Sol Ring

Artifact

{T}: Add {C}{C}.

Combos

• Mana Vault + Sol Ring + Tidespout Tyrant
• Dross Scorpion + Pentavus + Sol Ring
• Dramatic Reversal + Sol Ring
• Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + Sol Ring
• Everflowing Chalice + Sol Ring + Tidespout Tyrant

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (44)

legendofa on What exactly is the hard …

3 weeks ago

For the Archon's Glory combo, I'm going agree with your opponent and the bystander. As I understand, ramp shouldn't be included in the turn calculation. The intent is to prevent Tainted Pact + Thassa's OracleGC, Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void , that sort of combo, where the cards can be played on a normal curve and lead directly to a kill effect before turn 6. There are ways to drag someone down from a trillion life, or just bypass life totals, so I don't consider that a lockout (but I might concede if someone did that, depending on the matchup).

But I would not consider Sol Ring as part of the combo, because it's such a loose requirement. I'd compare it to something like Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar. Technically, you need a third effect and another Zombie for this to mean anything. But that's so easy to get to, it doesn't even really need a dedicated deck. Yes, you need a token, enchantment, or artifact to sacrifice, but that can happen incidentally during normal play. If a combo needs a third card, but that card can be any (insert category here) or a basic land, it shouldn't count toward the combo requirements.

Ultimately, my call is that this was a lucky play with a combo that's legal in Bracket 3.

StopShot on What exactly is the hard …

3 weeks ago

Disclaimer: (This is not a "who-is-the-antagonist" post. This matter has already long been resolved respectfully with an in-game vote. This example is given to point out potential gray-areas over what defines a 2-card combo with the intent to invite thought and discussion on what the nitty-gritty details and restrictions should entail when deck-building combos under the bracket system.)

The other day my playgroup had a bracket 3 match that caused an argument over what constitutes a 2-card combo over a play one of my opponents made. Bracket 3 officially states that there are:

No 2-card combos (before turn 6)

[Combos are] game-enders, lockouts, or infinites

In the game my opponent played a turn 1 Enlightened TutorGC to fetch a Sol Ring, turn 2 played the Sol Ring, and on turn 3 played a Volcano Hellion having it deal 1 trillion damage to itself, but with its ETB ability on the stack they casted Archon's Glory bargaining the Sol Ring to give the Volcano Hellion lifelink which would result in my opponent gaining 1 trillion life by turn 3.

The playgroup insists the play is a 2-card combo that violates the spirit of bracket 3, because:

• The combo was pulled off by turn 3 and not turn 6 or later.
• The combo is a 2-card combo and not a 3-card combo as any sacrificed permanent required to bargain Archon's Glory shouldn't count in a mana-rock heavy format.
• The infinite life gain counts as a lockout since some decks would be unable to realistically break the lock via commander damage.

My opponent and a bystander watching the game argue the play fits within the confines of bracket 3, but for different reasons from each other:

• Ramp and Sol Ring shouldn't be factored in on how early a 2-card combo can occur when deck-building combos, otherwise ramp should count as an extra card in the combo making it a 3-card combo as the ramp was necessary for pulling off the combo early.
• If there had not been any ramping the combo would have occurred by turn 5 at the earliest with no means to win until turn 6 or after.
• The card bargained with Archon's Glory should count as card 3 as it was necessary to pull off the combo which is why they're running Archon's Glory over a card like Swift Justice.
• It doesn't fit the bracket definition of a combo as it's not a game-ender because it doesn't end the game, it's not an infinite because it's a one-time effect that is not loopable by itself, and it's not a lockout because it doesn't impede the functions of anyone's deck and players can still cast spells and attack no differently than before.

There was also discussion if bargaining a token for Archon's Glory would have still made it a 3-card combo if they had sacrificed a treasure token instead of a mana-rock. This further begged the question if and when any card should be counted as being a part of a combo like in the combo Flameshadow Conjuring + Felidar Guardian + Mountain. (The Felidar Guardian always blinks the Mountain effectively untapping it so you can always pay the Flameshadow Conjuring's triggered ability while the hasty token blinks the original Felidar Guardian to restart the loop.) Since the basic land is necessary for the combo, would a basic Mountain count as card 3 of the combo or does it go against the spirit of the 2-card combo rule? Molten Echoes + Felidar Guardian isn't allowed in comparison as it's a 2-card combo that doesn't require blinking a mana source to generate infinite hasty tokens, yet that combo is no less difficult to pull off than the Flameshadow Conjuring variation.

How would you best define what is or is not a 2-card combo before turn 6?

