Harness by Force

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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
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Harness by Force

Sorcery

Strive - Harness by Force costs 2R more to cast for each target beyond the first.

Gain control of any number of target creatures until end of turn. Untap those creatures. They gain haste until end of turn.

BrickMaster28 on Strive Mechanic

4 months ago

In my deck I am running Harness by Force and Anhelo, the Painter. If I cast Harness by Force as the first sorcery of my turn and I pay the strive cost ({2}{R} + {1}{R}{R}) to target a second creature, then sacrifice an appropriate creature to copy it (since Anhelo gives it Casualty 2) - what spell would get copied?

Would the copy be with the strive cost (to target two creatures) or without the strive cost (to target one creature)?

Thank you in advance for your help!

zretrareo27 on RW EDH Brion 2022

1 year ago

My 2016 EDH deck - revamped for 2022! use commander Brion Stoutarm to Fling your opponents creatures with cards like Act of Treason, and if you're lucky - use Bazaar Trader to keep them!

I've tried to keep this deck nearly 50% White and 50% Red.

I've narrowed the premise of this deck down to the following categories, 50 Cards to the first, and 10 cards to each other category, give or take.

50% of the Deck is the Commander, Land, Mana rocks, and Draw.
10% is Steal/Keep
10% is Removal/Wipe
10% is Bringing Cards Back
10% is Brion Fodder and Fetch cards
10% is Double Damage and Powerful Flyers

Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. That being said, I will probably not be able to afford the more expensive cards Land Tax, Smothering Tithe, Lifeline, Smuggler's Share etc. that are not already in this deck. However - It's still fun to check them out! If you like it, up vote!


With this revision, I've cut many of the fancier, slower dual lands to opt for faster basic lands. I've also added Weathered Wayfarer.

I've removed cards that target artifacts and enchantments like Kami of Ancient Law, instead opting for better utility cards like Quarantine Field that target "nonland permanent".

I've made some recent changes to this deck, hopefully to address that mid game I am struggling with tempo, as well as running out of mana to cast the creature or steal spell and have enough to activate Brion's ability. Some cards like Deathrender and Thornbite Staff have been removed (even though they were good in concept) to add more playability.

I also found that after all the sacrificing, mid game I was running out of defense, so some additional creatures have been added with dual purpose, such as Angel of Sanctions and Emeria Shepherd.


Decksplanation:

Double Damage:
Fiery Emancipation gives me triple damage. Calamity Bearer works specifically to Brion's sac ability. Angrath's Marauders, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Gratuitous Violence all make the damage I do twice as effective.
When creatures I steal die, Stalking Vengeance beefs them. When I summon large creatures into play Warstorm Surge deals damage to my opponent, and when I sac those, Stalking Vengeance hits them on the way out.


Fodder:

Malignus, Serra Avatar, and Soul of Eternity all act as giant bombs to throw at the opponent.
Hofri Ghostforge allows for me to steal an opponents creature, fling it at them with brion, and then keep a spirit copy of that creature.


Draw:
Magus of the Wheel and Reforge the Soul provide the opportunity to get a fresh hand at my whim. Humble Defector is an easy and fun, card that helps me forge alliances with other players in multiplayer while getting me TWO extra cards per turn.
Skullclamp works perfect with the sacrifice ability and is easy to cast.
Well of Lost Dreams is insane when played late game for Brion's lifelink ability and can be fetched with Hoarding Dragon or Open the Armory Sin Prodder gives me a potential extra card per turn, or the chance for an opponent to take damage to the face... and then I can pull it out of my graveyard later with my other cards! Basically a win/win. Mangara, the Diplomat and Mila, Crafty Companion  Flip serve to deter attacks and draw.


Fetch:
Hoarding Dragon serves as a flyer, a sacrifice, and can grab any rocks, Skullclamp, or Well of Lost Dreams.
Open the Armory helps grab Skullclamp, Well of Lost Dreams, or Gift of Immortality.
Recruiter of the Guard is specifically to get Bazaar Trader for the huge advantage of keeping my opponents things, but can also grab Duergar Hedge-Mage for removal or Sin Prodder (amongst a few others). Weathered Wayfarer can grab any land, such as Buried Ruin or Arcane Lighthouse.


Mana Rocks:

Boros Cluestone, Commander's Sphere, and Mind Stone are all serving as early ramp and later card draw.
Sol Ring because Sol Ring.


