Frantic Search

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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
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Frantic Search

Instant

Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Untap up to three lands.

plakjekaas on Would Seedborn Muse Be Blue …

6 months ago

In pioneer there's a deck making good use of Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages to storm off with Lotus Field mana.

The thing they used to do with Turnabout and Frantic Search, or maybe even Time Spiral or Treachery, anything to untap Tolarian Academy for insane amounts of mana.

And Twiddle of course, can't forget that one.

That's in addition to the extra turn argument I tried making in my last post.

Blue untaps a LOT of lands, more with spells than, permanents, although Fatestitcher and Vizier of Tumbling Sands aren't new cards either.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

6 months ago

New Unesh Card Printed in Wilds of Eldraine

Virtue of Knowledge to replace Gauntlet of Power. Pros of virtue of knowledge:

  • 2nd copy of Panharmonicon
  • Same CMC as Gauntlet of power, but has a devotion to blue. It benefits from Defiler of Dreams & Sapphire Medallion.
  • The effects are 1-sided. They only benefit you, not your opponents.
  • Still Combos with Palinchron.
  • Adventure modality. Can be used to copy fetch ability early game. Can be used as a one time mana stimulus with Frantic Search, Snap, Palinchron. This is modality not even Panharmonicon has.
  • Triggers when ANY permanent enters the battlefield, not simply creatures and artifacts. This deck doesn't make great use of this text, but it could more so in the future maybe. Mystic Sanctuary is the only additional card that benefits in this deck right now.
  • Pitchable to cards like Force of Will.

Notable Cons:

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

6 months ago

GHoag I think it is wise to go with Gauntlet of Power over Reflections of Littjara. More so I think it is even better to choose newly printed Virtue of Knowledge in this slot.

Here is a bit of a rambling explanation of all the reasons: The key thing turning me off from Reflections is that you have to name a creature type when it ETB's. Mostly you want to pick Sphinxes, so most of the time you don't benefit by having infinite Palinchrons. Virtue of Knowledge doesn't have that requirement for the same CMC, and also it combos with Palinchron. Also, there is the adventure cost on the card. I think it is easy to call this cute but I actually think it could be awesome. The adventure can copy a fetchland ability in the early game (it is cheaper to use than Wayfarer's Bauble). Using adventure mode on the card is also a cheaper way to net mana with Palinchron or even Frantic Search; although it would be single use I can imagine a situation where that might be the kicker to win the game. This is versatility that Reflections and Guantlet do not have. Although Reflections does help with beat down, beat down is not the strongest strategy in the deck, especially since a few of our sphinxes are meek changelings. The two cards are also equal on blue devotion.

Debatably this card is even better than Panharmonicon itself. The text Virtue of Knowledge allows triggers for any permanent entering the battlefield while Panharmonicon is only artifacts and creatures. This deck doesn't make use of that right now, but it could become important later on. Also Panharmonicon doesn't have another mode.

TLDR; I think the pros for Virtue of Knowledge are better or equal to Reflections of Littjara in every way except for beat down, which isn't the most important strategy for Unesh. Furthermore if I was forced to choose between Virtue of Knowledge and Panharmonicon, I might even pick Virtue. Luckily I don't have to choose right now...

SufferFromEDHD on tameshi stax combo

7 months ago

Solid build! A lot of neat tech in this list like that Mind Harness. Focused and brutal polymorph targets. Nice to see both Parallax Tide and Parallax Wave too. Get that Pendrell Mists into the 99!

Although it is a well oiled machine I'm still going to spitball a playset of discard engines that might be worthy of a spot:

Frantic Search Intuition #2 not sure what to cut.

Forbid and/or Rites of Refusal for Arcane Denial and/or Delay.

Turbulent Dreams for Flood of Tears

Vengeful Dreams for either Path or Swords

Dust Bowl awesome in the late game

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

7 months ago

BIG REVISION HERE

Here is all the big changes I've made to this list, and an explanation for each. Guide edits will come in a little bit!

