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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 |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Sturmgeist
Creature — Spirit
Flying
Sturmgeist's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Whenever Sturmgeist deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
TheVectornaut on What all does Donal, Herald …
1 year ago
There is an entire section of the rules dedicated to dealing with fringe copy situations just like this. The first rule to note is 707.10: "[...] A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) Choices that are normally made on resolution are not copied. If an effect of the copy refers to objects used to pay its costs, it uses the objects used to pay the costs of the original spell or ability. [...]" The first part of this rule tells you that values of x, kickers, and any other alternative/additional costs paid for the original spell will also apply to the copy. Hence, a copy of a kicked Academy Drake will enter as a token with 2 +1/+1 counters. The second part of this rule explains that objects used to pay costs will be referenced by the copy. So a copy of Murktide Regent that has delved for 4 instants/sorceries will enter as a token with 4 +1/+1 counters.
For the last question, consider rule 707.9d: "When applying a copy effect that doesn’t copy a certain characteristic, retains one or more original values for a certain characteristic, or provides a specific set of values for a certain characteristic, any characteristic-defining ability (see rule 604.3) of the object being copied that defines that characteristic is not copied. [...]" Because Donal, Herald of Wings is forcing the copy to be a 1/1, an ability like Sturmgeist's that defines power and toughness will not be copied at all.
CamraMaan on What all does Donal, Herald …
1 year ago
Does Donal, Herald of Wings copy whether or not a creature spell is kicked, or copy any other additional costs paid? Like, say I kick Academy Drake? Does the copy enter with two +1/+1 counters on it...? What if a creature had an X casting cost? Will a copy of Murktide Regent ETB with the same number of +1/+1 counters as the original card? Also, what happens when Donal copies Sturmgeist? Is it a 1/1 or a x/x? (It won't let me post with stars for the P/T) As always, thanks in advance for the help! :)
Orange+ on
Any Color You Like
1 year ago
Hi, Profet93,
I agree with you that drawing is better than scrying, but scrying is just a lot cheaper to do. From the scry cards I currently play, I would not drop Jace, Mirror Mage, because I enjoy playing it, and I would not drop Behold the Multiverse, because its a nice instant draw spell.
That only leaves Retreat to Coralhelm, if Im not overlooking something. I might consider removing Retreat to Coralhelm at some point because it doesnt have that much synergy with the rest of the deck. Earlier, I played both Arcanis the Omnipotent and Walking Atlas, which were really good with it, but now I only have Azami, Lady of Scrolls left.
However, it does give me a free scry per round for three mana, which is pretty nice. And it does synergize with Azami, Lady of Scrolls as well as potentially being usefull for tapping annoying blockers. Maybe in a situation where I have a big Sturmgeist on the table and my opponent has a single flying blocker it could do some work.
So.. Keeping the scrying cards for now I think.
You mention more "card draw" -cards, did you have any spesific ones in mind? Any card suggestions?
ClockworkSwordfish on Are there any cards you …
2 years ago
Oh man, all the time with older cards. Cards from sets like Legends and The Dark have names, flavour text and art that make the latest sets look like Super Deck! by comparison, but often they... aren't quite there in terms of power level or functionality, ha ha. Most of the vanilla legends from Legends are the real mind-bogglers. You're showing off not one but TWO dramatic new mechanics - gold cards and legendary creatures - and you do so via... a vanilla 5/5 for seven? He really has no special abilities to his name?
Having said that, I think my pet card for underperforming is the beautiful, horrible Entropic Specter. It has the coolest art of any specter, among the coolest of any cards ever. But it is by its very nature self-defeating. A creature that is the size of the number of cards in your opponent's hand - which, by the time you can play a five mana creature, might only be one or two - will make itself SHRINK every time it nails him if it's also causing discards. Why print a five-mana rare that wants to do two different things at once? If it's performing in one arena, it's failing in the other, and the two really are mutually exclusive.
The easiest fix? Just make it like Nyxathid. It's a 7/7 that shrinks based on the number of cards your opponent's holding - but like any specter, it flies and makes him discard with every hit. You know, sort of like a reverse Sturmgeist. Or a more sensitive Guul Draz Specter. Simple! Elegant! Not confusing in terms of how to use it!
Idoneity on Adherence to Archetype
2 years ago
Over my years of commander, I have grown a fondness of constructing selcouth legendary creatures and strange strategies. I have built Hakim as an aura-madness-graveyard value deck, Diaochan as mono-red control, and Halfdane as Esper stompy for ensamples.
