Story Circle

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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
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Story Circle

Enchantment

As Story Circle enters the battlefield, choose a color.

{{W}}: The next time a source of your choice of the chosen color would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.

DemonDragonJ on Does WotC Still Support Defensive …

1 year ago

Daveslab2022, what about cards such as Story Circle or Righteous Aura or the protection and hexproof mechanics? Why has WotC been so stingy with those, recently?

DemonDragonJ on Darksteel Curtain

2 years ago

seshiro_of_the_orochi, that is a good idea, but I would prefer to not need to tap the artifact to activate its ability, so that it could be reused, akin to a circle of protection or a Story Circle.

SturmMana on Set Phasers To Stun. [Equipoise + Sands of Time]

3 years ago

Apollo_Paladin Thanks for the recommendations! I've only been playing for several months, so I'm still unaware of many of the cards old hands consider no brainers. I'll definitely be using Story Circle. And Silence instead of Abeyance, as the card drawing mechanic can put me at risk of decking myself if I do it too much, and the game goes on too long.

Apollo_Paladin on Set Phasers To Stun. [Equipoise + Sands of Time]

3 years ago

Story Circle has always been a preferred card for me over the old Circle of Protections since it can be included in the main deck if you want instead of having to swap em off Sideboard all the time (which doesn't always work unless you're playing multiple games against the same deck)

That said, I love some of the card choices here though, very nostalgic feel to the deck (old player here). +1

Optimator on Giant's Deck

3 years ago

Oh, I like Chained to the Rocks a fair amount. Keep that one in.


As far as utility goes, you have some real winners. I like Berserkers' Onslaught and LOVE Warstorm Surge and Where Ancients Tread. Iroas, God of Victory is excellent. I like Brave the Sands a lot too. I actually have a soft spot for Story Circle but i could see it staying or being cut.

I kind of like Deflecting Palm but Comeuppance may be better. Probably won't have room for them though. Feudkiller's Verdict I love for the flavor but isn't too great. I might be tempted to keep it though!

I love that Hammer of Purphoros is in. Haste matters a surprising amount when you're dropping huge creatures. You might want to include Fervor as well. I should have one on hand for trade. One more advantage for Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves. No wonder they're so ubiquitous!

Aurification seems like a sweet choice. I have a Ghostly Prison on hand if you want an added layer of defense. I run one in my Giant deck. Speaking of defense, Boros Charm is an excellent include. Make sure it ends up in the final list.

I would drop all the anthem effects. They aren't great when you're boosting two 6/6s up to 7/7s. They're for go-wide strategies like zombies, elves, and goblins. Spear of Heliod has the utility of destroying creatures, but leaving three mana open al the time is hard when you're trying to cast a bunch of 7-drops. Perhaps it could count as one of your Removal cards.

Damage doublers will be much more effective. I have a promo Dictate of the Twin Gods if you'd like. Furnace of Rath is good and Fiery Emancipation is insane, but they're pricey. I don't have either of them for trade. I do have a Gratuitous Violence somewhere that you can have; it's almost as good.

Along with Berserkers' Onslaught, I have Blood Mist and a Duelist's Heritage on hand. Rage Reflection would be great too because it works on defense too. I don't have one though. I have a Loyal Unicorn, but it's no giant. Nahiri's Machinations is a fun budget choice if you wanted to pick up an effect like that. I have a Dolmen Gate for trade as well. I adore that card and run it in many decks.

You probably aren't going to have much more room for utility cards if you want to keep your creature count high. I would recommend dropping every miscellaneous card not mentioned here.

StopShot on Counteracting large hexproof creatures.

3 years ago

The subject of this thread revolves around dealing with and counteracting against the commanders: Uril, the Miststalker, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Dragonlord Ojutai, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, Thrun, the Last Troll as well as commanders that consistently or typically give themselves hexproof through various equipments/auras.

While it may not be the most prevalent strategy these types of commanders can be annoying to deal with. I'd like to create a discussion on what are the best ways to deal with these commanders. Given how niche these commanders can be, running cards that exclusively dedicate themselves to their removal may be detrimental to draw into when playing a game where none of your opponents run them. Therefore cards that can both combat massive hexproof creatures as well as still being useful to have if none of your opponents are playing with big hexproof creatures should be taken into consideration when deciding what is the "best" or "most practical" solution to combating hexproof strategies.

