AEtherize

Instant

Return all attacking creatures to their owner's hands.

Legality

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

Discussion (48)

RobinTheBird2 on Hit Me Baby One More Time! *PRIMER*

2 months ago

Cool, thanks for your good suggestions and ideas! :) I really didn't have Eel Umbra on my screen. But instead of Hyena Umbra, I would probably replace Angelic Renewal with it. That way there would be room for an instant protection effect and instead there's one more card that gives +1/+1. What do you think about that?

Settle the Wreckage sounds good, but I wouldn't include it for the same reason I took AEtherize or Illusionist's Gambit out of the deck: They are too expensive and instead I rely on a good mix of spot and group targets. If only a single creature is attacking, it's not worth using a Holy Day. With the lure removals you would want to distract from the danger of the commander, correct? In my experience, Isperia isn't usually seen as a threat at the table, it tends to be seen as "underpowered" (even after multiple games). When she's on the table, someone else often already has something nasty and big ;-)

lil_cheez on Best color for this type …

2 months ago

Hiya friend, I assume you're talking about Commander Format.

Blue and white are the colors for buying time: Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, AEtherize, Holy Day, Silence, Counterspell.

Green has "Fogs", namesake Fog, Spore Frog, etc.

If you want to slowly "burn" your opponents, red and black are your friends: Impact Tremors, Blood Artist.

I'd recommend to do a little research and be creative, but, top of my head, maybe you'd like a Kykar, Wind's Fury deck, play the "buying time" enchantments, hold countermagic and other interaction, use the tokens to burn players, etc!

Argy on Brew my deck for me

4 months ago

“I agree with most of them, but propaganda/dissipation field don’t work well with aetherize.”

I’m not so sure about that, Bookrook

I agree that AEtherize doesn’t work well with Dissipation Field but it’s great with Propaganda at game’s end.

The attacker has to pay {2} as they are declaring attackers, then all their Creatures go back to hand.

The only thing I would say is that I’ve been in games where nearly all Creatures were cast again, in the second main phase. Which is why I prefer Aetherspouts

Goldberserkerdragon on Brew my deck for me

4 months ago

AEtherize Evacuation Dissipation Field Propaganda

DingoLingo03 on Goaded With The Sauce

2 years ago

Licecolony Thank you for the comprehensive message! I appreciate the input, especially on adding the smaller, more evasive creatures into the mix and removing some counterspells. Any time I build {U} I have a knee-jerk reaction to slot in some counters, even when they're not really necessary in the overall scheme of the deck.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, Gisa, Glorious Resurrector and, sadly, Taniwha are getting chopped. I share your love for the 'ol phasing sea serpent, but I agree that it's far too slow in games where it's seen play to warrant an inclusion. My thought process behind adding Mirko was to shift aggro onto an opponent's board. His ability certainly has bite, but I find he often becomes a pain in the neck for me in the late game. Puns intended. Gisa's just sorta not great.

I'm not so sure about cutting Tergrid. She acts as a foil to Jon: when my donations cause opponents to sac their good creatures, they become my defensive line against the hot garbage I've gifted them. I'll have to do some trial runs with and without to see if I can cut her out of the 99.

Plague Reaver is, tentatively, on the chopping block. Reaver's value and ability is just grand, but it does suck having to lose Jon for a turn. Assault Suit was a means of mitigating that issue, by keeping Jon off the board I could cast both cards while not having to face the backlash, then toss it around to all my opponents at their upkeeps. Suit is probably going to stay in the 99, because it still has great synergy with other creatures, especially those that sac at the player's upkeep.

Good calls on Dissipation Field, No Mercy, and Grave Betrayal. Diplomatic Immunity doesn't really work as intended anyway, and I very much prefer your replacements for AEtherize, so consider those cut. Dark Ritual I think will stay, always good to get a discount on higher cost spells. I'm leaving in Countersquall for now. I tend to shy away from cards that gift treasures to opponents, unless I've got a Dockside slotted into the 99. Redirect is, hands down, one of my favorite cards ever, and while Reversal is good, I think Redirect will stay.

I'm also going to take your suggestions on the sac-based removals as well.

Thanks again!

Licecolony on Goaded With The Sauce

2 years ago

I really like your manifest take on Jon. Consider Dulcet Sirens. It's a clever way to mitigate risk of having those horrible creatures for yourself. I'll definitely be adding Crawlspace and Endless Whispers to my list.

Suggested removals from deck Plague Reaver. While it's a nice card to give away, the turn you play it you'll have to sacrifice Jon Irenicus to Plague Reaver's trigger regardless of which order you put the abilities onto the stack. You'd rather not lose Jon.

