Wirewood Symbiote

Creature — Insect

Return an Elf you control to its owner's hand: Untap target creature. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Discussion (51)

Inkmoth on Yeva Draw-Grow

1 month ago

CyborgAeon: I wish, since there's a couple things that will go well with it.

• There's also double bouncing with The Cat .

• Double untaps with Wirewood Symbiote / Quirion Ranger / Voyaging Satyr / Umbral Mantle / Staff of Domination .

• Double tutors with Survival of the Fittest / Yisan, the Wanderer Bard .

• Double flips with Vivien's Arkbow .

Despionnage on Rhys and his elves

1 month ago

PartyJ, to be completely honest, some of those lands didn't even cross my mind even though I knew they existed. They will be an almost definite addition. At least, the ones I can afford.

Now onto your other suggestions. The first card that caught my eye was Huatli, Radiant Champion . This card could be ridiculous given the fact that getting those loyalty counters up wouldn't be all that difficult. Imperious Perfect is actually a card that I've looked at and considered. I believe it would be a welcomed addition to the deck. Beastmaster Ascension is a beautiful card that I can't believe I looked over. Wirewood Symbiote could be quite interesting if I ever get multiple copies out. These are the cards that immediately stood out to me, I'm going to consider some of the other suggestions some more.

PartyJ on Rhys and his elves

1 month ago

Hi,

While I have no vast knowledge of Rhys - I never played with and against him - I do believe that I could make making some solid observations.

• The decks average cmc is currently 2.99. I would try to trim this down as much as possible.

• How far are you planning to go to optimize your manabase? I would ditch the tapped/suboptimal lands and select these lands: Savannah , Brushland , Sungrass Prairie , Cavern of Souls , Windswept Heath , Flooded Strand , Marsh Flats , Misty Rainforest . I am not sure how deep you want to invest in this. But selecting an optimal manabase greatly improves your overall gameplay.

Which cards do I feel would be really interesting for you to consider:

• Karametra's Acolyte
• Huatli, Radiant Champion
• Beast Within
• Imperious Perfect
• Triumph of the Hordes
• Mirror Entity
• Beastmaster Ascension
• Seedborn Muse
• Secure the Wastes
• Noxious Revival
• Wirewood Symbiote
• Chord of Calling

This should give you some food for thought :-)

Good luck!

PJ

Inkmoth on Yeva Draw-Grow

2 months ago

CyborgAeon: I honestly love taking everyones' suggestions as seriously as possible. Deliberation is usually a task I take upon myself and when I'm really stumped on a decision, I consult ShaperSavant. For the most part, I spitball with Soren841 as he's followed the deck's progress up until and including its current state and is also one of the more versed players on the subject matter (seen it in action as well). He constantly challenges the build, which drives me further to keep improving it.

I believe some suggestions fall flat because they haven't put in the hours I have into playing it, so it's up to me to explain my reasoning for card choices.

As for testing, it has its lulls where cards I want to see never show up, but that's just the nature of EDH. I almost never see Sylvan Library , but we know damn sure that cards hella good and never leaving.

Now, to address your suggestions:

Viridian Joiner : this is strictly worse than Marwyn, the Nurturer , as they cost the same and have the same base power, whereas Marwyn has a way of buffing her self. It's easy to buff with minor bounce effects like Wirewood Symbiote and unfortunately Viridian Joiner is stuck unless you play Umbral Mantle or Great Oak Guardian . Umbral Mantle being the reason to consider it makes it a very narrow pairing that's unlikely to happen as much as you'd want it since it's reliant on drawing into it. Only other card that works with it is Great Oak Guardian and only makes it worth it while looping. Last but not least, it's feasibly possible to make Marwyn, the Nurturer storm off at instant speed or go infinite with Staff of Domination .

Vitalize : This was a preference thing, since Yeva needs card advantage from everywhere it could possibly get it. Feel free to swap if your meta benefits from draught. Lately my internal struggle has actually been my want for Emerald Charm as it can even untap Gaea's Cradle and destroy problem enchantments at one mana, but I digress, Vitalize works as well as you'd expect it to with its lower cost and asymmetrical effect.

