Ponder

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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
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Ponder

Sorcery

Look at the top three cards of your library, then put them back in any order. You may shuffle your library.

Draw a card.

legendofa on Seeking Advice for Lazav., Dimrir …

2 days ago

Thinking about cantrips, I see Necropotence, Rhystic Study, and Phyrexian Arena in here, so there's some drawing power. Broadly speaking, I agree with the second person you talked to. These enchantments provide more advantage over time than spending a card to draw a single extra card. You can use graveyards as a resource, too. As far as cards like Dimir Doppelganger and Reanimate are concerned, everybody's graveyards are just extensions of your hand. So aside from the Preordain/Ponder/similar stuff in here that's good card fixing in general, cantripping isn't especially necessary. Unless you use massive amounts of cantrips (and some commanders are okay with that), they don't offer that much thinning, and simply playing with good knowledge and fundamentals will give you much more of an advantage. It wouldn't really hurt anything to include a few, but don't rely on them to break the game open in this deck.

Niko9 on Fun Deck/Builds to try

5 days ago

FormOverFunction Yep, I agree for sure! As much as I used try to nitpick and optimize decks, at the end of the day, if your group is all on the same power level we should be losing 75% of the time, so why not brew decks for fun? Commander was a fan made format, and I think the best version of it will always be a fan made format.

The thing is wizards is really good at designing cards that are good in commander, but so bad at designing cards that are fun or fit a theme. Like, not everything has to be 3 colors, draw cards or make treasures. I made a deck a while ago around Dihada, Binder of Wills because I love self mill strategy, but I have a hard time playing it. Every game is, do I have the colors to cast Dihada as fast as possible, because there really is no better play in the deck than, 4 mana to mill 4 and get 4 treasures. Luckily I didn't spend any money on the deck : ) I really thought I'd like it.

Or like the new Voja, Jaws of the Conclave that people are talking about as an aggro commander. I'm just looking at it like, yeah, but why does a wolf draw cards? What happened to drawing being like Pondering or Brainstorming. It's a little maddening that the only way they know to make a card good is draw or treasures, and then everything does that.

EDH is just weird in a way, because it's so fun to play with your friends, and so kinda lame to play with not your friends. I tried to get into games online and it's like, the first half of the game is everyone ramping and on their phones, then they miss interactions, then they want to go back, then somebody bricks on lands and quits randomly, then eventually combo win. I don't know, it's just such a great casual format, I just think it's harder than ever to make friends playing commander because there is almost an expected play pattern and that takes the fun of, cool merfolk deck, out of the game.

And, oh and this might be a waaaaay out there opinion, but I do think that EDH content creators and the design of the precons have created a certain bias in how good cards are, and it's played into them being in so many deck. Like, if every precon has Sol Ring then the edhREC data will have a massive uptick in how many games are won after playing a sol ring. Or how much of an absolute bomb something like Jeska's Will looks like in a command zone episode because they mulligan to perfect hands with perfect color fixing and early ramp. Drawing Sol Ring turn 6 or getting Jeska's Will when you don't have the right colors are things that I always think about while brewing because, for more than half the duration of every game, I'd much rather have a Tragic Slip than a Sol Ring. Cards with a high ceiling just look busted in a perfect game or a high sample size, but in play it's harder to tell if a win with Sol Ring is a correlation or just an occurrence.

I guess what I mean to say there is yeah, getting off staples, or at least considering what they are actually doing or me helps make decks feel more fun. Getting off combos with commanders and things is definitely one too. Because that seems like such a great idea when I'm brewing, but having a more versatile 99 can be way more fun to play.

But maybe my question is, how do you make the experience of playing with strangers in EDH better, or is it just a format that is designed to be at it's absolute best with friends. I've seen people just leave online games when I have a home brew, a few times even getting cussed at for being "off meta", and I very much feel like EDH for pure fun may be something that players have to create again somehow.

Also, I now want to pumpkin canoe race : ) That sounds delightful.

Sorry to go on a bit!

Azoth2099 on Wizard tribal Big X spells

2 weeks ago

Ahh yes, Wizard tribal. Amazing. Here's some cards to tutor, draw & ramp your way to victory with:

Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation, Gamble, Fervent Mastery & Vedalken AEthermage are worth considering as tutors here imo. Most of the other tutors in this color combo are Artifact tutors like Fabricate, Reshape & Reckless Handling...which I suppose could end up playing into a revamped strategy here as the deck develops, who knows?