  • Replaced Burnished Hart with Mistwalker. Burnished Hart feels too slow, Mistwalker is a cheap sphinx that makes the deck go fast. Mistwalker is a nice addition because it benefits from the full 2 cmc reduction from Unesh. 1/3 and flying on Mistwalker makes it the best changeling when it comes to combat.
  • Replaced Guardian of Tazeem with Aetherflux Reservoir. Aetherflux Reservoir is a new win condition in this deck. With all of the added changelings and ability to bounce changelings to your hand, it is easier than ever to play a lot of spells on your turn. In addition to being a 50 lifepoint cannon at instant speed, it is the only lifegain in the deck. It can make up for all the health you lost from Mana Crypt and Ancient Tomb. Guardian of Tazeem's effect is underwhelming most of the time. Having the other cheaper sphinxes there is still 20% sphinx, and are easier to play.
  • Replaced Leyline of Anticipation with Narset's Reversal. Leyline's effect is honestly underwhelming at 4 CMC. It's great if it starts in your opening hand, but it is Force of Will fodder otherwise. Debatably it is worth for synergy with Sphinx of the Second Sun, but adding emergence zone (description below) gives you a cheaper Leyline effect at the cost of it only being one turn. One turn with the effect is all you need to win the game though, or to get very far ahead with Sphinx of the Second Sun. Narset's Reversal is a great card because it can be great in a counterspell war, but it can also be used to augment your other cards such as Frantic Search or High Tide or Ghostly Flicker. I love Narset's Reversal because it is great on it's own, but also sees some great synergy.
  • Replaced Myriad Landscape with Emergence Zone. Myriad landscape is noticably too slow, similar to burnished hart. The utility from Emergence Zone can be outstanding. Emergence Zone is a more easily accessible Leyline of Anticipation essentially. It is less mana to use at the price of using it for only a turn. Presumably the turn that you would use it you would also win the game, so you don't need it more than once anyway.
  • Replaced Treachery with Cloudstone Curio. Treachery is a clunky card that rarely resolves. If the mana doesn't untap after this card is played, it feels very bad. Cloudstone Curio is an engine in this deck. It really keeps the BFOF's coming. Playing this card with Universal Automaton on the field means you get to double all of your BFOF's that you play. Additionally, it works particualrly well with the newly added Aetherflux Reservoir.
  • Replaced Long-Term Plans with Chain of Vapor. If you are playing the deck right you are seeing enough of your deck to get your game winning cards without using long term plans. Long term plans also scuffs one of your BFOF's because your opponent knows which card it is. Chain of vapor has many uses. As well as being spot removal, it can be used to protect Unesh, and to return other cheap sphinxes to your hand to be played again which grants additional synergy with the Aetherflux Reservoir win condition.
  • Replaced Sphinx of Uthuun with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. Sphinx of Uthuun is expensive for what it does. It will normally be chaper to play Sakashima, and it becomes a second Unesh which doubles all of your BFOFs rather than getting you an extra regular FOF. Having a second Unesh on the field also grants you protection from spot removal targetting only one Unesh.
  • Replaced Riddlemaster Sphinx with Bloodline Pretender. Riddlemaster Sphinx's ETB isn't as good as the others (Enigma Thief and Dream Eater). Bouncing one creature isn't super great because your sphinxes already have combat superiority most of the time. It feels expensive for what it does, which means it is too slow. Another cheap sphinx in this slot speeds up the deck, and provides extra synergy with the other added cards.
  • Replaced Island with Lotus Field. I want to try this out. I am skeptical that it is actually better than an Island, but we will see! Let me know what you think here.
  • Replaced Island with Sea Gate Restoration  Flip. Becasue why not really? Worst case scenario, you pay 3 life to have it enter as an untapped island. Having it your hand later game can get you a lot of cards in a pinch.
  • Replaced Imprisoned in the Moon with Gilded Drake. Gilded drake is 1 mana cheaper. It not only takes your opponents creature away from them, it also gives it to you, at the cost of them having a 3/3 flyer. In cEDH this trade is insanely good for you. Imprisoned in the moon can be removed to return the creature back to their side. Nothing happens when Gilded Drake dies. He can also be easily blocked by one of your sphinxes, which means it might be chip damage to a different opponent. To me Gilded Drake is a no brainer here.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

