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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 |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Creature — Sphinx
Flying
Shroud (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
You may look at the top card of your library. (You may do this at any time.)
thefiresoflurve on
[Needs Trimming] Blue Fliers Budget EDH
1 year ago
Hey there!
I would go for slimming down each category, rather than just creatures/control.
Some low drop creatures can be worth running in the right context, but some of yours can probably be cut: turns 1-2, I'd much rather be casting things like Ponder or Brainstorm to prepare for future turns than drop a Faerie Seer which isn't terribly impactful. Some of your low CMC creatures can stay, like Cloudfin Raptor which is an absolute beast, but if I were you I'd just playtest some of them and see what you like best.
There's no such thing as "too much card draw", as long as you don't deck out or die due to not doing other things that actually win you the game. A good thing to do in blue is make sure your card draw spells are instants, so you can hold up mana for a counterspell if you need it, then if your opponents change phases to their end steps without doing anything crazy, you can cast a Brainstorm / Deliberate.
Draining Whelk can be really good, depending on what you counter. It's a 6 drop Counterspell & 4/4 + flier in one card slot. Only downside is the steep CMC.
Some things you could trim: Wingspan Mentor - a bit slow and win-more: if you have enough creatures out for its counters to matter, you were probably dealing good damage without it.
Charix, the Raging Isle - same CMC as your commander, so you'll probably want to cast your commander instead 9/10 times you draw it.
Floodgate - as above, also you have better control options.
Sludge Monster - slow, not quite a fit here.
Thryx, the Sudden Storm - a bit better of a fit, but still not quite worth it.
Windstorm Drake - small toughness boost is not worth the cost.
Sphinx of Jwar Isle - sometimes it can be nice to know what's coming up next in your library, but this isn't worth the cost and top deck manipulation doesn't really have much synergy here.
You could cut a few of your worse counterspells: Intervene, Crypsis, Nullify.
lastly, with your average CMC, I think you could comfortably cut 4-5 Islands.
Hope that helps. Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to explain some of my reasoning on cuts and such.
GL, HF!
Yesterday on If you're given the option …
2 years ago
AFAIK, this is only an acorn/silver-bordered question, but I'm hoping somebody can think of a relevant black-bordered example or equivalence.
If I control a Psychic Network and later have an Oracle of Mul Daya enter the battlefield, as I understand it, I'll have the top card of my library revealed via the Oracle and not have it pressed against my forehead.
If those enter the battlefield the other way around, the card will be revealed to everybody other than me, so I won't be able to see my top card. But I'll still be able to play it if it's a land card? Even though I won't have that information. Is there any way around not being able to play those lands, aside from casting another Oracle or Sphinx of Jwar Isle or something?
As I type this out, I'm thinking this is... maybe just a question for Blogatog. I dunno. If anybody can shine some light regardless, I'd appreciate it.
Baileef on
Unesh
3 years ago
Have u though of adding a Sphinx of Jwar Isle ? It'd help you plan out what you're gonna do each turn by letting u look at what you're gonna get next draw, and its got shroud.
Ragamander on
Blue/Black
6 years ago
The first thing I'll say is that with 21 lands, you probably can't expect to get the mana to launch Army of the Damned or a really powerful Mind Grind or Torment of Hailfire. Well, at least without Organ Harvest, of which you're only sporting one copy. (If you don't play with teammates, or if you don't play with silver-bordered cards, you might replace it with Culling the Weak.) For reference, the math on Army of the Damned is that about 1/3 of your cards are lands = 8/24, meaning you need to survive to turn 17-18 (have seen a total of 24 cards between your opening hand and your draws each turn) to hit that 8th land. That’s a long time in a Magic game.
Second, Mind Grind, while fun, is questionable here, since none of your other cards will mill your opponent. Many people play with 4 copies of many of their cards, so milling them might not cut them off from their game plan unless you mill them so much they might die. And for that, you would need more support for the mill plan or a LOT more mana. (This is possible, but a big change. Look for cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable and Mind Funeral. Otherwise, I'd cut it for cards that affect board-state or life-totals.)
Third, your overall game plan appears to be to stall in the early game for more powerful plays late, since your low cost cards are generally defensive. This means you'll want more lands in your deck so that you don't stumble on your way to those big plays. I'd remove Coral Atoll and put in four Dimir Aqueducts. It's not the ideal play, but it's cheap and there's a lot of upside if your opponent doesn't Ghost Quarter it or something. Anyways, that will take you up to 24 lands AND increase your average mana output a little more, letting you rely on 4CMC, 5CMC, and 6CMC plays to dominate the game.
Finally, on to individual cards:
Kraken Hatchling, Mausoleum Wanderer, Pharika's Chosen, and Will-o'-the-Wisp are all fine defensive one-drops, but they all do something a little different. Thornbow Archer is a little more aggressive than the rest of your deck wants, so maybe drop it and pick your favorite of those first four and add a second.
