Mystic Snake

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Mystic Snake

Creature — Snake

Flash (You may cast this spell at any time you could cast an instant.)

When Mystic Snake enters the battlefield, counter target spell.

wallisface on Don't

3 months ago

Having a deeper look through the current list, some more in-depth thoughts:

  • for a deck aiming to control the flow if the game, and then drop a “large finisher”, you’re running far too many “finisher” cards. Control decks typically want to keep this number fairly low - because these cards are never relevant if you’re lacking the resources to control the board, and drawing more than 1 of these effects is often unhelpful.

  • your land count is painfully low. 19 lands is crazy-low even for a 60 card deck. Burn decks run 20 lands and never need more than 2 mana. On 19 lands you’re at a whopping 28% chance of only having a 0-1 land hand (that’s assuming a 60 card deck - for 76 cards your odds of a 0-1 land hand goes up to 44%!!). Yes you have a few mana dorks, but they won’t save you from your lack of land-draws - and its super-easy for an opponent to killspell your turn-1 manadork and shit you out of the game entirely.

  • control plays need to be super mana-efficient because you need to start hindering your opponents progression before they overwhelm you. In that vein super mana-heavy cards like Mystic Snake are just not practically useful. You don’t want to be spending more than 2 mana for a counterspell unless it does a LOT more than just counter.

  • however efficient your countermagic is, your opponent will always be able to sneak some stuff through - and this is expected in all control decks. You need some way to remove those threats that do hit the battlefield.

thesilentpyro on "Casual" Anti-Rez Flash

1 year ago

Considerations:

Add

Cut

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 11: Simic …

2 years ago

All hail our magical gene-splicing overlords, having taken all elections by storm via a platform of ignoring the ever-loving Sharktocrab out of Ian Malcolm. Much as I love this color combo, I’m first to admit it’s a bit much: combining the draw and control of Blue with the ramp and board presence of Green is taking things to excess. Glorious, opponent-crushing excess. Play your cards right (haha) and you will neither have an empty hand nor an empty board. Maybe an empty social calendar, but that’s a problem for another color pairing.

All hyperbolic joking aside, there is considerable promise under Simic’s hood. Kruphix, God of Horizons supports the tendencies both colors to a nearly unbearable extreme. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy doesn’t just break mana dorks, he shatters them, and don’t get any veteran started on the ruinous politics of Edric, Spymaster of Trest. And it’s not just the commanders: Prophet of Kruphix, banned though it may be, is a testament to the potency here. Mystic Snake is a constant presence for a reason, as is the Trygon Predator. There’s even a pair of worthwhile upkeep wins: Biovisionary, with the profligacy of cloning effects, is actually plausible in EDH (and hilarious), while Simic Ascendancy is downright heinous.

Blue and Green together encourage a beautiful game, a dance constantly wavering across the line between strength and subtlety that I, personally, find incredibly appealing. But we’re not here to talk only about the things I like: we’re here to talk about theme, and today we have three: Card Advantage, Counters Matter, and Tokens Matter. As always, please bear in mind that our focus here is not necessarily competitive but rather on thematic, archetypical commanders.

Card Advantage

In most games, you will have a solution to any given problem. Trouble is, that solution is somewhere in your deck and not in your hand. Where Green is equipped to solve the broadest spectrum of challenges, Blue is inclined to sidestep those problems, and fill up on those sidesteps with draw, until a solution to the game itself appears. Filling up Blue-style on Green’s kit? Wondrous. Whether tutoring or going full beast mode and drawing half your deck, Simic is singularly positioned to solve any problem by readying an overwhelming suite of answers and then slamming down enough mana to use all of them at once.

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

The original vintage of true bullshit, circa 2006. The sheer quantity of quality in Green’s menagerie of ETB effects is staggering. With hot garbage like the Snapcaster Mage and Gilded Drake shoring up those already beastly reserves, if you need it and it comes on a creature-shaped stick, you got it. I just hope you can tutor fast.

