Arc Mage

Creature — Human Spellshaper

(2)(Red), Tap, Discard a card: Arc Mage deals 2 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players.

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
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (4)

DreadKhan on pew = PEW PEW PEW (Ghyrson Starn)

1 year ago

Not sure if you've got enough bodies for it, but Kyren Negotiations lets each creature ping your opponent each turn, which your Commander can buff.

I like the idea of throwing in lifelink equipment, some of it has other upsides. The ones I think look most interesting are Shadowspear, which gives buffs and can remove Indestructible, and maybe Resurrection Orb, but you do have to send your Commander to the graveyard I think to get the recursion.

If you want a way to get a 1 drop into your hand more reliably, there is Dizzy Spell, which is much cheaper than Fabricate and can find any 1 drop. There are other Transmute cards for different MV, all Black or Blue. Blue can't find 4 drops IIRC, but can find a bunch of others.

A generically helpful creature in a deck that likes a 1/1 flying token is Faerie Formation, which makes tokens and draws cards, both tend to be helpful on their own, getting both is nice. Another card that I feel like is kind of good in this deck would be Arc Mage, it's a nice budget way to ping two creatures for 1, in a pinch it can also do 2 if your Commander isn't out.

If you go the Propaganda route, some other cards to consider are War Tax and Ensnaring Bridge. If you can keep your creatures power low enough (and have some draw), Noetic Scales can be very good at keeping the board clear of big threats, and you can deal with the weenies I suspect.

DreadKhan on Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph [Gunslinger]

1 year ago

Not sure if they're worth bothering with due to their slowness, but you can get a ton of damage out of Arc Mage and Inferno Titan if you're adding 2 to each ping for 1. Electrickery is pretty good value with your Commander in metas where people run smaller creatures, not sure how common that is, Electrickery also removes bigger stuff if you've got Deathtouch. For Arc and Electrickery I would replace a variation of Prodigal Sorcerer, and for the Titan I would think about switching out the Frostwielder. Inferno Titan is a crazy card with your Commander, 9 extra damage whenever you swing is pretty silly for one card and your Commander.

It's also slow and clunky (and you can't cast it atm), but Endbringer's ability to untap itself is pretty sick even if you don't have much colourless, the ability to ping on each turn is not nothing. This would be a card to look at if you decide to run a bunch of utility lands that make colourless, a good first one to consider that makes colourless is Shivan Gorge, which can ping each opponent. Tower of the Magistrate can do weird things, you can target an opponent's creature too fwiw, removing equipment and messing with targeted effects. There is also the odd dual that can make colourless you could sneak in, Shivan Reef or Cascade Bluffs are good examples that enter untapped. There are also some good colourless mana rocks, Talisman of Creativity or Mind Stone or Thought Vessel, but I do appreciate that your deck is designed atm to play low MV spells (which don't need ramp as much), but ramp can be very good. The lands and ramp you could probably remove basics for, though I wouldn't lower your land count very much, I feel like 36 is a bit high for a deck with an average MV well under 3 but hardly absurd for a deck without much ramp. I'm still a bit blown away that I actually suggested Shivan Gorge. If you decide to run a bunch of colourless stuff, I could probably figure out something to pull for Endbringer.

Love this deck idea, hope some of ithese were helpful!

Max_game on Ghyrson Calamity

1 year ago

Yes Arc Mage could be a good option, but I think it would be too slow for my strategy, that is to win in max 5 turns. Utopia?

DreadKhan on Ghyrson Calamity

1 year ago

Not sure if you've got them kicking around, but good old Arc Mage could do some work in here, and could Flame Jab, which can turn extra lands drawn into more damage spells. I always liked the idea of using Flame Jab with Scrying Sheets to keep digging out lands, but you need to run only Snow lands, so you're budget would have to go up, but at least Sheets got reprinted.

If you want evasive attackers in Izzet, the old Thalakos Deceiver and Thalakos Dreamsower are very hard to block usually, maybe good as 1 of, harder to cast but they both do something pretty massive in some games.