Always Watching

Enchantment

Non-token creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance.

Discussion (50)

legendofa on Garth one-eye's "create a copy"

4 months ago

To date, Garth One-Eye is the only card that uses the phrase "create a copy".

1. Do the Shivan Dragon s count as tokens, for effects like Dramatic Finale , or nontokens, for Always Watching ?

2. Does creating a copy of a spell trigger magecraft (see Prismari Apprentice as an example) or is creating a copy of a spell different from copying a spell?

HorrorLegend on Felisa's Group Project

5 months ago

Very nice deck. A few card suggestions you may like would be Always Watching for +1/+1 counters every turn and Mikaeus, the Lunarch for more +1/+1 synergy. I love seeing these new commanders getting built in unique ways and can't wait to see more! Upvote from me!

king-saproling on Purgers of Femeref

7 months ago

It's cool how you built a deck entirely out of cards you got from variety boxes. I think you might like these if you wanted to snag some singles for the deck: Mask of Memory , Tome of Legends , Kongming, "Sleeping Dragon" , Celestial Crusader , Archetype of Courage , Battlefield Raptor , Encampment Keeper , Glorious Anthem , Heraldic Banner , Signal Pest , Accorder Paladin , Rhox Veteran , Marshal's Anthem , Always Watching , Windbrisk Heights , Shefet Dunes

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Jeska & Kondo EDH

9 months ago

This is a great list, I really like it. It's hard to come up with actual suggestions as you already run of the important pieces.

What you could try is Always Watching to benefit from both your offensive and defensive qualities. Another card that could really benefit from your potential damage is Neheb, the Eternal. But still, the list looks awesome.

ellie-is on "...and Lions, Oh My!" (Modern GW Cat Aggro)

11 months ago

Glad to help!

Very fair points on Always Watching!

And that's tough, staying on a higher creature count for CoCo is totally valid. +2 Sovereign over Whitemane is not a bad idea, it costs more to cast but if you're getting them through CoCo anyway that isn't going to be an issue (and Whitemana ends up costing even more when you consider the tempo loss). I've never played with CoCo myself so it's hard to say whether it should stay or go, but it's probably a staple for a reason and keeping it in might be best in the end. Out of curiosity, do you own the Secret Lair art already? Some of those are so gorgeous, but god, I just cannot afford them right now haha. And if you don't have them yet and do take them out, you'll at least end up with a much more budget friendly deck.

Thanks for checking out my profile!! You're totally right about the chump blocking, haha. And I think I know exactly what might help! Brave the Elements gets everyone but Pride Sovereign through, and it can also double as cheap protection. You can only do it once, but often that's just what you need. For more permanent effects that affect everyone and don't cost a huge amount of mana, I sadly can't think of anything off the top of my head. As for space, right now you don't have the mainboard room for it and that could cost you some games, but if you keep it in the sideboard you'll have a safe choice for boarding in against decks that go wide or that feature a lot of removal.

HalbrechtHalbrecht on "...and Lions, Oh My!" (Modern GW Cat Aggro)

11 months ago

ellie-is — Thanks once again for your comment and help!

I pretty much agree with all your evaluations. I was also leaning toward Honor of the Pure and Radiant Destiny. As you say, Honor not affecting Pride Sovereign is irrelevant.

I do recognize that Always Watching is pretty much strictly better in this deck (cuz yeah, I'm only generating tokens with Sovereign's ability if I'm on the defense and blocking with him.... and sometimes not even then, as I'd then lose him as a blocker for the next turn). But of all the anthems, Watching has the most egregious artwork — it's creepy and absolutely doesn't fit. Lions are majestic, which is why I can get behind stained glass and god rays in the art. LoL

I agree on the others. They're just not as good or too slow. I do like the combat trick factor of Force, but I'm not sure how to fit it in.

Speaking of, as much as I agree with you that Whitemane Lion should be the one to go, I don't really want to go below 26 hits for CoCo. (In my Modern Elves, I had 36 creatures for Coco!) Until WotC prints another good lion, Whitemane will have to stay. :\ I've considered -2 Whitemane for +2 Sovereign, but I haven't tried that yet.

---

So on to a different question.... I was checking out your profile, and saw your Saproling deck (love the idea, by the way! Haven't had a chance to take a thorough look yet, but I plan to leave a comment and +1). Anyways, saw your deck, and all I could think was.... Damn, she'll pump so many Saprolings out, she'll just keep chump-blocking my lions and I'll never get them through! So do you know of any efficient ways to give the team evasion like trample or flying (though that's not very on theme)?

