Mask of Griselbrand

Legendary Artifact — Equipment

Equipped creature has flying and lifelink.

Whenever equipped creature dies (is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, tokens are put into the graveyard before they cease to exist), you may pay X life, where X is its power. If you do, draw X cards.

Equip {3} ({3}: Attach this to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery. This card enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the creature this card is attached to leaves the battlefield.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	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
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (36)

DreadKhan on Thantis, the Warweaver

5 days ago

I would take a look at Open the Way, if it doesn't get reprinted in the near future the card is going to get bonkers I suspect, the floor of 3 mana for your next land is both playable and less hassles than a true fetch effect (you don't have to shuffle for it), but if you play it mid game for 6 it's a bit unreal.

Have you ever thought about Mask of Griselbrand? Flying and Lifelink are very good keywords, and this can be a VERY effective form of protection for your Commander, people can't let it die or you get a new hand for almost nothing.

Since people have to attack with everything (and can't send them at you), Rite of the Raging Storm might do some work for you, if an opponent can't deal with 5/1 attackers they are very easily killed.

Not sure how big your Thantis gets, but I like Mandate of Abaddon in my Kresh deck, Kresh can get big enough that this is not just a 4 mana one sided wipe, it also means I'm going to Commander damage someone out of the game.

Not sure how often your Commander gets locked down with stuff like Song of the Dryads, but Angel's Trumpet can be a decent back up.

It's a bit of a weird niche card, but I love Tempting Licid in a Goad deck, this guy can be attached to a creature that you forced to attack at instant speed, and now the opponent that creature is attacking is getting blocked by the kitchen sink, and as soon as those blockers are declared you just detach the licid and go on your merry way. I think most people find the card too confusing to play, but the effect is extremely strong, useful to threaten attacking or blocking creatures. It can also be a one player wipe if your Commander is big enough.

DreadKhan on Sauron, The Dark Lord Commander Deck

3 months ago

I feel like this deck should look pretty hard at Relic of Sauron, it's one of the best mana rocks for a Grixis deck, it also offers card draw and a discard outlet when you don't need the mana. I also feel like you might want more ramp, but I'm not sure I'd shave the land count too much further. I do have much higher average MV decks with similar land counts, they tend to run a lot of ramp though!

I've always liked the idea of evasive Changelings in this deck, the best being Changeling Outcast, but Mistwalker is also good, Mothdust Changeling less so but still interesting, evasion is really good on an Army in here. Taurean Mauler might be worth throwing in too, any of these is infinitely better than trying to use a token as the base for your army. Amoeboid Changeling can make any creature an army (to trigger Sauron). You might even try Maskwood Nexus, you can always choose not to wheel your hand away if you're happy with it (could be an issue if you're getting in with several armies in a turn).

Since Sauron discards your hand before he draws a new one you might want to look into some recursion effects, Black is very good at that kind of thing. Sheoldred, Whispering One is a nice easy-button recursion card that also hassles your opponents, but she is slow and a ton of mana, but you can reanimate her with something like Animate Dead or Reanimate. Since Sauron can make you a new token whenever someone casts a spell (if you don't already have one) you could use sacrifice based recursion effectively, Hell's Caretaker could do some work. These are just a few low hanging fruit, if you need a bunch more (or cheaper ones) I could probably rattle off more.

With this much built in discard you might look at the better Delve cards, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time come to mind immediately, both are pretty good card draw if you don't have to pay any generic mana in.

Mask of Griselbrand can work well as a draw source, it also gives two useful abilities for an Army. Not sure if this is too out there, but you could try Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep and Shizo, Death's Storehouse, if you make an Army your Ringbearer it becomes Legendary, meaning these lands don't just help Sauron (but making Sauron unblockable is inherently good in a deck like this because he has 7 power and he's a 3 hit kill). Fear from Shizo is probably better than First Strike in most metas, but First Strike is a very useful effect. Rogue's Passage is a nice budget card that can let Sauron or an Army get in each turn. I really have enjoyed using Scavenged Brawler, it would be very good with your Commander (if he can get in twice he can kill someone, regardless of their life total), but it'll also be useful with a good sized Army token, those key word abilities are pretty sweet in my experience. Dauthi Embrace is a nifty old card that can be very sneaky, you can use it to help opponents get in, not just to protect your creature from blockers. If you plan to attack and are in Red you might benefit from Berserkers' Onslaught, double strike on your entire board can be a very powerful effect.

If you want a way to protect Sauron from most board wipes, I really love Gift of Doom, this gem of a card can be cast as a Morph for 3 mana, after which you can sacrifice a creature to attach the aura to a creature (note that this method doesn't target the creature it attaches to, so you can get around Shroud on your creature) at literally any time you have priority iirc. It's also not a spell or ability, so you can use it in response to something with Split Second. Indestructible is very good, but if you can get Deathtouch on a creature with trample it only takes 1 point of damage to 'destroy' any creature (regardless of whether or not it dies), the rest goes over, so it has great synergy with Scavenged Brawler (and other Trample sources). You can always cast it for 5 mana, and it's not a terrible card in that form, but the Morph effect is one of the best ways to protect an individual creature (or to turn your opponent's block attempt into a blood bath).

