Ancient Ziggurat

Land

{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Andramalech on Heart of Darkness Challenge - The Horror

1 month ago

Balaam__

1. EDH traditionally has no sideboard, and any card that references searching outside of the deck fizzles upon resolution, so my playgroup rule zero's that.

2. I think you make an excellent point about lands like Ancient Ziggurat and Unclaimed Territory, and my favorite.. Three Tree City. That last candidate is awful for flavor purposes, and I intentionally walk that line like a madman above New York on High-Wire.

3. When it comes down to the Commander I chose, my process for these challenges typically starts with a quick search through Gatherer for potential candidates. I like to filter who I think is most viable based on applicable abilities, synergies, etc. and of course- color identity. Atraxa was pretty much an obvious choice, but I'm disappointed I didn't lean into the "do it for the vine" of it all by choosing a harder candidate. So kamarupa, what do you think? Build a follow-up list with Umbris, Fear Manifest or Yarok, the Desecrated? Both are excellent candidates but I think the less colors we provide access to, the less effective and functional the list stands to be. This considered, my deck is so awful. It could be a lot better, and I want to demonstrate that from a flavor standpoint, and separately a mechanical standpoint. Might be able to demonstrate both within the same build, but I digress.

4. I want to comment about the MDFCs and the erroneous cards that Balaam__ mentioned. I think that those cards that demonstrate evolution operate on an entendre front, where they represent both change as an evolution as mechanical cards, and both as lore-wise changes. Atraxa is like a Scion of Corruption- so she effectively ruins all that she comes into contact with, it's kind of a beautiful and terrifying tragedy. I found a home for cards like Cloistered Youth  ^Flip. Showing someone horrified and actually from the realm of Innistrad but thematically fitting that Horrors are encroaching upon the living in these dastardly ways.. it's a chef's kiss kind of alignment. I hope it delivers satisfaction to you as it does to me, because I think that's a thematic win.

5. I refrained from defending my deck in the slightest because I wanted honest, unbiased feedback and I think that succeeded for you two! Lastly, Thing in the Ice  ^Flip is the perfect inclusion as it's name is Awoken Horror  ^Flip, and it effectively acts as a type-focused Cyclonic RiftGC that would more than likely win me the game on the spot, and that my friends kamarupa and Balaam__, is what we call a Three-Pointer.

Balaam__ on Heart of Darkness Challenge - The Horror

1 month ago

Disclaimer:

I have never played a single game of EDH and am woefully, eminently under qualified to weigh in on whether this is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ from a format playability perspective—but that doesn’t stop me from forcing my opinion into the comment section anyhow.

---

kamarupa put quite succinctly what my initial thoughts about the challenge were; Horror type creatures really don’t play well together. At least not in traditional 60 card formats, and not in ‘tribal’ type builds. I’ve tinkered with a couple different variations over the years and nothing ever became of them, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect here in this strange and wondrous format. I think by selecting the specific commander you did, you set yourself up for the best possible start. Atraxa is half an engine in and of itself, and with that one decision you’ve effectively solved the ‘doesn’t play well with others’ dilemma Horror subtype creatures are prone to. I’m curious if that was an obvious choice from the beginning, or if it was one of those delightful ‘Aha!’ moments when you suddenly come across the perfect card. I love those moments.

After that I imagine it was simply a matter of finding the most suitable creatures with the best, most useable/abusable perks and complimenting their strengths/weaknesses with the rest of the supporting spells. The mana base is mostly mathematics and it looks quite nice from the outside. A couple lands I expected to see didn’t make your list—I have no way of knowing if it’s due to them being outclassed in the format, a ban, or if they were simply overlooked, but I was surprised to find Ancient Ziggurat and Unclaimed Territory absent given the fact they can both pay for any creature no matter the color. They’re less useful when it comes to extraneous spells, true, but the deck is creature heavy. Just a thought; if they’re terrible in EDH for some reason do let me know why.

As an aside—no sideboard? Is that even a thing in Commander? I’m so used to building in 60card formats, when I don’t see the little demarcation line at the bottom of the card list separating the mainboard from the sideboard it looks unfinished to me, ha.

Final thoughts: As I said, I have no clue what’s ‘good’ in the format and what isn’t. I have no idea how well this holds up to typical EDH decks (is there a ‘typical’?) or even what a path to improvement might look like. There is no point in me giving a numerical or letter grade to this, but I will say it is pretty much exactly what I so desperately wanted to build in Legacy/Modern but never even came close to assembling. It looks like a blast to play, with no two games ever playing out similar enough to become boring or routine. I think the only thing I don’t like is that you have a number of ‘flip’ cards, like Thing in the Ice  ^Flip—those are such a pain to play with when one sleeves their cards XD

Craeter on Avian Uprising

7 months ago

jaketheaccountant I think I know what you mean, as the deck is predominantly {W}/{U} with a small amount of {G} and even less {R}. This deck does struggle a bit with color balancing, but it seems to work out most of the time in my play testing. There are a number of cards that can produce any mana color: Ancient Ziggurat, Command Tower, Vivid Crag, Chromatic Lantern, Commander's Sphere, Paradise Mantle, Patchwork Banner, Migratory Route and Sword of the Animist can search for a missing basic land.