Removal:

Archon of Justice is quite powerful in this deck, as it allows for a flying creature, then a source to sac, and remove a card permanently.
Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.
Duergar Hedge-Mage can be played and replayed in this deck for knocking off annoying enchantments or mana rocks.
Magus of the Disk is one of the board wipes.
Grasp of Fate, Oblivion Ring, and Banishing Light all allow for really flexible removal. Same for Quarantine Field except allows for extra targets for more mana. Chained to the Rocks works the same, but only for creatures. Angel of Sanctions works similarly, but is a creature. Ryusei, the Falling Star really just acts as weenie removal and a sac source from a flyer.


Bringing them Back (and sometimes keep it!):

Adarkar Valkyrie Sac an opponents creature, then get it permanently!
Bazaar Trader Take it with a steal and keep it!
Angelic Renewal Sac my own creature, get it back! Gift of Immortality Sac my own creature, get it back... again, and again!
Emeria Shepherd play a land, get a card! Play a Plains, get a creature to sac!
Mistmoon Griffin Flys, defends, and sac-able, then get back a creature from the graveyard!
Squee's Embrace fun and easy to play, and retrievable with Tragic Poet.
Tragic Poet, a low mana cost creature to get any enchantment in my deck back for any reason. Fun with Squee's Embrace, Angelic Renewal, etc. Returned Pastcaller a flyer that lets me grab a Threaten or Breath of Life. Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.


Stealing their Creatures:

Captivating Crew steals every turn! No wasted card space here, just a reusable sorcery.
Conquering Manticore powerful flyer, that steals!
Zealous Conscripts You can steal anything! Anything! Lands? Mine. Artifacts? Mine. Works great with Bazaar Trader.
Act of Treason, Portent of Betrayal, and Threaten are all basic steal spells.
Malevolent Whispers, Mark of Mutiny, and Traitorous Instinct all give me steal with buffs for Flinging.
Harness by Force allows for more than one thing to be taken if the extra cost is paid!


Powerful Creatures:

I'll be the first to admit, these don't reallllly fit in with the deck. But they're so awesome it's hard to remove. Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Aurelia, the Warleader

dnthymamai on Come On Baby Light My Fire

2 years ago

Powerful deck!

I would suggest you would consider Dragon's Claw instead of Staff of the Flame Magus. It may heal you less when fighting a Green or White deck, but it will come out a turn earlier, and you have greater chances of winning a mirrormatch.

Another similar suggestion would be swapping Act of Treason with another spell (since you are in mono-red, you can do it) that does a little bit more. e.g. Harness by Force or Hijack. But the best in your case would definitely be Kari Zev's Expertise ! :-)

SirYupp on Olivia Voldaren

2 years ago

Pretty good starting point, one of the things to keep in mind in Commander though is generally, you're expecting a 4 player game that lasts a long time, so you want to prefer cards that can have major impact in the early game or the very late game, something like Act of Treason is pretty limited in terms of when it will be really useful, cards with similar effect but with more power or flexibility (one of which you found in Insurrection) will serve you better in most games. Consider instead something like Harness by Force or Captivating Vampire.

The other thing to consider is ideally, if you're stealing creatures from your opponents, you want to make sure they don't get them back, Indulgent Aristocrat and Yahenni, Undying Partisan are good examples, but ideally you want as many of those sort of effects as you can fit in, Viscera Seer, Bloodflow Connoisseur, and Immersturm Predator are all decent vampire options, though you also can find things like Carnage Altar that can give you some extra value from your steals.

Single target removal like Terminate and especially Doom Blade are probably unneeded for you. If you need to kill a single target your plan is probably better focused on stealing it and sacrificing it instead. You probably are better off with a few more board wipes instead, if you do fall behind or lose place, you'll want a few more reset buttons. Kindred Dominance is an expensive but really powerful option for Tribal decks, Decree of Pain hits you as well, but it's a much cheaper card and great for if you're running out of gas in the late game. If you do want single target removal spells, again, you want flexibility, consider Bedevil, for just one mana more than Doom Blade you remove the restriction, and now can deal with much more than just problem creatures.

All in all though, like the list as a starting point, you'll figure out what you need and what you can cut best by playing the deck, so good luck!

Necrosis24 on What to do against Rakdos, …

2 years ago

I love Zada, Hedron Grinder one of my first few decks I built because it was budget friendly but still packed a punch. The removal that is available to you because of zada is actually pretty fun you can gang up on a single target with all your creatures: Go for Blood, Soul's Fire, Arcbond,Commando Raid, Deadshot, Swift Kick.

