The War Is Over
EmperorNexys, 6 years ago
So, the War of the Spark has come and gone.
Stealing the Planar Bridge from Kaladesh, culling generations of perfect soldiers from Amonkhet, acquiring the Immortal Sun from Ixalan, planting the Blackblade for Gideon, enslaving Liliana, infiltrating five of the ten guilds of Ravnica... all has led to this.
Stripped of his powers, his spark, and even his name, the Elder Dragon is defeated and imprisoned.
But the expansion that lowers the curtain on the Nicol Bolas show at least gives us some cards to go out with a bang.
War of the Spark presented the temptation to rework the deck into a dedicated Dreadhorde machine, which would have come at the cost of its cycling power.
After looking at a version of the deck that Amassed instead of cycled, I opted to preserve the cycling theme, and just sprinkle in a few of the more impactful (and, as always, flavorful) cards from this, the final set of Nicol Bolas.
Deliver Unto Evil... Oh, yes. Aside from having simply the best art in the set (these are facts), it includes the words "If you control a Bolas planeswalker," of which, as of the next addition, there are now five in the deck.
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God: Hello, hello, hello. ALL loyalty abilities. Of ALL Planeswalkers. God, indeed. Aside from that spectacular line of text, his other abilities are relatively underpowered compared to, say, God-Pharaoh, or the Arisen, but he is also the cheapest of the Dragon's planeswalker cards. And then of course, there is the ultimate that says, "Each opponent... loses the game." The dream of pulling that off justifies the inclusion of the The Elderspell all on its own.
Bolas's Citadel is one of the most exciting artifacts I've ever seen, a twisted black version of Future Sight that comes with a built-in kill (or at least hurt very badly) button. Paying life instead of mana in a format like Commander means you can functionally combine card advantage and cost-cheating, two of the most powerful things you can do in the game, until you run into a land on top of your deck.
Command the Dreadhorde is a card I have played in Arena, almost always to the immediate effect of my opponent conceding, and in Commander, with multiple graveyards to rob and a higher life total to work with, the card is simply on another level.
Emergence Zone sometimes means a surprise Nicol Bolas. I know I could and should just run Vedalken Orrery. I know this. But... thematically...
God-Pharaoh's Statue: Honestly... not that great. But come on. It's a great big statue of my commander. Of the main character of the narrative to which this deck is beholden. And a fairly annoying impediment to my opponents. "A dictator's infuriating smirk."
Liliana, Dreadhorde General: So far, Miss Vess has mostly been a way of killing two of everyone's creatures and drawing two cards, and... that's good enough for me. Sometimes, she is more than that. There are worse ways to spend six mana.
I have to imagine this is the last update to this deck. This remains my favorite and most-played Commander deck, but perhaps the time is coming to build something new. It looks like the story is moving away from my favorite megalomaniacal lizard, after so many years of every plot point leading back to him. So, time to move on, I suppose.
"My work here is complete." —Nicol Bolas
Four tweaks
Kogarashi, 6 years ago
After test plays that indicated I still had some trouble with getting the right mana fast enough (not to mention Ravnica sets that worked with the Gate subtheme), I've made four swaps to the deck.
I replaced Cruel Ultimatum with Circuitous Route. Ultimatum was kind of fun, but tricky to cast (due to that 3 {B} requirement) and not entirely on brand for the deck, while Circuitous Route can not only fetch basics I need in a pinch, but also fetch Gates to further the Maze's End
alternate win.
I replaced Nameless Inversion with Tempt with Discovery. Inversion was probably the least effective of my single-target removal, since it only gave a -3 to toughness and would have to be recast from the graveyard in the same turn to get more effect, while Discovery allows me to at least one land, and more if people take me up on the Tempting Offer.
I replaced Evolving Wilds with Plaza of Harmony. Evolving Wilds is good for a one-time mana-fixing (and an extra Landfall trigger if I have one of the rare cards on the board that cares), but Plaza of Harmony gets me the fixing quicker, plus a bit of lifegain if I've already got Gates out.
