Returned Pastcaller

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Returned Pastcaller

Creature — Spirit Cleric

Flying

When Returned Pastcaller enters the battlefield, return target Spirit, instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.

multimedia on Tariel wrecker of holes

1 year ago

Hey, you haven't really made a complete deck yet to begin optimizing? Since there's only 14 lands here and you have to know that's not enough lands for a Commander deck?

There's some good ideas here, such as stealing opponent's creatures, attacking with them and then sacing them, but you want more sac outlets for this strategy. Making opponents discard cards is good, but giving an opponent the choice of what card to discard can be problematic for Tariel since opponent is not going to discard a creature. There's some reanimation and lots of recursion here which is good in these colors, but there's few enablers to get your creatures into your graveyard.

Some causal budget deck building advice to get started.

To start add 36 lands, they can be all basic lands to begin, can change some to dual lands later. Have 36 lands so you fill all the spots that are needed for lands and to clearly see how many cards have to be cut for lands. The double faced cards represented as lands here are all terrible cards for the mana cost. Cut them all and replace them with basic lands?

To add more lands next cut all the Pacifism removal? This type of creature removal doesn't interact with Tariel, Reckoner of Souls because it doesn't kill opponent's creature putting it into opponent's graveyard. If you want to utilize Tariel's ability then your opponent's creatures have to be put into graveyards, not exiled or stuck on the battlefield unable to attack or block.

The next cards to cut to add more lands are the high mana cost creatures who don't do enough for Tariel, Reckoner of Souls. Tariel is the high mana cost spell you want to cast more than the rest, the other spells played should have some interaction with him or interact with opponent's creature in some way such as In Garruk's Wake. Keep Wake, cut the rest?

Cards to cut last are some that just aren't doing enough for the mana cost and don't have any interaction with Tariel, Reckoner of Souls or the other strategies being played.

All these cuts make enough spots for 36 lands. When you have enough lands then you can begin to optimize the rest of your deck. Good luck.

zretrareo27 on RW EDH Brion 2022

1 year ago

My 2016 EDH deck - revamped for 2022! use commander Brion Stoutarm to Fling your opponents creatures with cards like Act of Treason, and if you're lucky - use Bazaar Trader to keep them!

I've tried to keep this deck nearly 50% White and 50% Red.

I've narrowed the premise of this deck down to the following categories, 50 Cards to the first, and 10 cards to each other category, give or take.

50% of the Deck is the Commander, Land, Mana rocks, and Draw.
10% is Steal/Keep
10% is Removal/Wipe
10% is Bringing Cards Back
10% is Brion Fodder and Fetch cards
10% is Double Damage and Powerful Flyers

Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. That being said, I will probably not be able to afford the more expensive cards Land Tax, Smothering Tithe, Lifeline, Smuggler's Share etc. that are not already in this deck. However - It's still fun to check them out! If you like it, up vote!


With this revision, I've cut many of the fancier, slower dual lands to opt for faster basic lands. I've also added Weathered Wayfarer.

I've removed cards that target artifacts and enchantments like Kami of Ancient Law, instead opting for better utility cards like Quarantine Field that target "nonland permanent".

I've made some recent changes to this deck, hopefully to address that mid game I am struggling with tempo, as well as running out of mana to cast the creature or steal spell and have enough to activate Brion's ability. Some cards like Deathrender and Thornbite Staff have been removed (even though they were good in concept) to add more playability.

I also found that after all the sacrificing, mid game I was running out of defense, so some additional creatures have been added with dual purpose, such as Angel of Sanctions and Emeria Shepherd.


Decksplanation:

Double Damage:
Fiery Emancipation gives me triple damage. Calamity Bearer works specifically to Brion's sac ability. Angrath's Marauders, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Gratuitous Violence all make the damage I do twice as effective.
When creatures I steal die, Stalking Vengeance beefs them. When I summon large creatures into play Warstorm Surge deals damage to my opponent, and when I sac those, Stalking Vengeance hits them on the way out.


Fodder:

Malignus, Serra Avatar, and Soul of Eternity all act as giant bombs to throw at the opponent.
Hofri Ghostforge allows for me to steal an opponents creature, fling it at them with brion, and then keep a spirit copy of that creature.


