Desertion

Instant

Counter target spell. If an artifact or creature spell is countered this way, put that card onto the battlefield under your control instead of into its owner's graveyard.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

fluffyeel on Help make deck good

9 months ago

Unfortunately, to up the power level, some of the things I will recommend might be pricey (cost-wise), but I'm already seeing some places to improve.

• Entomb and Buried Alive are good options to get your things into your graveyard that you can later reanimate with Scarab God. Alternately, Filth and Wonder are good things to put into the grave that give you added bonuses. (If you go the Filth route, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is super-valuable.)
• For mana rocks, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, and Chromatic Lantern are all very handy and budget-friendly. If you have them, of course there's also Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Chrome Mox, but don't just get them for this deck. (I happen to have opened them, so they move around between decks a lot.)
• The ultimate zombie enabler, to me, is Field of the Dead. You would need to likely swap some basics for snow-covered basics to make it work more, but the condition (7 lands with different names) is incredibly easy to meet. You can also go the route of some fetching (Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds, Fabled Passage, Polluted Delta, Prismatic Vista...). Watery Grave is also highly advised, along with Contaminated Aquifer, Ice Tunnel, Underground River, and Drowned Catacomb. Port of Karfell might also be worth considering.
• The best mill payoff from your opponents is Rise of the Dark Realms. Alternately, Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Extract from Darkness are great for bonus reanimation. Junji, the Midnight Sky is another possible option. Desertion and Aethersnatch are also good to take your opponents' things before they knew what hit them.
• More tutoring. Expedition Map will help for lands; Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Diabolic Intent are good in general; Lim-Dul's Vault is, I find, underappreciated and very handy. Fact or Fiction is also handy to get through your deck and get fun things into the graveyard (or make your opponents wonder what's happening).
• The Meathook Massacre, Damnation, and Cyclonic Rift are extremely handy for removal. The first is also a bonus payoff if your zombies die in the process! Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is also super-useful when it comes to removal, turning your zombies into both extra cards and weakening your opponents' creatures.
• High-cost things: Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mana Drain, and Commandeer are useful for control and making sure things don't stick and Memory Jar for filling up graveyards.

fluffyeel on Sen Triplets - Esper Control (Seeking Help)

9 months ago

I would joke about "how can it be a Stax deck without Smokestack", but that's separate, and instead I'll offer up some possibly evil advice:

• Teferi's Puzzle Box or any wheel effect (like Echo of Eons) is obnoxious with Narset, Parter of Veils or Notion Thief. You could also go for Alms Collector for extra obnoxiousness.
• Raffine's Tower is a fetchable tri-land, so highly recommended. Not sure what your budget is, but other handy lands include Reflecting Pool, Field of the Dead (if you can swap out some lands for snow lands), Mana Confluence, Temple of the False God, the Fetches on-color (or even Prismatic Vista or Fabled Passage if you're basic-heavy). If you're basic heavy, maybe go for Back to Basics if you know there are lots of non-basic lands running around...
• In terms of Teferi's Protection comboing, why not Sunder?
• For removal, I highly recommend Vindicate and Anguished Unmaking. Elspeth Conquers Death is pinpoint plus reanimation, which can be handy. Cyclonic Rift is really quite pricey (surprisingly), but an excellent nuke.
• As for stealing opponents' things, I can suggest Commandeer, Desertion, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Telemin Performance... you could also use things like Silent-Blade Oni, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, and Fallen Shinobi for extra stealing fun, but given that they're Ninjas, they don't work as well without a dedicated Ninja strategy.
• Thalia, Heretic Cathar is another fun "Stax" card, as is Authority of the Consuls.
• Tutors are awesome (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Profane Tutor, Lim-Dul's Vault...), but not sure which ones you have ready access to. I also recommend Expedition Map to help get more lands.
• For some card draw, Teferi, Time Raveler, Sphinx's Revelation, and Fact or Fiction might be worth considering.

fluffyeel on Leeching Cotton: Oloro's Couch

9 months ago

Some thoughts:

• Opposition Agent is a possibly and suitably oppressive card, particularly with tutoring and fetching running rampant. Great fun.
• Raffine's Tower is a fetchable tri-land, which is great early game for color correction.
• Imperial Seal has been reprinted, so it's an extra cheap tutor that might be handy.
• Counterbalance can be delightfully obnoxious, and while it's combo potential with Sensei's Divining Top, you do have Soothsaying as an alternate option. It's countermagic, but it's exceptionally repeatable. Also, in terms of countermagic- and control-like things, I'd say to go for things with benefits, like Commandeer, Desertion, Vindicate (which I say is a must in those colors), Anguished Unmaking, Cyclonic Rift, Sunder, The Meathook Massacre...
• Dream Trawler might be pricey, but it's also very obnoxious to face. You could also think, in terms of creatures and creature-generation, about Sigil of the Empty Throne, Heliod, the Radiant Dawn  ^Flip, Field of the Dead...
• Felidar Sovereign is another alternate win with fewer life required than the Test of Endurance, though Aetherflux Reservoir can be another fun way to ensure your life shoots sky-high and gives you ammo to destroy things. I'm also partial to Kokusho, the Evening Star in any black deck.
• A fun (but slow) way to swipe creatures is Athreos, Shroud-Veiled. Great fun, and it's fairly hard for opponents to deal with if it's not a creature.

