Mass Manipulation

Sorcery

Gain control of X target creatures and/or planeswalkers.

Combos

• Blood for Bones + Mass Manipulation + Scholar of the Ages

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
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
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

DreadKhan on Goose Mother Voltron

1 year ago

Mark of Sakiko or Bear Umbra might do some work, mostly to enable you to play a lot more stuff? Belt of Giant Strength seems synergistic, it stacks with your +1 counters. Crystal Shard is a pretty good way to get your Commander back in hand, but it can also be used to punish any player who dares use all their mana up (some players are really bad at tracking stuff like this, depending on the playgroup). Rogue's Passage is an interesting way to guarantee the survival of your Goose. If you want more mass removal I have had some luck with Mass Manipulation, it's hard to cast but the effect is pretty strong if you steal more than 1 thing.

I'm not sure if your Goose gets big enough or not, but Tempting Licid is a decent Lure effect, and you can technically attach it to an opponent's creature that attacks (and remove it after blockers are declared) to either wipe out blockers (letting you/others get in) or get a creature killed, you can also use it to put a Lure on something you don't care about so The Goose can get in unblocked (you can save the Licid).

When it comes to ramp and fixing, I find 2 colour decks are extremely forgiving, and having one of those colours be Green makes it even easier to build. One of the annoyances of Enemy Pair decks (like Simic) is that their aren't as many dual lands to choose from, but their are still a few budget range dual lands that come with basic land types, these really pop with stuff like Nature's Lore, which can find a non-Basic Forest, enabling you to get your colours quickly and consistently, but IMHO it's really hard to not hit your colours in a Simic deck. It's really annoying that the only 'budget' typed dual I can think of is Breeding Pool, but that's a long way from budget, and you're only in 2 colours.

If you like +1 counters and drawing cards you might enjoy Generous Patron, if you're desperate you can give your own stuff the counters, but if you want cards you can do so (and still have a body). Another card that might be generally useful is Skullwinder, you can use this to generate political leverage, possibly getting to choose what the opponent will actually get back. Cultural Exchange is an obscure card that can very much take over a game if you time it right, ideally you use it after people have already wiped and hopefully don't have another at the ready. Mass Diminish might be better than Frogify, note that it lasts until your next turn and affects all of a player's creature, yet still comes with Flashback to boot. This is very good with something like Tempting Licid. Transmogrifying Wand might not look very good, but being able to remove the 3 most annoying creatures for a grand total of only 6 mana is pretty sweet, it's also a great deterrent piece once it's out and still has counters, people can't play key creatures until it's dealt with or out of counters. Return of the Wildspeaker is a good way to refill your hand, it's among the best of it's kind, but Momentous Fall is better if you're being wiped or something.

DreadKhan on Aquaman, Lord of the Fishies

1 year ago

...For the record, the 2nd Mass Diminish was supposed to be Mass Manipulation, hopefully that makes more sense!

DreadKhan on Heliod, The Radiant Dawn

1 year ago

Surprised you're not running Folio of Fancies here? Not sure if Geier Reach Sanitarium is worth it (it's technically 3 mana to discount your mana by 3, but that is for each spell fwiw), but if you can double/triple spell after that's pretty useful. If you include Folio, you might want to throw in some X mana spells, Curse of the Swine is budget, as is Mass Manipulation, though Mass requires 4 Blue, which can't be discounted. Cut a Deal seems good, you get cards and the spell can be discounted to only W. Love Song of Night and Day is a good way to get cards/discount, the other abilities are kinda meh, but it's great if it only costs W to cast. If you don't intend to keep it around you could try Tenuous Truce, you can play it for W on any opponent's turn (after their attacking is done for turn) to get the discount, it's also situationally handy if you want to ally with someone. I think my final one is Your Temple is Under Attack, this is even modal and can be discounted to cost W, both modes can be very useful. These card draw spells also make your deck more consistent.

It's over your budget, but Standstill seems like hilarious maybe? Either you get 3 cards and -6 on your spells, or a whopping -9 to casts if opponents draw.