That being said, this deck could likely benefit from more options for any colored mana. So let me know if you have any specific suggestions. Switching all of the {W} to {G} isn't really an option for me, as like said the basis of the deck is {W} / {U} birds. To take out all of the {W} would involve building a whole new deck essentially. And Nadu is the best bird commander atm so I'd like to stick with him.

I'm not very attached to Stolen by the Fae, any color mana ramp or Forest tutoring would be better than that card imo for instance. I might just swap it out for Thornwood Falls or something similar and go a bit over 1/3 lands here for more mana options.

Balaam__ on 5c Ally tribal

1 year ago

Ancient Ziggurat is often overlooked, so I just wanted to make sure you were aware of it. As long as you’re comfortable handling a Blood Moon I think the mana base you currently have is top notch.

Balaam__ on 5c Ally tribal

1 year ago

Quite nice. I do think you need an answer for Blood Moon, even if it’s just in the sideboard. One of those will derail the entire deck. Ancient Ziggurat might find value too, with as many creatures as you have.

Spirits on

2 years ago

Hey Zorke,

Ok based on your comment about the combo, I'm basing these recommendations on a:

Tuned tier - Power level 5 (6 usually has a combo) - Win before Turn 14 - "Upgraded Precon". Visual Guide to Power Levels in EDH.

-- Land Base -- Prioritize untapped, Mana colors, Target 33: +Shivan Reef -Island +Yavimaya Coast -Forest +City of Brass -Aether Hub +Mana Confluence -Mountain Valley +Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip -Simic Growth Chamber +Rootbound Crag -Mountain +Hinterland Harbor -Forest +Sulfur Falls -Mountain +Rejuvenating Springs -Path of Ancestry +Training Center -Rogue's Passage +Spire Garden -Ancient Ziggurat +Boseiju, Who Endures -Island

--Ramp-- Creature preferred +Birds of Paradise -Thought Vessel +Three Visits -Heraldic Banner +The Great Henge -Gilded Lotus (Also important for draw) +Farseek -Harvest Season

--Morph-- +Kadena's Silencer -Stuffy Doll +Icefeather Aven -Keep Safe (Morph flavor) +Echo Tracer -Omnath, Locus of Mana (Morph flavor) +Mistfire Weaver -Forsaken Monument (Morph flavor) +Jeering Instigator -Shaleskin Plower (Morph flavor less salt)

--Draw-- +Fathom Seer -Zendikar Resurgent +Temur Ascendancy -Tomb of the Spirit Dragon +Tishana, Voice of Thunder -Ashcloud Phoenix +Guardian Project -Tidespout Tyrant +Toski, Bearer of Secrets -Fabricate +Garruk's Uprising -Creeping Renaissance

--Offense other than Animar-- +Garruk's Horde -Forest +Artisan of Kozilek -Island +Bane of Bala Ged -Trophy Mage (Pulls 1 unneeded artifact!) +Shrieking Drake -Temur Sabertooth (Non-Infinite Ancestral Statue) +Decimator of the Provinces -Temur War Shaman

--Control-- +Beast Within -Fog

I've left out some salty card for this power level: Cyclonic Rift Ancestral Statue Craterhoof Behemoth Rhystic Study Mystic Remora Dockside Extortionist

Special mention (would need to playtest): Secret Plans (Draw) Solemn Simulacrum (Ramp & Draw) Mulldrifter (Draw) Trail of Mystery (Ramp) Rhythm of the Wild (Don't think you'll see heavy counterspell in power 5)

Could go more {G} less {R} if needed Theres other stuff I didn't suggest because of the morph theme, like Cloud of Faeries, Hullbreaker Horror, Fierce Empath etc.

Hopefully you find some useful ideas here.

Triton on

2 years ago

Love the party theme! I think a couple more lands for fixing like Exotic Orchard and the more expensive Ancient Ziggurat would help a bit more with mana fixing.

Selfless Spirit is a slightly better Glyphweaver, and I think Maskwood Nexus would be a fun include in place of one of the changelings. :)

Hope this helps!

beastmenwarrior on [Primer] Casting the Mythal

2 years ago

One thing I noticed in the mana base, I would upgrade Ancient Ziggurat with Secluded Courtyard cheaper and is better for this deck.