Yet, these entail a further line of thinking, "When is an archetype extenuated beyond the point of cohesion?" My Halfdane list verges on a flash/control list just out of desperation for other substantiation to build a big Sturmgeist . My Hakim list opts for a discard theme more than auras, despite the commander's text box. The commanders define the game's end, but not its process.
These are "strange" decks, yet hold another plan within them to attain such a strategy. Thus is my query here, do the supporting principles and engine pieces of a deck define the archetype, or does the manner wherein the game is ended define the archetype?
Liam77 on
Zedru Semo Optimised
3 years ago
UPDATE: replace Sturmgeist + Stuffy Doll with Approach of the Second Sun + Time Wipe
Halbrechtt on
Blue Ectoplasm [Modern W/U Spirits]
3 years ago
+1 for spirits!
Alright. So my main concern with this deck is that you have nothing to do on turn 1 and very little to do on turn 2. Conversely, you have over half of your spells vying for turn 3. So my main recommendation would be to convert some of your CMC 3 and higher spells into 1 and 2 drops. I know you purposefully stuffed the 3 CMC slot for Drift of Phantasms' transmute ability.... but honestly, you don't need a LOT of cards at 3 CMC for the transmute to matter. You just need the most important cards (notably, Drogskol Captain). Quality vs quantity. :)
So some nominations!
Another possibility is Celestial Colonnade. It doesn't make a spirit, but a 4/4 flyer is still formidable, and it'll get pumped by Empyrean Eagle. The land also produces both colors of mana, which is nice.
Whichever you choose, I'd only add 2x.
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Mausoleum Wanderer is on-board countermagic. As you play your anthem effects like Supreme Phantom, the Wanderer will naturally get bigger and make it harder for the opponent to pay the cost. But also, when combined with flash spirits, its power can grow out of nowhere, making the calculations not in your opponent's favor.
Now, the downside to an on-board counter is that the opponent knows about it.... but is that actually a complete downside? Unless you're playing against experienced players, an opponent will often durdle and hold back out of fear of your counter. Which is, in effect, allowing you to "cast" the counter for free every single turn that they DON'T play the thing they're worried about you countering. Now, a good player will "bait out" the counter so that they don't have to worry about it anymore.... but that still sometimes means they're playing suboptimally. In addition, the Wanderer will also attract their removal spells, meaning your anthem effects and other important spirits are safer. And you're fine trading a 1 mana spirit for their removal spell! -
Not as awesome, but Spectral Sailor has the important Flash mechanic, which is especially good when it only costs 1 mana. This can be anything from a surprise blocker to a buff for the Wanderer's countermagic to a surprise tap-down with Nebelgast Herald (which is extra good against decks with hasty creatures). Finally, it gives you a mana sink if the game goes long and you need to draw some cards.
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Speaking of drawing cards.... the weakest of the bunch is Dreamcatcher, but since you'll be casting spirit spells all game long, there'll be plenty of chances to trade in this early game blocker for a new card whenever it seems best.
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I would replace Geist of the Archives with Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch. Yes, it has 1 less toughness, but it's 1 mana cheaper than the former, with a potentially more potent ability (gives a small amount of bounce!), and that toughness will easily rise with all the anthem effects you have.
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Not a new recommendation, but I would run the full playset of Supreme Phantom. The anthem effects will be the key to sealing your victory. I would replace your 2x Mindshrieker with the Phantom, since you don't have enough top-deck manipulation to make Mindshrieker reliable.
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Spell Queller is an amazing sideboard card. It can replace one of your counterspells, and notably it "counters" uncounterable spells. Yes, the opponent has a chance to get the spell back, but combine Queller with Drogskol Captain, and good luck with that!
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Geist of Saint Traft doesn't have the acclaim he used to, but I still like him, and combined with p/t boosts, he likely won't die in battle. And he always brings a 4/4 buddy with him! (Which also gets buffed by Empyrean Eagle). The hexproof also makes him hard to remove.
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Probably another sideboard card, but Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is a very strong tax against removal-heavy decks.
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Callow Jushi Flip: Probably not as good as the other counterspell options, but kinda fun! Note that you don't have to flip him with just 2 ki counters on him, so you can save up the ki counters until the more crucial turns of the game. You can also have one flipped with a couple ki counters while you build up another one, because the legend rule doesn't apply until it's flipped.
