Professor of Symbology
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl 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
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Professor of Symbology

Creature — Kor Cleric

When this enters the battlefield, learn. (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)

plakjekaas on If white isn't "allowed" to …

1 year ago

Stax, tax & boardwipes? Forcing your own weaknesses for others to enjoy is something white is great at. Not many great tutors? Aven Mindcensor, now neither do you. Bad at drawing cards? Spirit of the Labyrinth, now you are too. Overwhelming me with many spells I can't keep up with? Rule of Law. I don't have very efficient noncreature spells compared to other colors? Thalia, Guardian of Thraben now neither do you.

All these things are powerful, and giving white good carddraw so they can collect and stack these kinds of effects, will make white a lot more powerful, which is why it's a good thing that Rhystic Study isn't actually white, even though it feels like a white effect.

Yet, Mentor of the Meek, Dawn of Hope, Welcoming Vampire, Esper Sentinel, Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Bygone Bishop, Thorough Investigation, even when you exclude colorless supplements, white is building a catalog of consistent carddraw anyway, especially if you consider Teleportation Circle has an array of targets to blink for carddraw in mono W as well: Spirited Companion, Inspiring Overseer, Priest of Ancient Lore, Thraben Inspector, Professor of Symbology, Resistance Squad, Search Party Captain and Wall of Omens.

Also strategy-specific stuff like Mesa Enchantress, Sram, Senior Edificer, Puresteel Paladin, Losheel, Clockwork Scholar. I think it's weird to say white can't draw cards, I'd say you're not trying hard enough if you're still complaining about that today. At least for Commander. In 1v1 formats, carddraw just isn't as important to win the game if it has to happen before turn 5.

Coward_Token on Streets of New Capenna

2 years ago

Luxior: Hah, I was thinking how funny it was that the story made out Elspeth to be this great fighter who's handed fancy weapons, yet her actual Planewalker cards don't really reflect that. Anyway, e.g. Huatli, Radiant Champion is quite interesting here; make note of PWs that can make lots of loyalty for themselves and/or buff creatures. Also, it's not to be overlooked for actual creature cards either; the curve is quite perfect for Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

Black Market Tycoon: Would it have been overpowered without the downside? It's basically standard-legal Coalition Relic on legs. That aside, feels more appropriate for or even

Metropolitan Angel: Flavor here is confusing seeing as the angels being absent, even towards the end arguably, is a plot point.

Public Enemy: I don't get it, isn't this pretty useless for 1v1 formats? Anyway, funny with Kros, Defense Contractor (and probably intentionally so)

Queza, Augur of Agonies: Life loss doesn't work with Curiosity, sorry! Kind of wish it said "each" and "that much".

Obscura Ascendancy: Feels like quite a bit more work than the Maestro and Broker one without a lot more gain. Got any 0-cost spells?

Illuminator Virtuoso: Looting isn't extremly strong but I'm not a fan of this pattern of color bleed with reference to learn (e.g. Professor of Symbology).

reubo99 on Budget U/W Blink (Soulherder)

2 years ago

amicdeep thanks for you're comment, good insights

Flickerwisp and Reflector Mage are strong cards but Venser, Shaper Savant putting the permanent/spell back into their hand with instant speed is just harder for my opponent to deal with even though it does cost more mana. Will test them anyway though, you never know.

The flip lands could be a very nice combat trick but am trying to avoid enter tapped lands as the 3 and 4 drops are just so important to have on time.

Professor of Symbology would be a great card against slower decks to find everything when you need it but to have mainboard might just be a bit too slow but I will definitely test it mainboard.

Hallowed Respite I really like a flashback blink spell to accelerate ETB value but at sorcery and 2 mana and only non-legendary I'm not sure.

Lavinia of the Tenth I don't know how I missed this card it seems excellent in this deck and could replace the extra copies of Cleansing Nova as it deals with all nonland permanents, very nice find.

From testing I think just a Rogue's Passage giving unblockable works just as good in the situation you would want a manland and doesn't enter tapped or need snowlands.

amicdeep on Budget U/W Blink (Soulherder)

2 years ago

looking at this from a super budget pov there are a couple of cards i would seriouly consider

Flickerwisp has been printed into the ground and with soulherder on the field he gets rid of your opponents needed land, plainswalker or creature for the entirety of there turn. hes also a good card to flicker your own stuff and is a solid flying attacker. most importanly hes been printed into the ground the last few years and sits between 5-25 cents (if you run a couple flip lands like Umara Wizard  Flip or Skyclave Cleric  Flip and target them with the flicker effect it turns them back into creatures for some solid board advantage or as a combat trick with Ephemerate

Professor of Symbology with a wishboard of

1x Environmental Sciences, 1x Mascot Exhibition, 2x Reduce to Memory

can get you out of most situations reduce kills anything for good science means you can keep a 2 land hand with prof and not regret it and mascot is a solid wincon if the games gets grindy. also prof is a solid looter if you get all your wishboard cards and the whole paxkage is under $2 (i still use this in my $100 mono white flicker list, and the deck has top 3 a few time and this card is the decks stoneforge mystic and is defiantly the next best thing)

1-2 copys of Lavinia of the Tenth this is a hard lock with soulherder for many deck. and pro red and the deck having instant speed flicker spells card be very difficult for some decks to deal with.