The first cards that come to mind are Arcane Lighthouse, Detection Tower, Bonds of Mortality, Shadowspear and Glaring Spotlight. These cards entirely dedicate themselves to combating hexproof strategies, and while this may be a detriment when used against non-hexproof strategies, these cards do lend themselves some extra utility. Arcane Lighthouse and Detection Tower can be seeded into your manabase so at worst they're just a Wastes however they can be more inefficient in comparison. Given that both are lands, tapping them costs you an extra mana resource effectively making their abilities cost to activate. Not only that, but they have no effect at stripping indestructible which can be a common keyboard which may be used alongside most hexproof strategies. Cards like Bonds of Mortality and Shadowspear cost only one to activate and they can bypass indestructible, however given they're not lands you have to dedicate a nonland slot in your deck to accommodate either of them which means taking out a card that may better synergize with your deck's main strategy in their place. They also lend themselves targets for counter spells and given hexproof decks contain white and/or green, artifact/enchantment removal will pose a high potential risk. This is all not to mention you still need to provide a removal spell in tandem with these cards in order to remove the threat.

Another solution is board wipes. Cards such as Wrath of God, Damnation, Day of Judgment, Supreme Verdict, Blasphemous Act, etc. Mass creature removal is incredibly strong given that its always relevant in most metas making it a highly flexible solution that isn't too narrow to rely upon. It's biggest drawback however is if the massive hexproof creature that needs to be dealt with has indestructible, totem armor or Gift of Immortality. Even a card such as Toxic Deluge can be a risk as you may have to pay a huge amount of life if the creature is incredibly big. Cyclonic Rift is another effective card. One thing to note about boardwipes are they affect the whole table which makes them also more likelier to be countered than by effects that impact a single individual.

A more narrow solution would be through damage prevention effects such as Story Circle, Forcefield, Runed Halo, Rune of Protection: White, etc. Given each card never "targets" they can be used to infinitely "Fog" a problem creature that you can't put up with. These effects are more narrow than boardwipes but broader than hexproof removal. Cards like these still run into problems with artifact/enchantment removal and they don't run enticing side effects such as drawing a card upon entering the battlefield like Bonds of Mortality or giving a creature lifelink and trample like Shadowspear, however you won't need to exhaust your removal spells to keep the large creature(s) either. In more broader metas such as combo, stax and prison, these effects may not be as useful however. More broader variants of these protection cards exist as Ensnaring Bridge, Divine Presence, Peacekeeper and Meekstone though these cards may make multiple opponents unhappy enough to remove them than the more narrower options.

The last effect used to combat large hexproof creatures is sacrifice effects such as: Fleshbag Marauder, Innocent Blood, Vona's Hunger, Liliana's Triumph, Doomfall etc. These effects can bypass not only hexproof but also indestructible, regenerate and totem armor. Their drawback lies in if the player with the large hexproof creature has any other creatures to sacrifice in their place. Because of this caveat this effect isn't too strong unless ran in multiples which can be difficult to commit to in a 100-card format. Instead selective sacrifice effects may be the best way to devote to this solution with cards like: Crackling Doom, Soul Shatter, Slaughter the Strong, Council's Judgment, Renounce the Guilds and Wing Shards. While these cards won't always guarantee the large hexproof creature will be removed, they provide a stronger case than not compared to most traditional sacrifice removal.

Lastly there are counter spells to remove hexproof creatures. While they may be the best all purpose solution they can be rendered ineffective if a Cavern of Souls or some other can not be countered effect is in place. With exception to Withering Boon, the biggest downside to counter spells are they are entirely exclusive to blue meaning other color combinations without blue do not have this option available.

Which method do you rely on to stop massive hexproof creatures? Is there a card or solution set not listed here that you use? If you happen to play EDH decks with big massive hexproof creatures, which effects annoy/counter you the most?

StopShot on What are the top two …

3 years ago

Cards: Rune of Protection: Artifacts, || Rune of Protection: Black, || Rune of Protection: Blue, || Rune of Protection: Green, || Rune of Protection: Red, || Rune of Protection: White.

I know it highly differs on the meta, but if you had to run only two of these cards in your deck and they had to be present for any given playgroup you'd find yourself in which ones would you include in your deck and why?

Also yes, I know Story Circle exists however, that doesn't mean every game I play I'm going to want a damage prevention effect. I like the Rune of Protection cards as they offer cycling if there's absolutely no need for any damage prevention.

DemonDragonJ on Why Have There Been So …

3 years ago

TriusMalarky, I disagree with that, because, as long as damage prevention effects require payment, as do both Story Circle and Righteous Aura, they will not be overpowered.

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