Gisa, Glorious Resurrector. It's something you can't give away, which means it's good when you're ahead, but not great when you're behind,. Your mileage may vary, but I think getting something more immediately impactful on the board tends to be best.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker. You're not running a mill strategy, you'll only be filling the graveyard of dedicate graveyard decks.

Taniwha. I love this creature and totally understand running it for the memes, but phasing triggers before your upkeep, which means that when you give it away, it'll be phased out for the first turn under your opponent, so they'll keep their lands and you won't draw a card from Jon's ability. The turn cycle has to make two full rounds before Taniwha does anything.

Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip. Unlike Sheoldred, Tergrid doesn't make the opponent do either of its effects. It's another creature you don't want to give away, and Jon makes cards unsacrificeable. It just won't trigger much unless you're against a sacrifice deck.

Ensnaring Bridge. The creatures you donate will often be quite big. Ensnaring bridge will prevent them from attacking your opponents and deny you card draw.

Chromatic Lantern. It's only good if you need the mana fixing. You don't need the mana fixing. Try something like Thought Vessel or Decanter of Endless Water or Midnight Clock instead.

Assault Suit doesn't goad the creatures itself. Often they'll swing at you if possible.

Dissipation Field. Not as good as it looks. Doubles ETB triggers. Anti synergy with cards like Endless Whispers.

No Mercy Jon just has better options for this slot. If you can replace a non-creature with a creature in this deck, you usually want to.

Grave Betrayal. That's 7 mana for a card that could ruin your game by forcing you to revive bad cards you do not want.

Diplomatic Immunity. You want instant speed protection and protection from board wipes. Something like March of Swirling Mist is more versatile offensively and defensively.

Dark Ritual. I'm uncertain what you're trying to ramp into so quickly that you would need this. Maybe I'm wrong.

Countersquall. You may as well play the one mana version in An Offer You Can't Refuse.

Redirect may be bested by Narset's Reversal? That's a matter of opinion.

AEtherize risks bouncing creatures attacking other opponents such as those you've goaded but want them to keep. Try replacing this with a more versatile effect like Reins of Power or a more aggressive effect in Illusionist's Gambit.

Damnation. Jon prefers sacrifice board wipes so that your opponents keep their shit creatures.

Overall I think you could run less counter-magic in favor of more proactive effects.

Cards to Consider Creatures Generally I want to focus on adding creatures that you can give away and then steal back later to win the game.

With Jon, you often want cheap evasive creatures to give out for early card draw with his ability. Right now you have 1 two-drop creature. Throwing in a Changeling Outcast or a Slither Blade can mean you can give a creature away for cheap and still hold up mana for other things. Slither blade wouldn't die to Heartless Summoning too.

In the two-drop slot, you can run creatures that are more defensive like Baleful Strix, or give you card draw like Sygg, River Cutthroat or just more powerful creatures like Flesh Reaver which is a goaded 6/6 that can deal 12 damage a turn or Wretched Anurid. Heck, you can even add a versatile two-drop in Dimir Infiltrator which can be given away in the early game or used as a tutor in the late-game.

In the three drop slot, I think your idea of adding Steel Golem is a great one to make sure the only creatures your opponent has are the ones you're giving them. It's a brutal card. Rotting Regisaur is a card you don't mind giving away early, and can take back later to win. Phyrexian Soulgorger can be donated to an opponent as a goaded 10/10. They won't have to pay the upkeep, but that's a great body to give someone as a political tool. Cephalid Facetaker is also worth consideration though I personally don't run it.

In the four-drop slot, like you mentioned, Grid Monitor is a proactive creature counter. Abyssal Persecutor can save you from death. Archfiend of the Dross is risky but fun (it comes back to your control after the opponent dies).

In the 5-drop slot, both of the evil-eye cards are absolute ALL STARS. They work so well every game I've drawn them. They can also replace some of your weaker defenses like No Mercy and Dissipation Field

As a sidenote, I also like Deep-Sea Kraken as an unblockable 8/8 that can win you the game with homeward path.

Removal I recommend running more sacrifice-based removal since it'll mean your opponents keep the crap you give them. Things like Tergrid's Shadow or Vona's Hunger or All is Dust (one of my favorites) or Killing Wave. I also prefer Toxic Deluge to some of your other removal since it goes through hexproof. Curse of the Swine is also an exile effect that can be selective and works really well. You can also run single-target removal like Reality Shift or Pongify if you'd rather instant speed interaction. Feed the Swarm is quality. If you really don't care about cruelty, you can run Torment of Hailfire, but that card is honestly always too boring for me to want in my decks.

