Savai Crystal
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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
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Savai Crystal

Artifact

: Add , or .

Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

monkeyofficeboy on Alesha, No Idea

2 years ago

First Pass Update:

Having acquired some cards specifically for this deck, I have made a few changes, which are as follows:

Removed

Cloudchaser Kestrel Already have a creature I can recur for enchantment removal, which is also one mana cheaper. Yes, I lose a flyer, but removal is more useful than a tiny chump blocker.

Nekrataal Useful, but has too many restrictions on what it can destroy. I think I have better options.

Rakdos Signet Doesn't do enough, and is too slow for an aggro deck.

Zulaport Cutthroat A card that I love but doesn't do enough in this deck to warrant an place.

Swords to Plowshares No other reason other than I need the copy elsewhere! Goes into the maybe board in case this deck sees heavy play.

New Cards

Nahiri, the Harbinger Both the plus and minus ability help out in this deck. The plus ability allows more creatures into the graveyard for Alesha, Who Smiles at Death to target, and the minus ability helps with removal.

Savai Crystal An upgrade on Rakdos Signet as it provides all three colours of mana, and doesn't slow the deck down. Yes it's one more to cast, but doesnt require mana to activate and has the added gravy of being a Cycling card too, if I need to draw a card.

Judith, the Scourge Diva Small bump to creatures which is handy, and the ability to deal targetted ping damage to a target. A really useful target to get some Deathtouch on I think.

Thrilling Discovery Card draw, dumps cards to the graveyard and some incidental lifegain. Not a bad trick I am hoping.

Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner Makes creatures unblockable, very useful for several creatures in this deck. Also allows for my hand to be cycled if I can get a creature through.

RambIe on Licia Bank of life

3 years ago

sorry for spam
i forgot to mention ramp should cost less then average cmc to be functional
with a deck average of 3 you want to consistently have 3 upright and available on 3
so Rakdos Signet , Orzhov Signet , & Boros Signet
would out perform Commander's Sphere , Mardu Banner , Savai Crystal
4 signets + 3 Talismans puts you at 7 , you would need 8 more sources to consistently have one in opening hand

slashdotdash on

3 years ago

Hey there Kronhamilton,

First of all, I like the improvements you’ve made to your deck. It’s already looking a lot slicker and I can see you’ve made some very fun looking changes to how the deck plays.

You’ve got a nice array of threats (I always love to see the Bringers and Ur-Dragon) and a decent amount of ramp which are both a big plus. Additionally, you’ve got the beginnings of some nasty graveyard synergy shaping up, which looks really, really cool as a sort of plan B.

That being said, I’d like to make a few suggestions to help guide you toward a more consistent and powerful Golos deck. Please remember that these suggestions are just my informed opinion, and that I totally respect whatever deck choices you decide to make. I really just want to help you get comfortable with deck building and learning what to look for in a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ card.

Broad Suggestions

I would encourage you to add 2 Lands, 3 Removal cards, and 8 Draw cards. I’d also think about adding 2 more Ramp cards, but that is less critical to the overall health of the deck. Your Threats look great and I think your Sweepers are also appropriate. Anything that synergizes with your graveyard backup plan is great.