Fogwalker is okay on defense, though it's not the best two-drop out there. I'm not a fan of Olivia's Dragon, especially outside of madness/reanimator decks. Rancid Rats just doesn't offer enough oomph for the mana (skulk is not typically a very useful ability). Graf Rats is bad unless you have Midnight Scavengers, so it's really about how much you personally want to meld them. Ultimately, I'd rather replace them with better blockers like Wall of Tears, Wall of Souls, Contraband Kingpin, Dragon's Eye Savants, Gifted Aetherborn, or the absolute top-tier Baleful Strix. Other value options include Omenspeaker, Sigiled Starfish, and Augur of Bolas. Other fun options here are Surge Mare, Riptide Mangler, Lazav, the Multifarious, Fathom Feeder, and Ludevic's Test Subject Flip. Choose your favorites. Alternately, spot-removal like Doom Blade, Victim of Night, Cast Down, Go for the Throat, and sometimes Dimir Charm are pretty effective.
Wharf Infiltrator can be good sometimes. You can leave it in for fun or replace it.
Eternal Scourge has its uses, but I don't think this deck is optimized for it. Ideally you'd want a few things that can exile it from graveyard or hand, such as Gurmag Angler, Soulflayer, Tombstalker, Scavenging Ooze, Grim Lavamancer), Azor's Gateway Flip (from hand), or the most hilarious option, Serum Powder. As it stands, it's just difficult to kill outside of combat, like a bad shroud or hexproof. Honestly, I don't think you need a 3/3 to be immune to removal. Replace with a finisher, which I'll discuss in a bit. Alternately, one of my favorite defensive 3CMC creatures is Graveblade Marauder, since its offensive capabilities can rapidly increase.
Markov Crusader isn't actually very good even in the rare case when you do have another vampire, and you only have one other one. Compare to 4CMC utility wunderkind Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, 5CMC finishers (like Archfiend of Depravity, Glyph Keeper, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Vengeful Pharaoh, and maybe even Serra Sphinx), and 6CMC game-winners (like Noxious Gearhulk, Dread, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Wurmcoil Engine, Grave Titan, or even Vengeant Vampire, though that last one is much worse than the others). Sure, none do exactly what Markov Crusader does, but some are close and they all have incredible upsides. Even something like Shriekmaw might ultimately gain you more life by just killing something outright, plus it's super-flexible. Heck, Soul Ransom and Mind Control are strong cards too, at least against creature decks. Anyways, Markov Crusader is a card to replace.
Midnight Scavengers is okay, especially if you have a lot of disposable deathtouchers to bring back, but it still doesn't compare favorably to the above finishers unless you really want to meld it with Graf Rats. Remember, doing things you want to do is an important part of MTG. But if you don't care to meld, I'd look to replace it.
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled is fine. In most cases it doesn't compare favorably to the 6CMC critters above, but it has its uses. If you've got a lot of little deathtouchers (Pharika's Chosen, Typhoid Rats, Dire Fleet Poisoner, it can grow really out of hand. Also, Field of Ruin forces a library search.
Elder Deep Fiend is fine. Usually you play it in a deck that has plenty of creatures you don't mind (or are better off) sacrificing (for example, Priest of the Blood Rite, Relentless Dead, Doomed Dissenter, Stormbound Geist/Geralf's Messenger), then you emerge it early and tap down lands. That's not really your plan here, so it's probably not the best choice. Some good choices for replacements are above, but within the category of emerge creatures, I think Distended Mindbender fits your deck better.
Organ Harvest is a powerful card, but has some drawbacks. Most importantly, a lot of people don't play with or against silver-bordered cards. They're not legal in any official tournaments. Tournament legal variations are Dark Ritual, Culling the Weak, and Ashnod's Altar. Other than that, it's a card that is useless in many situations and completely changes what you're able to do when you actually can make use of it, and that can be awkward from a strategy perspective. If you don't have creatures, you can't cast it. If you don't have a big spell in your hand, you don't need to cast it and you'd rather have almost any other card. So it wants your deck to be full of disposable creatures and big spells, like an emerge deck or a zombie deck really making use of Army of the Damned and From Under the Floorboards. But for the most part that is not this deck, so unless you want to build around the card, I'd remove it, either replacing it with Dark Ritual which is always useful when drawn early, or something else that's cheap and effective: Dead Weight, Apathy, Doom Blade, Pharika's Chosen, or whatever.
Sorcerous Sight is worse than Peek and Gitaxian Probe, but I don't think any of those are particularly good in your deck. If you want to know what's in your opponent's hand, play Telepathy. Otherwise, there's better card draw: Preordain and Ponder are the best cheap spells, but it might be worth spending more mana for more effect with Sign in Blood or Chart a Course.
