Rush of Knowledge

Sorcery

Draw cards equal to the highest converted mana cost among permanents you control.

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
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

patrickd117 on Janky Leviathans

1 year ago

I'd cut: Rush of Knowledge - there are much better draw spells, even when you generally have your general as a 4cmc land out. Frantic Search - I don't think this is worth playing unless you care about the discard. Elvish Piper - there are better cards like Monster Manual now. Displacement Wave - potentially alright with how high cmc your stuff is? But it is kind of inefficient and works against your mana artifacts. Generally I think you want to replace more of your ramp with land fetches like Rampant Growth over the mana rocks.

For adds: Monster Manual, hullbreaker horror as one of the best new Sea Monsters. Trench Behemoth seems interesting to me? Khalni Ambush  ^Flip as a way to get your land count up. Farseek as land ramp.

I'm not sure about the small instant-speed subtheme you have going with Rewind and Unwind and just general high-amount of instants. You've got a lot of high cmc leviathans which I think would tend to lead to you playing more sorcery speed. Might be easier to have lower cost interaction over expensive interaction that untaps.

Also agree on all of Lynn's cuts.

DreadKhan on Tiamat semi-competitive

1 year ago

I tend to run a higher land count in my 5 colour decks (37-39 feels 'normal', your more competitive mana base would allow you to run less and still fix reliably, but I'd hesitate to go below 34 with a 7 MV Commander). As you're not at the full size for your deck, you have room to throw in some lands, and since opponents sometimes run effects that have 'find a Basic', you might want one of each Basic. Rampant Growth (and Expedition) has to find a Basic Land, so you should either add basics or switch it with Nature's Lore or Wood Elves.

I feel like a few more creatures would help, Birds of Paradise is a good ramp source, Ignoble Hierarch is a slightly worse one, and Tireless Provisioner offers a potentially better Lotus Cobra (you could use both IMHO). Very good if you run enough Fetch lands obviously. If you run both, you probably want all 10 Fetch lands, and might even run Krosan Verge, which is great with Triomes anyways. Really $$, but Urza's Incubator is a strong card in Dragons, even your Commander benefits. Really weird, but I guess Herald's Horn and Descendants' Path are pretty sweet. If you can get your creature count in general high enough, Lurking Predators can bring out multiple dragons per turn cycle, and when it doesn't find a creature you still get to scry. Dragon's Hoard, and Dragonspeaker Shaman are probably solid includes.

You probably want some card draw in here, but if you use Tiamat as your Commander over Ur-Dragon, you probably don't need Rush of Knowledge, but Stinging Study still draws a hand's worth of cards for 5 almost regardless of where your Commander is. Garruk's Uprising would probably fit. Due to having lots of big creatures, Return of the Wildspeaker is probably not bad, and Overwhelming Stampede might be good enough to close games for you.

You probably don't want to run stuff like Land Tax or Gift of Estates with actual Green ramp, if you have access to Green, you usually are better off running Green ramp over Gift of Estates type spells. YMMV!

Counterspell is a risky card to run in a 5 colour deck, it's hard to have UU mana up to cast it. Does it mostly deal with creatures, or protect vs wipes? Swan Song and Arcane Denial are both cards worth a look, the new An Offer You Can't Refuse might be interesting as well. I personally like 1-3 counters in my 5 colour decks, with competitive decks running more, overly Casual ones might run just 1 as a wildcard. Negate is much easier to cast I expect, and thus you're more likely to have the mana up.

If you are interested, Tyrite Sanctum can give Tiamat an Indestructible counter right away since she's already a God. Not sure if you care about keeping her out though!

DreadKhan on Cheap dragon

2 years ago

Those are all good choices I think. It's pretty fun to fiddle with a deck list, but it's a good habit to fiddle with it before you order the cards, or you'll end up with a collection of weird cards that don't quite make the cut sitting around. I could be wrong, but I think the mono-colour non-legendary dragons from D&D don't translate well to Commander, with 40 life and 3 opponents, they will feel too small for their mana input I fear. Even my Eldrazi deck, which runs pretty big Eldrazi tends to feel a bit small at times, a 9 mana value creature in Standard is not very big in Commander unfortunately.

