Phyrexian Portal

Artifact

(3): Target opponent looks at the top ten cards of your library and separates them into two face-down piles. Remove one of those piles from the game. Search the other pile for a card and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. Play this ability only if your library has ten or more cards in it.

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

Discussion (13)

Idoneity on Dungeons & Dragonborn Paladins - Nadaar Dungeons

2 years ago

Well met, fair traveler. Meseems you have taken a daring endeavor into mono-White, hereupon I may offer some dorky card suggestions for you to consider. Shall we?

I had taken a delve into playing mono-White recently. It is far different than anything I have designed in the past, but it is something that can be toppled. You have done a fair job of this yourself, given the constraints.

A card condign of this strategy is Crackdown. It hits nothing of your own whilst being a grave hindrance to your foe. Now, your board may swing freely and dungeon crawl.

Though not flashy, Endless Atlas serves a great purpose of drawing cards, which is by far the great plight of White. Mangara, Esper Sentinel, and The Immortal Sun all bestow the same to varying degrees.

Whiles not being the most efficient, a favourite of mine has become Phyrexian Portal. This is a ball to resolve. It is like a Fact or Fiction, but around six-to-eight times worse: when one is in White, one does not care.

What if I told you there was an older and stranger version of Eerie Interlude? Thence is the lede for Ghostway. This is the way those past their day come to sway and utterly say that they shan't stay. Okay?

Do you know what is really fun to blink? Glorious Protector, for once it is exiled, it brings back everything else. This is a way to turn a Teleportation Circle into a repeatable Eerie Interlude. Though debatably worse, Lumbering Battlement gives the same.

The last recreant I may proffer is Palace Jailer. Be the sovereign and slaughter all inimical! Then you suffer one hit point and set down your crown, as is just law.

Thus is all I have for you. May fate be kind to your scale-coated leader, and may you read to the end of my comment.

If you are keen, I have two lists of my own that may be of aid to your deck-building adventures, being Orzhov Blink and Mono-White Legends. Thank you ahead of time and toodles!

Idoneity on Cascade into Cascade into Cascade...

2 years ago

I am far too ecstatic about any soul who organizes the printings of their basics. That is fine dedication.

For recommendations, Evacuation is great, Nature's Lore is a staple, Simic Growth Chamber is better than some lands you have, Kodama's Reach is a further staple, Uro is broken, Phyrexian Portal is my favourite mana sink, and Dragonlord's Prerogative seems strong.

For what I would remove, counterspells do not interact well with cascade triggers. Exiling one off of the top leaves you with no valid targets except for your own.

Idoneity on The Pragmatist's Pet

2 years ago

As more cards are added to the game of Magic, each bearing the modern design philosophy that urge them to be relevant in near to all formats, there comes the time for a player to edit their decks.

I shall confess that I primarily dwell in the realm of Commander, but this is an argument that can be made for all methods of casting spellls. (Mostly Commander)

Within each set is a card that is fated to find a home in a specific archetype, yet this entails that another piece of the machine is removed. I have a mono-black discard deck built around Chainer , but they have since printed Tinybones , Tergrid  ^Flip, and Tourach . Each of these are more potent in the command zone, but Chainer is closer to my twisted heart and nocent at shackling my foes.

I have a Naya-lands list around Hazezon Tamar , but they have put forth into the world, Zacama and Obuun , but Hazezon offers nostalgia and tokens.

This especially pertains to the list below the commander, such as Murderous Rider over Hero's Downfall , Fierce Guardianship over Counterspell , Usher of the Fallen over Savannah Lions , and the list goes on for eternity. I enjoy adding asinine old artifacts to lists (see: Temporal Aperture and Phyrexian Portal ), yet felt as if I had no choice but to cut Moonring Mirror for Sevylun .

My query of this thread is when do players feel obliged to cut cards from lists despite any strong emotions towards maintaining their inclusion? When can the poignant piece of cardboard at last meet anguish? When does power eclipse pet?

Note: This is not a question of whether it is correct or not to snuff the asinine spell. Optimization is a separate topic than what is meant to be discussed here.

Idoneity on Kick You Whilst I Dance

2 years ago

Profet93 - As for the rulings of Diaochan , I have checked the rules and asked around. Despite the opponent making the choice, the game still identifies me as the controller of the ability. As such, Hexproof is somehow worse than Shroud.

As for Phyrexian Portal , this is steadily becoming a favourite of mine. This deck can generate a lot of mana really quickly, but does not always have a place to put it. This artifact, breezing all of its rules text, essentially has a three-mana activated ability that draws a card. When I have nothing else to do, what better than to draw cards?

I have wayward deck decisions, but I can draw a lot of cards.

Idoneity on Fiery Fennec Fox

3 years ago

An activated ability I much enjoy abusing is Phyrexian Portal . It essentially draws a card.

Circle of Loyalty in particular seems rather slow and inutile for a non-Knight strategy.

Slenn on Glory to Old Phyrexia

3 years ago

ShaDoWz_6677 thanks for your suggestions, however the concept I came up with is a little bit different. You could see the deck as Yawgmoth commanding an army of phyrexians, using his own personal devices and creations and everything the phyrexians are known for.

Powerstones were a creation from Glacian, not Yawgmoth and The Weakstone and Mightstone were used to keep Phyrexia away from entering Dominaria and more connected to Urza and Mishra's War and later Urza to keep him alive while being stuck inside his eyes, in the rest of the story. Glistening Oil may fit the theme a bit more, since it's what the phyrexians used to spread their corruption and to compleat other creatures into their own.

Phyrexian Portal looks cool flavorwise and would fit the theme but which card should I remove from my deck now?

ShaDoWz_6677 on Glory to Old Phyrexia

3 years ago

You will also want the Weakstone and Mightstone since they were used as Urza's eyes. And a Worn Powerstone to represent the lore part of Gate to Phyrexia since a powerstone with the same charge as one in Phyrexia was used to keep the Gate open.

Phyrexian Portal is another card I'd look into.

Skinken on Artifact R/W CMDR

3 years ago

You just gotta read through a few forum threads. Or go the hardcore route and just scour Gatherer to find the gems

Arcane Encyclopedia is sorta the bar that I evaluate draw engines against. It's not a bad card, but that's basically the bar. Anything that's worse should not be played but anything that's as good or better is probably ok. I played a lot of mono white, so the context is largely the same. When draw engines get cheaper than Arcane Encyclopedia they also get more restrictive, so just pick a few of the ones that fit your deck.

Jar of Eyeballs, Mazemind Tome, Phyrexian Portal, Endless Atlas, Treasure Map  ^Flip, Azor's Gateway  ^Flip, Journeyer's Kite, Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip, Temple Bell, Liar's Pendulum, Bonder's Ornament, Eye of Yawgmoth, Icon of Ancestry, Phyrexian Grimoire and prolly a bunch more I missed.

Remember that when you play red you have access to cards like Faithless Looting, so just getting lands is fine.

There are also a few good 4 mana draw engines. Coercive Portal, Outpost Siege, Karn, Scion of Urza, Endless Horizons come to mind.

Alternatively, theres always the option of just doubling down on Skullclamp and play equipment tutors to always have it, but if it were me I would try to utilize your cool commander ;)

Lastly, I noticed you run a lot of tapped lands. Since you are playing a heavy artifact deck, mana fixing actually becomes a lot less of an issue, so I would actually advise you to just run more basics. This deck should run totally fine with three plains or three mountains in your starting hand. But you lose a lot of tempo from playing Stone Quarry and friends.

Hope this helps, and good luck with the deck!