Thrull Surgeon

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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
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Thrull Surgeon

Creature — Thrull

, Sacrifice Thrull Surgeon: Look at target player's hand and choose a card from it. That player discards that card. Activate this ability only any time you could play a sorcery.

PAU 10 / 4
Yavimaya Elder feature for The Rock

Spell_Slam on Dead Dog

3 years ago

Hi DoktaDakka and thanks! This is definitely one of my favourite decks as well. Many people underestimate how powerful this deck can be.

I think that with Wild Mongrel, Vampire Hounds and Tortured Existence I have enough discard effects that I don't need Putrid Imp. The imp is good when you want to discard something important on Turn 1 or 2, but aside from Basking Rootwalla there's nothing really worth discarding that early in the game. It's an okay option for Exhume decks, but otherwise we're all set with our discard engine.

In terms of Hooting Mandrills, I honestly have never tried them. The deck can always use more cheap beaters, but what would you replace them with? Crypt Rats maybe?

As for TE targets, you'll still find them mostly in the sideboard. Caustic Caterpillar, Spore Frog, Thrull Surgeon, Faerie Macabre and more Crypt Rats are meant to shore up any weaknesses while synergizing well with TE. What other Toolbox cards am I missing? Maybe I could find space for them somewhere.

Thanks again for the comment!

Bxbx on Sen Triplets Handcontrol

4 years ago

@mortifolkmurphcaster: Hi, thanks for commenting and first of all: sorry for me taking so long to answer you. I'm not that active on tappedout anymore and only saw your comment today.

I'm glad you liked my deck and found some inspiration for your own. The deck evolved quite a bit over time and the deck description isn't up to date anymore (the decklist is almost up to date though). So before answering your questions I might make a few remarks about my deck in its current state:

I discarded a lot of the cooler but clunkier cards, that initially gave rise to the deck, like Head Games , Jester's Mask , Ghastlord of Fugue , Seer's Vision and Mindleech Mass , because they just weren't doing anything useful in most games, especially when I was already behind.

Two of the cards that stayed in and that are crucial for where the deck is now are Silent-Blade Oni and Doomsday Specter . Because both of those cards work well with small creatures that have etb effects I decided to create this really creature heavy build. But maybe there are better ways of building the deck and especially Doomsday Specter can be quite disappointing sometimes.

I can also say that I seldomly find myself casting Sen Triplets but I don't know if this is because of my play mistakes or because of the triplets drawing too much hate. I recently added Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage to help Sen Triplets get down (one can also use Shimmer Myr ). When I win games, I most often do so because of a Bribery after a long and exhausting attrition war or something like that. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pull off an infinite combo win that used the cards of my opponents yet.

I didn't know about Thrull Surgeon and Pilfering Imp . Thanks for the suggestions! I will not include them in the current build because it does not play enough from the graveyard to recur them regularly. I focus on creatures that have an etb effect, and then I bounce them back to my hand.

Windfall effects in combination with cards like Narset, Parter of Veils are brutal and, although I do not shy at treating my playgroup like that, I would not include them because I see a nombo between effects that give everyone 7 fresh cards and my strategy of casting/discarding the opponents cards. My deck does not play out cards that fast which is reinforced by the fact that I sometimes play the opponents cards instead of mine with Sen Triplets . So Windfall would likely help the opponents more than it helps me. While it is good as a combo with Narset, Parter of Veils and Notion Thief , on its own it doesn't fit into the overall deck strategy that well. But maybe one could trim down the mana curve a bit more and then all the small creatures in combination with windfall effects and Notion Thief could be strong, but I'm not quite sure.

Ok, I think that's all for now. Again, thanks for your comment!

bushido_man96 on How to make this deck …

5 years ago

Ok, lets unpack this a little bit.

You mentioned the deck's average CMC at 5.5....that's probably too high. If it were me, I'd work on having more 1 and 2 drops to smooth out the curve and make sure I can get things up and running more quickly. A card like Burnished Hart would work better for you than Patron of the Moon. Let's look at Patron real quick: nice ability on it, for sure, if you can really abuse it. But 7 CMC for to get an ability to then pay 1 for two tapped lands is NOT ramp. Fixing, maybe, but not ramp. I feel the same about Dreamscape Artist. 2 CMC to cast, which is a good early play, but then a 3-costed activated ability to sac a land and go get two lands.....its like a really bad way of playing Harrow.