Fierce Empath : This card is unbelievably integral to the deck to date, I can't stress this enough. It's a pseudo outlet that's ridiculously flexible and it being a creature can easily start tutor chains. Ex: Woodland Bellower , Fierce Empath , Regal Force , or Great Oak Guardian . You can also lead with Fierce Empath into Woodland Bellower into any three drop you could possibly need to keep the ball rolling. Tutors on a body in this context are ridiculously strong and not to be disregarded. Also an elf

Vivien's Arkbow : Now, despite making Fierce Empath a non-option as a swap for the bow, that's not to say I'm currently wracking my brain on what to remove for it (looking like Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip, though not definite). Both Shaper and Soren have told me to consider it as well and in my opinion, it's a hell of a card, especially since it doesn't reveal and my curve is so low. I will be posting a HUGE update soon, with a new kill line and improvements with deep implications to the deck, however, testing is everything and I vowed to never post some update with arbitrary changes unless it changes the deck fundamentally for the better. Expect the bow in the deck eventually.

Ravenous Slime : Is only run against known flash hulk decks, if I'm blindsided, I insert it after since it's so narrow in every other situation.

Thank you so much for contributing to this discussion, as alway your feedback is appreciated.

SynergyBuild on Understimated Commanders

3 months ago

Well, I am a fan of Selvala, Explorer Returned . A group-hug effect tacked onto a name more recognizable in its mono-green form, however, I found that Selvala, Explorer Returned gives roughly 3-4 mana on tap. That is an amazing advantage.

Take abuse of this, with effects like Smothering Tithe , Well of Lost Dreams , or Paradox Engine , use more untap-effects like Instill Energy , Quirion Ranger , Scryb Ranger , Wirewood Symbiote , Vitalize , Nature's Chosen (A favorite), Emerald Charm , and numerous other green untap effects that cost less than the tap on Selvala herself, and you can storm off through your deck, just trying to find Paradox Engine , Well of Lost Dreams , or another payoff, and you will draw your deck.

Run any number of wincons, a favorite of mine being Altar of the Brood , Cloudstone Curio , Instill Energy , and Nature's Chosen , or whatever you want, and you get to mill out each opponent.

How do you do this when you have to draw your opponents ~20-30 cards when going off? Silence or Autumn's Veil , Grand Abolisher , City of Solitude . Whatever you want!

This list is just an unbudgeted variant: Selvala Hugstorm (Semi-Competitive Combo)

Inkmoth on Yeva Draw-Grow

3 months ago

ZendikariWol:

• Soul's Majesty / Rishkar's Expertise : What's wrong about these cards in the context of my deck is that the strongest creature in the deck is Woodland Bellower and Regal Force . Best case scenario it's a 5/6 drop to draw 6/5 cards at sorcery speed (Rishkar possibly cheating something out, which is the only reason it's enticing). Otherwise, it's more often than not going to draw 4 off of Yeva.

• Harmonize : Something about this is super unappealing. The sorc speed, it leaves no body. It also hurts my curve and cost too much to leave me open and incapable of responding to stuff going on in my opponent's turn, which is why I avoid sorc speed cards unless absolutely necessary, in favor of cards like Sylvan Library .

• Bear Umbra : I can see why you would want me to try this in the deck, but it's out for the same reason I wouldn't want to try Wilderness Reclamation . I used to care about untap effects, but now I prefer them in the form of an instant or at the very least a creature that can do it for a very low cost like Wirewood Symbiote . Last, but most important reason is the fact that I have a super low amount of lands in the deck. Most times I win with 3-4 lands at most, meaning the deck depends on its creatures and rocks for mana more than it does on the lands. In fact, I usually make it to 3-4 lands before the deck outright stops giving them to me.

Thanks for taking the time to comment, and I hope I was able to answer your questions.

CyborgAeon on Yeva Draw-Grow

4 months ago

YMMV Show

Ymmv is "your mileage may vary"

Sounds like the pod is kinda 75%-y if he's banking on mld... but I'd like to see it, as I imagine a staxy divergent build would be cool in Windgrace. Abusing Defense of the Heart into kiki-conscripts / into a hulk based win seems simple with a good value engine in the cz.