There are a couple of things to think about as you play this deck; 1. “Am I happy or sad to be holding this card in my hand or drawing it off the top of my deck?” – If a card seems to constantly be ‘the wrong card’ for the situation, or you can never seem to cast it, or you always play other cards instead, or you tend to die while holding a certain card, then you probably want to think about how well that card fits in your deck and whether or not you should cut it or modify the deck to support it. 2. “What ongoing advantage does this card give me?” – Some cards seem like a decent card based on having decent power/toughness, a fair cost, and some neat keywords or abilities. Just having those upsides alone though doesn’t make a card truly powerful. Instead, try to think about what ways a card can synergize with your deck to create crazy effects or otherwise how it will become more dangerous as the game progresses (like a Quartzwood Crasher, Scute Swarm, or Giant Adephage). Additionally, try to find cards that do multiple things such as Chasm Skulker which gets bigger when you draw cards and also explodes into tokens when it dies, or even Ravenous Chupacabra which deals with a threat and also acts as a blocker when you are facing pressure. The key is finding a way to levarage the most amount of value in each individual card – even a 2 mana ramp spell will set you up to play all of your future spells 1 turn earlier than normal for the rest of the game, which can be an insane advantage when you think about it. 3. “Am I out of options?” – If you can’t seem to find a solution to a problem or you’re ‘running out of steam’, then it is likely that you need more card draw and more ways to create ‘engines’ that accrue value. An example of an engine would be Fertilid + Evolution Sage or Rampaging Baloths + Elemental Bond or Kruphix, God of Horizons + Victory Chimes or Atraxa, Praetors' Voice + Ajani, the Greathearted or Anointed Procession + Endless Ranks of the Dead or Search for Azcanta  Flip or Deadbridge Chant or Mind Unbound, etc.

Ramp

Your ramp looks pretty good with 10 dedicated Ramp cards. I’d suggest adding 2 more Ramp spells to really help speed things up early. Examples would be Kodama's Reach, Llanowar Elves, Wild Growth, Farseek, Rampant Growth, Springbloom Druid, etc.

Ramp - 10

Not Ramp

Draw

Overall, I think your card draw package needs a little bit of love. I want to note I see a lot of ‘looting’ effects like the ones on Teferi, Master of Time or Obsessive Stitcher and while these cards are great for a graveyard strategy they still don’t count as card draw. I’d keep most of these ‘looting’ type cards, but try to find cards that get you about 2 or 3 cards such as Harmonize, Concentrate, Escape to the Wilds, Urban Evolution, Moldervine Reclamation, Deathreap Ritual, Recurring Insight, Mind Unbound, Underworld Connections, Cloudblazer, Mulldrifter, Drawn from Dreams, Return of the Wildspeaker, Harvester of Souls, Momentous Fall, Dream Trawler, Keeper of Fables etc.

Draw - 2

Not Draw

  • Barrin, Tolarian Archmage – drawing 1 card does not really count. If anything, Barrin is like slow, bad removal for dealing with your opponents’ stuff temporarily. If you’re interested in reusing Golos’s land finding ability I would recommend playing Soulherder instead.

  • Solemn Simulacrum – He has sort of ‘incidental value’ with his death trigger but doesn’t actively net you a bunch of cards like Keruga, the Macrosage or Beast Whisperer. Sad Robot is still great though.

  • Titanoth Rex – still keep this guy because he is a threat that isn’t dead in your hand on turn 5.

  • Void Beckoner – same story as the Rex

  • Teferi, Master of Time – Teferi’s great, but he is really at his best when you’ve got 4-7 card in hand so that you can throw a bunch of big threats to the graveyard and hopefully draw a reanimation spell. Other than that, Teferi isn’t going to refill your hand so he doesn’t count as true draw.

Removal

Your removal package looks like it needs a couple more additions to keep your deck responsive and able to handle imminent-doom type threats. It is worth noting that cards like Blatant Thievery or Mythos of Illuna can save you in certain situations, but be wary of their crazy mana costs and the fact that they are not instant-speed answers. Examples include Mythos of Nethroi, Beast Within, Price of Fame, Reality Shift, Terminate, Return to Nature, Putrefy, Utter End, Eat to Extinction, Murderous Rider, etc.

Removal – 4 (aim for 7)

Cuts

There are several cards that I would consider cutting first when modifying the deck.

  • Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast - he relies very heavily on luck and only interacts with creatures. This makes him good with only 30% of your deck. Additionally, Lukka can’t ‘protect’ himself like Garruk can (making tokens to block for him), nor does he have an immediately accessible removal ability like Teferi. Overall, Lukka is interesting but a little lacking in consistency, defensibility, and power.