Finally, Mercadian Bazaar, Subterranean Hangar, and Saprazzan Cove are my spiciest ideas for a deck like this, I will take no offense if you laugh at them, but you might be surprised by what they can do in a deck with a 6 mana Commander. I use the first two as well as two Fallen Empires storage lands (which I wouldn't encourage you to use unless you want gray hair) in my Rakdos deck, I play them as ramp cards, and it's openly hilarious how useful they can be if you really want to cheese out a big Commander (or recast them repeatedly).

Hope some of this brainstorming is helpful, Sauron is a pretty strong Commander that attracts a fair bit of attention afaik.

DreadKhan on Lil' Shit

5 months ago

IMHO their are few bigger 'lil shit' type cards than Rite of the Raging Storm, if their is an opponent who can't handle 5/1 Tramplers they are dead meat very quickly, it's a very chaotic atmosphere with Rite out. It's also very good with many cards that would work well with your Commander, such as Mask of Griselbrand, and I can point out a bunch of other options. Relic of Sauron is a very good Grixis mana rock that can also draw a card now and then. I think copy effects are probably pretty good with your Commander, if you cast Rite of Replication on your Commander you still get 5 copies ETBing and dying, which should clear out hands and serve as a huge board wipe (you get 5 triggers each of the ETB and death trigger, if you have 3 opponents left 2 of them have 1/4 of their permanents and one has half left, similar for their hands. Irenicus's Vile Duplication is another fun copy effect, this one doesn't die right away and has flying. If you like annoying creatures you might like some of the specters out their, Hypnotic Specter is an old classic that will always take away a card from whomever you hit, and Stronghold Rats can take one from each player fwiw.

I can't decide if MImic Vat would be worth it with your Commander, if you can get him into the Vat you can make a copy each turn for very little mana, but it doesn't get sacrificed unfortunately, it gets exiled at end of turn, so you'd need sac outlets to get his Death Triggers (but on the upside nobody is going to block you).

Their are a few Chaos type cards that might help with your plans to annoy the table, I've always enjoyed Teferi's Puzzle Box, but any effect that cares about your opponent drawing cards really loves the effect, if you can get Box and a Notion Thief out your opponents each lose their hand and you draw cards equal to how many they had when they lost them. Grip of Chaos can help keep your Commander (or another key permanent) alive longer, and you don't run a ton of targeted interaction yourself. Omen Machine is pretty funny, it's especially useful if you use a high average MV, same with Timesifter. Some people will try to flip the table if you resolve a Possibility Storm, especially if your deck isn't trying to abuse the effect. If you leaned harder into your spell plan, or into permanents that work regardless of who controls them you could try Thieves' Auction, a card many that is so obnoxious that some people consider scooping rather than resolving the effect.

I hope some of these ideas aren't too disruptive, it's fun to have a deck that can troll your playgroup a bit!

DreadKhan on That's Why it's Called Murder, not Mukduk

6 months ago

If there are decks in your meta that aren't good at blocking, then Rite of the Raging Storm is very scary. It is also a constant source of tokens that are never coming your way. Another Enchantment that can provide lots of bodies is Elemental Mastery, Mastery can make a small army of tokens that are both very good sac fodder and decent chump blockers if you're desperate.

I'm not sure if it's too awkward to make work, but Haakon, Stromgald Scourge is a decent recursion piece, allowing you to recast knights from the graveyard (including Haakon). All in all probably not as good as Gravecrawler, but better than many recursion options since there are many 1 mana Knights/Changelings. Another interesting recursion option that might work in here is Hell's Caretaker, this can turn a chump into the best creature in your graveyard on your upkeeps.

Any reason you're not running Pitiless Plunderer? It has pretty good synergy with your Commander, but also with stuff like Mayhem Devil (and maybe something like Marionette Master, which also works with any artifact creatures). Pawn of Ulamog and Sifter of Skulls both work with any recursive creatures to help generate mana. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is a really weird token generator that synergizes well with Gravecrawler or Haakon, providing you an extra body for each cast, helping them go infinite.

It's pretty janky, but Lagomos, Hand of Hatred is a neat repeatable tutor that also makes a token each turn. Another janky card that might do some work in here is Mask of Griselbrand, the buffs can be useful, but the card draw is the real perk, very good in a deck with lots of sacrifice outlets as a weirder Skullclamp. Dream Devourer is a surprisingly good jank 'ramp' source in Black, this also can protect your cards from discard effects by clearing your hand (and still letting you cast the stuff later).