I was thinking that both Stinging Study and possibly Rush of Knowledge. Spirit of Resistance might be worth a look if you find getting Tiamat out isn't hard. Rush can draw a bunch, I run it in Reaper King because he's 10 mana, but drawing more than 5 off of Rush is good value IMHO. You could look at some of the Changelings out there, but TBH most aren't very good creatures, and dragons can beat serious face if you can get them out.

king-saproling on Bounce n draw with a special lil falcon

2 years ago

Cool deck! You might like these: Drift of Phantasms, Merchant Scroll, Step Through, Vedalken AEthermage, Apprentice Wizard, Springleaf Drum, Sea Gate Oracle, Augur of Bolas, Repulse, Drag Under, Capsize, Salvager of Secrets, Mnemonic Wall, Scrivener, Rush of Knowledge.

Also I noticed you're running Treasure Cruise, which is banned in pauper. If your group doesn't care about the banlist, you might also consider running Peregrine Drake as it combos with things like Displace + Archaeomancer.

DreadKhan on Scarecrow Legion

2 years ago

Muzzio, Visionary Architect can dig fairly deep if Reaper King is out.

Stinging Study is a great big draw spell, but it does cost a ton of life, with the upside of being an instant. I also like Rush of Knowledge , One with the Machine , and even Ugin's Insight . Study and One are probably the best options for a huge draw spell, with One having the big drawback of requiring Reaper King to be on the field.

I would also think about Liliana's Contract , as a back up win con that mostly draws a bunch of cards for you. Phyrexian Scriptures is pretty reasonable if you are running lots of artifacts, though it is a slower wipe. It is much better than a single creature edict though.

DreadKhan on Reaper King

2 years ago

Brago, King Eternal is pretty funny if you've got a few Scarecrows out, and he synergizes really well with your ramp rocks. Maskwood Nexus is a nice card to consider, but you do run a lot of scarecrows already, and need it less. It does let you run weird cards like Haakon, Stromgald Scourge to recur your 'Crows, or Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow for value. Scarecrone should probably be considered.

I like sneaking in cards that use Reaper King's high MV as a pay off, some of these might be worth tossing in, like One with the Machine and Rush of Knowledge . The new Stinging Study is fine, but generally not better than the blue options, other than not needing The King out to use it. If you don't like your opponents, Cabal Conditioning usually wipes out everyone else's hand.

As a pseduo-board wipe, you might consider the recently reprinted Rite of Replication , which can clone Reaper King 5 times to blow up 25 permanents of your choosing, which should be pretty backbreaking (and funny), though all the clones die. I wish Sakashima of a Thousand Faces wasn't $35, but I guess Yarok does a decent impression. With Yarok out, that really would be a selective wipe, since you'd blow up 50 permanents.

Optimator on

3 years ago

Drop Faerie Tauntings , Ashiok, Nightmare Muse , Traumatize , Trepanation Blade , add about one or two more ramp and two more card-draw at least. I almost always run 8 pieces of ramp and the prevailing wisdom is 10. Same for card-draw: I aim for 8, many aim for 10. Extra ramp is great with Oona's ability and card-draw can draw you into lands and just generally smooth everything out.

Reconnaissance Mission would be good. Treasure Cruise is often almost an Ancestral Recall and is budget too. Even though you're running Blue , Read the Bones is a great rate, as is Night's Whisper . Divination , Concentrate , and Tidings are all great on a budget, if a bit unexciting.

I love Keep Watch , Borrowing 100,000 Arrows , Theft of Dreams , Insight , Windfall , Plea for Power , Curse of Verbosity , and Manifold Insights but they are swingy. High ceilings, low floors. The mana cost on them is what makes them so good.

Midnight Clock is budget right now but it's starting to make waves. Get yours now while they're cheap. Ramp AND draw! Great on a budget.

Secrets of the Golden City and Kumena's Awakening should usually be City's Blessing-ed. I like Kimena's a lot on a budget (along with Patient Rebuilding ). Rush of Knowledge is decent if you have Oona out. Fathom Trawl is a guaranteed three non-lands, though it might be a bit lackluster with so many faeries. Not a bad card though. Mind Spring is great with ramp.