8 months ago

GHoag ooooohh that is absolutely nasty and I love it. I never thought about that interaction before with Frantic Search and Narset's Reversal. And Narset's Reversal is a great card on it's own. You should absolutely make room for that card. There are a lot of things you could take out to make room. I nominate Cryptic Command to be replaced. I have been waffling on this card because it is slower, but sometimes the 'tap all an opponent's creatures' mode saves me from losing.

I am not particularly high on Lithoform Engine. It looks too slow at first glance. Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens can also enable the combo and those have better general use cases. The combo also works with any card that untaps lands. On that front I have thought about slipping in a cheeky Palinchron every now and then.

Azoth2099 on Narset's Work Out Plan

8 months ago

Bkotz

This version of Narset looks so fun, man!

One thing that I feel is fundamental when remembering Narset, Enlightened Exile's function as a Commander is that her ability gives you Graveyard hate as well as pseudo card draw by giving you access to your opponent's Graveyards as well as your own, meaning that you will always have card advantage as long as you protect your Commander.

That being said, I would definitely find room for Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mother of Runes, Giver of Runes, & an abundance of Counterspells. Personally, I don't like spending more than 1 Mana for a Counterspell these days. Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Dispel, Swan Song & An Offer You Can't Refuse provide a crazy ceiling of value for a single Mana. If you wanted to roll with 2-drops for budget reasons, though, Delay, Arcane Denial, Dovin's Veto & Negate are all easy to cast, & throw a wide net. Misdirection & Bolt Bend are also options here.

Secondly, Narset, Enlightened Exile can only trigger on your own turn, & you need to ensure that everything is going to go as planned. Grand Abolisher & Conqueror's Flail will lock your opponents out of your turn without giving your opponents the same utility like cards like Teferi, Time Raveler & Defense Grid notoriously do. Silence, Revel in Silence  Flip, Abeyance & Orim's Chant can do something similar for 1-2 Mana.

Speaking of Stax, there are a few concise, utilitarian pieces that you may want to consider. Drannith Magistrate, Sanctum Prelate, Archon of Emeria, Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Aven Mindcensor & Containment Priest shut down a LOT of strategies. You'd be surprised how little most decks can do once you take away their ability to cheat stuff in, Tutor and/or cast things for free. Personally, every deck I have is heavily handicapped by all of those pieces. I wouldn't even be able to target them with removal if you played your cards right.

For noncreature Stax, you've got Chalice of the Void, Cursed Totem, Thorn of Amethyst, Deafening Silence, Grafdigger's Cage (which your Commander's ability gets around btw, very strong here), & Rule of Law as a few solid options.

You do need quite a bit more card draw, though. Scroll Rack & Sensei's Divining Top are obviously great, but the level of toolbox utility they actually give you in practice is even better than it seems! Archivist of Oghma, Faerie Mastermind & Ledger Shredder all give you card draw that scales with what your opponents are doing, which is fantastic. Other things like Deep Gnome Terramancer & Wandering Archaic  Flip do the same thing, though they technically aren't card draw. Hell, might as well throw Monologue Tax out there too since I'm talking about scaling.

There's also Careful Study, Frantic Search, Tolarian Winds, Faithless Looting, Cathartic Reunion, Burning Inquiry, Thrill of Possibility & Dragon's Rage Channeler, which are great synergy here!

