranger: cut to weaken the Elf creature type
42. Scalding Devil: cut to make room for more interesting Devil creatures
43. Self-Assembler: Assembly-Workers have been cut from Cumly Cube 1
44. Seton, Krosan Protector: cut to weaken green
45. Soul of Zendikar: cut to weaken green
46. Teferi's Sentinel: too weak
47. Thought Monitor: cut to weaken the artifact archetype
48. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell: too generic of a red card
49. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: cut to make room for more balanced Eldrazi creatures
50. Walking Ballista: cut to remove an infinite combo payoff accessible from the Cumly Zone

ENCHANTMENT

1. Aura ShardsGC: too powerful
2. Blood Moon: we have seen enough of this card in other formats
3. Impending Disaster: too weak
4. In Bolas's Clutches: cut for a similar but more expensive version of this effect
5. Night Soil: cut due to the presence of two other very similar cards
6. Revel in Riches: too powerful
7. Urban Utopia: cut to weaken green

LAND

1. Ancient TombGC: too powerful
2. Flagstones of Trokair: too weak
3. Mishra's WorkshopGC: too powerful
4. Urza's Saga: too powerful

INSTANT

1. Accelerate: too generic of a red card
2. Bedevil: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
3. Fading Hope: too generic of a blue card
4. Fissure: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
5. Fracture: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
6. Frazzle: too generic of a blue card
7. Inside Out: too weak
8. Lens Flare: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
9. Schismotivate: too weak
10. Seize the Initiative: too weak
11. Volt Charge: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences

PLANESWALKER

1. Karn Liberated: too generic and powerful of a draft pick
2. Nissa of Shadowed Boughs: animating lands is not part of Cumly Cube 1

SORCERY

1. Broken Bond: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
2. Chain Reaction: too generic of a red card
3. False Dawn: too weak
4. Grim Tutor: too powerful
5. Ice Storm: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
6. Lava Flow: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
7. Sinkhole: spot removal has been removed in favor of removal found in commands, charms, and confluences
8. Tezzeret's Gambit: too powerful
9. Wildfire: too generic of a red card

ADDED:

ARTIFACT

1. Banner of Kinship: encourages building around creature types
2. Conduit of Worlds: supports graveyard synergies
3. Pillar of Origins: encourages building around creature types

CREATURE

1. Aetherjacket: supports the Thopter creature type
2. Ajani's Pridemate: replaces Hallowed Priest to support the Cat creature type and lifegain synergies
3. Akroan Conscriptor: supports spellslinger synergies
4. Alibou, Ancient Witness: supports the Golem creature type and other artifact decks
5. Ancient Cellarspawn: supports the Demon, Horror, and Nightmare creature types
6. Angelic Aberration: supports the Angel and Eldrazi creature types
7. Axgard Artisan: supports the Dwarf creature type
8. Bloodwater Entity: supports spellslinger synergies
9. Brass Herald: supports the Golem creature type and encourages building around creature types
10. Campus Guide: supports the Golem creature type
11. Chief of the Foundry: supports the Construct creature type and other artifact decks
12. Chrome Courier: supports the Thopter creature type
13. Cursed Wombat: supports the Nightmare creature type and +1/+1 counter decks
14. Darksteel Colossus: supports the Golem creature type
15. Duergar Hedge-Mage: supports the Dwarf creature type
16. Eidolon of Blossoms: supports the enchantment archetype
17. Endbringer: supports the Eldrazi creature type
18. Essence Depleter: supports the Eldrazi creature type
19. Gimli, Mournful Avenger: supports the Dwarf creature type
20. Gishath, Sun's Avatar: supports the Dinosaur creature type
21. Herald of Slaanesh: supports the Demon creature type
22. Hunting Velociraptor: supports the Dinosaur creature type
23. Immaculate Magistrate: replaces Heedless One to support the Elf creature type
24. It That Heralds the End: supports the Eldrazi creature type
25. Kozilek's Channeler: supports the Eldrazi creature type
26. Mayhem Devil: supports the Devil creature type
27. Patrician Geist: replaces Battleground Geist to support the Spirit creature type
28. Petravark: supports the Beast creature type
29. Pillardrop Warden: supports the Dwarf and Spirit creature types
30. Precursor Golem: supports the Golem creature type
31. Prosperous Pirates: supports the Pirate creature type
32. Quandrix Pledgemage: supports the Merfolk creature type and spellslinger synergies
33. Roaming Throne: supports the Golem creature type and encourages building around creature types
34. Rootwater Hunter: supports the Merfolk creature type
35. Shambling Suit: supports the Construct creature type and other artifact decks as well as enchantment decks
36. Shantotto, Tactician Magician: supports the Dwarf creature type and spellslinger synergies
37. Smokebraider: supports the Elemental creature type
38. Solarion: supports the Construct creature type
39. Species Specialist: encourages building around creature types
40. Squealing Devil: supports the Devil creature type
41. Tayam, Luminous Enigma: supports the Beast and Nightmare creature types
42. The Balrog of Moria: supports the Demon creature type
43. The Lady of Otaria: supports the Dwarf creature type
44. Three Tree Mascot: adds mana fixing and encourages building around creature types
45. Titans' Vanguard: supports the Eldrazi creature type
46. Torch Fiend: supports the Devil creature type
47. Ulamog's Dreadsire: supports the Eldrazi creature type
48. Vengeful Devil: supports the Devil creature type
49. Venomcrawler: supports the Demon creature type
50. Wavecrash Triton: supports the Merfolk creature type and spellslinger synergies
51. Zara, Renegade Recruiter: supports the Pirate creature type