Azusa, Lost but Seeking – you don’t have enough land + card draw to really capitalize on Asuza’s ability. Yes, you can use the double lands (like Gruul Turf) to bounce a land to hand and then play that land with Asuza, but realistically that’s such a narrow and relatively tame synergy (in this non-landfall deck, that is) that you would be better off playing a Farseek or a Rampant Growth or even a Fertile Ground.

  • Sparkhunter Masticore - This little fellow has a major drawback and no seriously crazy abilities that make him worthwhile. Yes he can deal with planeswalkers, but so can a Murderous Rider or an Eat to Extinction. Yes he can be an indestructible 3/4, but you have to pay 3 mana just to make him indestructible. Under normal circumstances that’s 6 mana for a 3/4 that dodges death one time - a 3/4 just isn’t fantastic. The biggest bad news about this robocat is its “additional cost to cast” ability which means that even if you hit it with Golos’s ‘Rainbow Wheel of Death’ ability, you still have to discard a card for a 3/4. I just honestly think you’d rather have a removal spell (Beast Within, Mythos of Nethroi) instead of this cat any day.

  • Pursued Whale - While this whale is kinda cool and he does force combat, he is just sorta expensive for what he does. 7 mana for an 8/8 is pretty standard and giving your opponents tokens (that they could just attack you with or sacrifice to an effect) can be a bad idea in some situations, such as when they have an Beastmaster Ascension or a similar effect on the field. While his semi-hexproof ability (3 more mana to target) seems nifty, that is one of the only really powerful highlight abilities of this card, meaning that ability is protecting a relatively low-powered card. A couple immediate alternatives come to mind for me; Geode Rager to force combat AND keep you safe, and Dream Trawler for a flying, hexproof, lifelinking, card drawing threat.

  • Renata, Called to the Hunt - She just isn’t fantastic. You aren’t playing a devotion centric deck in which she might become a 10/10, and your strategy doesn’t really care about 1/1 counters either. I would consider replacing her with a Harmonize or another 3 or 4 drop with more impactful abilities. Heck, even another reanimation spell could be nice like Unburial Rites or Grave Upheaval since your deck seems to have some tendency to but things in the graveyard for later.

  • Lorescale Coatl - Cards like this (or his bigger cousin Chasm Skulker) are really designed for “wheel decks” that play “wheel effects” like Windfall or Reforge the Soul. He is fine, but really not much better than that. If you want a threat that can grow faster and do more important things, try Managorger Hydra or even Scute Mob.

  • Colossification - This aura is too expensive, taps your creature down, and worst of all is an aura. Auras are generally quite bad because your opponent can destroy your creature and the aura attached to them with one spell – and odds are they’ll do that because it is usually too juicy not to. The fact that you can’t attach Colossification and attack immediately means that your opponents will have a full turn to deal with it before you get a chance to use it (and keep in mind your Colossified creature needs to survive 3 opponents’ turns!). This means you’ll most likely run out of cards in a hurry without accomplishing anything.

  • Door to Nothingness - Unlike Progenitus, you can’t reanimate the Door, nor can you get its full value off of the Rainbow Wheel of Death. The only time this card does anything at all is when you literally have 10 mana of the exact color combination necessary to use it. It’s still your call, and I know some people make it a goal to Door their opponents, but be warned: you probably don’t have as much ramp as you need to make this work well. I’d consider supporting this crazy cards (and your many expensive threats for that matter) with a few more ramp spells – Boundless Realms, Migration Path, Circuitous Route, Kodama's Reach, Explosive Vegetation, Zendikar Resurgent

  • Azor's Gateway  Flip – This card belongs in a very specific variant of Golos. That variant is the Minamo, School at Water's Edge Golos deck which also runs stuff like Vizier of Tumbling Sands, Fatestitcher, Kiora's Follower, and other payoffs like Jegantha, the Wellspring, or Captain Sisay. Especially considering that Sanctum of the Sun (the flip side) adds X mana of only 1 color, I think this card is just rarely going to work like you want it to unfortunately.