DreadKhan on Jinx Master of Chaos

6 months ago

I could be wrong, but I think part of your problem is that you can't run enough wipes to keep pressure down but also cannot run enough creatures to deal with aggro. Some stuff that can help with this include Propaganda, maybe War Tax do a good job at deterring early aggro. Callous Oppressor type cards are pretty powerful, creature theft effects allow you to keep up with aggressive decks running powerful creatures without having to run or cast them yourselves. There might be a couple useful token generators that might fit, Ophiomancer and Ogre Slumlord both provide endless Deathtouch blockers and can deter attacks. My final suggestion to help prevent losses is dedicated blockers, cards like Brash Taunter, this sweet blocker survives many wipes and can make brute force risky to use vs you. There are also cards like Fog Bank that can block fairly well, but remember that low toughness means you're vulnerable to Trample.

I would try out Rite of the Raging Storm, it puts a lot of pressure on the board for anyone but you who can't block a 5/1 trample. Mask of Griselbrand works really well with Rite, but it also works well with any other non-flyer you want to attack with, and helps incase you get wiped/targeted with removal since it can draw cards. The lifegain is a nice perk. Viashino Heretic is a way to blow up artifacts repeatedly that also can deal some damage, if people use large artifacts it can be a lot of damage for mana.

DreadKhan on Super Juri-o Galaxy

8 months ago

Have you thought about Prosper, Tome-Bound in here to make Star Bits/generate card advantage? People usually use it as a Commander, but I suspect it'll do work in the 99 too. Any reason (price comes to mind, I missed my opportunity on these) you don't use The Ozolith? It seems like it has huge synergy with your Commander.

There is a fair bit of Voltron that might work in here, Juri can get big enough for Mask of Griselbrand to be very useful (he'll have Lifelink when he dies if he was equipped, so you can just deal damage and gain cards instead of life), Dauthi Embrace is very good at helping any creature attack safely, yours or an opponents even, you might try out Shizo, Death's Storehouse and/or Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep, either works for Juri or another Legendary, but I think Witch's Clinic offering Lifelink, even if it's only to your Commander, will be quite useful. I also like Berserkers' Onslaught for Double Strike on your entire board, 5 mana to permanently double your attacking power seems like good value. Finally, there is the new (and fairly unusual) Scavenged Brawler, this is a way to put 4 +1 counters on Juri once the card is in the graveyard, but you also get a bunch of very powerful keywords that synergize very well with a +10 power Juri. Since you like to sacrifice stuff, if you choose to try out some of those voltron cards you might like Rite of the Raging Storm, it makes plenty of tokens, and they aren't coming your way. Rite really likes Exquisite Blood and Kothophed, Soul Hoarder, and both I would argue are independently playable. All of these cards do a surprising amount of work in my own Rakdos deck, and I think your Commander is also pretty beefy.

DreadKhan on Your favorite, wait this works! …

8 months ago

For me I think it was realizing just how many cards have really impressive synergies with Rite of the Raging Storm, I didn't really expect much from a 5/1 but if you throw in stuff like Mask of Griselbrand, Kothophed, Soul Hoarder, and/or True Conviction and it quickly gets 'out of hand'. There is an endless array of equipment, anthems, auras, aristocrats etc that love to see those 5/1s ETB, swing, deal damage, and die, there is so much juice to squeeze out of those tokens, and they require no further input beyond the initial 5 mana cast.

DreadKhan on Kresh of the savage horde

9 months ago

Board wide damage effects seem pretty good with your Commander, Pestilence, Pyrohemia, Chain Reaction and Blasphemous Act all jump out as good enough cards. Mandate of Abaddon is probably well beyond good if Kresh is at all beefy, he'll suddenly be even bigger on an empty board if all goes well. As long as your Commander has at least 4 toughness Ezuri's Predation would be hilarious, even if a bunch of 4/4s bite the bullet your Commander just gets bigger.

Rite of the Raging Storm seems almost unholy with your Commander, I normally love this card but here you are going to be farming 5 power creatures over and over, and they're never attacking you.

They're both small and random, but Temur Battle Rage and Tainted Strike can both turn your Commander into a 1 shot fairly easily.

If your Commander is fairly big then Return of the Wildspeaker, Rishkar's Expertise, Soul's Majesty, Momentous Fall (also good if your Commander is going to die, as is Greater Good), Grothama, All-Devouring, and Mask of Griselbrand can all draw you a decent number of cards. Overwhelming Stampede and Fungal Sprouting both seem very good with your Commander.

I like Fight effects if I suspect I'll have the biggest body on the board, Ulvenwald Tracker, Domri, Anarch of Bolas, Kogla, the Titan Ape, and Thorn Mammoth are pretty good sources you can repeat.

Thunderfoot Baloth, Siege Behemoth, Kamahl, Heart of Krosa, Blossoming Bogbeast, and Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma are decent sources of Trample that are stapled to a body, and they're all fairly budget. Keep an eye out incase Pathbreaker Ibex goes down in price, that's a very good effect with your Commander. Just a heads up, but if you run lots of sources of Trample for your Commander, then anything that provides Deathtouch looks a ton better, with Deathtouch you just deal 1 damage per creature and Trample over the rest. Bow of Nylea, Saryth, the Viper's Fang, and Ohran Frostfang are all very good sources afaik, there are others kicking around if you look!