Grolnok, the Omnivore

What is it about Innistrad and terrifying frogs?! This was the first new legend to impress me in a while. Milling yourself isn’t hard when you have blue on hand, and Grolnok’s presence means that instead of filling your graveyard you’re creating a permanent hand that’s safe from any interference that isn't a Riftsweeper. That’s incredibly appealing to me. It’s a little like a sugar-free, exile version of Enter the Infinite. Obligatory mention of the Hermit Druid goes here, but my first thought was actually Dreamborn Muse.

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Every deck reaches a point where drawing land is no longer desirable. Every deck eventually draws lands once too often and suffers a crippling, disappointing crash-and-burn. Aesi is unimpressed. Combining a self-only Horn of Greed and Exploration on a 5/5 body, a little flooding is nothing to worry about. Drop a few things like Reshape the Earth, draw nine cards profit, play the additional lands you drew, draw more cards, and so on. You’ll catch a bit of a stink-eye off your opponents, but that’ll wash out. In mana.

Counters Matter

White hands out +1/+1 counters like candy, but doesn’t do much with them. In justice, any lifelink card with a pile of +1/+1 counters doesn’t need to do much. Just swing. Simic, though, seems to think that getting bigger should get you access to cool new things. Cards, for instance, via Fathom Mage, or creatures via Cytoplast Manipulator. And then, once you’ve done all that cool stuff… well, just swing.

To be honest, I don’t like this section, and our first commander is a perfect illustration why. Fair warning: salt incoming.

Ezuri, Claw of Progress

Ok, now THIS is a little much. I don’t even remember playing against this guy: I just didn’t like it from the first. It’s very easy to build, very powerful, VERY unsubtle. The reliability that comes of experience counters is undeniably potent and, in my opinion, boring. I like to think my own style is a bit more elegant than simply hosing down midgets, then turning a Blighted Agent loose. But then this is all just my opinion AND I own an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck, so what do I know?

Experiment Kraj

This is both goofy and highly contextual. If you’ve got a Kenrith, the Returned King fanboy running around the local meta, you’re probably going to wreck face. There is a respectable pile of activated abilities in every color, let alone Blue-Green, that would let you build a deck with adequate support. It’s not the most optimal choice, but running the original legendary goo would certainly be the odd bit of fun.

Vorel of the Hull Clade

I DO remember playing against this guy, though it was a while ago. If I recall rightly, the pilot refused to add Darksteel Reactor, instead relying on the Elusive Krasis and little else. Dude needed Freed from the Real, too. Things have changed. Now you can do silly stuff with Liquimetal Coating and any number of planeswalkers, ruin lives with Magistrate's Scepter, or whatever other hateful things come to your devious little mind. Options. Vorel has them.

Tokens Matter

This is more my speed. There are several contestants for best in token quantity, though Selesnya is probably the best in blending quality and quantity. Simic watched this contest, watched the parades of copy-paste legions, and decided there was a market for going hard in quality. Progenitor Mimic, Spitting Image, and Repudiate / Replicate are all examples of this trend: token copies. I’m not sure cloning someone’s field is more polite than actually stealing their stuff, but kicking Rite of Replication into the face of some smarmy bastard gloating over his Blightsteel Colossus would be a highlight for anybody.

Adrix and Nev, Twincasters

Very direct, and nothing wrong with a little hexproof lite. Having Parallel Lives for your general, if we’re honest, has got to be a dream come true for a LOT of people. Just don’t cast rite of replication on the sphinx (you know the one) unless you have your Laboratory Maniac ready.

Esix, Fractal Bloom

Oooooooooo. I like. Not quite enough to build, but I like! Drop Fable of Wolf and Owl, a card I’ve always wanted but never needed, and drop a clone every turn. And… on second read, this says choose, not target, so shroud does jack-all to prevent this… maybe I do want to build this…

Volo, guide to monsters

Not bad! It’s not too hard to keep your creature base diverse, and a free copy of anything is nice. As said earlier, there’s a wealth of ETB effects to chose from, and doubling those effects is a great start to a plan. Just stay away from changelings.