Drawn from Dreams and Dig Through Time are probably better than Diabolic Tutor until you have a game-winning card in the deck like Coat of Arms or some combo pieces (of which all are out-of-budget). I'd say drop Diabolic Tutor . Diabolic Vision is all right on a budget, as is Pilfered Plans , Forbidden Alchemy , and Notion Rain . We can probably do better, even on a tight budget.

Soul Ransom is kind of faerie-ish. Pact of the Serpent maybe?

With all your fliers, Rogue's Gloves and Mask of Memory are fantastic card-draw cards. Mask of Riddles is cute. Curiosity and Curious Obsession are decent but dangerous. Chart a Course is decent with fliers. Whispering Madness can be good with fliers too.

I have mixed feelings about Opt , Serum Visions , Sleight of Hand , Ponder , Preordain , Portent . They certainly don't hurt but they're bad late-game. I run them in some decks. Consider them if most of your card-draw is expensive. Brainstorm is a bit of a trap unless you have ways to shuffle your library and get rig of unwanted cards. This usually requires fetch lands like Polluted Delta and is better in 60-card formats.

Rain of Revelation , Archmage's Charm , Fact or Fiction , Succumb to Temptation , Precognitive Perception , Frantic Search , Pull from Tomorrow , Gush , Village Rites are all good for being instants so you can leave counterspells up and if you don't need them you can draw. That's one of the reasons a card like Anticipate looks weak but is nice for keeping counterspells open. Fact or Fiction is particularly good and is considered a staple in many formats, including EDH.

I would swap out Dimir Locket and Dimir Cluestone for Mind Stone and Prismatic Lens . Maybe Star Compass if it is in budget. I know you need your colors but 3-mana mana rocks that don't have huge upside are sooooo slow. Arcane Signet is probably out of budget, which is too bad. Is Wayfarer's Bauble still expensive? Probably. Worn Powerstone and Hedron Archive maybe? Oona isn't cheap and you want mana for her ability if push comes to shove. Trinket Mage is ramp because it can snag Sol Ring , making it the same rate as Explosive Vegetation and Hedron Archive .

Optimator on Giant's Deck

3 years ago

The amount of utility cards that facilitates for a large-creature/stompy deck (like giant tribal) is completely unparalleled and unrivaled. There are things--both budget and expensive--like Garruk's Uprising, Soul's Majesty, Hunter's Insight, Snake Umbra, Triumph of Ferocity, Lead the Stampede, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Return of the Wildspeaker, Abundance, Rhythm of the Wild, Selvala's Stampede, Shamanic Revelation, Elemental Bond, Colossal Majesty, Guardian Project, Rancor, Primal Rage, Heroic Intervention, Wrap in Vigor, Golgari Charm, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Canopy Cover, Aspect of Mongoose, Alpha Authority, Asceticism, Defense of the Heart, Lignify, Lurking Predators, Bow of Nylea, The Great Henge, Eerie Ultimatum, Reap, Creeping Renaissance, Seasons Past, Reap the Past, Genesis Ultimatum, Beastmaster Ascension, Overwhelming Stampede...

The list is huge, and it grows every year.

This is on top of the superior ramping ability of Green and it's above-average removal options. One big advantage of Green's land-based ramp is things like Planar Cleansing, Hour of Revelation, Play of the Game, Bane of Progress, Creeping Corrosion, and Merciless Eviction can't send you back to the stone age by destroying all your mana rocks.

Everything you will want to be doing with Giant Tribal, Green supports and supports well. I cannot stress this enough. Not to mention the good green giants that keep getting printed.

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Black doesn't provide too much in the way of utility specific to giant tribal or stompy decks other than recursion and good card draw like Greed, Phyrexian Arena, and Erebos, God of the Dead. Personally I like cards like Damnable Pact, Read the Bones, Ancient Craving and Ambition's Cost but if you're running Green and/or Blue you shouldn't need to lose life to draw cards. Painful Truths might still be useful due to it's great rate (three cards for three mana is good). Syphon Mind is a great rate and has the upside of making your opponents discard.

