Indestructible vs Blink
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 25, 2019, 11:19 p.m. by Cloudius
I've been piloting a Selesnya tokens deck helmed by Shalai, Voice of Plenty :
Unleash the Horde!
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 39 | 34 COMMENTS | 3197 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS
The core strategy of the deck is to create plenty of tokens and go wide, thus I've included a handful of cards to protect my creatures from the nemesis of all "Go Wide" strategies - Board Wipes.
The protection come mainly from having my creatures gain indestructible (e.g. Selfless Spirit , Heroic Intervention ).
Recently, I'm experimenting with replacing some Indestructible effects with Blink ones, namely Rootborn Defenses and Make a Stand for Ghostway and Eerie Interlude .
Indestructible protects my tokens from board wipes but Blink doesn't. The latter offers protection against Cyclonic Rift , which is a staple in most decks with blue.
Seeking the wisdom of the community on which of these effects, would be better for the deck and why. Feel free to give your comments, suggestions and feedback. Thanks in advance for the help!
griffstick Thanks for your inputs.
I'm aware that blinking doesn't save the tokens as mentioned in my post above.
My original intent of putting in Blink, is to experiment with using that to at least save the non-token creatures and offer protection against Cyclonic Rift , which is rampant in my meta. While situational, an end-of-turn blink on Avenger of Zendikar could also mean a deadly Alpha Strike in my next turn if I can follow up with a pump spell like Overrun .
I've bookmarked your deck! It looks awesome from the onset, just have to see which cards are suitable for mine. Feel free to leave your suggestions on my deck page too.
I'm a great fan of MTG Muddstah and have been following him for quite awhile. I must have missed your video as I usually prioritize watching those videos which features commanders I'm playing 1st. Keep in touch and certainly looking forward to trading pointers with you! Cheers!
January 26, 2019 12:46 a.m.
griffstick says... #4
I think you can try to deal with the rift problem befor it's even cast. Get my drift. Cards as small as Nevermore to cards as big as Iona, Shield of Emeria naming blue
January 26, 2019 1:19 a.m.
Teferi's Protection will save all your tokens from both wrath’s and Cyclonic Rift . Because of the way phasing works, it does not cause a zone change, so you will not destroy your tokens.
January 26, 2019 1:34 a.m.
cdkime Thanks for the suggestion. Teferi's Protection is already in my deck.
January 26, 2019 1:37 a.m.
griffstick That's an interesting approach, never quite looked at it from that angle. Will explore down that route to see what I can unearth. Cheers!
January 26, 2019 1:40 a.m.
If you're talking about specifically protecting against Cyclonic Rift then why not just recast your stuff? Seem a lot easier than spending a bunch of resources digging for (as well as having to leave mana open) just to protect against one card which returns sutff to hand. It sounds like a bit of a knee jerk reaction to rift and unless you're running counterspells (not recommended here) then I would recommend focusing more onaking the deck faster rather than adding a bunch of single card toolbox hate.
January 26, 2019 3:37 a.m.
I propose that you run something no one will see coming: white counterspells. Mana Tithe works well if they tap out to use the wipe, while Lapse of Certainty hard counters and delays it for a turn. You can also use Silence as a way to prevent the typical instant sorcery boardwipes
January 26, 2019 7:26 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #11
If you describe your deck as Selesnya Tokens, I'd imagine that the tokens are the most important part of the strategy. Therefore I'd stick with indestructible. Nevermore does seem like a good suggestion if you are super concerned about specifically Cyclonic Rift .
January 26, 2019 9 a.m.
goodair Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately Gaddock Teeg shuts off some of my important wincons as well.
January 26, 2019 10:26 a.m.
enpc Very valid points. I'd need more play testing to see if the 2 blink cards works out well or is truly a knee jerk reaction.
Recasting is of course an option but as with all "Go Wide" strategies, it'll take a while before we re-establish the same board state, more often than not, the game's already over then. On the contrary, protecting the entire or part of my board from devastating board wipes would put me in a very advantageous position.
That said, Cyclonic Rift is an example I quoted in the write up but there're other cards that blink offers protection against while indestructible doesn't (e.g. exile effects like Merciless Eviction , Settle the Wreckage , Swords to Plowshares , etc). This was what got me thinking of trying out "Blink" so my protection package is more "holistic".
January 26, 2019 10:37 a.m.
crash328 Thanks for the suggestions. That's a very refreshing take on this issue. Lapse of Certainty looks interesting and I'm going to grab a few copies of it from my LGS.
However, my humble opinion is that protecting my board (while letting the board wipe resolve) would put me way ahead of the others (since I'm the only one with creatures left, or in the case of Rift, me and the caster) instead of just countering the board wipe outright.
January 26, 2019 10:44 a.m. Edited.
Gidgetimer Valid points about this being a "Tokens deck".
I'm also keen to test out the new card from RNA Unbreakable Formation .
Relooking at the strategy through the "token lens", I may be trying out Eerie Interlude and Unbreakable Formation . The former still offers protection against mass bounce effects (e.g. Cyclonic Rift , Evacuation , Wash Out , Engulf the Shore ) and the option to select which creature(s) I blink grants me the flexibility to protect my key non-token creatures from single target exile spells.
January 26, 2019 10:56 a.m.
griffstick says... #16
I got to use Unbreakable Formation in sealed and it was amazing.
January 26, 2019 1:12 p.m.
Cloudius: I can appreciate that. The only thing you need to be mindful of is the more slots you devote to protecting your stuff, the less slots you leave go actually forming a win con. Of course it is a balance, but if you can get your deck not caring about wraths 9 games out of 10, then you've done well. But when you start trying to make your deck be able to play around the white blue control deck with fifty thousand board wipes, your deck actually becomes a different deck, since you're now playing pillow fort attrition.
January 26, 2019 4:30 p.m.
bushido_man96 says... #18
Key to defeating Cyclonic Rift : kill that player first. If you know your meta well, and you know where its coming from, try to focus in on it. Or, you could try to politely convince them not to play it, but I doubt that will happen. I think, so in order not to lose most of the value out of your deck, you should just stick with the indestructible theme, and just be aggressive with your play style. You are playing Triumph of the Hordes , right? That'd be a good way to eliminate a Rift player.
January 26, 2019 5:03 p.m.
enpc good reminder. I've devoted 6 slots for protection at the moment. In a multiplayer EDH game, being able to survive 1-2 board wipes puts me ahead of most other players usually.
While the deck can quickly take out 1 player, other players will see the threat it poses and a board wipe would usually follow.
I fully agree with you we've to strike a balance. Along the same lines, having too many Token Doublers without reliable means to produce tokens, ain't going to work out too for such a deck. Am constantly tweaking these numbers as it is a delicate balance.
Thanks!
January 26, 2019 8:42 p.m.
bushido_man96 Howdy, we met some time ago, I remember your nick. Thanks for your comments!
Yup it is near impossible to convince the guy not to rift unless you promise him he'll not be at the receiving end of your creature wrath next turn.
Yes Triumph of the Hordes , alongside Overrun and other similar effects are inside the deck.
griffstick says... #2
I think if you are blinking your tokens to save then it's just not gonna work. When tokens change zones that's then end of those tokens. But phase then out and that works
With that being said. I have a solid token deck that's focusses on board wipes. Meaning in most cases a board wipe will advance my board state much further.
I have a ton of suggestions. But first I want you to take a look at my token deck and give it a good look click here to see my token deck.
January 26, 2019 12:22 a.m.