And, for my personal favorite:

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

There is a pervading, understandable trend in commander toward tutoring needful things. My wife, however, hates tutoring: she’s not a patient creature, so asking her to wait while I dig for that one, particular solution is not conducive to a fun game, let alone suggesting she go digging herself. Rashmi was built for her with the intent of drawing so much that tutoring was pointless. Her effect was more a perk than anything. At worst, you draw an extra card every turn. At best, you get a freebie! The deck turned out to be so competitive that I… well, I kind of stole it back. I even splurged and got a Sensei's Divining Top, which with Rashmi is exceedingly rude, and added Counterbalance, a pairing which let me successfully counter Krosan Grip at a tournament. The raw card advantage and efficiency that Rashmi lends a deck, it turns out, can win games by itself.

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back soon for Orzhov!

Selesnya

Gruul

Rakdos

Dimir

Azorius

Green, with links to the other mono-colors

dsdude3021 on Slithering Succotash!

2 years ago

zapyourtumor,

Wow, someone actually commented on this deck. Thanks for the advice man. I few things I have to note.

There is a reason I am not including other 1 or 2 drops other than snakes. They would be countered by Chalice of the Void if I play it. I thought Prowling Serpopard may be redundant because I have Cavern of Souls that already give my snakes uncounterable. I used to have counterspells in this deck before I ended up sticking to the Chalice, perhaps I may go full on control?

While wierd in concept, this deck is mostly a Deadeye Navigator deck, but with snakes. I may remove Deadeye Navigator entirely if I come up with a new strategy, but right now Deadeye Navigator is the end game. I am not sure that the expensive snake lords mentioned is a better alternative, but I will consider it.The idea now is to use Deadeye Navigator with Mystic Snake, so I can counter any spell for 2. Not the greatest combo, but that's why its jank. The fact that Deadeye Navigator is the end-game is why most snakes are ETB creatures, as otherwise Deadeye Navigator's only purpose would Mystic Snake. Snakes are good for landfall and ETB so far, so I thought an ETB based midrange deck would be perfect. I am scared of cards like Strict Proctor

The only ''snake'' tribal is this deck is mostly just Cavern of Souls with Chalice of the Void. The three tibal snake cards are not really lords and are kind of expensive mana value wise. Perhaps I remove Deadeye Navigator and try a different endgame plan? Snakes don't have much going for them for lords, so I don't think aggro is much of an alternative.

Sakura-Tribe Elder, may not be the best creature, but he is one of the best modern ramp spells, working well with Lotus Cobra. Also, possibly Coiling Oracle, but I wouldn't count on it. If anything,Tireless Tracker does sound snazzy. Investigate deck???????

Lol, no love for Guardian Gladewalker. Honestly, its not great. Its just a two drop snake with an ETB effect that I could eventually spam with Deadeye Navigator. It may also allow buff up my fliers to do more damage, while serving as a block body. Maybe I'll replace it with Tireless Tracker...

lagotripha on Flashy sparkly dumpster fire

2 years ago

Hi, I love making budget brews for FNM magic. Several pieces of advice -

Playing almost monocolour works wonders - Reliability wins matches, a lot of expensive cards are expensive because they let you have that reliability while doing more explosive stuff. Small things like Mystic Snake being easier to cast than frilled adds up. Here, I'd look at playing almost entirely blue cards for the first 3 turns and reserving double green costs for cards you don't mind delaying a 3-4 turns, and adjusting mana accordingly.

Second, old spells are powerful, new creatures are powerful. If you find two that work well together, you usually have something good enough to win FNM. Cunning Nightbonder or Coralhelm Chronicler didn't make a splash in standard, but you find a strong synergy in older cards and you are off to the races. Flickering your mystic snake is cool - and new interactions appear with every card printed.

For 'draw go' I'd look at what cards from tournament decks that rotated are cheap and match that style and browse.

Dumb cheese like midnight clock/Ominous seas looks a lot less dumb once you include old cards - proliferate effects, better counterspells, more 'discard and draw a new hand' effects, more 'when you draw' effects. I'd probably dig into black and run a bunch of duress effects alongside Dark Deal to make it work, but thats personal preference. Throne of Geth could work too, as you already have an artifact in clock. If you want a green/blue shell that it couls slot right into, look at turbofog (which should have a good matchups rn).

