Portcullis Vine

Creature — Plant Wall

Defender (This creature can't attack.)

{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature with defender: Draw a card.

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
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (25)

TriusMalarky on

2 years ago

If you want to focus on the high toughness aspect more, I'd recommend moving to a Walls list.

Walls wants to use the things like Huatli, Assault Formation and such to hit hard, but it also employs a High Alert + Axebane Guardian combo. With four creatures with defender in play, you make infinite mana. This shouldn't be your main plan, of course, but it is a very fun include that means that if the game goes long, and with a walls deck, it probably will, you have a big advantage.

You also get Arcades, the Strategist , who lets you draw a TON of cards and is just the best payoff for big butts period.

Walls you'll want to consider include Dragon's Eye Sentry , Excavated Wall , Jaddi Offshoot , Secret Door , Wall of Runes , The Birth of Meletis , Saruli Caretaker , and Portcullis Vine .

You also get to run the amazing Tower Defense . If you cast tower defense with a good board and High Alert/Arcades out, you sort of just win on the spot.

cheffireball on Balls to the Walls

2 years ago

Portcullis Vine is ok if your flooding, Saruli Caretaker and Tinder Wall can ramp, Tuktuk Rubblefort gives your walls haste to tap for mana faster, Winding Way and Lead the Stampede are great draw effects in green if your mostly creatures and last but not least Freed from the Real gives you infinite mana if you control a creature that taps for more than 1 blue (Axebane Guardian comes to mind).

I would cut Wall of Tanglecord and some of the burn spells. Walls that just block are really bad vs decks with board clears or non-combat wincons. And more than 1-2 burn spells are unnecessary for your deck to win. If you do add Winding Way or a similar card, consider Valakut Invoker or just big beaters like Boarding Party .

There is a popular pauper deck called "walls combo" that this deck is very similar to. Walls combo can go off turn 3-4 very consistently while also having a lot of defenders. Check it out: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/pauper-walls-combo#paper

TheVectornaut on When The Wall Is Up Against You

3 years ago

I have a lot of experience with mono-green Assault Formation in modern and legacy casual, so I'll toss in some of my thoughts.

Perfect curves certainly aren't necessary, but you should be able to accomplish something on each of the early turns of the game. More than just playing any old card, it should be something that fits in with your overarching gameplan. I agree with cutting Adventurous Impulse as a 1-drop for this reason. It can't get you Formation, Bow, or any other noncreature combo piece you happen to be running. I'd usually run a Llanowar Elves style dork instead in a ramp list. Still, in walls, I think there are even better options than that. My personal favorite is Traproot Kami since it adds an early defender to the pool and can become a serious threat with Formation if the game goes long. Plus, it works well with the lands-matter strategy that Oran-Rief Hydra is also part of. Other options I've had less success with are Jaddi Offshoot for life, Portcullis Vine for cards, and Saruli Caretaker for slow mana. On 2, Sylvan Caryatid, Gatecreeper Vine, and Wall of Roots are all ramp options, but you're probably fine with just Battlement and Vine Trellis. Wall of Blossoms, however, I view as a must-have if you want to maximize your mana without running out of gas. The ability to up the defender count while replacing itself is so good that I even run a playset of the slower Carven Caryatid too, but this could be excessive depending on the deck. The last defender I'll mention is Tree of Redemption. It's more expensive, both in CMC and in dollars, but it is an undeniable threat with Formation. Higher toughness also makes better use of tricks like Sheltering Word and Feed the Pack.

For the top end of the curve, you might actually be underestimating how much mana the ramp walls can net. With your current setup, you only need 2 of either Guardian or Battlement and 1 other wall to have 9-11 mana on T4. Removal is obviously the biggest obstacle to this being a reality but it seems like you're preparing for a counterspell-heavy meta in a big way. Either you use your protection on the walls and win with Formation when they stop your bombs, or they wait to remove the bombs and you have protection saved up to stop them. Honestly, it feels like you might have too much defense in the mainboard but I'll touch on that later. My point here is that you are likely to have more than enough mana to cast threats much more substantial than the Hydra, and that's without modifications to your suite of defenders. In the current version of my deck, it isn't strange to have a game like: T1-Forest+Traproot Kami, T2-Forest+Overgrown Battlement, T3-Forest+Wall of Blossoms+Axebane Guardian, T4-Forest+Genesis Wave for x=9. Oran-Rief Hydra is a totally fine card to top off at if you build around it, but right now I don't even see it being better than Terra Stomper in a lot of games (and Stomper even has built-in counter protection now that I think about it XD). To get more value out of the Hydra, I'd swap the cycling lands for cheap fetches like Evolving Wilds to double up on landfall triggers, and I might also consider some +1/+1 synergy cards in the vein of Hardened Scales or Hydra's Growth. On the subject of landfall, Vinelasher Kudzu is an interesting option that fits with the plant/wall cards, at least thematically. Mechanically, Undergrowth Champion, Rampaging Baloths, and Avenger of Zendikar are all probably better. I've already mentioned Genesis Wave, but some other options for finishers that I've seen are Archetype of Endurance, Hydra Broodmaster, Primordial Hydra, Vigor, End-Raze Forerunners, Colossus of Akros, pretty much any eldrazi, and any red x-spell that can target players. If you choose something with x in the cost, having Umbral Mantle or Freed from the Real to generate infinite mana is beneficial.

