Tricks of the Trade
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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
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Tricks of the Trade

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and is unblockable.

Swordmanjosh on Slippery Bogle pauper EDH

2 years ago

ClockworkSwordfish

I haven't updated this deck in ages and only built it out of cards I had available in my collection and didn't buy anything. With Aqueous Form I didn't play in Theros and Cmd Lgds had not been release yet so I didn't not own a copy but agree it is a much better card. This version runs both Tricks of the Trade and Way of the Thief so I'm unsure about this comment. Your other suggestions are good ones and would be great updates/upgrades to this deck. In regards to backup to Bogle instead of Gladecover Scout I chose Silhana Ledgewalker as I had this in my collection both accomplish the same thing and if you play in a meta which a lot of edict affects running both would be viable. One thing I noticed in pauper is that there aren't any board wipes at common so I disregarded having to prep for a massive board wipe.

I tried to build this deck all about card velocity so trying to get multiple cards that not only provide a buff but also provide card draw. It is a fun deck to play but mostly meant for 1v1 pEDH rather than pod pEDH. I have played it in pod pEDH and it is fun there for casual play.

ClockworkSwordfish on Slippery Bogle pauper EDH

2 years ago

Interesting idea for a deck - it's good to have a voltron commander who isn't easy to pick off - but I feel like a number of your auras are a little... lacking! Awesome Presence, Feral Invocation, Petrified Plating, Reins of the Vinesteed and Way of the Thief all feel like fairly weak cards, some even with good alternatives available.

You might consider running Aqueous Form over Awesome Presence and Tricks of the Trade in place of Way of the Thief, since that guaranteed unblockability is important. Ancestral Mask should provide an absolutely enormous buff, much bigger than Feral Invocation or Oakenform, and Forced Adaptation should likewise result in huge size since your commander should always come down turn one and won't be picked off by removal. Otherwise I'd recommend Cartouche of Knowledge in place of Stratus Walk and One With the Wind over Treetop Bracers.

Past that, I'm surprised you aren't running Favor of the Overbeing, which is pretty custom-made for the Bogle! Cartouche of Strength is also great as a bit of potential removal which helps pump your guy up. I'd also try to find room for Gladecover Scout, since it might pay to have backup targets for your auras if the Bogle is having trouble staying on the board!

Mtg_Mega_Nerds on Lazav Light Mill Deck

3 years ago

Add Glimpse the Unthinkable and Maddening Cacophony for some large mill. Add better counterspells like Counterspell , Didn't Say Please , Disallow and Thought Collapse . Take out Bone to Ash , Cancel , and other bad counterspells. Add better removal like Dimir Charm , Heartless Act and Drown in the Loch . Take out Doom Blade and bounce spells. If you still want a bounce spell, add Brazen Borrower . Take out Illusionary Armor and Exquisite Blood for Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots . You need better ramp so definitely add Sol Ring , Arcane Signet , Dimir Signet and add Command Tower for a land. Add Cloak of Mists and Aether Tunnel for Tricks of the Trade and Way of the Thief . Go infinite with Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith + Mind Grind . This isn't a mill win condition, but if you want to do something janky, you could do Tree of Perdition + Reduce in Stature + Sovereign's Bite to reduce an opponent to 0 life. Here's a lot of cards to put in. Hope this helps

BrassLord on

3 years ago

There's a few Legacy Ninja lists running around, same idea with the 0 CMC creatures! I'd recommend giving Modern Horizons a look through, they printed a LOT of ninja support in there!

Just a few creature upgrade suggestions, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow can put in a lot of work, drawing you cards and draining your opponent (I think a lot of people overlook this due to "Commander Ninjitsu," but it states you can either play it from your hand or the command zone, so it's all good!). Same goes with Ingenious Infiltrator .

If you end up going that route, Changeling Outcast is another unblockable ninja enabler.

Aether Tunnel and Aqueous Form are lower CMC replacements for Tricks of the Trade .

Depends on how cutthroat of a playgroup you're playing against, but I would suggest cutting the bounce lands for some fetches (whatever you can afford). A LOT of legacy decks run things like Strip Mine , and having your bounceland destroyed is setting you back almost two turns, making it a steep climb to catch back up.

Overall, the ninja strategy is pretty quick! In your current build, I don't see a lot of interaction with what your opponent is doing. Since you're running Dimir, you have a PLETHORA of interaction options, from Counterspell to Go for the Throat or Dismember and Thoughtseize . I'd recommend at least having some permission, removal, and hand control effects in your sideboard. If you'd like to double down on the aggressive ninja strat, Smoke Shroud can help with evasion and a small power boost.

