Looking for cards with Buried Alive effects, but for opponents.
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 4, 2018, 10:10 p.m. by Yesterday
Hey there. I'm putting together a... currently somewhat janky Tariel, Reckoner of Souls deck with which I want to be able to control opponents' graveyards. I have plenty of effects that exile specific cards from graveyards to get rid of little creatures I don't want, but I'm also looking for cards that function similar to Buried Alive, but for an opponent. So far I'm aware of Life's Finale and Grinning Totem but haven't found anything else yet.
I'd rather not go for general milling. I think I might have to resort to targeted discard effects like Thoughtseize, but in multiplayer it's very difficult to get much bang for your buck games with those.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Oloro_Magic says... #4
If you have the gas to support it Mind Slash works well as a kind of targeted recurring Thoughtseize in the right deck. I know personally I love this card in my black EDH decks.
March 5, 2018 9:16 a.m.
griffstick says... #5
You know you could always target yourself with the Thoughtseize and discard something good to reanimate. Behold the Beyond is good at that. Secondly I think Life's Finale would be good here too
March 5, 2018 9:35 a.m.
DrukenReaps says... #6
Something of note Grinning Totem, Sadistic Sacrament, and Jester's Cap exile from their library which does not give Tariel, Reckoner of Souls any targets. These got me thinking though and I went and looked at the eldrazi processors. This idea is really janky but you are getting your opponents best creatures if you do this.
Blight Herder, Mind Raker, Ruin Processor, Ulamog's Despoiler, and Wasteland Strangler all work for this plan. I want to emphasize that this is taking jank level to over 9000 but it would allow Grinning Totem, Sadistic Sacrament, and Jester's Cap to give Tariel, Reckoner of Souls some targets.
March 5, 2018 9:47 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #7
Grinning Totem does work. Read the end of the card
March 5, 2018 10:20 a.m.
How about Sands of Delirium, Thought Dissector or any other Millstone style effect? Codex Shredder has the recursion possibility also. Mindcrank, Mesmeric Orb, Trepanation Blade, and Sword of Body and Mind don't cost lots of Mana to keep using repeatedly.
March 5, 2018 11:07 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #10
Only three cards do what you ask according to this scryfall search: Grinning Totem, Life's Finale, and Quiet Speculation. The first two, you already have, but that third one is not even good enough even if Tariel had blue because of the fact that it by its very nature cannot find creatures.
Sorry, but WotC just hasn't played around with this idea enough yet.
As others have mentioned, the other way would be to use either mill cards or processors with cards that can exile cards from libraries.
March 5, 2018 2:42 p.m.
Thanks for the feedback, folks. I was hoping I was doing something wrong in the Gatherer search and that cards like Life's Finale were an older form of deck removal before 'removed from the game' became a thing, but no such luck.
I kinda wanted to avoid things like milling because I wanted a better way to deal with what's in an opponent's graveyard and not just pulling little creatures at random with Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.
It looks like I'm going to have to go down the route of milling and then exiling unwanted cards from graveyards. Unfortunately the only repeatable eldrazi processing effects aren't in Tariel's colours, but still the targeted exiling and then processing is hilarious and I think I might have to build a deck around that at some point.
Thanks again!
DrukenReaps says... #2
I'm not sure how many of those sorts of effects there are. I'm willing to bet not many...
You can always Wrath of God or Crackling Doom after they play their creatures. Things like Sheoldred, Whispering One, Archfiend of Depravity, and Geth, Lord of the Vault would be good.
Of course if you go with discard the list is unending. Thoughtseize effects are rather inconsequential in commander though. I would tend towards wheels instead or bigger discards. Reforge the Soul or Myojin of Night's Reach work well.
If you do go with some small discards consider Glasses of Urza so you can find the best opponent.
March 4, 2018 11:24 p.m.