Cemetery Recruitment isn't particularly good with so few zombies. You can add more zombies, or switch to Ghoulcaller's Chant/Find / Finality/Recover/Disturbed Burial/Death Denied to simulate the effect, or just do card advantage the old-fashioned way, with stuff like Sign in Blood/Consult the Necrosages/Read the Bones/Notion Rain/Secrets of the Golden City. Alternately, shred your opponent's hand (and lose friends) with Hymn to Tourach or punch your opponent for cards with Shadowmage Infiltrator. If you're committed to bringing creatures back from the dead, look to Zombify, Extract from Darkness, or Isareth the Awakener, which can randomly run away with the game if your opponent doesn't have an answer. The most efficient reanimation spell is Unburial Rites, but you'd need to splash white for it to be better than the above options.
Contingency Plan doesn't actually net you any cards in hand; you just control what you are going to draw later. Since you're not very graveyard-focused, there's little benefit. The more flexible version is Dimir Charm, and the more powerful version is Lim-Dul's Vault. If you want to stack the top of your deck for 2CMC without wasting a card to do it, there's Diabolic Vision, but the 1CMC Preordain and Ponder are worthy as well. Alternately, raw card advantage is an option. Any of the options I've already listed are fine, but here are some more: Chemister's Insight, Foresee, Deep Analysis.
Mind Grind attacks on an irrelevant axis. Recommend replacing it with a finisher unless you add more mill. If you want a non-creature finisher, Ob Nixilis Reignited is pretty cool. If you just want something that can't get Murdered, there's Sphinx of Jwar Isle.
Torment of Hailfire is possibly workable if you go to 24 lands with Dimir Aqueducts. X=3 is pretty much the bare minimum, and if they have cards in hand even that might not be enough. This is a possible swap for a finisher, as above.
Army of the Damned is hard to cast at 8CMC. Recommend replacing it with a cheaper finisher unless you're all about Organ Harvest.
Apathy is pretty decent at 1CMC. Probably not as good as just casting Doom Blade/Go for the Throat to kill the thing, but definitely more interesting and fun. It can stay in, though swapping it for something more reliable is technically the correct decision.
Strange Augmentation is bad in your deck. While +3/+3 for 1CMC is fine in a very aggressive deck, that doesn't seem like your game plan. Ideally, your finishers are big enough to win without the extra P/T. If they're not, these could be replaced with kill spells to make sure they are.
Tormod's Crypt is useless unless you frequently play against graveyard-based decks. Even then, with only one in the deck, you're in bad shape. I'd swap it for Relic of Progenitus or Sentinel Totem if you really need graveyard hate. If a creature is reliable against those graveyard decks, Deadeye Tracker, Nezumi Graverobber, or Withered Wretch can do some work. Agent of Erebos is another option. If the only things you need to exile are creatures, then Cemetery Reaper, Dimir Doppelganger, and the powerful Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet are options. Otherwise, cheap kill spells, counterspells, or even more expensive exiling removal (e.g. Sever the Bloodline, Silence the Believers) are options. Phyrexian Scriptures is another card I'll mention, just 'cause it does lots of stuff.
Nevinyrral's Disk is pretty good. Go ahead and keep that in there.
Gridlock is okay, but it's basically a Darkness you can use aggressively. I think Sleep is generally better at that. Alternately, if you want a mass-defense spell, Yahenni's Expertise, Languish, and Damnation are the go-to sweepers.
Outwit is way too narrow; most decks don't target players. (The primary exceptions are burn and mill, so if you play against them a lot, it might be fine.) If you want a dollar-cost-effective counterspell in that slot, play Counterspell or MAYBE Dimir Charm for flexibility.
Turn Aside is okay, but mostly outclassed by Dive Down or Counterspell.
Murder is fine. (Card-wise, not morally!) Technically Hero's Downfall is better if you can get one.
Liliana Vess is fine, but she's a little slow. I'm not sure whether she's better or worse in this deck than Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, Ob Nixilis Reignited, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, or even Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. My inclination is that those are stronger as you increase the median quality of the cards in your deck (making Vess's -2 less important).
Here's one inexpensive, somewhat-boring take:
2x Glyph Keeper
1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1x Liliana Vess
2x Dimir Charm
2x Doom Blade
2x Agony Warp
3x Notion Rain
9x Island
9x Swamp
That's just one take on the general strategy. Ultimately, (I think) you're playing Dimir Midrange, and so you're looking for about 40% (24) lands, 30% (18) things that keep you alive until you have 4-6 mana, 20% (12) things that kill your opponent and are themselves hard to kill, and 10% (6) things that put you ahead on cards just in case you're not drawing the right part of your deck.
Mortiferus_Rosa on
Aminatou
6 years ago
Im going to make these suggestions under the assumption that price is not an issue.