Speaking of synergy, let's get into that! The foremost synergies for Narset, Enlightened Exile imho is Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Brain Freeze & Intuition, and much of the deck should be geared towards maximizing on that. They're all very easy to Tutor up via cards like Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Solve the Equation, Fabricate, Reshape, Transmute Artifact, Reckless Handling, Goblin Engineer & Gamble, in addition to being easy to recur via your Commander's ability. It's actually absurd, truly busted. I wouldn't recommend throwing Wheels like Wheel of Fortune or Windfall into the mix, though. They're very overrated, & you can just run Brain Freeze for the combo instead. No need to give all of your opponents a bunch of cards for free if you don't have to! Queen Kayla bin-Kroog is for sure worth consideration, though, if you choose to run Artifact Stax.

Maximizing on Underworld Breach, however, means running Storm. I'd recommend Birgi, God of Storytelling  Flip, Storm-Kiln Artist, Urabrask  Flip, Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual & Seething Song to keep your Storm engine from shutting off. I personally don't condone Runaway Steam-Kin, as it's just too freaking slow & conditional compared to other options.

Additional Combat Phases would also be of great use here as opposed to trigger doublers like Strionic Resonator or something. Aggravated Assault, Waves of Aggression, World at War & Seize the Day are the only ones I'd consider running, though. You don't wanna load up on too many synergy effects when you can just Tutor for the best of them when the time's right, ya know?

Since you're running Dockside Extortionist, I'd also consider Cloudstone Curio. With one other Creature (like Spellseeker for example), you can produce infinite Treasures & ETBs with little effort, which is usually more than enough to get you to the finish line.

Your ramp package is looking solid enough, but I'd include 2 more Rocks as well as the rituals I named previously. Fellwar Stone is, functionally, a 5-color Rock for 2 Mana, which is absurd. I tend to not condone 3-drop rocks, with the exception of Chromatic Lantern, which was just reprinted recently and is currently super cheap.

Oh man, now that I think of it Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal gives your whole team infinite power and toughness via your Commander, as well as giving you infinite Mana if you have enough Rocks on the field. Maybe consider it lol.

Monastery Mentor seems to fit like glove here as well, offering some much needed redundancy and a surprising amount of board presence. It's kind of like Deep Gnome Terramancer or Wandering Archaic  Flip in the sense that it just provides waaaay more value while playtesting than you thought it was going to!

Also, consider giving yourself Hexproof with stuff like Witchbane Orb to protect your own Graveyard.

To summarize, I really think your best bet with this one is building a system that gets to either an Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Brain Freeze combo win or an Intuition win as quickly as possible, with other combos like Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter being strong potentialities on the way.

Cheers!

wallisface on Blue light mill

8 months ago

Some thoughts:

  • all of Frantic Search, Preordain, and Sol Ring are not modern legal.

  • You’re running waaay too many cards as 1-ofs or 2-ofs. This is going to make your deck super inconsistent and messy. You should be aiming for the vast majority of your cards to be playsets (4-ofs). A good tip for new players building decks is to pick 9 cards and run playsets of each of those (making 36 cards) alongside 24 lands (for a 60 card deck).

  • Your mana curve goes very high, and will lead to some really clumsy plays. Modern decks typically can’t justify running more than 4 cards (1 playset) costing 4 mana, and run nothing above this cost. You’ve got 10 cards costing 4-or-more, and a very-low land-count of only 20. Going from the previous example of picking 9 cards, the mana curve of those cards should look something like 1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,4.

  • As far as a mill strategy goes, you need to be fully invested into it, or not at all. You get no prizes or benefit from only ”partially milling your opponent”.

  • So, if you’re going with a plan to mill out the opponent, the only creatures ever worth running are Hedron Crab and Ruin Crab - anything else will hurt you more than help you. Every other card you play should either be milling at-least 7 cards, or be disrupting your opponents boardstate.

  • if you’re not doing a mill plan, but hoping to strengthen your creatures by milling (like Jace's Phantasm for example), then you need to make sure none of your cards only-mill - everything you play needs to be doing something impactful on the board, and milling should be an incidental bonus. For example Thought Scour or Inquisition of Kozilek are both useful as they do something useful, and incidentally fill your opponents graveyard.

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