Phyrexian Lens

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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
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Phyrexian Lens

Artifact

Tap, Pay 1 life: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Malsorn on ProliferationH

4 years ago

Is there a specific reason for Phyrexian Lens ? Otherwise Darksteel Ingot could be a strict upgrade. Otherwise, land count does seem a bit low.

Asder on $1 cards challenge

5 years ago

why is there a Phyrexian Lens but no Manalith

Chuff_Bucket on By Any Means Necessary

6 years ago

Alrighty: my first suggestion is to bump up your land count. Even though this is a relatively low-curve deck, you still want to run probably around 36 lands. If you don't, you risk having a high percentage of unkeepable opening hands because of low land count. Again, this is a super low-curve deck, so you could probably get away with 35 or perhaps even 34, but I would only recommend cutting from 36 after extensive playtesting.

Next, you're gonna want way more ramp and waaaay more card draw. I'm pretty sure the only card I saw that draws you more cards is Mentor of the Meek (which is a good option!). You are playing with graveyard shenanigans, so the graveyard will act as an extension of your hand during the average game. But there's no replacement for drawing cards off the top - graveyard shenanigans won't help you dig for a board wipe when you desperately need one, etc., etc. Good card draw in these colors include Phyrexian Arena, Painful Truths, Dreamstone Hedron.

Faithless Looting could be a good option here. While it doesn't strictly draw you any more cards, it does dig you through your deck and puts stuff in your graveyard to boot for Alesha to play with later.

Additionally, I would recommend upping your ramp count as well. Sword of the Animist is an under-utilized card, and I like it in this list. But you should definitely be playing all of the signets: Rakdos Signet, Orzhov Signet, and Boros Signet. Having Turn 2 ramp can be super valuable in a game to help propel you forward at a quicker rate than some of your opponents. Additionally, swap out Phyrexian Lens for Chromatic Lantern. It's a strict upgrade (as the Lantern gives the same effect and doesn't cost you life), and having the mana-fixing properties of the lantern is always a relief in a 3-Color deck like this. It's a little pricier, but it's a necessary card for any deck running 3-Colors and up.

I would HIGHLY recommend watching this video: Command Zone Deck Building Template

These guys are commander pros, and this video is all of their advice on how to approach building a new EDH deck. Obviously take your own artistic license into account, but for hashing out your first deck, you could do much worse than to listen to their advice.

Optimator on Tazri's Allied Goon Squad (Ally Tribal)

7 years ago

GobboE, Thanks again for the great advice! I own a metric crapload of the Panorama fetches ( Jund Panorama , for instance). Would you recommend those for mana-fixing in this deck? I also own a bunch of each of the Obelisks ( Obelisk of Esper , etc). I'm leery of the tri-land sac cards like Geothermal Crevice . They don't seem as optimal but I'm no expert and my M:TG instincts aren't fully developed. I could add Guildgates and the Lifelands but they're all tapped upon entry. I heard one shouldn't have a majority of one's lands be slow but I'm willing to defer to veterans' judgement on the subject. Would you recommend a set of the bounce lands (Rakdos Carnarium, etc)? Banners, cluestones, signets?

I want a Harabaz Druid , for instance, but it won't be in the 1.0 version of the deck for budget reasons but will find its way in quite early on, I'm sure. It's just too good and $6 isn't the end of the world. I mean, I'm scraping together couch change for this month's rent but by the time I build this deck that won't be a thing ;)

The Orchards are on my short-list, Lotus Vale perhaps, Ancient Ziggurat for sure, Gemstone Mine is a little pricey, City of Brass would work well I believe, Unknown Shores seems legit, Mana Confluence is pricey but a candidate, Mirrodin's Core seems okay, Springjack Pasture seems funny but isn't blowing me away, Thran Quarry would be good but it's a little up there in price for me, and likewise for Undiscovered Paradise .

Henge of Ramos seems outdated, Tendo Ice Bridge is too expensive, Reflecting Pool seems like it won't help me much and is expensive to boot, Archaeological Dig seems meh, same for Forsaken City , Rainbow Vale , School of the Unseen , and Tarnished Citadel.

Plenty of fixing rocks out there I suppose. Would you recommend those? Coalition Relic is a no-brainer but out of the initial budget, ditto for Gilded Lotus but more so, Khalni Gem maybe, $Lotus Bloom$, Lotus Blossom on the other hand seems neat, Prophetic Prism seems nice and is cheaper than Mana Prism (but doesn't give a colorless for free), Phyrexian Lens seems okay, Prismatic Lens is cheap, Spectral Searchlight seems okay too, Springleaf Drum might be all right,

Mana Cylix , Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere , Pentad Prism, Sphere of the Suns , Standing Stones , Terrarion all seem meh.

Paradise Mantle?

