Archmage Emeritus

Creature — Human Wizard

Magecraft — Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, draw a card.

Discussion (9)

multimedia on Double Trouble : Budget High-power Kalamax

2 weeks ago

Hey, nice to see another well built budget Kalamax deck. You have really good card sense on a budget and you understand you want instants with Kalamax. Rod of Absorption is interesting tech, haven't seen it yet with Kalamax.

Unfortunately, when talking about power level (PL) you should include the manabase, lands also matter. The manabase here is not above PL 5, it's casual. My budget Kalamax deck has a much more expensive price manabase and I'm calling my deck PL 6 and casual. I'm not playing Shock lands, but I am playing two Bond lands, three Pain lands, three Filter lands and two Check lands.

To get beyond PL 6 with the manabase you want Shock lands and Bond lands. Beyond PL 7 you want the expensive price Fetch lands or Rainbow lands: City, Confluence. Into PL 8 territory you want Fetch lands. Beyond that to you need ABUR Duals. What I'm saying is you have to be able to afford these lands if you want a high PL for your deck.

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29 lands is low amount with a casual manabase because you don't have enough color fixing because you don't have enough lands. Color fixing is really important with Kalamax because of the difficult color requirements needed to cast the most important spells: for Narset's Reversal and for Reverberate.

From lands here only 13 sources of blue is not enough when it's the primary color and most important color with Kalamax for draw and Reversal. You want at least 20 sources of blue without help from nonland mana sources. You have essentially cut lands in favor of more blue draw spells, but you didn't increase the amount of blue sources in the manabase to account for having more blue spells. You're relying on red more than blue for combos, Ral and Ignition, but only 14 sources of red is low amount to be able to consistently make or more.

• Holdout Settlement --> Grab the Reins
• Survivors' Encampment --> Refuse / Cooperate
• Path of Ancestry --> Channeled Force
• Shivan Reef --> Repeated Reverberation

By making these cuts you add three more lands that can make any color of mana, four more blue sources for 33 lands instead of 29. It's not that the cards I'm suggesting to cut are bad they're just not as good for the mana cost as other cards here. Settlement and Encampment are helpful budget rainbow lands with Kalamax as sources to tap him when he can't attack, you don't want to attack or you need to make a color of mana your lands can't. Crop Rotation can tutor for one these lands or even both which makes them among the better sources that can tap Kalamax.

• Storm-Kiln Artist --> Archaeomancer
• Archmage Emeritus --> Firemind's Foresight

Archmage and Artist are amazing budget four drops with Kalamax because of magecraft. They have all the interaction when casting instants or copying spells which is the entire game plan of Kalamax. Archmage can draw a ton of cards which can help to draw lands and Artist can create a ton of treasures for ramp/color fixing. Artist is very helpful with Kalamax creating at least two treasures just by casting your first instant on a turn. Making at least two treasures lets you abuse Narset's Reversal with Kalamax, cast it on each opponent's turn.

Artist also goes infinite mana of any colors when you combo with a Fork and that's helpful to have mana to cast counters/other protection to win. Archmage also goes infinite with Fork combos, but you can control how many copies of the Fork you make thus don't go infinite otherwise you'll draw the rest of your library and lose the game drawing from an empty library.

I offer more advice if you would like. Good luck with your deck.

Milesfuzz on Taigam, Master of Rebound

1 month ago

Archmage Emeritus ?

marn3us on Niv-Mizzet, Wheel Combo

3 months ago

jsnrice that's correct!! Harmonic Prodigy would make the first Niv trigger happen twice (i.e., you draw 2 cards), and for each of those draws you would get 2 damage, for a total of 4 damage per trigger! It's a slam dunk in the deck ;)

Of note, all my other creatures are either Wizards or Shamans, so that's just icing on the cake (e.g., double triggers for Talrand, Sky Summoner , Archmage Emeritus or Guttersnipe are pretty neat).

Let me know how the prodigy works out for your Niv deck!

Guerric on Mizzix puts the "X" in Excellence!

3 months ago

Update, May 29, 2021

Impulse OUT Deflecting Swat IN

Contentious Plan Sort of replaced Impulse as my two-mana card for early counters. The value of Deflecting Swat can hardly be overstated, as it provides early protection for Mizzix while being relevant all game long.

Aetherspouts OUT Introduction to Annihilation IN

Spouts is such a conditional card, and we have plenty of board wipes when we count or kill-the-table x-spells. Intro is great in that its free permanent removal for us much of the time.