NV_1980 on I Sphinx You'll Find That's Mine

1 year ago

Desertion is a fun surprise for your opponents.

WarpedZerghead on Sen Triplets

1 year ago

What I found worked best for a Sen Triplets deck is using blue and white for control so you can have your artifacts do all the work getting combos into play.

Control

Stop players from stopping your fun: the match is yours and they simply haven't realized it yet. Dispatch quickly sets you up for a nasty rebuttal in between whichever counter-spell you choose to deploy. Vindicate, Mortify and Fracture (to name a few..) will help them learn that you mean business.

Land Fetch

Utilizing Esper colors, Black is the tutor-for-all, Blue is great artifact tutoring and White for some artifact but also enchantments. Good enchantments to have on hand are Paradox Haze (which you have) and Artificer's Intuition. Intuition is good because you can use it to get a Sol Ring in hand, another {1} cost artifact you might have, or, any of the following "artifacts that cost {0}:

• Ancient Den
• Vault of Whispers
• Seat of the Synod
• Darksteel Citadel
• Goldmire Bridge
• Mistvault Bridge
• Razortide Bridge

This cards makes for great and tutoring in a non-green deck as it can be used again and again and there are quite a few you can fetch. Another option is Tezzeret the Seeker that can get you your lands by using the -X ability for 0 to put them into play, unless you want to get a different combo/ramp artifact instead.

Artifact Tutor

Besides the obvious Vampiric Tutor an Demonic Tutor for your get-anything option, there are many options still available for finding the cards you need that are artifact type.

If you are ok with losing a few artifacts, Kuldotha Forgemaster is the ticket as I will sometimes even sac my artifact lands to get better beef on the ground. Otherwise, Sphinx Summoner will get you something in hand and provide you with a flier and a card. Some new cards that play well alongside the Trinket Mage are the Tribute Mage and Trophy Mage cards. Trinket gets you your Sol Ring or another {1} artifact where Tribute and Trophy get you {2} and {3}, respectively.
Artifact-related lands you want to look into are Inventors' Fair for artifact tutoring and Buried Ruin to get something back into your hand from the graveyard.

Ramp Boost

With such a vast array of artifact-type cards - especially mana ramp - you'll want an Unwinding Clock to be sure to keep everyone on edge.

Combo

Combos? We've got combos!
This is my new favorite infinite trigger set using Dross Scorpion + Myr Turbine + any of the following sacrifice outlets:

• Grinding Station
• Ashnod's Altar
• Phyrexian Altar
• Altar of Dementia
• Blasting Station

Steal their Kool Aid

Your Commander will lock a player out of your turn but it also allows you to play their hands. This is a good time to drop any lands they might have in their hands to keep them starved and likewise cast their good ramp spells to get you ahead or continue to lock them out. In the event they finally are able to cast something, you can respond with a Desertion counter-spell (mana permitting) and stick whatever creature/artifact they were trying to cast back in their Vault of Whispers. Thada Adel, Acquisitor and Daxos of Meletis are also nasty foes that puts an opponents deck against themselves. Bribery and Acquire are a malicious and personal jab that should only be used at every chance you get assert your dominance on the board and your opponents deck.

Conclusion

All these cards stand alone from what you can do to further abuse you opponents with just your commanders abilities: it is a multi-pronged deck that throws multiple threats at your enemies making them scramble to deal with one thing while still getting overrun by another.


Have fun...

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Fata Morgana

1 year ago

Great build! I loved this era of Magic and this deck takes me right back.

What do you think about adding Desertion? Its success would be dependent on what your opponents' are playing so it may not be a good fit, but it's a lot of fun when you pull it off.

I'd also be really tempted to run Final Fortune to close out games, maybe just as a one-of.

jicklemania on Aesi Landfall/Turns (Primer)

3 years ago

Hi Profet93.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I do like Intervention, and will add it. I had Desertion in here because it is one of my pet cards. :) It doesn't mean I shouldn't cut it though lol.

I could cut Solemn. To be honest, it actually has performed quite well for me, but I will try replacing it with interaction and see how that goes.

I find that I am often able to cast time stretch, especially since getting a crucible/excavator guarantees land drops.

Yes, I could add another extra turn spell - they're never bad. I just find that I often don't need one. Also, I'm not trying to make this deck tier one (if that's even possible for Tatyova), or even tier two or three. To be clear, I'm not trying to make it casual— but it doesn't have to be the most consistent it can possibly be.

I agree with the land suggestions. I didn't have Passage in here before because it was twenty bucks and I didn't have one, but now that its less I will definitely add it.

I will get to updating the deck as soon as I have time. Thanks!

EdhOutlaws on Braids’ Eldrazi Daycare

3 years ago

Desertion