ENCHANTMENT

1. Destructive Flow: offers a land destruction engine that can provide a large advantage in some decks
2. Efficient Construction: supports the Thopter creature type
3. Keldon Twilight: offers a creature destruction engine for aggressive decks
4. Lay Claim: replaces In Bolas's Clutches as a more expensive control spell
5. Might Makes Right: encourages large creatures and can be used in conjunction with sacrifice synergies as a creature destruction engine
6. Porphyry Nodes: offers a creature destruction engine for slower decks
7. Retreat to Kazandu: supports landfall synergies
8. Shivan Harvest: offers a land destruction engine and supports sacrifice synergies
9. Sunken Hope: offers a creature bounce engine for slower decks
10. Whirlwind of Thought: supports spellslinger synergies

LAND

1. Foundry of the Consuls: supports the Thopter creature type

INSTANT

1. Atarka's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
2. Aura Mutation: quite similar to Artifact Mutation
3. Brokers Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
4. Cabaretti Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
5. Dromoka's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
6. Kolaghan's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
7. Lorehold Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
8. Maestros Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
9. Maestros Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
10. Obscura Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
11. Obscura Confluence: confluences have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
12. Ojutai's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
13. Pulse of the Fields: supports lifegain synergies
14. Quandrix Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
15. Riveteers Charm: rounding out the charms in Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
16. Silumgar's Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
17. Silverquill Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility
18. Siren's Ruse: supports the Pirate creature type and blink synergies

PLANESWALKER

1. Saheeli, Filigree Master: supports the Thopter creature type
2. Vraska, Golgari Queen: supports sacrifice synergies

SORCERY

1. Renegade Tactics: replaces Accelerate as a less typical red card
2. Roar of the Crowd: encourages building around creature types
3. Temporary Insanity: stealing creatures is a small but important part of Cumly Cube
4. Witherbloom Command: commands have been added to Cumly Cube to provide interaction and versatility

Omniscience_is_life on Morophon eldrazi stomp

4 years ago

In the long run, lower CMC ramp gets you farther than ones of higher that get more lands. Vastwood Surge , Explosive Vegetation , Kodama's Reach , and Thran Dynamo can be swapped out in favor of Farseek (if you add the Shock lands mentioned below especially), Arcane Signet (a commander staple), Thought Vessel , and Mind Stone .

Your land package is decent, but worth putting more attention into. Depending on your budget (something that would be worth putting somewhere so people know in advance), the Shock / Fetch (+ Prismatic Vista ) lands are the best in the house for color fixing. Barring those expensive cards, your best bets would have to be cutting the Panoramas + Warped Landscape (I know, it's hard), and adding in Evolving Wilds , Terramorphic Expanse , Krosan Verge , Fabled Passage and a Wastes .

Past that, Fires of Yavimaya is almost strictly worse than Rhythm of the Wild , so I'd suggest you switch 'em. Merciless Eviction is far inferior to Austere Command in my opinion, given you can save all your Eldrazi with it.

Now, on the card draw front... you are severely lacking. But given that you have UG in this deck, you have plenty of options, so never fear. I do see a Return of the Wildspeaker in the maybeboard--run it! I've had great experiences with that one. You could conceivably cut Ulamog's Crusher for it. In addition, you can replicate your Garruk's Uprising / Guardian Project situation with an Elemental Bond : perhaps instead of an Essence Depleter .

And that's all I have to say. Hope this helped, please let me know if it did ;)

Osbert on Morophon eldrazi stomp

4 years ago

Your deck will be a bit slow to start up because you're running 3-4 CmC ramp so if you wanted to speed up the deck start replacing Explosive Vegetation and Vastwood Surge with Rampant Growth , Into the North , Farseek , Nature's Lore , or Three Visits .