I love Mass Diminish if you can net a discount on it, you can also use it as an Instant, which is busted beyond words IMHO, it's the only limitation on one of the best at what it does. I can't believe they made it last until your next turn, so you get less 'value' if you play it on an opponent's turn, but any other opponents going before you still have a sitting duck to swing at. Another Sorcery that looks a lot better as an Instant is Single Combat, if you keep your Commander you can cast on your opponent's turn, so there will be a turn cycle where nobody can do much with creatures. I think Tragic Arrogance is pretty solid as well, even without Flash it's devastating, but with it I think it's quite scary, I think it's much better than Aetherize for example. Finally, Promise of Loyalty is neat, you won't be getting swung at for awhile by what's left, and it gets a big discount potentially. While it'd sometimes be a dead effect, Visions of Duplicity seems made for your Commander, it's very easy to make that UUU to create quite a bit of chaos, and at Instant speed.

Coward_Token on March of the Machine

1 year ago

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor: Good call, wasn't aware that it was up.

Link for reference

Predictions/takes Show

• A double-faced token (one that transforms): Templating sounds like it'll be wordy e,g. "Create a 1/1 black Phyrexian creature with "B: Transform this creature" that transforms into a 3/3 black Phyrexian Horror creature."

• A card that costs XUUUU: More efficient Mass Manipulation?

• A legendary creature returns not seen since Homelands: Irini Sengir? AFAIK all the other immortals have had reprints, and I could see her teaming up with Daughter of Autumn. For reference. (A much better idea: Vampire Chandler)

• Two draft archetypes that have a creature type matters component (one of which is Phyrexians - see above): Angel?

• The tenth _ & ___ sword: Blue & Black. I was thinking "Oil and Water", but the naming scheme for the ally-colored Swords tend to be complementary rather than contrasting. Dunno either what mechanics they'll use, most seem to have been snatched by the rest.

Next, here are some rules text that will be showing up on cards:

• “You may cast spells with flash or flying from the top of your library.”: Some blue-inclusive pairing, can't think of which tho.

• “where X is the excess damage dealt this way.”

• “This spell can’t be copied.”: AFAIK stuff like Isochron Scepter and Mizzix's Mastery can still copy it while it's a card outside of the stack

• “Each player can’t cast more than one non-Phyrexian spell each turn.”: Not a fan of this, feels situationally bad.

• “Whenever a permanent you control transforms or a permanent enters the battlefield under your control transformed,”: Hoping Tovolar  ^Flip will be able to use this.

• “If the opponent protects it, remove a defense counter from it.”: Guessing this is for a Battle card and that it's indeed something Monarch-like.

• “At the beginning of your upkeep, if you haven’t been dealt combat damage since your last turn, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.”: Interesting seeing as the last set had Phyrexian Arena.

Finally, here are some Phyrexians in the set:

• Creature – Phyrexian Bear Rhino: Ikoria-based

• Creature – Phyrexian Devil: Innistrad-based, I hope. Would be funny since then it'd be Norn-ish.

• Creature – Phyrexian Dog Warrior: Tarkir-based

• Creature – Phyrexian Jackal: Jackal Pup reference? Otherwise you could go with Amonketh, although the lack of class makes me doubtful.

• Creature – Phyrexian Shark: Mmmm yess

And some creature type lines of denizens fighting them:

• Creature – Raccoon Warrior: Capenna-based

• Creature – Goblin Spellshaper: no idea what it'll Spellshape

• Creature – Wolverine Dinosaur: Again, Ikoria.

• Legendary Creature – Elder Giant Dog: As pointed out, Kroxa + Kunoros

• Legendary Creature – Ape Dinosaur Turtle: Kogla + Yidaro, Wandering Monster. Feels kinda weird since they don't seem like very natural enemies?