Obviously Black specializes in removal (but so does White!) so you could run things like Mortify, Despark, Utter End, Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking, Dreadbore, Terminate, Bedevil and Ruinous Ultimatum. In Garruk's Wake and Decree of Pain are probably good in your giant deck since you're ramping so hard. Since you're running White you shouldn't need Black's wraths, but those two stood out.

Things like Phyrexian Reclamation, Animate Dead, and Reanimate are great for creature decks. Palace Siege is all right on a budget. So is Twilight's Call. It's no Oversold Cemetery or Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Rise of the Dark Realms but those are pricey. Recovering from boardwipes will be important.

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Blue has some interesting removal options like Curse of the Swine, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, and Reality Shift. You have some Cyclonic Rifts in your trade binder, right? That alone is a great reason to run Blue in your deck (it's literally one of the best cards in EDH straight-up). Do it!

Blue also has all the card-draw--from per-turn stuff like Kumena's Awakening and Mind Unbound; chunks of cards like Concentrate, Treasure Cruise, Fact or Fiction, Fathom Trawl, and Tidings; huge hand-refillers like Overflowing Insight, Mind Spring, Stroke of Genius, and Pull from Tomorrow; and some sneaky stuff like Windfall, Keep Watch, Drawn from Dreams, Verity Circle, and Insight. Green has some amazing card-draw already but it wouldn't be a terrible idea to supplement it with Blue cards. Rush of Knowledge would be REALLY good in a giant-tribal deck--especially with Morophon, the Boundless at the helm.

Counterspells are very much not Giant/Stompy but I have a few aggro decks that run a silver-bullet copy of Negate or Swan Song just as anti-boardwipe tech. Not necessary though. Boros Charm, Golgari Charm, and Wrap in Vigor work well in that capacity. There are lots of 3-cmc options too but the mana difference between 2 and 3 is huge.

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You could even run some interesting charms like Abzan Charm or Esper Charm. There are some surprisingly potent options. Some are stinkers of course.

Temur Ascendancy would be reason alone to run five colors and be utterly fantastic in this deck.

Garruk's Uprising alone is reason to run at least Green.

Merciless Eviction is one of the best removal spells in the game. Four or five colors would allow you to run that.

Urban Evolution would be good in a big-mana deck like this. Inspired Ultimatum, while not amazing, is playable.

You get the idea.

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As you can see, there is a myriad of reasons to run more colors. Honestly, I really can't recommend it enough if true Giant-Tribal is the goal--whether Naya giants or five-color giants.

One extremely important thing for large-creature decks is to consider how you're going to recover from board wipes. Superior card-draw from Green, Black, and Blue cards will help immensely. Card advantage like Phyrexian Reclamation, Palace Siege, Seasons Past, All Suns' Dawn, Reap the Past, Reap, Creeping Renaissance, Eerie Ultimatum, and abilities like Mayael the Anima's, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim's, and Kenrith, the Returned King's reanimate ability will help you recover. These are things that Red and White simply can't do well. Sure there's Resurrection and Reya Dawnbringer, but they aren't great.

Brion Stoutarm is a legitimately good general--he really is!--but not for giant tribal. He brings nothing to the table for giant tribal other than being a decently-statted Giant himself and pigeonholes you into the worst color pair in EDH for essentially no benefit. As I mentioned, Iroas, God of Victory and, to a lesser extent, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas would make better commanders if you are dead-set on Boros colors (which I do not recommend if you want to play maximum giants). If you were building around Brion's ability and had some giants around as support that would be one thing, but it seems that's not the goal. As such, please consider switching commanders :) I think that if you want Brion Stoutarm as the commander, you should make a Brion deck.

I really do think you'll be happier in the long run with a different commander It doesn't have to be expensive. Most of what you would need I can trade to you, including Morophon, the Boundless, and most supplemental cards I don't have are in the 25-cent to $1 range (Realm-Cloaked Giant, Mayael the Anima, etc). I actually have a shitload of this utility stuff on-hand, and you have some great staples like Cyclonic Rift on-hand--and probably more! I want you to be satisfied with your deck! It doesn't have to be competitive to be fun, but it doesn't have to be expensive to work better and smoother and be more competitive.