Some five-color decks I've seen utilize a lot of Green spells like Dawn's Reflection, Divergent Growth , Fertile Ground , $Food Chain$, Manamorphose, Metamorphosis , Multani's Harmony , Overlaid Terrain , $Prismatic Omen$, Trace of Abundance , Utopia Sprawl, and Utopia Vow . Might be a good idea to include a few, huh.

Such an intricate dance...

Balancing lands vs fetches vs rocks vs spells is tricky! I might have to do some guess-and-check once the deck is build in the meatspace.

The two cards you recommended are excelent for this deck and even my Goblin deck so consider them strongly considered. I was trying to keep all un-owned cards under a dollar for the 1.0 version but those are both cheap and brilliant so if they don't go into the initial build they will be in the very first wave of upgrades. I can't thank you enough for all of your assistance.


DaringApprentice, excellent suggestions. My newb-ass didn't even now about Captain's Claws . Drana's Chosen is dope too. I might leave her out for the initial build and see if I need the beef. Planar Guide is one I hadn't seen before, too. Cheaper than ghostaway , that's for true.

I initially had all the Lairs in the deck (you may notice they're all in the Maybe list) but I was worried about having too many slow lands. I'll probably buy a set anyway and experiment with them. Thanks for reminding me. Mana-fixing vs slow mana... a hard debate when working with a budget deck! Do y'all think it's worth it? Thanks for your suggestions!

Gidgetimer on not sure if I made …

7 years ago

Three sources of acceleration seems kinda low, especially with 37 lands and an average cmc of 4.98. My three most used decks break down to

Xenagos, God of Revels: 16 Accelerators, 35 Lands, 3.64 Avg. CMC

Animar, Soul of Elements: 11 Accelerators, 36 Lands, 5.40 Avg. CMC

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic: 11 Accelerators, 37 Lands, 3.50 Avg. CMC

Granted two of those decks are green, so they have access to better acceleration, but you should be able to get the numbers if not the quality in Rakdos. My animar deck is closest in intent to a Rakdos deck so you may want to try for the 11/36 numbers.

Along with the ones mentioned by Raging_Squiggle and the ones you have there are

Charcoal Diamond

Leaden Myr

Talisman of Indulgence

Bloodstone Cameo

Kolaghan Monument

Phyrexian Totem

Skull of Ramos

Fire Diamond

Iron Myr

Foriysian Totem

Heart of Ramos

Pyromancer's Goggles

Darksteel Ingot

Manalith

Alloy Myr

Fellwar Stone

Prismatic Lens

Star Compass

Coalition Relic

Commander's Sphere

Mana Prism

Opaline Unicorn

Scuttlemutt

Phyrexian Lens

Spectral Searchlight

Vessel of Endless Rest

Gilded Lotus

Meteorite

Lotus Guardian

These of course vary in power, but I try to compile lists of possibilities and let people see if they like any of them. I personally think any of them over 3 mana, with the possible exception of Gilded Lotus, are unplayable, but draw your own conclusions.

Gidgetimer on Why does this deck suck?! …

7 years ago

You have too few lands for not having any mana rocks. I think the solution is actually more rocks, not more lands. I personally like starting with 40 lands and dropping one for every two rocks as a base point. If you find this ends up giving you too much mana you can always drop cards later. Without further ado here is a list of mana rocks at or under and $5 that are legal in your deck.

Sol Ring

Boros Signet

Coldsteel Heart

Fellwar Stone

Fire Diamond

Fractured Powerstone

Gold Myr

Guardian Idol

Iron Myr

Manakin

Marble Diamond

Millikin

Mind Stone

Plague Myr

Prismatic Lens

Star Compass

Thought Vessel

Alloy Myr

Boros Cluestone

Boros Keyrune

Commander's Sphere

Darksteel Ingot

Foriysian Totem

Heart of Ramos

Honor-Worn Shaku

Kyren Toy

Magnifying Glass

Mana Prism

Manalith

Opaline Unicorn

Palladium Myr

Phyrexian Lens

Pristine Talisman

Scuttlemutt

Seer's Lantern

Sol Grail

Spectral Searchlight

Thunder Totem

Tooth of Ramos

Unstable Obelisk

Vessel of Endless Rest

Warden of the Wall

Worn Powerstone

As you can see I went with creating a comprehensive list instead of picking which ones are playable. In addition to these there are a few more cards that have to do with creating mana that are't strictly mana rocks you may want to think about. The first two are the mana producing altars Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar. They provide a sacrifice outlet and allow you to turn your opponent's creatures that you have stolen into mana for casting your own spells. Ventifact Bottle allows you to have a big turn by tapping down any unused lands and transferring that mana to your next turn. Basalt Monolith does something along the same lines. It can only "store" exactly 3 mana, but can be use once after casting without further investment; does not "lose" any mana, and keeps the mana stored over multiple turns. Admittedly the last two cards I mentioned aren't very good, but they are interesting.