DreadKhan on The Quackening

1 year ago

I have a Quest for Ula's Temple deck which does some similar things, I liked Dreamscape Artist because it can reshuffle your library as needed, incase you don't have a relevant creature to work with on top. It's technically only 1 mana and a card to Harrow (you get back 2 untapped lands, so it can also helping mana fixing) Blue, and I could be wrong but I think your Commander wants the odd Discard outlet too. A worse (but still potentially useful) piece of Blue ramp is Apprentice Wizard, it's not as good as Dreamscape, it's like Worn Powerstone, which is a good rock if you want bigger ramp to potentially cast a big creature a bit sooner. Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus are big ramp rocks with decent ratios. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers are pretty good together, if you have a lot of devotion to a colour Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can help, Deserted Temple can untap any land that makes extra mana. Less rampy and more of a big Scry effect, Soothsaying is a neat card if you care about your deck order. Scroll Rack is better but costs more.

Just a general idea, you might throw in things like Reconnaissance Mission, Bident of Thassa, and Coastal Piracy along with some Unblockable or Shadow creatures (Thalakos and Dauthi are the Blue and Black tribes). You can also throw in stuff like Sword of the Animist, Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip, Prying Blade, Goldvein Pick, Grim Hireling, and any other attack payoffs you can find to generate more value over time. I understand you want a sea-monster theme, but you might want a way to draw some cards/get in some chip damage to soften people up. The only drawback to Shadows is that they can't chump block. If you really want your evasive creatures to be able to chump, there are some small flyers like Spectral Sailor and Thousand-Faced Shadow that have other upsides, these are risk free but are way less evasive than Shadows.

On that note, if you're worried about getting attacked you might look at Propaganda, War Tax, Flood, and Fatespinner are all great ways to make you hard to attack. Mass Diminish, Polymorphist's Jest, Sudden Spoiling, AEtherize, Aetherspouts are all great cards for people to fear.

Callous Oppressor is a funny repeatable theft effect, Ritual of the Machine and Helm of Possession can both steal stuff and are great with tokens, Thieving Skydiver can steal an artifact creature fwiw, Sower of Temptation is a so-so theft effect that shines bright if you can flicker or bounce it, Thalakos Deceiver is probably way better since he permanently steals whatever and can be reanimated, Inevitable Betrayal and Bribery are both pretty sweet.

The biggest (and perhaps best) theft effects are Mass Manipulation and Cultural Exchange, exchange requires bodies but can also be used aggressively to just ruin two players' boards.

Inkwell Leviathan, Lochmere Serpent, Spawning Kraken, Stormtide Leviathan, and Wrexial, the Risen Deep are some relevant creatures I use, some are better than others but there is nothing as bad as Sea Serpent or Bog Serpent, both cards I love but don't use.

If you like Whelming Wave, you might like Spectral Deluge as well.

Hope some of this helps, Big Dimir is a fun deck!

DreadKhan on Fear of The Deep

1 year ago

Here are a few ideas, maybe something will work for you?

One of my favorite cards in Tatyova is Oboro Breezecaller, this can easily be made mana positive, which makes it very easy to go infinite with Retreat to Coralhelm, or to just make mana for you (it helps if you can untap a land that taps for 2, be it Temple of the False God, Guildless Commons, Simic Growth Chamber, or Jungle Basin there are better lands but these untap fine. Another old favorite of mine is Soratami Mirror-Mage, this is also mana neutral at worst (1 mana per land to bounce), and you get to bounce a creature via it. For a bit more money (but you require Islands), you could try Flooded Shoreline, this card is bonkers if you can replay lands/count on hitting 2 Islands. Finally, Tatyova probably shouldn't leave home without Gush, even without Mystic Sanctuary shenanigans it's still a very strong draw spell.

I could be wrong, but I feel like Gretchen Titchwillow is a better card than Zimone? Both are decent fits, but it's very hard to combo off with Zimone in my experience as the lands enter tapped, Gretchen lets you use spare mana to ramp/draw cards at the same time. I think you could easily justify both if you wanted.