So_Immersive on Galadriel, Light of Valinor

3 weeks ago

cEDH interaction staples I would suggest:

Flusterstorm, Silence, Force of WillGC, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Borne Upon a Wind, Veil of Summer, Force of Negation, Swan Song, Fierce GuardianshipGC, Into the Flood Maw, Mindbreak Trap

combos you can utilize:

Valley Floodcaller + Retraction Helix + any mana positive rock like Sol Ring or Mana VaultGC resulting in infinite {C}

Devoted Druid + Swift Reconfiguration resulting in infinite {G}

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Basalt Monolith resulting in infinite {C}

popular dorks in cEDH

Noble Hierarch, Birds of Paradise, Delighted Halfling

(effects like Neoform and Eldritch Evolution are good for turning your dorks into protection with Grand Abolisher or Voice of Victory when trying to combo)

plakjekaas on What do you want more …

1 month ago

More options gives you more possible creativity, I can conceptually get behind that. But making beter options more available for more people will limit the choices you make. There's plenty people who joke that building a new commander deck starts with Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and then the actual commander. There's only 97 choices left then, instead of 99. Less options for creativity now. The fact that you can put 7409 different cards in those slots instead of 7423 is not the limiting factor of, or making a difference in your creativity.

Homogenizing the aspects of what makes the format unique makes for less interesting decks and shorter games with less different cards being used. You can disagree all you like, but Standard decks were a lot more fun and creative 10 years ago, when you had to find the synergy among 1500 different legal cards and different archetypes could be successfully fleshed out. In the Pro Tour that happens this weekend, 45% of the field is built around Badgermole Cub. You argue that today's Standard decks must be more creative because they can choose from 7500 cards instead of 1500, but I played the decks and I strongly think otherwise. With more cards available there's also a bigger difference in power/quality, which will eliminate a bigger part of the cardpool faster for playability. You don't need to make creative choices, you let the internet do it for you because someone else already figured out what's "optimal", leaving you to consider just a fraction of all possible cards for your deck. Which limits your options for creativity.

I'm not afraid of losing to the cards, I'm afraid when this rule would take effect, Wizards will start printing hybrid cards that are the best choice for either monocolor they have, meaning at least two other cards will be less likely to ever see play again. Concentrating the viable options in a smaller volume of cards, limiting the amount of creative choices a deckbuilder can make.

NV_1980 on Dark Glory of King Macar

1 month ago

Fun-looking Macar, deck! I'm using one too. Not sure you left it out deliberately, but you haven't included a Sol Ring in this, which is a decidedly rare thing to do in any EDH deck, let alone an artifact-themed one.

plakjekaas on What do you want more …

1 month ago

Any restrictions breed creativity. If you can only use cards of mana value 3 for your entire deck, that will force you to make choices that will be suboptimal for the strategy, yet people might compliment you way more for the choices you end up with than if your only restriction is: use cards that are red and/or white.

Enabling the cheaty way out of {RW} can be mono {W} now, will homogenize the format more than it will be an actual shake-up that allows more interesting decks. The opposite of creativity if you ask me.

Complaining about the size of the cardpool of commander is silly to say the least. Even every monocolored deck has >7000 possible cards to play. The fact you can't play Balefire Liege in your mono red deck does not mean you have no viable options in red. That's not something you need for a creative deck. Replacing a Sol Ring with a Mind Stone due to restricting the format-warping cards is not that much of a creative choice. Using Progenitor's Icon because your name starts with P so all your nonland cards should as well, is a creative choice because of a restriction. That will add play to cards nobody else considered, make the format more varied, with more fun and convesation to be had, and less "you shouldn't play that card, it's bad"-gatekeeping that makes the format a slop of hyperoptimized decks with no personal touch, that all win the same way on the same turn because it's the "best you can do."

If you now say: "but I play magic to be the best and make the most optimal choices, that's how I enjoy the game" that would be totally valid. But that's the mindset that works for every other format in magic, the competitive, the constructed formats. Try picking up a Standard or Modern deck, so you can play against people who feel the same. Or join a cEDH group, that exactly is the spirit of cEDH. But that's not how I want to play commander. All the janky 8-drops are gone. Out of 4500 standard cards, there's like not even 100 that see actual play. That's a format that would benefit from regulating the most overpowered cards. In the multiplayer singleton casual formats where practically every set is legal and most power issues are resolved by the multiplayer aspect more than bannings, it's restrictions like color identity and a commander that really make every deck play different every time, thàt is the spirit of commander, that is being hollowed out by allowing hybrid mana in the wrong color identities, by loosening the few rules that exist for a format that's been successful for half my life and doesn't need innovation to stay enjoyable.

theNeroTurtle on test

1 month ago

hello

theNeroTurtle on test

1 month ago

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