Yeva isn't just an orrery in the cz. Yeva represents the same threat that 2 untapped islands shows, while acting as a form of "protection" for your combo, as you don't have to decide whether you're going to play interactive or try to combo in your turn as it's then available across all turns! That's like... a huge buff! For this reason I feel Yeva is stronger than Yisan, as Yisan is in front of your opponents and your steps to winning are broadcast - despite any protection you may have.

I'll have to test out Shaman in Yisan, as a win con at 3 verses seems strong. Below are some questions and suggestions I have from reviewing your creature base.

Generous patron

Pros: patron can be used time & again with Wirewood Symbiote to generate the CA you need to win - that's pretty nuts; Cons: patron requires your opponents to be using creatures.

patron can find you a win condition by being flickered via cloudstone curio repeatedly until you draw a win; furthermore he can be used to flicker & buff your board until you are able to swing for lethal - win con, divination and half of an engine.

Cool things: repeated uses can turn off a tymna/edric deck by buffing everybody's creatures to stop the advances. If opponents are mostly creatureless (ie: divergent / storm), then this card is dead. This could be fixed by using Forbidden Orchard with excess land untaps...

Thought-Knot seer

pros: Thought-Knot Seer hurts opponents & makes hands their public knowledge - acting as a permanent stax effect & as a free way to convince the table who the threat is (great for removing suspicion for yourself

TKS is a win con - by bouncing & replaying he can exile all relevant cards from their hands as they come in & force opponents to deck.

Cons: Requires 1 waste (from a colourless rock/boreal druid/1 of very few lands that help with this) Can't be flashed from yeva (big oof)

Lys Alana huntmaster

pros: Lys Alana Huntmaster enables many combos & provides a good field of fodder for other effects ie: natural order; EE; clamp; earthcraft; curios for bouncing repeatable hatebears (ie Manglehorn ) & buffs ( Generous Patron ; Elvish Visionary ). cons: clunky at 4 mana;

does nothing on it's own.

doesn't win the game.

heritage druid

pros: turns your 7 non-mana elves into mana elves sometimes.

On combo turns this removes the need for haste enablers with PE

cons: Not always online. Does nothing on it's own. Not a fantastic engine on it's own - but a semi-efficient elf at 1 mana.

Drathro on [Primer] Momir Vig Hackball

5 months ago

If I'm not mistaken, there is a way to use Glimpse without Gaea's Cradle that uses only core cards available even to the budget builds. Apologies if somebody already posted a solution. I'll outline my thoughts. Let me know if I'm missing something here.

Given that you are generating mana and drawing through your deck, let's assume you reach the point where your library is empty. Let's further assume that because you've seen your library that you have played out the subset of permanents necessary to combo (all with summoning sickness), and you have destroyed or bounced any taxing effects. You have at least Green Sun's Zenith in hand, floating, and once-per-turn resources that could be activated have already been used.

In play:

• Momir , tapped
• Nettle Sentinel , tapped
• Phantasmal Image , copying Nettle Sentinel, tapped
• Heritage Druid , tapped
• Birchlore Rangers , tapped
• Wirewood Symbiote , already activated for the turn
• Temur Sabertooth
• any 1-mana Elf ,tapped

(starting with mana floating)

1. Pay and Temur-bounce Wirewood Symbiote. ( mana floating)
2. Put GSZ in the library for net zero mana. ()
   • Pay
   • Play GSZ for X=0.
   • Two Nettle Sentinels untap; Birchlore-tap them to add .
   • Fail to find. Shuffle GSZ in.
3. Play Wirewood Symbiote for net zero mana (regain via Sentinels/Birchlore). ()
   • Draw GSZ
4. Put GSZ in the library for net zero mana (see step 2). ()
5. Symbiote-bounce mana elf , targeting and untapping Heritage Druid. ()
6. Play mana elf for . (0 mana)
   • Two Nettle Sentinels untap
   • Draw GSZ
   • Resolve mana elf.
7. Heritage-tap mana elf and Sentinels for . ()
8. Repeat steps 1-7, except at step 5, untap Birchlore Rangers. ()
9. Birchlore-tap Heritage Druid and Birchlore Rangers for (or ). ()
10. Repeat all steps, gaining one mana for each full cycle.

In this way you can generate arbitrarily large amounts of and . Now you execute the rest of the plan, making sure to play/reshuffle GSZ only after you play Winds of Rebuke and before you replay Nantuko Tracer .