Hallowed Respite may be worth running as a 2 off, its a flicker spell that pumps or taps down problematic blocker and can be done a secound time late in the game when you need the value the most.

if you can find it in the budget id try very hard to run 4 Reflector Mage its basically the reson to run blue (alongside soulherder) for none budget versions of this list, and ist much much cheaper that Skyclave Apparition

on the oust issue this may seem strange but it may be worth considering Baffling End for 2 resons, 1 it can be flickered by flicker wisp or similar to exile extra things. 2 they stay permanently exiled, i wont be ideal for every situation but may well work for some.

if your planning on upgrading to moder staple id recomed 2 copys of Winds of Abandon before path. 1 its a solid path effect. 2 in the mid-lat game its a one sided boardwipe and there for can take the slots for cleansing nova while being more useful (also its a boardwipe that exiles meaning if you have a soulherder on the field it can easily be a 5-5/6-6 after casting this)

the secound cards id upgrade is Skyclave Apparition its hands down the most powerful card im my $100 version of the deck and is often my best draw. this and a Ephemerate or soulherder and you basically have a board wipe

if you do end up running 4 path 2 winds, then it can be worth running Knight of the White Orchid which makes Glacial Floodplain or Irrigated Farmland worth running (they also work great with and trigger Port Town)

id also consdider adding a manland to your landbase. on a budget you have either Frostwalk Bastion, Faerie Conclave. if you have a little more then Cave of the Frost Dragon is probably worth the upgrade. and if you willing to spend a little more on a modern staple Celestial Colonnade is the cheapest its ever been in the history of the game $3.5/$4 ish and definatly worth 2-3 of.

hope one or two of these suggestions help a little

amicdeep on Bant Soulherder except I NOW have money

2 years ago

may be worth playing Professor of Symbology and a few lesson card in sb. its a pretty budget package and effective.

if your running flicker wisp then a couple Glasspool Mimic  Flip may also be worth running

Restoration Angel is currently around $1.

Watcher for Tomorrow and another solid wall of omens effect.

Yorion, Sky Nomad as a companion is probably also a good call.

some other good budget options.

regular Elite Guardmage, Epochrasite, Faerie Seer, Reflector Mage, Sagu Mauler, Akroma, Angel of Fury

curve toppers Angel of Sanctions, Cloudblazer, Dream Eater,

Lavinia of the Tenth makes a lock with soulherder

JANKYARD_DOG on

2 years ago

Gameplay Update: This build is ticking along quite nicely, even versus the mirror match. Angel of Destiny is a riot though most quit on the first strike trigger for some reason, denying me the janky wincon lol. Lolth, Spider Queen also performs well, so I think I will keep both as a one if for now. Agadeem's Awakening  Flip/Emeria's Call  Flip sadly have only been used as lands as of yet.

Still kinda sad there's no Kor Celebrant here just for the RV/KC synergy but we make do I suppose. Especially considering Cleric of Life's Bond only triggers once per turn. Sorry KC, only so many seats on the train...

I'd love to see some similar builds if any of you follow the WB life gain path so if you care to share, feel free. Also let me know if you decide to try this out and how it goes. Until next time...

amerika00 on Night of the Fleshtaker

2 years ago

Like the direction, the deck is headed. Would personally replace Onyx with Lolth, since you only have a few instants and sorceries to make the most of her passive, but she does make sense as a top-end card. I think Fateful Absence is good but given your midrange strategy, you really don't want your opponents drawing more answers to your threats on the board, I would consider dropping at least 2 for Vanishing Verse or Infernal Grasp (you already have some natural lifegain in the deck). Crippling fear seems like an odd choice as well, since this isn't a tribal deck as far as I can tell plus you already have a 3-of of Meathook Massacre which can come down as a sweeper as well if need be. As for card-draw effects, you can almost never have enough. I believe the deck would benefit from at least a few more cards that can keep your hands full. Alternatively, invest even more in the learn mechanic with cards like Pest Summoning or Professor of Symbology. However, I will say, a turn 2 Vengeful Stangler into the Fleshtaker, sacrificing after attacking for two against a creature deck is going to feel great.

amerika00 on Recycle, Copy, Paste

2 years ago

Thank you for the insightful comment. Really, this deck is made for casual purposes, hence the lack of a win-con (although I like to think that making a lot of copies of creatures and drawing a bunch of cards is a win as is). Professor of Symbology is in here to help get rid of extra copies of Mavinda, Students' Advocate and Orvar, the All-Form , I found that running four copies of each usually results in a few unwanted copies sitting in your hand at one point or another during the game. As for the Lessons, I simply forgot to add them to the deck, might add them if the deck gains any traction. Selfless Savior is nice since it allows me to use mana later in the game on spells to draw cards rather than holding up mana. Really, at the end of the day, I'm aware that this deck will by no means reach the top of standard. I simply wanted to build a deck around Mavinda and Orvar, since I think there's definitely something to be said for using the two together. In the past I've tried building Orvar decks with higher average CMC's, but it always ended with Orvar getting killed on sight, which is why I wanted to lower the curve with cheaper creatures and spells. If I end up playing this deck on arena, make a bunch of 2/2s and draw most of my library only to get hit with a Doomskar, I'll probably mark that game as a win.

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