Pulse of the Dross

Sorcery

Target player reveals three cards from his or her hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card. Then if that player has more cards in hand than you, return Pulse of the Dross to its owner's hand.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (3)

SufferFromEDHD on Tinybones, The Pickpocket

1 month ago

Wrench Mind one more Hymn.

Strongarm Tactics niche. Kind of a "damned if you do, damn if you don't" kind of card.

Noxious Vapors potential.

Pulse of the Dross the deck looks like it leans Hellbent. This is a great discard outlet with built in Buyback.

zerowner on

5 years ago

I wrote a ton and then realized I should probably ask what decks your playgroup plays, because idk if I should be recommending graveyard hate when your opponents might not utilize their graves. Another example would be a green deck ramping really fast, in which case I would maybe recommend something like Magus of the Balance or land destruction like Armageddon to screw over the ramp that they've focused on early in the game.

Maybe I'm not getting something here, but what is Transcendence doing here? How does it pull its weight in any way? If its just to stall when you get to critically low health, why not Resolute Archangel instead?

Etherwrought Page looks incredibly slow, especially for 4 mana. The life gain is super small, the damage is even smaller, and if you're using it for the filter ability, go with Search for Azcanta  ^Flip instead.

Necromancer's Covenant is decent lifegain + it hates a graveyard for you.

No Solemn Simulacrum? This deck probably needs all the ramp it can get.

Identity Crisis >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Reap Intellect.

Darksteel Forge seems weird here, even if it does keep your commander alive (and I guess your mana rocks too, but I wouldn't deem those as needing protection at the point when you've got 9 mana that you can drop on the forge). I think I'd go with a protection equipment, like Darksteel Plate, and if not that then Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots.

No Austere Command? Its like Merciless Eviction but probably better.

I think I'd go Words of Waste over Words of Wind. Wind is just going to let them return a good ETB permanent to their hand, or a land if the game has gone late enough. Can't imagine it'll ever force something like a threatening creature or Planeswalker back to the hand. Not sure if I'd actually even recommend Words of Waste with your draw capabilities in this deck, but I'd definitely say get rid of Words of Wind.

Aura of Silence is solid all around. Its a nightmare for enchant/artifact decks, and otherwise its 3 mana sorcery speed to destroy an artifact/enchantment already on the field that can be cast preemptively.

Binding Grasp seems weird. Not sure what is good about it over something like Bribery or Acquire, and perhaps even Sower of Temptation in some ways (depends on how much removal that opponent runs, I suppose).

Praetor's Grasp seems really slow, and if you're looking to just rob them of a card, Sadistic Sacrament is nuts for that (especially for removing combos!). Life's Finale also doubles as a board wipe if that was your goal. If you really wanted to play the card yourself instead, then just go with Bribery, or put that good card that they have in your deck too, because paying 3 more mana for nearly any card seems S L O W.

Speaking of board wipes, your deck is pretty low on them. You've got single target removal like Darksteel Mutation but if you're up against 3 people, how much is that gonna help? I think I'd rather pay the 2 more mana for Wrath of God and all of its cousins.

Pulse of the Dross, how often does that come in handy? They're gonna reveal the 3 least important cards in their hand, and with such a slow deck I imagine you'll almost always have more cards in hand than most players.

Spellseeker is just good imo, I'd recommend it to nearly anyone running blue.

Depending on the decks you play against, Containment Priest can be an even better counterspell (against reanimation) that not only disrupts your opponents but also offers you a chump blocker.

You also don't seem to have a win-con, as I see the previous commenter mentioned, but perhaps your win-con could just be considered disrupting your opponents so much with your deck + your commander's ability that you drain them of all of their value, in which case you definitely need more protection for your commander than the Darksteel Forge and counterspells you're running.

ColdBrewer on Boggart Avalanche

7 years ago

Here are some black cards that remove cards from your opponents hand that are not too shabby: Addle , Coercion , Mind Twist , Gruesome Discovery , Mind Slash , Persecute , Pulse of the Dross , and everyone's favorite Hymn to Tourach. If you were thinking about throwing any 'evil-black' discard stuff in there.