You also aren't running many draw spells which is concerning. since you're going stompy I highly suggest the draw spells that care about power like Rishkar's Expertise , Return of the Wildspeaker , Garruk, Primal Hunter , Life's Legacy , Greater Good , Momentous Fall , etc.

Of your whole list of creatures i would only consider cutting 2: Desolation Twin and Essence Depleter . Twin only get's you a token if cast so it doesn't play nice with the cheaty effects and Depleter isn't a needed combo piece if you have access to Dimensional Infiltrator .

Osbert on Morophon Eldrazi balanced

4 years ago

For the Stompy version I would start by cutting Ruination Guide, Pitiless Plunderer, Sifter of Skulls, Blight Herder, Brood Butcher, Emrakrul’s Hatcher, Catacomb Sifter, Drowner of Hope, Awakening Zone, Etchings of the Chosen, Eyeless Watcher.

If you put in Rings of Brighthearth it combos with Basalt Monolith to make infinite mna. Both Monolith and Rings are 3 CmC and artifacts so they are tutorable with the same tutors you have in here for Fist of Suns. With infinite colourless mana Dimensional Infiltrator will be able to exile your opponents libraries, Essence Depleter can drain out the table, and Prophet of Distortion will let you draw your library. Rings doesn't have a lot of synergy with other cards in your list BUT if Golos was your commander it has a seriously powerful ability that would be awesome to copy.

Eternal Scourge + Food Chain is another combo you can consider which will make infinite COLOURED mana for creature spells and have infinite EtB and LtB triggers so this will end a game with Flayer Drone or Vela the Night-Clad in play. If you wanted to abuse the mana you would need Cloudstone Curio or a non-eldrazi bouncing creature as all the eldrazi bouncers are processors and it is unlikely your opponents will have an infinite pile of exiled cards.

I suggest adding in Pathrazer of Ulamog , Barrage Tyrant , World Breaker , Dread Defiler , Endless One , Not of This World , Rapacious One , Reality Smasher , Thought-Knot Seer , Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre , Ulamog's Crusher , & Vile Redeemer as suitable eldrazi stompy options. Barrage Tyrant and Dread Defiler get a special mention because Fling is an amazing effect that can give you the reach you need to close out a game or off a player hiding behind a pillowfort.

Here is a list of support cards off the top of my head: Sarkhan's Unsealing , Temur Ascendancy , Commander's Plate , Mana Maze , Cultivate , Kodama's Reach , Rampant Growth , Ugin, the Spirit Dragon , Everflowing Chalice , Thran Dynamo , Rishkar's Expertise , Return of the Wildspeaker , Garruk's Uprising , Hunting Grounds , Sneak Attack , Animar, Soul of Elements , Mana Geyser , Mirari's Wake , Ugin, the Ineffable , Show and Tell , Terror of the Peaks , Warstorm Surge , Alena, Kessig Trapper , Ilysian Caryatid , Momentous Fall , Greater Good , Sacellum Godspeaker , Selvala, Heart of the Wilds , The Great Henge , Eldritch Evolution , Energy Tap .

StopShot on What is the best card …

4 years ago

I like coming up with infinite combos and sometimes I wind up with an infinite combo that makes endless colorless mana. I want to know what card is best for sinking all that mana into? While I'm aware that I can use a card like Gemstone Array to make infinite colored mana or I could use a card like Staff of Domination to draw multiple cards, I instead want one card along with my infinite colorless mana and limited color mana to close out the game by doing any of the following:

-

-Dealing infinite damage to all opponents.

-Causing infinite life loss to all opponents.

-Creating infinite creature tokens with haste.

-Forcing all opponents to draw out their decks.

-Exiling all opponents' libraries.

-Forcing all opponents into a "lose the game" condition.

-Meeting a "win the game" condition.

-

I don't consider traditional mill to be a viable way to consistently win the game. Creating infinite tokens without haste I also view as not consistent enough as it gives each opponent the chance to react. Furthermore, infinite life gain isn't viable as commander damage exists.

Of course, without a doubt, Walking Ballista is the clear favorite solution to win the game being able to fit in any deck given its colorless color identity. That being said, I made this thread wanting to know what secondary back-ups would be an apt replacement for Walking Ballista if by some chance it is countered or exiled.

Here are some cards I came up with that work, but I'd like to know from others if I missed any that could do better than these: Aurelia's Fury,, Bloodrite Invoker,, Cogwork Assembler,, Comet Storm,, Conflagrate,, Cut / Ribbons,, Debt to the Deathless,, Dimensional Infiltrator,, Essence Depleter,, Exsanguinate,, Fanning the Flames,, Fireball,, Firecat Blitz,, Goblin Cannon,, Goblin Festival,, Helix Pinnacle,, Oona, Queen of the Fae,, Rolling Thunder,, Tempt with Vengeance,, Torment of Hailfire and Valakut Invoker.