Good creatures to include: Baleful Strix: draws you a card, and has deathtouch. Edict creatures, like Fleshbag Marauder, Plaguecrafter, Merciless Executioner, Ravenous Chupacabra, Nekrataal, Bone Shredder and Shriekmaw; the Maw is especially synergistic here with his evoke ability. Just one of these creatures cast could end up netting 3 to 4 sacrifices across the table. Even a card like Mulldrifter fits your theme. A few other cards that might interest you: Tortured Existence and/or Phyrexian Reclamation. They can help you get some of these cards that trigger your Commander's ability back into play or into your hand to re-cast (like Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder).

Thrilling Encore is ok, but adding one card to reuse that one card seems like a waste of two card slots. Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall could do it for you, though. You could consider running Deadeye Navigator as a way of blinking some of these creatures I've listed with ETB effects.

Two items left I want to hash out with you:

Item 1: Distended Mindbender. This is just not a good card, and there are plenty of sorcery speed discard spells that black runs that would do a better job, not cost 5 CMC, and will force some discard. Hell, I think Thrull Surgeon would be better, and you could recur him with some of the options I've listed.

Item 2: Lotus Bloom. Not good, in my opinion, especially when compared to other options, like Worn Powerstone, Mind Stone, or Commander's Sphere. You cast it for free essentially, but then have to wait three turns to essentially net a Dark Ritual effect. So you wait three turns for a one-off effect, then it goes to the graveyard. Worn Powerstone is repeatable after it untaps, although it is colorless. With Commander's Sphere you get ramp and fixing, and you can choose to send it to the graveyard in exchange for a card, replacing itself. Mind Stone replaces itself, too. I'd like Lotus Bloom more if you had a way to recur it, like Goblin Welder, but that isn't what your deck does, so it doesn't make sense with better options available.

I hope that helps explain my reasoning a little bit. I like to try to manage my mana curve as much as possible, so I have things going on early to set up mid and late game. Your Commander is high CMC as it is, so you've really got to build to getting him out as soon as you can; by turn 4 would be great, but probably not going to make an appearance consistently until around turns 5 or 6. Let me know what your experience with this is, though. When deck building, its easy to get wowed by big dumb creatures, but too much of it makes the deck clunky and inconsistent. Better to get the consistency that makes the deck function early, so you can play your game later on, too.

Maqi on Muldrotha, the Gravetide *Primer*

5 years ago

Hey landgo

You are right about the Thrull Surgeon. I tend to play 2HG mostly, so I always try to find a way to strip my opponents hands of any counterspells. The biggest thing I like about the Thrull is that it can take lands too.

A reason to add Courier's Capsule would be to diversify the types in the graveyard. My list runs a lot of creatures I want to get back, so I place it being an artifact over a creature type. I guess it's up to anyone's fine tuning.

The Possessed Portal has one thing over the other lock pieces in where it prevents your opponents from finding an answer. The "each turn" and "each player" combination is especially though and requires an immediate answer, which means they need to have that in hand at that moment, or have a tutor effect available.

Traveler247, when I first started looking for cards to use with Muldrotha, the Gravetide I made the mistake of thinking certain cards could go "infinite", failing to realise you can only play one type each turn. Is your example subject to the same mistake or did you call it "infinite" for a different reason?

LandG0 on Muldrotha, the Gravetide *Primer*

5 years ago

Hey Maqi,

Uncanny_Ghoul on fleshbag funbag

7 years ago

First of all, with this high CMC you need 24 lands.

While I understand you are trying to sacrifice your creatures for beneficial effects, the high converted mana cost of your deck makes it kind of hard to work with.

Here are some lower cost creatures that could be good:

Augur of SkullsBasal Sliver (mana accelerator to cast Ruthless Deathfang faster)Bile UrchinBlind ZealotBlood BairnBloodthrone VampireCarrier Thrall (mana accelerator, 2x creature)Corpse HaulerDeath CultistDemonic Taskmaster (need tokens spawn everyturn)Devouring SwarmWestvale Abbey  Flip This is a must have.Disciple of Griselbrand Save yourself.Doomed Necromancer Worth it.Eldrazi Skyspawner Mana acceleratorFont of ReturnFume SpitterGnawing ZombieGutless GhoulMerciless ExecutionerMortician Beetle -------> Cause why not.Nezumi Bone-Reader ControlPawn of Ulamog mana acceleratorQarsi SadistQuest for the GravelordThoughtpicker Witch controlThrull Surgeon controlVampiric RitesVoracious Null

Skirsdag High Priest Isn't this amazing?

ThatGuy4242 on Graveyard Smash

7 years ago

I absolutely love the deck. After seeing this I am now determined to make my own variation including some of the following suggestions. Btw this is so long because its also a note to myself.

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