The last thing I'd like to talk about are your noncreatures. As I mentioned before, 4 countermagic blockers seems a little excessive in the main 60. I personally struggle much more with Path to Exiles, Fatal Pushes, and Searing Bloods than Counterspells on most days, so I'd usually prefer the Vines of Vastwood or the flexible Veil of Summer. However, I don't know what your meta looks like. If countermagic is a big problem, another way to get around it is to add in plenty of redundancy. Instead of running only 4 bombs, run 8 so 1 is more likely to slip through. Savage Summoning and Insist are fine answers, yet they run the serious risk of becoming dead cards if your opponent isn't playing blue. Of your instants though, Subdue seems to be the weakest to me. It looks like it will usually be a bad Awe Strike or an inverted Berserk that can't contribute to damaging the opponent. If you had cards to benefit from toughness outside of combat like Kin-Tree Invocation, it could at least serve a similar role to Glyph of Destruction in Wall of Blood/Rite of Consumption decks. The final card I might reexamine is Bow of Nylea. generally, mass deathtouch is at its best when you either have a way to force damage (like Lure or Thornbite Staff) or when you want to create a disincentive for your opponent to block (like when running a Curiosity deck. The thing about a high power is that it already allows you to kill multiple blockers and the thing about trample is that it already discourages single blocking. Deathtouch on such a creature is therefore a little redundant. Sure, it's better to have it than not have it, but it might not be worthwhile if it comes at the cost of 3 mana and a card. I'd want some concrete way to take advantage of the Bow's activated ability to justify running it. For example, my G/W enchantment lifegain deck from Theros standard used the gain 3 life ability to buff Ajani's Pridemate. In your case, the +1/+1 might be the best choice to build around since it can overlap with the Hydra's trigger.

Strattuscloud on Hydratic Rampage

3 years ago

Thanks so much for the feedback! I really like the idea of playing Portcullis Vine because getting a turn 1 defender would be nice. The 8 tappable defenders is a good amount from testing so I think I might replace Gatecreeper Vine with Portcullis Vine and see how that goes.

From testing it out my friend group is pretty evenly matched, which keeps it fun! (though I am an early game target)

I did run the 2 Gargos, Vicious Watcher and it was a really strong addition. I am considering 1 or 2 more.

I swapped out 1 Prey Upon for a Tower Defense to hold up against a MAJOR flying weakeness. Would you recommend another card over that? I may sideboard a Whiptongue Hydra or two. I also really like the idea of Squall Line since it gives even more reason to play Unbound Flourishing. (So expensive!!)

The real difficulty moving on is determining which hydras to focus on. I think Mistcutter Hydra might replace Vastwood Hydra and that Hooded Hydra would be replaced by Voracious Hydra.

Lastly, Feed the Clan is very tempting. Maybe run 1?

I'd love more suggestions based on these ideas/edits!

lagotripha on Hydratic Rampage

3 years ago

As far as first decks go, this is really solid. Defenders and hydras have a lot of synergy and mono colour keeps the mana simple.

There are a few options to play with- remembering that power gaming with a casual playgroup is usually a mistake. Aim to be fun for everyone.

Turn 1 plays are really important in modern: Portcullis Vine Cathedral Membrane or Jaddi Offshoot are all cute here.

There are a few infinite combos with mana+untap in defender, but it's usually not too fun.

In general terms, when you onlu have one deck try for card variety with a consistent core -12 to 16 4 ofs that do one thing and make the deck reliable (defender ramp) and some varied payoffs to keep it interesting. I like Mistcutter Hydra for haste, Squall Line to tie games and Uncage the Menagerie to fetch those low cmc hydras or backup ramp.

BigKnockOut on Arcades' Walls with Feet

3 years ago

Well, nospamspam722 in terms of removals, I'd honestly recommend removing a few of the smaller creatures you've got, such as Arboreal Grazer (who actually isn't a defender and wouldn't benefit from Arcades), Wall of Wood, Wall of Vines, Consulate Skygate, Pride Guardian, and Portcullis Vine. I'd also recommend cutting down the number of lands from 40 to at most 38. This deck can tend to get mana flooded more often than mana screwed, so having a lower number of lands will be fine.

Magnanimous on B/W/G Control

4 years ago

General Notes:

I think you have too many ramp/big mana cards with nothing particularly strong to build towards. I'd build this deck with the goal of Early/Mid: Disrupt, lock down the board, gain board presence, Late: Attack with huge walls and win. So, think about replacing worse ramping walls with better walls or control cards. I think you have a good creature/spell mix, but you may want to make it slightly cheaper.

Also, blue has some great defenders so you could switch up your colors if you're unsatisfied with BW.

Card Replacements:

Duress -> Thoughtseize/Despise (may be better/worse depending on meta) | Damnable Pact -> Painful Truths/Read the Bones | Torment of Hailfire -> Anguished Unmaking | Dusk -> Languish/Settle the Wreckage/Drown in Sorrow | Deathrite Shaman -> Jaddi Offshoot (DS isn't nearly as good without fetches and cheap spells)

Maybeboard Additions: Glade Watcher, Hornet Nest, Novice Knight, Portcullis Vine, The Birth of Meletis

golgarigirl on Arcades Wall/Flicker

4 years ago

Other defenders to consider: Crashing Drawbridge , Wall of Junk , Geist of the Archives , Resolute Watchdog , Portcullis Vine , Suspicious Bookcase , Wakestone Gargoyle , Grappling Sundew

Ways to Win: Tower Defense , Tree of Redemption , Bar the Door , Solidarity , Slagwurm Armor , Meishin, the Mind Cage , Primal Rage , Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa

Flicker: Ghostway , Panharmonicon

Removal: Generous Gift , Arcane Denial

Other things: Search for Tomorrow , Treefolk Umbra , Brave the Sands , Guardian Project , Darksteel Plate

Notes: This deck has an absurdly low curve, and wants it's ramp in it's 1 slot, if it has much at all. Most good options are going to be a bit expensive if they're any good. Card draw shouldn't be a problem...pay attention to what problems you run into while playing. Are you stalling for a way to push through? Do you need creature removal that isn't board clear? ETC.