I didn't include any cards that could possibly turn the game into a draw, but I'm still looking for more cards that suit the criteria I've put out.

CrimsonWings3689 on The Swarm

5 years ago

Recommendations at 112 cards in decklist:

Cards to remove:

Kodama's Reach - Cultivate is the cheaper of the 2 ($ wise) and the deck can likely only support one of the 2 with how few basics you're running.

Crucible of Worlds - unless you're playing in a land destruction heavy meta, you're only likely going to benefit with this versus mill or forced discard. You're not running fetchlands so it's utility is very limited.

Illusionist's Bracers - while you have more than a handful of creatures with abilities you could double up on, the equip cost plus those activations is somewhat prohibitive. If your commander was still Sliver Queen, it would make more sense. As is it seems like an overly complicated way to double up on your effects.

Questionable Inclusions:

Rings of Brighthearth - potentially works with Barrage Tyrant, Each activation of the tap ability Gruesome Slaughter grants your colorless creatures, Idol of Oblivion, Brood Butcher, Deepfathom Skulker, Drowner of Hope, Eldrazi Displacer, Essence Depleter, Sliver Queen, Spawnsire of Ulamog, Ugin, the Ineffable, and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim. ---- Doubling World Breaker's ability doesn't make sense. With each ability costing a minimum of 2 (minus Gruesome Slaughter's activations), and up to 7, that extra 2 is going to add up fast.

If it's worth it for you for the 11-12 cards that have the abilities, that's one thing. but I would keep it as a tentative for right now with needing to cut 12 cards from the total list (9 if you cut the 3 mentioned above)

CrimsonWings3689 on The Swarm

5 years ago

To Remove:

Extricator of Sin  ^Flip - easily one of the least impactful cards you have and you have 9 to cut.

Abstruse Interference - a 3 mana Force Spike/Mana Tithe seems bad, even if the upside of getting a creature token is there.

Otherworldly Outburst - Like Extricator, a 3/2 is unlikely to make a very big difference.

Isochron Scepter - with 109 cards in deck right now, there are only 4 cards that could even meet the criteria to use this. Fall of the Titans won't work because this won't let you pay alternative costs.

Planar Gate - quite expensive, and while awesome, you would get more mileage out of something like Ugin, the Ineffable, since your Devoid spells are technically colorless. It would benefit your artifacts as well as your Eldrazi. His activated abilities are nothing to sneeze at either.

Rhystic Tutor - someone is going to pay the 2... if you could pick the opponent, different story. As is, it's unlikely to ever resolve. you would be better off with something like Vampiric Tutor if you were going for another tutor effect, but that one is rather pricey as well.

Shard Convergence - Have this be something like Cultivate or Kodama's Reach to make sure that you can cast your spells sooner.

From Beyond - very slow for what it does, not sure it's worth it in the long run.

Endless One - a big mana sink with no keywords or activated abilities is underwhelming.

Desolation Twin - the 10/10 token is only on cast, so if there are any effects that would reanimate it, put it into play, etc that happen to go off, it's just a vanilla 10/10. For 10cmc, you would be better off running either version of Kozilek or Ulamog.

Emrakul's Evangel - I didn't realize that the condition to get the 3/2's required "non-eldrazi" to be sacrificed. It's a non-bo with the deck.

Cards to consider:

Void Attendant - Mana sink to potentially get more scion tokens.

World Breaker - a recurrable threat that exiles permanents.

Essence Depleter - Mana sink to lifegain/drain someone.

Grip of Desolation - 2 for 1 removal spell.

Ruination Guide - Colorless, front-end creature pump.

Sire of Stagnation - Jerk card for jerks. Slows opponents down or exiles their fuel. slows them down either way to give you more time to amass your army.

Spell Shrivel - This is a counterspell that's better than the one you have in the list currently (Abstruse Interference).

Call the Scions - Similar to Awakening Zone and From Beyond it gives you 2x 1/1's for 3cmc all at once.

Cards to Add:

Herald of Kozilek - cost reduction for your deck.

Swarm Surge - Colorless creature pump and First Strike.

Smothering Abomination - Card draw for sac'ing a token on upkeep.

Brood Butcher - turns your tokens into removal for BG to -2/-2 something.

Deepfathom Skulker - lets you draw for each attacking creature you control that connects with a player.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on The Ebon Legion GET-BUFF-QUIK Training Program™

6 years ago

It's all fun and games until the vampire starts flexing ;D

You've been asking for creatures with lifegain abilities. Many creatures with such an ability want you to sacrifice other creatures. What I found were these:

Essence Depleter , River Hoopoe , Swarm Guildmage , Urborg Syphon-Mage and Vampire Neonate .

I hope this helps.