Although even if you suggest something awesome, I'm not sure what to take out without compromising CoCo. Maybe I need to just take CoCo out and focus in another direction.... despite the new lion art CoCo has in its Secret Lair version....

ellie-is on "...and Lions, Oh My!" (Modern GW Cat Aggro)

11 months ago

HalbrechtHalbrecht: Heh, you're welcome!

Now lets see...

Honor of the Pure is the best option overall due to its low mana cost, but it doesn't affect Pride Sovereign. Since you only have two Sovereigns and they get pretty big on their own, that might not be an issue. I do recommend having it as your primary anthem, as the lower mana helps ensure you'll be able to cast multiple of them if you've drawn them, which can be the difference between winning or losing with a great card in hand.

Radiant Destiny is my favorite of the 3-mana anthems. Always Watching gives vigilance without the City's Blessing condition, but your tokens would miss out (that said, you don't make that many tokens so it might not be an issue).

Spear of Heliod is nice, but it does have two easy to remove types, compared to the rest that only have one. Icon of Ancestry might win you some tight games you'd otherwise have lost, but overall it feels too slow for modern, especially if the card you're drawing is 1- not going to be cast on that turn because you're out of mana after activating it 2- not going to win you the game when you play it via haste or another effect. So I'd pick another card over it.

Force of Virtue is a nice trick to have, but I wouldn't run it as your primary anthem. Up to two copies if you already have at least 4x of other anthems can be nice to have and adds combat tricks to an otherwise very predictable deck, and could score you some wins.

If you're trying to figure out what you could take out for more anthems (and I do think it's a good idea having at least 8 of them, but King of the Pride counts and so you have 8 already), Whitemane Lion would be my pick—removing two of them would be a very safe bet.

ezio2907 on

11 months ago

You want to be left alone until you can cast your angels. Cards like Thalia, Heretic Cathar & Kambal, Consul of Allocation can help while the other players are going to hate you more. Making it a little harder in the mid/late game. I would defiantly skip Thalia, Heretic Cathar for that reason. Kambal, Consul of Allocation can at least deal damage and gain your life.

Lives are a resource for sure. Just watch out with Vona, Butcher of Magan that he will not suck you dry. That is a woman's job XD.

Killing Wave you want to cast for x is high. Do really want to pay that much life for all your creatures? I would skip this and play a real board wipe.

I think that you will not use Obzedat's Aid very well. You can get back an artifact (mostly ramp in your case) == bad. You can get back a planeswalker (if they got it away once, they can it again if you spent your turn on returning it) == (in my opinion) bad. You can get an enchantment back == good (in some cases). Most of the enchantment won't reach the graveyard. But it can good. You can get back a creature == good for less mana. There are a lot of better regeneration spells. They can be used more or for less.

That is why I would suggest not to play Obzedat's Aid. It is not mana efficient enough versus versatility.

From Reign of the Pit & Syphon Flesh you get a creature(s). But would it not better to choose for them? Just killing everything?

Your creatures will not always be the biggest on the table. But why do you use Ethereal Absolution instead of the cheaper options? Glorious Anthem, Always Watching, Commander's Insignia, Force of Virtue or Spear of Heliod. Graveyard hate is a benefit. But I think you can spend your mana better than that.

True Conviction is good but watch that one. Ask yourself "Do I want to play it? Or do I prefer something else? When is this good and when is it bad?". I think that it is bad in most cases and too late when you need it.

I understand that you want the lifegain and ping from Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord. But know that the -x you can use it on 9 creatures (for now) on the turn it enters the game. Also, remember that the lifegain is only for during your turn. Is it worth it?

I don't think that Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath can give you a lot of value. It can be me but I don't like this card.

Why Elspeth, Sun's Champion? You get tokens for 6 mana or destroy all your creatures and some of the opponent creatures. Is that worth it? Or do you play it because you have it lying around?

For Aetherflux Reservoir you probably will never be high enough with this on the board. You don't cast a lot of spells in a turn so you must be happy if you gain 3 lives in a round from it. This is not the deck for it.

Moonlight Bargain is 5 mana + 10 lives for draw 5. Promise of Power is the better version of it. It is on sorcery speed, but cost 5 lives less and you can also get a big beater from it if you pay extra.

For now I think that you are not using enough instant speed tricks that require you to hold up mana. That makes that when you hold up mana for Batwing Brume there is a big chance that you don't need it now and want to cast it later instead. Making you not spend some mana in the round. I would skip this card.

If I look at the curve then I would think about playing 36/37/38 lands. You need a lot of mana for your creatures and you miss green to ramp well. You can use cards like Hagra Mauling  ^Flip & Ondu Inversion  ^Flip to make it a little easier.