Overwhelming Intellect OUT Dramatic Reversal IN

A counterspell that can only counter a creature spell is underwhelming, and we added swat. I can't believe Dramatic Reversal hadn't been added earlier. It plays into our combo with Reiterate , and allows us to fetch the whole combo with Firemind's Foresight . A true must include!

Fall of the Titans OUT Expropriate IN

Fall was always our worst x-spell, and we have more than enough in the deck. For a replacement win con its far better to just take another turn and steal everyone's best thing. The greatest thing about this card is that its so cheap to cast with Mizzix!

Spring / Mind OUT Archmage Emeritus IN

Spring is great but sorcery speed and a one-off. Archmage will draw us cards the whole game. We're up to three whole creatures in this deck now!

Howl of the Horde OUT Solve the Equation IN

I've got plenty of copy dorks here, so another tutor is great, especially one that will usually cost me just two blue mana!

Zeddicuus on Ralsand Year Storm

4 months ago

Very interesting take on a Ral, Storm Conduit Oathbreaker deck! Which one is your signature spell?

Archmage Emeritus might be a creature worth considering, the magecraft ability to draw cards is absolutely amazing in a deck like this.

ItsMuzzo on Calamitous Storms

4 months ago

Thanks multimedia these are great suggestions! I actually had Archmage Emeritus in my initial brainstorming but I wasn't sure if I should keep him in or not. But with some of these additions for large amounts of copying I can see getting a ton of card draw off of it.

I didn't even think about Harrow and how I could get 4 basics off of one land sac. Kinda nuts. And Unleash Fury is definitely something I missed that's good as a finisher. Definitely adding most of these!

multimedia on Calamitous Storms

4 months ago

Hey, interesting budget version of Kalamax and creative deck name :)

When Dramatic Reversal is imprinted with Isochron Scepter along mana rocks or Rattleclaw Mystic can make infinite mana and infinite casts of Reversal. Harrow and Roiling Regrowth are upgrades for land ramp spells because they're instants that interact with Kalamax. Each one gets four basic lands and the basics ETB untapped with Harrow.

Shadow Rift , Fists of Flame and Leap are instants for the voltron theme that give evasion and also draw a card. Unleash Fury with Kalamax can one swing kill an unexpected defenseless opponent with Commander damage or combine it with evasion.

Storm-Kiln Artist is amazing ramp with Kalamax since he creates two treasures by casting your first instant on a turn. Artist can be infinite mana with treasures with a Fork and Kalamax. Archmage Emeritus draws two cards by casting your first instant on a turn.

With Archmage you can draw your entire library with a Fork and Kalamax which can be risky, but you can control how many copies of the Fork is made to not deck yourself. Kalamax won't have infinite power, but he will have enough to still do potential lethal Commander damage. More magecraft with Kalamax is really good with Narset's Reversal since it copies a spell and returns to your hand to cast again.

Good luck with your deck.

Sorin_Markov_1947 on

5 months ago

Pretty plain Esper Control list. Most of your cards are pretty low in power though.

Unsubstantiate is pretty weak counterspell/bounce. Saw It Coming is better 9/10 times.

Solve the Equation , The Birth of Meletis , Professor Onyx , Archmage Emeritus , even ECD (depending on the matchup) are all pretty slow. Esper lists in Standard right now have a lot of value packed into them. Most of them use Yorion, Sky Nomad as a companion and love to blink things like Omen of the Sea , Treacherous Blessing , ECD, and Sad Robot . Skyclave Apparition is usually pretty good too, as it removes things much earlier than other exile effects.

Speaking of removal, let's work on that. Murderous Rider is not a good rate anymore. Bloodchief's Thirst , Heartless Act , or Eliminate are the removal of choice usually, and Shadows' Verdict the sweeper.

I'd even probably take out the 4x Neutralize for some combination of Disdainful Stroke , Essence Scatter , and Negate .

With Strixhaven coming, I expect Elite Spellbinder to be a good addition to control. It blocks well and disrupts your opponent's curve.

In the sideboard, with the prevalence of control, 4x Mystical Dispute is a necessity. You'll also want something for the mono-red aggro matchup, probably more Shadows' Verdict s. Against mono-white aggro, you want Shadow's Verdicts and maybe some Ravenform . Shark Typhoon is also good in the control matchup (hint: you'll almost never cast it, but cycling can't be countered and gives you a card back). Disdainful Stroke should also add up to 4x between mainboard and sideboard, as the control deck of choice at the moment loves to run big spells. Unfortunately, this deck will fold to Dimir Rogues and I can't think of a sideboard plan that would change that. Their fish tactics are just too good against dedicated control decks.