At the moment Crop Rotation is pretty cheap, it's a very good card in Tatyova, if you replace a land with a 2 mana land like Temple of the False God you actually ramp yourself (right away with Temple).

Stone-Seeder Hierophant is a really good version of Lotus Cobra if you have lands that tap for more than 1, but it's also another budget Lotus Cobra either way. This card is much better on a higher budget (with stuff like Ashaya, Soul of the Wild especially, or Lotus Field/Lotus Vale), but it should do work here too.

A few more budget fetchlands you could run include Bant Panorama, Terminal Moraine, and Warped Landscape, any of these enters untapped and can find whatever land you want if you have nothing better to do with your resources.

If you've got a lot of lands (and tend to put out some tokens, but not an infinite number), The Great Aurora offers a weird-but-useful board wipe option. As long as you've got a decent board (and run more lands), you'll get enough lands that you aren't hurt very much, spikier decks that are thin on lands get hurt badly, while decks with too many tokens just draw themselves to death.

As Tatyova decks tend to have a fair bit of mana, you might look at Curse of the Swine, and/or Mass Manipulation. Another bigger mana card that can do a huge amount of stuff (almost anything you need really) is Primal Command, I use that and Elixir of Immortality to recycle my graveyard, but I tend to end up in infinite loops pretty easily, so YMMV without strong discard outlets like Mind Over Matter.

If you want a high budget card that has ridiculous synergy, you might take a look at the aforementioned Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, this makes all your creatures into lands, meaning any non-token creature that ETBs will draw you a card, but it also forms various combos. It's hard to find a card that Tatyova wants more in my experience.

It was mentioned already, but 40 lands isn't exactly a ton in Tatyova, you've also got a lot of creatures that benefit from having extra lands in hand. At 40 lands you are at a real risk of missing your 5th land drop, let alone your 6th to draw a card. I run 45, and I often feel like I should run more (keep in mind, at 45 lands you still only 'expect' to have 3.2 lands, so if you have even 1 less than normal you almost certainly have to mulligan, 40 means even more mulligans). In my experience, many ramp spells that normally are worthwhile just aren't in Tatyova when you could just run a land instead (and not have to pay mana for your land drop).

Necramus on Baral, Chief of No

1 year ago

Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip - this can double as either a land or a phat ass draw spell, depending on how you want to use it, and options are always good!

Finale of Revelation - again, can be a phat spell or a more modest one, depending on what you need. You have several ways to discount spells, though, and so you can kinda cheat your way towards the high end of this spell.

Sapphire Medallion - don't need to explain this one.

Solve the Equation - excellent tutor for this deck and a budget option to Mystical Tutor, though, I'd suggest both.

Consuming Tide and Cyclonic Rift are both mono blue pseudo wipes that you'll probably want to help keep the battle field in your favor.

Rhystic Study - don't need to explain this one.

Mystic Sanctuary and Otawara, Soaring City are both free for you to play and are better than basics when you have so many.

As for additional counterspells I'd suggest Mana Leak, Tale's End, Force of Will, and Delay.

Since you're on the discount game, I'd also suggest Bribery and Mass Manipulation too!

And one last piece of removal: Imprisoned in the Moon

Hope this helps! I like that your curve is almost down to 3. Your deck building skills are getting keener!

AThiccNacho on Dat Hydra

2 years ago

Simic Ascendancy for an alternate wincon for sure.

May want to consider Herald of Secret Streams since it makes your creatures unblockable.

Kodama of the West Tree is also pretty sick since it gives most of your stuff trample and some nice ramp if you can hit face.

I also had thought about using Mass Manipulation in my Zaxara deck, but i'm not entirely sure how well it works given it's cost. Unless you have Nyxbloom Ancient out, I find it hard to find a spot for it honestly.

I also found Braingeyser to be a nice fit as well. Gives you the option of draw OR forcing your opponent to lose the game going infinite. Sorcery and not instant or repeatable like BSZ, but I think it's a hell of a good card.

Overall solid deck!