Draw:
Magus of the Wheel and Reforge the Soul provide the opportunity to get a fresh hand at my whim. Humble Defector is an easy and fun, card that helps me forge alliances with other players in multiplayer while getting me TWO extra cards per turn.
Skullclamp works perfect with the sacrifice ability and is easy to cast.
Well of Lost Dreams is insane when played late game for Brion's lifelink ability and can be fetched with Hoarding Dragon or Open the Armory Sin Prodder gives me a potential extra card per turn, or the chance for an opponent to take damage to the face... and then I can pull it out of my graveyard later with my other cards! Basically a win/win. Mangara, the Diplomat and Mila, Crafty Companion  Flip serve to deter attacks and draw.


Fetch:
Hoarding Dragon serves as a flyer, a sacrifice, and can grab any rocks, Skullclamp, or Well of Lost Dreams.
Open the Armory helps grab Skullclamp, Well of Lost Dreams, or Gift of Immortality.
Recruiter of the Guard is specifically to get Bazaar Trader for the huge advantage of keeping my opponents things, but can also grab Duergar Hedge-Mage for removal or Sin Prodder (amongst a few others). Weathered Wayfarer can grab any land, such as Buried Ruin or Arcane Lighthouse.


Mana Rocks:

Boros Cluestone, Commander's Sphere, and Mind Stone are all serving as early ramp and later card draw.
Sol Ring because Sol Ring.


Removal:

Archon of Justice is quite powerful in this deck, as it allows for a flying creature, then a source to sac, and remove a card permanently.
Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.
Duergar Hedge-Mage can be played and replayed in this deck for knocking off annoying enchantments or mana rocks.
Magus of the Disk is one of the board wipes.
Grasp of Fate, Oblivion Ring, and Banishing Light all allow for really flexible removal. Same for Quarantine Field except allows for extra targets for more mana. Chained to the Rocks works the same, but only for creatures. Angel of Sanctions works similarly, but is a creature. Ryusei, the Falling Star really just acts as weenie removal and a sac source from a flyer.


Bringing them Back (and sometimes keep it!):

Adarkar Valkyrie Sac an opponents creature, then get it permanently!
Bazaar Trader Take it with a steal and keep it!
Angelic Renewal Sac my own creature, get it back! Gift of Immortality Sac my own creature, get it back... again, and again!
Emeria Shepherd play a land, get a card! Play a Plains, get a creature to sac!
Mistmoon Griffin Flys, defends, and sac-able, then get back a creature from the graveyard!
Squee's Embrace fun and easy to play, and retrievable with Tragic Poet.
Tragic Poet, a low mana cost creature to get any enchantment in my deck back for any reason. Fun with Squee's Embrace, Angelic Renewal, etc. Returned Pastcaller a flyer that lets me grab a Threaten or Breath of Life. Angel of Serenity gives me the option of 3 recursion or 3 removal.


Stealing their Creatures:

Captivating Crew steals every turn! No wasted card space here, just a reusable sorcery.
Conquering Manticore powerful flyer, that steals!
Zealous Conscripts You can steal anything! Anything! Lands? Mine. Artifacts? Mine. Works great with Bazaar Trader.
Act of Treason, Portent of Betrayal, and Threaten are all basic steal spells.
Malevolent Whispers, Mark of Mutiny, and Traitorous Instinct all give me steal with buffs for Flinging.
Harness by Force allows for more than one thing to be taken if the extra cost is paid!


Powerful Creatures:

I'll be the first to admit, these don't reallllly fit in with the deck. But they're so awesome it's hard to remove. Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Aurelia, the Warleader

Alearin on Blood for the Blood Avatar: An Extus Guide

2 years ago

Hey Poooootato, thank you for checking the deck out and the comment. Since I wrote the description I have seen more decks come out trying to use the backside of Extus. However, many of them try to leverage the sacrifice creatures line to lower the casting cost and I believe that is a trap due to the fact you have to sacrifice the creatures as you cast the spell; unlike something like Dargo, the Shipwrecker that counts creatures sacrificed this turn, so you are setting yourself up to be blown out when the spell is countered on the stack. Even if it is not countered you now have to get even more creatures into play to sacrifice to cast the spell again. It is just too much effort for what you get out of it. Building Extus, Oriq Overlord  Flip as I have in this deck is much less effort for much greater effect.

If you want to play it aristocrat, I agree with you that you want to use some of the very few cards in magic that return an instant or sorcery back to your hand and cheap spells to try to get extra value with short loops. I have been working on deck focusing on the front of Extus, Oriq Overlord  Flip by using Biblioplex Assistant , Living Lightning , Returned Pastcaller , and Anarchist with various effects to do these loops. However, it feels very fragile and when I make it feel less fragile, I just push it into a generic aristocrats style and I might as well just play a better aristocrats commander at that point. If I ever get it feeling better I will post it here.