Also like Ramble said you can use steal effects and sac your opponents creatures to cards like Goblin Bombardment or Barrage of Expendables or your classic Phyrexian Altar. The good thing about the steal cards are you can use them on your own creatures to untap your board or give haste while they also serve to steal.

A few I'd recommend although I personally don't use them:

  1. Kari Zev's Expertise: Free Cantrips for the price of one!
  2. Hijack: Artifacts why not
  3. Harness by Force: Average but with Battle Hymn it has potential to be a budget Insurrection
  4. Bond of Passion: Pricey but with six goblins on the battlefield its like you're casting six Shocks
  5. Besmirch: Goad is good
  6. Traitorous Greed: Can be used for ramp
  7. Malevolent Whispers: Pump your team or steal

Looking at your decklist we more or less have the same cards which isn't surprising Zada is a pretty linear build if you do goblin tribal, but if you break away there are a couple fun things you can do such as Chaos Warp your entire board. I would cut Dualcaster Mage and Reiterate as they don't do much for Zada because Zada already does what they do but for free. Also Birgi, God of Storytelling  Flip is great.

Optimator on Giant's Deck

3 years ago

Even though you are primarily Giant-Tribal, you may still want to have a small suite of "Brion" cards.

I have a Feldon of the Third Path and Mimic Vat, both of which are extremely good in Brion decks. I also have a Adarkar Valkyrie, which can be good too.

Gift of Immortality is extremely good with Brion. I don't have one though.

Sigil of the New Dawn isn't the most efficient, but can be good.

I have a Serra Avatar too, which is the best Fling-able creature around. Evra, Halcyon Witness is great too, but I don't have one. It's cheap though. A Stalking Vengeance would double up Brion's damage, but I don't think I have one either. Reya Dawnbringer is way mana-expensive but can be useful with such pricey giants dying left and right.

Flameshadow Conjuring can be good with Brion too. I don't think I have one though.

Phyrexian Processor is one of the craziest pieces of Brion tech around. It's not too expensive--I would totally slide this card in, even if I was doing Giant Tribal. You can get blown out, but the payoff is enormous.

Another piece of Brion tech is Grafted Exoskeleton, if you wanna be dirty.


Since Brion isn't the center of the strategy, protecting him isn't at such a premium. Cards like Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are still good for protecting your big giants though. It may be worth sliding some cards like that in, but since it's a casual deck you may get away with none.

That said, I have Whispersilk Cloak and Mask of Avacyn in my collection.

Another option on a budget is Mirror Shield. Darksteel Plate is pricey but fantastic when you want to stick a huge beater and keep it around.

I have a Cradle of Vitality on-hand. Might be really good!


If you have any more Threaten-effects, those are functionally creature removal with your commander out. Perhaps a couple of cards like that deserve a slot. Captivating Crew is fun because it's repeatable. Song-Mad Treachery  Flip is cool because it's a land too!

I own: Hijack - Grab the Reins - Mass Mutiny - Traitorous Blood - Traitorous Instinct - Portent of Betrayal - Word of Seizing - Harness by Force

There are many more.


Illusionist's Bracers is very good with Brion, even with less of a focus on him. Probably worth keeping in.

I think Minion Reflector won't be good--too expensive. Seance is decent but probably won't be reliable often enough to make it worth a slot.

EngineNumber9 on ExpelliARRRmus

4 years ago

Hey bud, got a few things that may interest ya:

- Deadeye Plunderers - Gets bigger for every treasure/artifact you own and makes them. Big time synergy.

- Protean Raider - Cheap pirate mimic. Thematic win combined with flexibility.

- Spell Swindle - Treasure generation X Counterspell.

- Storm the Vault  Flip - A must include if you want Treasure synergy. This bad boy will fix you with treasure, then give you an op land.

- Unspeakable Symbol - Instant speed counter distribution that costs no mana. Need to kill a bitch? Pay all your life into an unblocked scurvy boi. Need to save someone with Marchesa/save Marchesa? This has your back; highly recommended.

- Forge of Heroes - You know Marchesa brings herself back to life with her own ability too? You do now. This land ensures she's protected straight away.

Looking at your mass mutiny, I see you want to steal peoples things en masse. Here's some other suggestions for good cards of that ilk (Because frankly, they're pretty much alternate win cons/Marchesa steal opportunities)
- Mob Rule - Insurrection - Harness by Force - Press into Service - Reins of Power

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