  • Lathliss, Dragon Queen - Basically, you only have 3 other dragons in the deck so I would either exchange a bunch of cards for more dragons or cut Lathliss, since she will rarely be able to use her best ability (5/5 tokens). Keep in mind, you could also run a bunch of cards with the ‘changeling’ keyword if you wanted to get really funky, in which case you may as well also play stuff like Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, Reaper King, Crested Sunmare, The First Sliver but that’s a very slippery and insane slope that I’m not sure you want to get sucked into.

Summary

Nice changes Kronhamilton, I can see that your deck is really starting to shape up as a rampy graveyard-mingling Golos deck, and that’s really cool. I encourage you to try and pay attention to what situations you find yourself in, as that’s often the best way to tell what cards you need to cut or add to the deck for it to work best. As a default, I’d consider making a few of the changes I mentioned in the Broad Suggestion section, as those changes should just generally help with your deck’s consistency.

Please do let me know how you decide to tune your deck – it’s really fun to watch honestly, and I’m always down to help advise you. Other than that, take care and enjoy Golos!

Best,

-Slashdotdash

GoblinElectromancer on Just Follow the Trail... wait wrong cycling

3 years ago

Hollow One, Unearth and Vile Manifestation seem good. Street Wraith is a free cycler and is very good. Maybe put Sweltering Suns on the sideboard to deal with fast creature. I would cut the four Savai Crystal.

Good Luck!

abby315 on Snapdax Midrange

4 years ago

Ooh, I've been waiting for someone to brew with Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt! I love the idea. I do have a few suggestions to speed up the deck a bit:

1) Replace the 3x Savai Crystal with +1 Murderous Rider, +1 Bonecrusher Giant. Savai Crystal is very slow for standard, and you don't really need to go from 3 mana to 5 mana with this curve.

2) Cut Offspring's Revenge, which is way too expensive for what it does. Use those two slots and the extra slot from Savai Crystal to add 3x Spawn of Mayhem.

That will bring your curve down to be even more aggressive and give you more flexible creature/removal options.

I also think this deck has a bit of a crisis of identity. The mutate cards are actually pretty /slow/ since they don't add to the power/toughness on the board. I really don't think any Mutate cards here besides Snapdax and probably Necropanther have abilities that make Mutating worthwhile. And even though Snapdax has a great mutate ability, it's also just a really aggressive card. IMO you should be planning to play Snapdax as a 4-drop "6"/5 and then mutate with Necropanther late in the game for value.

This is just my opinion, so feel free to disagree. Vulpikeet is definitely interesting since it adds flying and a counter, but I'm still not sure the risk is worth it.

Here are the additional tweaks I would make, but again, grain of salt:

Cut Vulpikeet, Insatiable Hemophage, and Shepherd of the Flock (this doesn't work very well with Mutate cards since you have to bounce the whole stack). This frees up 10 slots.

Add:
- 4x Marauding Raptor, which doesn't kill any of your remaining creatures and makes them all really cheap, plus it gets buffed for pinging Snapdax and lets you play him on turn 3! He also cheapens Mutate costs.
- +1 Necropanther to get up to 4 copies.
- +2 Bedevil for planeswalker removal.
- +3 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger to give you an additional 2-drop play, stay aggressive, and give you a finisher.

Again, just my take on the deck (and it assumes a bit of a budget since Kroxa is expensive - you could definitely add other things instead, maybe Kunoros, Hound of Athreos to hose the other Titan).

If you do want to keep trying the Mutate theme, I will say, I think the interaction with Dreadhorde Arcanist is an interesting one people haven't explored. It's a useful way to permanently buff the Arcanist to start casting 2+ drop spells. You don't have a ton of these right now, but you could retool the deck to try it out.

I'd also add a few Noxious Grasp in your sideboard. You're really likely to run into Gideon, Tef3ri, or Nissa out there.

Let me know what you think!

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