Virus Beetle
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl 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
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Virus Beetle

Artifact Creature — Insect

When this enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card.

Novice_Necromancer on Sheoldred Reanimate

11 months ago

Hi legendofa,

Thanks for the description of Tempo! I can definitely see now that my deck is more late game oriented, so I'll add more higher CMC cards with bigger effects (i.e. Breach the Multiverse).

Also thanks for the suggestions, I removed some redundancy from my deck (the main ones I removed were some of the 1/1's with discard ETBs like Virus Beetle, some single target removals like Murder, and I think one or two board wipes like Languish) to fit in those cards you mentioned.

I justify keeping Whisper of the Dross because it's an instant speed proliferate at only 1 mana, so it's both cheap and has a surprise factor (seeing that it comes from the hand and not a permanent's activated ability).

What other cuts do you think I should make? I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what to trim down because in the moment it feels like everything just feeds into each other.

Also, if I make those cuts, do you think cards like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Grave Titan, and Razaketh, the Foulblooded would make for good high-impact creatures to replace them with. Especially to put them into the grave with all of my mill and discard effects and my Oriq Loremage and THEN cheat them out through my various means of reanimation.

Thanks so much,

Novice Necromancer

legendofa on Sheoldred Reanimate

11 months ago

Tempo is basically the pace of the game. Slower, more attrition-y decks want to extend the game and gain value over time, which is where I think this deck is trying to be. Compare that to a high speed, high damage deck that tries to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. What I mean by saying those cards keep your tempo up and your opponents down is that they represent threats, while also disrupting your opponents' strategy by forcing discards and damage.

The mana curve is a measure of how efficiently you use your available mana each turn. A low-curve deck will be more aggressive and try to win in the first few turns. A higher curve will try to extend the game to get to its best effects. The idea of playing "on curve" is basically that you play a land and use all available mana that turn. Turn 1, play a land and spend 1 mana, T2 land + spend 2 mana, T3 land + spend 3 mana, etc. It's important to balance the amount of mana you have with what you can do with it--if you're consistently leaving mana unused, or if you regularly don't have enough to cast your key spells, you need to rebalance.

EDH games tend to run longer, so there's more opportunity to get to higher mana values, and I see a lot of single-use 2-mana cards in this deck. Once your Elderfang Disciple or Virus Beetle or whatever does its thing, it's basically relegated to the role of chump blocker. My suggestions, especially the enchantments, aim to give this deck a way to use and reuse them, so you can get more value out of them. Self-destructive cards like Crypt Rats and Fleshbag Marauder also are worth using more than once.

As another thought, there's a lot of counter manipulation, but only Liliana of the Veil, Undying Evil, Undying Malice, Blightbelly Rat, Oriq Loremage, Bloodchief Ascension and Contagion Engine actually use or create counters, unless I'm overlooking something. There's as many or more ways to move or add counters as ways to actually get counters. I'm not sure what role Power Conduit plays in here.

At this point, I should probably mention that I'm not a high-end EDH builder; I have a lot of gimmicky decklists and just design around whatever catches my interest at the moment. Still, I hope my suggestions and advice keep your wheels going!

CJMikey on Tinybones Discard

1 year ago

Recent changes:

OUT: Instant/Sorcery Mind Peel Unmask Horrifying Revelation Tragic Slip Yahenni's Expertise

Enchantment Megrim Shrieking Affliction

Creature Fell Specter Virus Beetle Stronghold Rats

IN: Instant/Sorcery Despise Divest Toxic Deluge Heartless Act Malakir Rebirth  Flip

Enchantment Liliana's Caress

Creature Elvish Doomsayer Liliana, Heretical Healer  Flip Murderous Rider Rankle, Master of Pranks

legendofa on

1 year ago

Welcome to the club, JHM921!

For this deck, I see a focus on getting Sarevok, Deathbringer as big as possible, but I also see some bits and pieces that I think can be switched out. Cards like Butcher of Malakir and Grave Betrayal would work better in a more graveyard-focused deck than what I think this deck wants to be. There's some ramp and mana modification, with Nature's Lore, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and similar cards, but I think some more early cards like Elves of Deep Shadow, Golgari Signet, and Elvish Mystic would help accelerate early game into mid game.

Virus Beetle, Ravenous Rats, and Festering Mummy are all kind of underwhelming in this deck. If you want to force discard, you either want to affect every opponent or choose the discard yourself, and Festering Mummy just has too small of an effect that the deck doesn't really have ways to capitalize on. I recommend adding some more targeted permanent destruction. Depending on how much money you're willing to spend, Nature's Claim, Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, and Assassin's Trophy are all viable.

Since your commander is a big part of your win condition, you need to be able to protect it. Regenerate effects like Golgari Charm or Wrap in Vigor, indestructibility from Tamiyo's Safekeeping or Heroic Intervention, or simple unkillable-ness from Supernatural Stamina or Undying Malice will help keep Sarevok fresh and deathbringing.

Look through your deck, and for each card, ask yourself, "Why is this card in here? Does it advance my win condition? Does it remove an opponent's specific threat or problem? Does it protect my board?" If the answer to any of these is no, then it can probably be replaced with something more directed to this particular deck.

For some more specific suggestions, I assume Cloak of the Bat is to make Sarevok harder to block. I would switch that for something like Whispersilk Cloak. You don't have a solid Vampire base for Indulgent Aristocrat, and the Vampires you do have don't contribute much to your winning strategy, so I would save the Vampires for another deck.

I think if you tighten up the focus, this deck will become very solid. Happy brewing, and above all, have fun!

multimedia on Umezawa of the Swamp

2 years ago

Hey, well done so far for a first deck that's less than $50. Nice pulls from your box of Nashi, Satoru, Junji, and Chip.

You don't have lands? My advice before you go any further is to fill in enough deck spots for 35 lands. They can be 15 Swamp, 15 Island, Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, Secluded Courtyard, Unclaimed Territory, Sunken Hollow. The 30 basic lands can just be place holders until you can add more Dimir dual lands. The idea here is to fill the required deck spots you need for lands that way you can see how many deck spots you have left to add other cards or how many cards you have to cut to add lands.

You might have pulled a Secluded Courtyard and Dismal Backwater from your box since it's an uncommon and a common. If you did add them. Tower, Ancestry, Territory and Hollow are not in the NEO set, but are budget lands that can make more than one color. Tower is a staple land in Commander that all your mulicolored decks can use.

To add 35 lands you will have to cut 14 cards since currently you have 79 cards and you need 99 cards + Satoru to make 100 cards. Some cuts to consider are little creatures who are not Ninjas and don't have any ability that helps them to attack such as flying or unblockable. Enormous Energy Blade is the worse card here, the turn you equip it to a creature you control that creature can't attack with the +4/0 pump because it becomes tapped, easy cut. Some other cards to consider cutting:

After you add lands I offer more help if you're interested. Good luck with your deck.