Finally Sideboard aggressively and include slots in the mainboard for sideboard cards. Make a list of the kind of decks that are popular, and put answers mainboard, then more answers sideboard. If you don't expect to see a matchup, dont't bother including cards to win it. Mainboarding Reality Shift is a great choice in a meta running lumimancer. Just look at what is cheap in sideboards for tournament decks if you are stuck for ideas - even in other formats. Tormod's Crypt sill still work if you don't have relic.

Finally, and most importantly, fun. Look at the parts of magic you enjoy the most. For a draw-go style, its all about interacting with your opponent - seeing if you can stick a Mizzium Meddler or Notion Thief . Look for cards that do that and set you up to do that, and go have fun. Don't be scared to put them in as a 1-of if they only sort of work. You can iron out kinks in testing, but if the heart of the deck isn't fun for you, it'll be far more tricky to add that back in.

ppoolli on

3 years ago

Looks fun! Very straight forward - It relies heavily on the commander being out though. Would be very susceptible to board wipes (unless you had something like a Mystic Snake). You might have misinterpreted AxNoodle's suggestion...I know Primal Surge isn't a creature, but do you realise what will happen once you play that card?

Good idea for the commander though!

FauxFaux on Sakashima, of a thousand faces …

3 years ago

Ok, that clears up the pond much more, thank you.

In that case, some strictly good copy/clone targets include:

  1. Biovisionary: Simply giggily. No explanation necessary.
  2. Sphinx Ambassador: Being able to straight up steal creatures from your opponents' libraries for guessing a random creature is fun!
  3. Woodland Bellower & Fierce Empath: They grab each other, and can grab other creatures! Great for a more "toolbox" utility to your deck!
  4. Temur Sabertooth & Kogla, the Titan Ape: Stuck with a clone that is just not good enough? Well, these two beasties can reset those etb's!
  5. Deadeye Navigator & Peregrine Drake: Yes, of course, they combo. yay. However separately, they can be quite useful. Being able to reset Clone targets is always useful to have in the pocket. With the P Drake, you can net mana depending on the clone being used!
  6. Tishana, Voice of Thunder: She isn't the most mana effective way of drawing cards per se, but the value you can get off of her ETB is just bonkers.
  7. Frilled Mystic, Mystic Snake, & Venser, Shaper Savant: Beyond being just some nice control on a creature body, Venser can get around those sticky "Cannot be countered" spells!
  8. Bane of Progress & Reclamation Sage: Simply lovely Enchantment and artifact removal!
  9. Meteor Golem: need to blow up anything? Golem boi can handle that. (Insert Staples button here)

Let me know if any of these help at all!

Savage1988 on Muldrotha "Super Budget" The Gravetide [Updated!]

3 years ago
  • Crystal Vein : this card has won me so many games with muldrotha. It gets her out earlier and gets you ahead faster, all from a land you can keep recurring.

  • I can vouch for Seal of Removal as great repeatable bounce, as well as protection for your commander (no need to pay taxes when played from hand)

  • i prefer Executioner's Capsule to Seal of Doom because i tend to have enough enchantments i want to recur, and less artifacts also being able to spread the mana can sometimes help smooth out turns. I would recommend it for your list too, your don’t run many artifacts that die.

  • Kenrith's Transformation can elk oppo’s commanders and draw a card. When their commander finally dies to a wrath or something you do it again, drawing more

  • Springbloom Druid is a great way to ramp, fix and provide bodies for sac. It even puts a land in your gy

  • Phyrexian Metamorph has become a lot cheaper with double masters. I highly recommend it though it may be just over budget for single cards.

  • Nihil Spellbomb can help destroy graveyards

  • Phyrexian Scriptures is a cheap wrath for the deck, even being able to protect your cmdr. I’d olay it in a budget list

I’d also go up cheap ramp (Signets) or to 37 or 38 lands probably. You don’t have an excess of cheap ramp (8 pieces or so, depending how you count), so 36 for a 6cmc cmdr which the deck revolves around seems a little low.

Some cards i’d consider cutting:

For reference, here’s what i run (less budget friendly) Muldrotha, Tides of Madness

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