In terms of specific cuts, I'd recommend cutting Minamo Sightbender , Sinister Possession Bladed Pinions Shuriken . I think there are more recent cards out there that do the same thing these do with a lower CMC!

Emyron5 on

4 years ago

Smatguy Yes, Tricks of the Trade is legal, you can check on Scyfall. I was confusd too, it's just that Tappedout's info isn't always accurate.

Smatguy on

4 years ago

Is Tricks of the Trade legal? Would you sub in Aether Tunnel or Aqueous Form in place to keep in unblockable?

Jaecen on Animar, Sec

5 years ago

Card Categorization

I've categorized the cards in your deck here: https://deckstats.net/decks/50753/1215572-animar

The following analysis is based on that categorization. Several cards are in more than one category, so I've categorized them based on their primary or common case. E.g. Ancient Animus is both "Removal" and "+1/+1 Counter Interaction", but you're going to cast it to kill something -- the +1/+1 counter is a nice bonus.

Strategy

There's no explicit or stated goals of the deck, so I can't evaluate the cards against that. If you have a goal, let me know.

The core effect of Animar is to play creatures, which grows Animar. As Animar grows, he helps you play more (and more expensive) creatures. Some notable limitations:

  • Animar only decreases colorless costs
  • Animar only cares about creatures
  • Animar only cares about casting creatures

Animar is cheap to cast and protects himself from most removal (due to his protection from Black and White). Because of this, we can assume that we will get him out early and keep him out long enough for him to provide benefit. We'll build the deck assuming Animar is on the battlefield at all times.

Since Animar reduces the colorless component of creature costs, we'll get the biggest benefit from colorless creatures. As with any unlimited cost reduction effect, we should look for ways to break the free case. The obvious one here is to bounce and recast colorless creatures for free.

Since we're playing all of these (hopefully free) creatures, Animar will grow quickly. Giving Animar good evasion will give us to win on commander damage quickly.

To best abuse Animar, we want:

  • Many creatures across a range of mid to high colorless costs
  • As many of those creatures in our hand as possible
  • An many +1/+1 counters on Animar as soon as possible
  • A means to make Animar unblockable

The easiest way to break Animar is to create an engine that casts colorless creatures and bounces them to your hand as many times as possible during a turn. We'll want ETB/LTB effects on those creatures and cards that care about creatures entering and leaving the battlefield. Additionally, we'll want cards that care about +1/+1 counters on a creature.

Favor creatures over non-creatures, as you get a discount on creatures. Try to keep colored costs to a minimum - avoid double or more colors in a cost.

Abusable Colorless Creatures:

Repeatable Bounce:

Synergies:

Unblockable Enablers:

We'll want to get as many creatures down as quickly as we can. Card draw and other card advantage effects are valuable.

Draw/Card Advantage:

Changes to the Existing Cards

I would consider cutting way down on the amount of ramp. Mana dorks get the deck running early, but they don't have any synergy with the core effects. I suspect that's what was leaving you feeling like you had a dead hand.

Cards that seem particularly problematic:

  • Wild Cantor . Requires a sac for effect. Doesn't get cost reduction. A dork that taps for mana would be better.
  • Tinder Wall . Same as Wild Cantor sans the cost reduction bit.
  • Vivid Creek and Vivid Crag . These both ETB tapped, don't have basic land types, and only provide off-color mana twice. If would strongly consider running Amonkhet cycling duals over these.
  • Ancient Ziggurat . Be careful, as this mana can only be used for casting creature spells. I don't like this land in most decks.
  • Bond Beetle . I have no idea why this is in here. It works once and has very little synergy with the deck. Verdurous Gearhulk would be better, but still not great.
  • Green Sun's Zenith . I think a cheaper card that tutored to hand and then let you cast the card would be better, as you'd get the cost reduction effect and other synergies. No cards come to mind, but there are lots that look at the top X cards and tutor to hand ( Gift of the Gargantuan , etc.).

triproberts12 on Lord of Stresserhorn

5 years ago

What is Nekusar doing for you in this deck? I get that it pings in when your commander comes down, but this deck doesn't seem like it cares about normal damage. I also noticed you're running Splinter Twin, but I don't see any combo pieces to make it a secondary win con. I like what you've done with the Bestow creatures, since some of them provide both evasion and future sac fodder, although you might also want to consider Aether Tunnel , Tricks of the Trade , and Infiltrator's Magemark , along with some damage doublers like Furnace of Wrath. I would also check out EDHREC for some more Grixis and Lord of Tresserhorn staples. It's odd that this deck isn't running Signets or Vandalblast and is favoring narrow answers like Annul over Negate

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