Card Suggestions
- Topdeck Manipulation
- Scroll Rack: is the card for this deck. Hand and topdeck manipulation with no equal.
Enigma Sphinx - Sensei's Divining Top: Another fantastic artifact for controlling your draws.
- Soothsaying: Topdeck fixer. Cheap enchantment and a good mana sink. Basically a not as good, but cheaper alternative to Scroll Rack.
- Scroll Rack: is the card for this deck. Hand and topdeck manipulation with no equal.
- Abusing ETB options
- Panharmonicon: Why have one when you can get two? (Double ETB triggers).
- Riverwise Augur: Brainstorm ETB effect.
- Flickerwisp: 3/1 Flier, lets you get another ETB effect from a creature you already played.
- Glimmerpoint Stag: Strictly worse Flickerwisp.
- Conjurer's Closet: Single flicker effect on end step, it is slow and not a top recommendation
- Karmic Guide: Abuse-able graveyard recursion
- Angel of Serenity: Removes 3 cards each ETB and returns to hand instead of battlefield when it leaves.
- Magister Sphinx: Puts target opponent at 10
- Massacre Wurm: Great way to wipe tokens
- Sunblast Angel: Boardwipe ETB
- Pilgrim's Eye: Never miss a land drop ETB
- Mnemonic Wall: Return instants and sorceries from graveyard ETB, also a good wall
- Noxious Gearhulk: Destroys creatures and gains life on ETB
- Cataclysmic Gearhulk: Great way to clear a cluttered board.
- Big Game Hunter/Shriekmaw/Bone Shredder
- Ashen Rider/Angel of Despair
- "Better" spells (ie, better cards that do what cards you have do)
- Baleful Strix: Much better than your Phyrexian Rager
- Dusk Legion Zealot: Similar to Phyrexian Rager except a 1/1 that costs 1 less
- Duplicant: Slightly cheaper Phyrexian Ingester (honestly, id consider both)
-
Other spells
- Teferi's Protection: This card is busted by itself, coupled with your commander's ult and its just unfair.
- Counterbalance: If you have enough topdeck manipulation this can be a powerful card, but i can understand not wanting to run it.
- Homeward Path: Lets you (everyone) get back their creatures but not other non-land permanents
- Saving Grasp
- Supplant Form
- Mystical Tutor/Enlightened Tutor/Vampiric Tutor: One mana tutors that put the card on top of your library. I would definitely run Mystical Tutor at least.
- Fabricate: Tutors an artifact. Highly recommended should you buy the Scroll Rack or other good artifacts (Not worth it if all you have are mana rocks)
- Chromatic Lantern: Still the best 3 drop mana rock for multicolored decks
- Voidwalk: Another means to get your creatures back after you ult
-
Cards that I would consider taking out
- Primordial Mist: Clunky and slow and you have pretty much removed all of the other manifest cards it doesnt really fit.
- Jeskai Infiltrator: Another manifest card
- Enigma Sphinx: It is very expensive card for a 5/4 body, even with flying. It has no ETB effect to abuse (since you have to cast to get the cascade effect).
- Sphinx of Jwar Isle: Unnecessary Effect
- Conundrum Sphinx: There are far better and cheaper card draw effects... Loyal Drake for example
- Sphinx of Uthuun: Expensive for a Fact or Fiction
-
Other Comments
- I dont know about cards like Esper Charm or Crib Swap whether they are worth keeping or not?
cgordon on
Amina 2 Legit
6 years ago
9/12
Out:
- Jeskai Infiltrator
- Loyal Subordinate
- Loyal Unicorn
- Sower of Discord
- Sphinx of Jwar Isle
- Army of the Damned
- Varina, Lich Queen
- Serra Avatar
- Geode Golem
- Skull Storm
- High Priest of Penance
- Lightform
- Cloudform
- Silent-Blade Oni
- Barren Moor
- AEthermage's Touch
- Magus of the Balance
- Primordial Mist
- Adarkar Valkyrie
- Seer's Lantern
- Treasure Hunt
- Sigiled Starfish
- Conundrum Sphinx
- Aminatou's Augury
- Crystal Ball
In:
- Swords to Plowshares
- Felidar Guardian
- Altar of the Brood
- Brago, King Eternal
- Counterspell
- Rune-Scarred Demon
- Fleshbag Marauder
- Oath of Teferi
- Cloudblazer
- Vela the Night-Clad
- Diabolic Tutor
- Piranha Marsh
- Eerie Interlude
- Merciless Eviction
- Perplexing Chimera
- Cryptic Annelid
- Peregrine Drake
- Gonti, Lord of Luxury
- Archaeomancer
- Panharmonicon
- Liliana's Contract
- Condescend
- Explorer's Scope
- Ghostly Flicker
- Fellwar Stone
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