Finally, I removed a basic Island and replaced it with Gateway Plaza for an eleventh Gate (options!) plus mana fixing in the vein of Rupture Spire or Transguild Promenade.
Update #7
ServerWizard, 6 years ago
-1 Elbrus, the Binding Blade Flip -1 Sower of Discord +1 Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord +1 Seize the Day
Update #2
Chuckles24, 6 years ago
Removed 3 Deafening Clarion from the main and 1 from the sideboard and replaced with Kaya's Wrath. Deafening Clarion isn't always a complete board wipe, whereas, Kaya's Wrath is. The mana base can handle the WWBB cost. My only concern is having to cast it a turn later than Deafening Clarion.
Removed 3 Dovin, Hand of Control and replaced with 3 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage. I like Dovin, Rogue Shadowmage's ability to get rid cards from our opponent's hand and the static can do some extra damage.
Removed 1 Dreadhorde Invasion and replaced it with 1 Lava Coil. Having multiple copies of Dreadhorde Invasion in hand doesn't feel good and you don't want to have two on the battlefield either. There's also less life gain in the deck than there was originally, which makes playing Dreadhorde Invasion a little more risky.
Changes to Deck
DeckPioneer542, 6 years ago
-3 Enlightened Tutor, +3 Cast Down
Horizons Update
TheSurgeon, 6 years ago
Watched this deck in action this past Friday, and hoooo-doggy, does it wreck house! The only hangup was Lava Dart only recurring once, and the player was sitting with a fist full of land. So, I switched it out with Flame Jab^ to trim the fat.
Burning Prophet fixes subsequent draws to add storm continuity.
^Note: Molten Vortex is better for the cost, but doesn't flow with the Storm mechanic as well.
Super solid, ya'll. Enjoy.
Some spicy stuff coming in Horizons
zrob, 6 years ago
Some interesting things are upcoming, these are what caught my eye:
Echo of Eons
This is like a worse Timetwister...except Timetwister is really good. The flashback cost is where it's at. I'd consider replacing Time Spiral with this card. Very, very good card.
Tribute Mage
This thing is awesome! Trinket Mage was already pretty good, now this guy comes in and fetches Isochron Scepter (and some rocks, I guess). Definitely going to need to find some room for this card.
Fiery Islet
I have to redo the mana base I have here on the site (My current one is no where near as terrible haha). This land is pretty good, draws us a card, taps for both of our colors. The draw can initiate some stuff or create a locust which is nice. This probably replaces something like City of Brass or Exotic Orchard.
Talisman of Creativity
They've done it, they've finally completed the Talisman cycle and I could not be more excited. This is really good for Izzet colors in particular, we need more rocks! This will probably replace Coldsteel Heart, though I'm considering it replacing Coalition Relic too. However, I think Coldsteel Heart is really slow and bad, so that's probably what will come out for this.
![[Primer] The Locust God - Loot n' Shoot thumbnail](http://static.tappedout.net/chart/0-75-0-25-0-small.png)
![The Locust God feature for [Primer] The Locust God - Loot n' Shoot](http://static.tappedout.net/mtg-cards-2/march-of-the-machine-commander/the-locust-god/The_Locust_God-MOC.jpg)
Updates coming soon!
OutOfBasics, 6 years ago
Watching the new Modern Horizons spoilers appear, it looks like this deck is going to get a few modifications! That R/G 2-drop walker looks sweeet for this!
War of the Spark Update
ThallionDarkshine, 6 years ago
In this update, I'm adding some new goodies from War of the Spark, along with one powerhouse card that I recently picked up. The cuts were fairly difficult, but I believe I found several cards that always felt underwhelming in testing.
+Entomb: This is one of the most powerful tutors available to graveyard-based decks, and I recently acquired one, so it's going in.
