Portcullis

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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
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Portcullis

Artifact

Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, if there are two or more other creatures in play, remove that creature from the game.

When Portcullis leaves the battlefield, return to play under their owners' control all creatures removed from the game with Portcullis.

hootsnag on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

1 year ago

Of course. I don't mind explaining my thought process. I've had friends play goblin decks, merfolk, token decks, etc. Against decks that just jam out lots of creatures, Portcullis just shuts those down pretty hard. There really isn't a situation where Portcullis isn't useful except against decks that only have one or two creatures at a time on the battlefield. Chances are that someone in your play group will have lots of creatures in their deck and Portcullis is very cheap and effective.

Profet93 on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

1 year ago

Thank you for taking the time to write your detailed response. More specifically, can you tell me how Portcullis has been instrumental in your build? Can you tell me of a time or 2 it really helped you? Another time it backfired (such as ETB effects).

I really want to add it to my build

hootsnag on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

1 year ago

Glad you enjoy seeing the decks I make. I will answer your questions and give some insight into my decision making. First, I considered Expedition Map a long time ago and decided to go with more normal tutor cards such as Demonic Tutor etc. The map only grabs a land so it is limited in use. Mindslaver is one of those cards that can definitely cause all kinds of chaos but I chose to go for a faster win condition and less of cards like this. It takes too long to set up and get going. Lethal Vapors isn't a card I would run honestly. I would prefer a card like Spreading Plague or The Abyss instead. I chose exile as my main removal in this deck. Doing so counters graveyard strategies somewhat and indestructible. As for Static Orb and Winter Orb, these also interfere with my own win conditions. I'm trying to cast Approach of the Second Sun as fast as possible. This deck is very much control based and not really built to be a stax deck. Lastly, I've been asked before about why I don't run Yawgmoth's Will. I just don't think this particular deck is built to get value from it. It's an amazing card but I just didn't build this deck to support using such a card. Honestly, it would be more of a filler card for me.

Now, for the next set of questions. You are correct when you say that someone can still play one creature with Ward of Bones in play. The idea is to stop people from flooding the board with more than one. It is just a card to stall my opponents until I can draw or tutor my win conditions. This is the same reason why I use Portcullis. It keeps more than two creatures from being on the battlefield. Any creatures played on the battlefield beyond two get exiled until Portcullis leaves the battlefield. Again, I'm just slowing down and stalling my opponents so I can tutor or draw my win conditions. I feel that any creatureless deck should always run Portcullis. The value is just too insane. Energy Field is a card that I use to stall as well. It may last a couple of turns and that may be just enough to survive and tutor/cast my win condition. Null Brooch is such a fantastic card. A colorless artifact ability that just counters a non-creature spell is insane. It also combos crazy good with Ensnaring Bridge so that no creatures can attack because you have zero cards in hand. Witchbane Orb is just nice to have. It prevents a lot of bad things targeting you. It comes in handy more than you realize. You can't die to Grapeshot or other things with it in play. Norn's Annex forces people into a bad decision. They either pay white mana, lose life, or they can't attack you at all. Also, because of the Phyrexian Mana cost, you can play this fast to get value out of it quicker. Remember, if you make someone lose at least 8-10 life just to attack you, they are more vulnerable to other players killing them. The only other card I would put in place of this is No Mercy. Lastly, Mox Tantalite and Lotus Bloom are great for this deck. If I play them early enough, they allow me to cast Approach of the Second Sun very fast. Also, both suspend cards synergize with Tolaria West. Since the cards have a mana value of zero, you can use transmute from Tolaria West to search for them. I hope that shows you some of my reasoning and decision making. If you need to know anything further, feel free to ask.

hootsnag on Hurkyl, Tempo Master Wizard

1 year ago

Portent, Crawlspace, Web of Inertia, Dream Tides, War Tax, Glacial Chasm, Monastery Siege, Cryptic Command, Extract, Portcullis, Dissipation Field, Overburden, Archmage Ascension, Frozen Aether, Reins of Power, Rapid Hybridization, Siren's Call, Cyclonic Rift, Mission Briefing, Reality Shift, and Resculpt are just a few you could potentially use. You can very easily go creatureless if you want to. You just have to lean on different win conditions and use cards like Ward of Bones /etc.

carpecanum on Lagrella, the Magpie

1 year ago

Lagrella has a nice synergy with Portcullis. Exile all opponents creatures and if Lagrella goes away the creatures don't come back unless Portcullis is also destroyed. Mainly I think you need a few ways to remove Shroud/Hexproof from creatures.

Spark Double, Helm of the Host and other copy cards that ignore Legendary might work for you.

Simerix on ContrOloro

2 years ago

The deck is more of a life gain deck than it is a control deck. You have a lot of removal, but that's all that makes it controlling.

Highest recommended card: Vile Consumption. This card is brutal in this deck if you don't have too many creatures.

Hallowed Burial is a highly underrated board wipe.

Card suggestions: Sphere of Safety, Approach of the Second Sun, Aura of Silence, Austere Command, Cleansing Nova, Damn, Darksteel Mutation, Doomskar, Epicure of Blood, Erebos's Intervention, Ghostly Prison, Infernal Grasp, Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, Narset, Parter of Veils, Propaganda, Rest in Peace, Righteous Cause, Rule of Law, Telepathy, Time Wipe, Trespasser's Curse, Utter End, Venser's Journal, Witch of the Moors

Mean/weird cards that I would probably play: AEther Barrier, Archmage Ascension, Death Match, Lightmine Field, Meishin, the Mind Cage, Overburden, Porphyry Nodes, Spreading Plague, Tainted AEther, Portcullis, Magus of the Moat, Magus of the Tabernacle, Silent Arbiter, Serene Master

*Obviously play what you want

DuTogira on Where do you personally draw …

2 years ago

For me it’s the mentality.

Not from just a play perspective even, but also a deck building perspective.

Within my Sharuum the Hegemon deck, I run what I call the “path of exile” combo of Cataclysmic Gearhulk + Portcullis. The combo works such that, if I drop Cataclysmic Gearhulk after the Portcullis is active, I not only wipe most of the board, but I also can stick gearhulk into the Portcullis so that it clears anything that gets locked behind the portcullis. When Portcullis is removed and gearhulk comes back, I can cast Sharuum the Hegemon bringing back Portcullis and lock up the board with my 2 creatures. It’s a 5 turn clock per player from there.
That clock doesn’t change for commander damage vs normal combat.
Basically: even if I build the entire rest of my sharuum deck to win on turn 4, I can actively choose to tutor for this durdle-fest of a combo against decks that I can tell are much weaker, and still create an interesting board state that demands some interaction from my opponents. Even the most casual of decks run something like a Bane of Progress or Austere Command, so they can interact. There’s some allowance that of course must be made (like not Force of Willing your opponents’ removal if their decks are significantly weaker), but you can approach just about any table with a gameplay line that allows for some level of fun and friendly competition.

If you build a deck to only win in the most competitive way possible, it’ll do that. If you play to win every game, you’ll do it. But if you intentionally build a way to play at a variable level into your deck, and actively choose to play according to your table’s level… well that’s where the magic happens

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