For draw, Windfall, Wheel of Misfortune (& Wheel of Fortune if you're cut like that), Tolarian Winds, & Decaying Time Loop are all great with this commander. Cantrips like Ponder & Brainstorm should probably make the cut as well, it's hard to top that value for 1 mana.

As far as ramp, I always try to roll with at least 10 mana rocks, a handful of rituals & perhaps a few cost reducers when I'm within , depending on the your deck's mana curve. I know that sounds extreme, but I swear it makes your deck awesome, especially the more it develops. As the quality of each card goes up over time, consistent ramp becomes more and more important.

Also, some combo pieces to pair with Dualcaster Mage wouldn't hurt either. Twinflame, Heat Shimmer & Ghostly Flicker all work, the former 2 are definitely more synergistic with your current list though.

I could yap about various bangers for this commander like Bribery & Acquire all day, but I'll stop here unless you request more.

Lastly, a bit of bad news...Vadrik, Astral Archmage is the best commander for big X spells lol, he's insane. I might even say that he's the best one in that color combo in general.

Cheers!

DarkKiridon on Help Me With Kefnet

2 weeks ago

I'm not good with mono blue but what comes to mind is:

Baral, Chief of Compliance

Faerie Mastermind

Snapcaster Mage

Ponder

Disallow

Blustersquall

Echoing Truth can remove creature tokens

Misleading Signpost

Imprisoned in the Moon

Eaten by Piranhas

Cards like Ever-Watching Threshold and Propaganda could help.

Reins of Power

Hope this helps a little.

Profet93 on Issa Thassa

1 month ago

Thanks bro. I haven't played MTG in 4 years due to various issues but I'm definitely taking all of this into advisement. Once I get back in, I'm gonna review all the new sets and the meta to see exactly what I need.

I did build this deck with little to no counterspells as well as lower power on purpose to make it "more fun" and match with other lower power decks. High tide is great. Force of will is always in consideration.

I've never been a fan of master of waves because they just kill him to destroy all the tokens, I used to include him in the first iteration of the deck. Mox amber I need to Ponder on but it seems like a cool idea. I appreciate u taking the time to provide me with feedback.

Azoth2099 on So basically dimir Talrand

3 months ago

Yeah, I suppose that was a rude way to say that, I apologize.

Once this deck is streamlined, you'll have more than enough token generation to slot Diabolic Intent, especially considering that one of your main combos is Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter. Sacrificing a token so that you can make infinite tokens is worth it.

Also, the utility offered by Black Market Connections here is insane. If you don't want to throw a bunch of life into it once it's served it's purpose you can just pay 1 for a treasure, which is fantastic. The tokens it generates are Changelings as well, which matters a lot if we're talking about quickly getting to the 9. Never be afraid to use your life as a resource, especially in color combos including . You're kicking yourself by doing so! The more powerful and dialed in your decklist is, the more powerful your life will be as a resource, I cannot overstate this.

If you don't want to police the table for fun's sake...that's awesome lol, you're probably super fun to play with! In that case, I'd add more cantrip effects for yourself like Ponder, Brainstorm, Serum Visions, Opt...There's a ton. Windfall, Tolarian Winds, Sign in Blood & Night's Whisper would do great in this new hypothetical card draw pack, too.

As far as what I'd cut to make room for more core strength, here it goes:

Teferi's Veil, Levitation, Cover of Darkness, Glamdring, Maskwood Nexus, Uncovered Clues, Pieces of the Puzzle, Worn Powerstone, Metallurgic Summonings, Quantum Misalignment, Decoy Gambit & Soul Shatter.

None of these are bad cards per se, I definitely understand why you slotted most of them, but if you replace them with some of the cards I mentioned your deck engine will run a lot smoother a lot more often.

Azoth2099 on Kess reanimator

3 months ago

Consider Careful Study, Faithless Looting, & Tolarian Winds here! They can really help you tear through your deck & fill your graveyard super early in the game. I don't remember how much Traumatize costs nowadays, but it's probably worth looking into as well.

Some other pieces like Dark Ritual, Overmaster, Brainstorm, Ponder & Unmarked Grave can provide a lot of value here for a cheap ticket too.

Good luck refining your list!

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