+Neoform: One of the cards I was most excited for from War of the Spark. With the way the deck is built, it's very easy to generate incredibly value off of this.
+Vivien, Champion of the Wilds: This is essentially a Divination that can be replayed from the graveyard with Muldrotha and lets you flash out your powerful threats.
+Tamiyo, Collector of Tales: I'm not sold on this card, but Regrowth-ing into milling every turn, while shutting off opposing edicts, seems pretty reasonable.
-Crop Sigil: I like the idea of this card, but in practice the mill from this was underwhelming, and the recursion effect hardly ever was relevant.
-Kokusho, the Evening Star: This has always been my least favorite reanimation target, and with access to some better ways to fill the graveyard I'm ok with cutting one.
-Grapple with the Past: This card has been fine, but Entomb is a much better way to dump cards into the graveyard that can be found from Spellseeker.
-Whip of Erebos: I really hate to see this card go, and it may make its way back into the deck at some point if I find myself missing the lifegain, but for now it's one of the clunkier cards, so I'm going to try cutting it.
None
SithDragon33, 6 years ago
None
Cherrymanga, 6 years ago
removed: 1x Narset, 1x Saheeli, 1x Kasmina, 1x Opt, 1x Interplanar Beacon added: 2x Shock, 3x Ugin's Conjurant this update is meant to strengthen the early game which i've noticed is a huge weakness with this deck.
TALISMAN CYCLE COMPLETED
LeMonado, 6 years ago
No longer shall Mardu come with an arbitrary weakness of having fewer good mana rocks at its disposal.
Cut:
-
Chandra, Torch of Defiance I would rather have a high chance of dropping a 2 mana rock
-
The Abyss Tutors make the loss of the Abyss...NULL AND VOID! HA! In its place we have a nice new paperweight.
updatez
radiantsync, 6 years ago
Putting this back together as one of my holdout decks before selling all my cards & looking at some possible new additions
None
KayneMarco, 6 years ago
Exchanged Garruk, Primal Hunter for Teferi, Time Raveler for the same reason I have put in most of the new spark walkers I have, for his static ability.
Bit of an update! - War of the Spark
markmanno, 6 years ago
Got some new goodies and a new win-con. Out - Skullclamp and Lightning Greaves - Don't work well with Null Rod which was added. They are also hit or miss. I want more hit. - Bear Umbra - Not searchable with Zur and I wasn't getting enough value from it before having it removed lately. - Eidolon of Rhetoric and Spirit of the Labyrinth - Redundant, they were becoming extra pieces in hand at times. - Bitterblossom - Slow In - Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Containment Priest, Null Rod, Stony Silence, Rest in Peace, and Grafdigger's Cage are all Meta changes. These are going to lock my opponents out when necessary. - Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Demonic Consultation (eventually Tainted Pact) were added as a new separate win-con. With Jace out you mill yourself with one of the instant spells, use Jace to draw, win. - Dovin's Veto - Another WotS piece that is just great for our deck.
None
KayneMarco, 6 years ago
Exchanged Oath of Gideon for Deepglow Skate The oath is kind of a dead card unless I cast a walker. And it only give one xtra LP. The skate on the other hand doubles every walker and I can bounce it every turn for far more value than the oath.
Back at it
rco, 6 years ago
Swapped:
- Plains → Mana Crypt
- Thieving Magpie → Windfall
- Spirit Link → Impulse
- Merfolk Looter → Archivist
- Ray of Command → Evacuation
- Tariff → Boomerang
- Coastal Piracy → Desertion
After SCG Pitt:
- Star Compass → Birds of Paradise
- Book of Rass → Mystical Tutor
- Remove Soul → Time Warp
- Seraph → Mawcor
Planned:
Nice adds:
- Argothian Elder
- Dirtcowl Wurm
- Jandor's Saddlebags
- Concordant Crossroads
- Tempest of Light
- Hurkyl's Recall
Out of place?