Card Draw Jon has access to some great card draw that most decks can't take advantage of. Fateful Handoff is a card draw spell that also donates (though does not goad). Sygg, River Cutthroat works well with evasive threats you give away (though should not be donated). Verity Circle works great with Jon's ability since it donates the creature first, and then taps it down. Teferi's Ageless Insight allows you to double your draw triggers from Jon.

Equipment Remember that you can donate creatures while they're equipped and you still control the equipment so they can't re-equip it. Pact Weapon makes the attacking creature bigger, while ensuring you can't die, and will draw you another card whenever the donated creature attacks. Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip works effectively on evasive creature to get you ramped. Vorpal Sword is a win condition on your unblockable evasive creatures.

Goad Dulcet Sirens, Bloodthirsty Blade.

Misc Graveyard removal is king. Throw in a Scavenger Grounds. My favorite card to run is Reality Shift. Make an Avenger of Zendikar spawn a dozen Wretched Anurids. It's not GREAT, but it is always funny. Cultural Exchange is a fun time too with all your manifest and shitty creatures.

That is all. Hope it was helpful.

DreadKhan on The Quackening

2 years ago

I have a Quest for Ula's Temple deck which does some similar things, I liked Dreamscape Artist because it can reshuffle your library as needed, incase you don't have a relevant creature to work with on top. It's technically only 1 mana and a card to Harrow (you get back 2 untapped lands, so it can also helping mana fixing) Blue, and I could be wrong but I think your Commander wants the odd Discard outlet too. A worse (but still potentially useful) piece of Blue ramp is Apprentice Wizard, it's not as good as Dreamscape, it's like Worn Powerstone, which is a good rock if you want bigger ramp to potentially cast a big creature a bit sooner. Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus are big ramp rocks with decent ratios. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers are pretty good together, if you have a lot of devotion to a colour Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can help, Deserted Temple can untap any land that makes extra mana. Less rampy and more of a big Scry effect, Soothsaying is a neat card if you care about your deck order. Scroll Rack is better but costs more.

Just a general idea, you might throw in things like Reconnaissance Mission, Bident of Thassa, and Coastal Piracy along with some Unblockable or Shadow creatures (Thalakos and Dauthi are the Blue and Black tribes). You can also throw in stuff like Sword of the Animist, Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip, Prying Blade, Goldvein Pick, Grim Hireling, and any other attack payoffs you can find to generate more value over time. I understand you want a sea-monster theme, but you might want a way to draw some cards/get in some chip damage to soften people up. The only drawback to Shadows is that they can't chump block. If you really want your evasive creatures to be able to chump, there are some small flyers like Spectral Sailor and Thousand-Faced Shadow that have other upsides, these are risk free but are way less evasive than Shadows.

On that note, if you're worried about getting attacked you might look at Propaganda, War Tax, Flood, and Fatespinner are all great ways to make you hard to attack. Mass Diminish, Polymorphist's Jest, Sudden Spoiling, AEtherize, Aetherspouts are all great cards for people to fear.

Callous Oppressor is a funny repeatable theft effect, Ritual of the Machine and Helm of Possession can both steal stuff and are great with tokens, Thieving Skydiver can steal an artifact creature fwiw, Sower of Temptation is a so-so theft effect that shines bright if you can flicker or bounce it, Thalakos Deceiver is probably way better since he permanently steals whatever and can be reanimated, Inevitable Betrayal and Bribery are both pretty sweet.

The biggest (and perhaps best) theft effects are Mass Manipulation and Cultural Exchange, exchange requires bodies but can also be used aggressively to just ruin two players' boards.

Inkwell Leviathan, Lochmere Serpent, Spawning Kraken, Stormtide Leviathan, and Wrexial, the Risen Deep are some relevant creatures I use, some are better than others but there is nothing as bad as Sea Serpent or Bog Serpent, both cards I love but don't use.

If you like Whelming Wave, you might like Spectral Deluge as well.

Hope some of this helps, Big Dimir is a fun deck!

Made_Compleat on Card creation challenge

2 years ago

Infectious Defense {B}{B}{G}{U}

Tribal Instant - Phyrexian

Cast this spell only during combat.

Put X -1/-1 counters on each creature target opponent controls, where X is the number of attacking creatures.

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You can use this one like a worse AEtherize or you can have some fun ruining your opponent's blocking.

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Make a big Timmy/Johnny enchantment. It must cost at least {7} and have a powerful enough effect (Or cost reduction) to make it viable in at least one format other than EDH.