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Anthem effects: Like with Supreme Phantom, I see no reason not to run the full playsets of Drogskol Captain and Empyrean Eagle. The hexproof provided by Drogskol Captain is particularly important, and he would be my first two things to transmute for.
I also already mentioned Mindshrieker, and for a similar reason, I don't feel Callous Deceiver is good in this deck. Without anthem effects, the best it can be is a 2/3 flyer for 3 mana.... not that great. Its abilities don't help with anything else in the deck.
Another 3 drop I'd cut is Uninvited Geist Flip. Its skulk ability doesn't synergize well with anthem effects, as pretty soon most creatures can block it. If it started as a 1/1, skulk might be better.... but then it's 3 mana for a 1/1 that takes 2 turns to transform into an unblockable 3/3. Eh. It also doesn't have flying for the Eagle to buff.
As to higher CMCs, I'm personally not sold on Dungeon Geists. Maybe you have good luck with it, but I'd rather have 4x Nebelgast Herald and cheap flash spirits than the 4 drop.
I'm loathe to suggest cutting Celestial Messenger because I know you like your Yanling package.... but honestly, the Yanling package will work without this over-costed spirit. It's 4 mana for a 4/3 flyer, IF Yanling is out.... and that's it. The only thing it's got going for it is that gorgeous art. Too bad it doesn't have mechanics to match.
Curse of Echoes's inclusion confuses me. If you like to play multiplayer games, this card can actually be BAD (you might not want your other two opponents getting copies!). But even 1v1, it gives too much control to the opponent. First, they have to have a deck with enough instants/sorceries to matter, so at best this would be a sideboard card. But even then, they can play around it too easily by not casting any devastating spells until they've found a way to deal with it.
Also not sold on Sturmgeist. At best it's an 8/8 flyer, but that's if you can keep a full grip of cards. But aside from Mu Yanling, Sea Gate Restoration Flip, and Sturmgeist itself (4 cards total), you have no ways of refilling your hand. More likely it'll be a 3/3 or 4/4 flyer that sometimes draws you a card. Not that great for 5 mana. Doesn't feel like the right deck for it.
Keiga, the Tide Star: While stealing a creature is fun, Control Magic-effects usually cost less (4-5 mana), and with Keiga, you don't even get the effect until Keiga dies! If you want this effect in the deck, there's other more efficient ways to achieve it.
Finally, at the top of the CMC charts is Sea Gate Restoration Flip. And hey, if it's a pet card, keep it. But hear me out on my concern. As stated above, this deck isn't designed to draw cards, so by the time you have 7 mana (turn 8-9), how many cards do you think you'll have left in hand? I'd bet 2-3, assuming you've been playing out cards on curve. So you'll draw 3-4. Is that worth the 7 mana? That's up to you, but since the going rate on a base draw effect is 4 mana to draw 3, you should be drawing more like 5-6. (This is also comparable to Mind Spring, which would draw you 5 for 7 mana.)
P.S. I am gonna go ahead and state this for the record: Your hunch that the 3-turn idea won't pan out so well is sadly going to be correct. It involves skipping a turn and getting a planeswalker to a (scary) ultimate — the former dangerous, the latter near impossible. It would be easier to spend 1 less mana and cast a 5 CMC extra turn spell or two. That said, the idea of taking THREE turns in a row IS truly fun, so by all means, play around with it until you tire of the strategy!
Cut
-2 Mindshrieker
-2 Geist of the Archives
-2 Uninvited Geist
-1 Callous Deceiver
-3 Celestial Messenger
-3 Dungeon Geists
-1 Curse of Echoes
-1 Sturmgeist
-1 Keiga, the Tide Star
-1 Sea Gate Restoration
Add
+1 Prairie Stream
+2 Moorland Haunt
+4 Mausoleum Wanderer
+4 Spectral Sailor
+2 Supreme Phantom
+2 Drogskol Captain
+2 Empyrean Eagle
Sideboard
+2 Spell Queller
+2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
(Sideboard cuts up to you)
I'd personally replace some of the mainboard counters with Spell Queller and Kira, since they're also spirits. But there's obviously pros to running unconditional counters like Dissolve.
I know that was quite a lot, but the more I dug into the available spirits, the more things I came up with! LoL. I hope at least something in all that helped.
| Have (1) | metalmagic |
| Want (1) | pombomartins |