Arid Mesa

Land

, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice Arid Mesa: Search your library for a Mountain or Plains card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

Discussion (51)

TypicalTimmy on Ajani Vengeant, and his signature ...

3 weeks ago

Commenting here rather than on your page.

I don't mean to sound so overbearingly critical, but your deck is overall lacking in substantial board presence. Oathbreaker is a format in which you want to protect your Planeswalker at all viable costs. You have four creatures. That does not make for a very strong base. I'm going to rip into this deck, but I am also going to offer you suggestions on how to greatly improve upon it :) I hope that you don't take offense to anything I am saying, but I felt like I can do you some good here.

Poor land choices

Next, I notice that a lot of your lands are either bounce lands or lands in which you can sacrifice them to get an additional mana for that turn. I am concerned with this style of play, because the bounce lands sort of equal out to the same amount of mana for the turn, and in some cases don't even move you ahead. Sacrifice the lands for extra mana sets you back. Allow me to explain:

• T3: You have two lands out. You tap both to add to your pool, then play Boros Garrison . The rest of the turn doesn't matter, we are merely focusing on land presence and mana potential.
• T4: You replay the land you just bounced last turn. Now you have a total of three lands that can produce a total of 4 mana.

The issue here is that you set yourself back on tempo on T3 to become caught up on T4. Rather than producing 3 mana on T3, you only produced 2; And for your efforts on T3, you are no better off on T4 than if you had just played a basic land.

Dormant Volcano and Karoo are even worse, because you have 16 of your 26 lands that contain specific subtypes, each one only being represented on 10 Plains and 8 Mountains. So if you have a Dormant Volcano in your hand but you don't have any lands with Mountain as their subtype, you literally can not play it. Even worse, it has to be an untapped land you return AND it still enters the battlefield tapped. So not only do you lose a land, you don't even get the mana from it and it's highly more restrictive than Boros Garrison .

Additionally, Temple of the False God literally does you no good if you get it out before you have five total lands. Shrine of the Forsaken Gods is better absolutely all around because at least it produces you something.

Now we need to discuss your "pay-to-play" lands; Crystal Vein , Dwarven Ruins & Ruins of Trokair . The issue here is that you may have immediate access to ramp, but you trade that for immediate downfall as you slip farther and farther behind because you no longer have lands on the battlefield. These cards should never go in any deck that doesn't have some means to return them, such as Crucible of Worlds / Ramunap Excavator or Wrenn and Six .

Good land choices

So overall I called out Boros Garrison , Dormant Volcano , Karoo , Temple of the False God , Crystal Vein , Dwarven Ruins & Ruins of Trokair . So let's find some replacements!

• Boros Garrison should be replaced with Arid Mesa : This lets you immediately look for Plateau ;)

• Temple of the False God for Shrine of the Forsaken Gods . Same potential, but you can immediately use it for .

• Crystal Vein for Mage-Ring Network . If you need the colorless mana, it is available. If you don't, slap a storage counter on it and let it grow.

• Dwarven Ruins and Ruins of Trokair for Heart of Ramos and Tooth of Ramos . This is because on T3 you can play your 3rd land and play an artifact to ramp with. On T4 when you play your fourth land, you now have 5 mana available and therefore are in ramp mode. You can also sac the artifact to generate another mana if need be, and it won't hurt your land base. These are under appreciated artifacts, and to be honest you don't need 26 lands in a 58 card deck. Yes, 58. Ajani and Mudhole are outside of your library.

• Dormant Volcano and Karoo for Boros Signet and Boros Cluestone . Signet gets you two mana for the cost of one (Tapping two permanents equals out to 1 mana per permanent, but now you get one of each color) and Cluestone gets you one of any color, but also gives you draw options if you need it later on.

This sets you down to 22 lands, which in all of my playing of Oathrbeaker is ideal. This also increases your stones up from 4 into ~6. We will be working on this in a moment.

Daunting amounts of self-destruction

I get it, you want to blow up lands so your opponent can't play the game. But do you need 10 cards that do that? 11 with Ajani?

Cut out the following, for their listed reasons:

• Akroma's Vengeance : Too costly and sets you back as well
• Decree of Annihilation : Even more expensive and sets you back just as bad
• Jokulhaups : Why are you into so much self sabotage?
• Hour of Revelation : Too costly, too much redundancy, and again this harms you as well

Stones

As mentioned before, you want more artifacts that produce mana. You currently have the following:

• Darksteel Ingot
• Wayfarer's Bauble

Remove both.

We added in Heart of Ramos and Tooth of Ramos . We also added in Boros Cluestone and Boros Signet . We now need to look for stones that cost less than . Here is what you add:

• Mind Stone
• Fellwar Stone

Now we still have four card slots open from before. We are sitting now at a total of six stones. We want eight. We will use two slots to add the following:

• Thought Vessel
• Talisman of Conviction

We now have 22 lands and 8 stones. 30 mana producing cards in a 58 card deck. This means you will SERIOUSLY ramp in Boros.

Draw potential

We still have two slots open. Use these to fit in draw spells. Keep in mind that with Mind Stone and Boros Cluestone , you already do have two cards that can draw if you need it.

• Faithless Looting : Because it can be played twice, due to Flashback
• Dawn of Hope : Another 2 CMC permanent that can be used in conjunction with Ajani Vengeant 's -2 for card draw on non-specific colors of mana. Then you can also use it to create tokens with self-fulfilling conditions since they have lifelink. This means you don't have to rely on Ajani going down, and you can still progress the boardstate.

As for a win condition outside of Form of the Dragon , there is also Martial Coup . Since you are snuffing out all of your opponent's lands anyway, as well as their creatures, why not create a literal army of tokens that now stand unopposed?

There is also Curse of Bloodletting , which makes your Form of the Dragon deal 10 damage instead.

You may also want to consider replacing Mudhole with something more viable. Perhaps Lightning Helix ? It burns and gets you life. Acts as another win condition, makes it harder for your opponent to win in the process as your life totals grow farther and farther apart, and plays nicely with the aforementioned Dawn of Hope .

This took me like 40 minutes, so I hope it helps.

icehit6 on Selling my long time collection

3 weeks ago

Hi all,

I have been an active member on this website for years, and as well have been a fairly active player up until about a year and a half ago.

I've amassed a collection of decks and some miscellaneous cards for the past 5 years (I started playing in March of 2015). It's sad to say, but I have to let me collection go.

The collection basically consists of six competitive decks, four modern, and two legacy, and as well a small binder of extras I have had laying around from the years of FNM's and release days I have attended.

Essentially my collection consists of:

Modern G/W Elves

Esper Death Shadows

UR Gifts Ungiven Storm

UG Infect

BG Dark Depths

And UB Instant Reanimator

Some cards that I have sitting in my binder, just to give an idea of the quality of the collection, and the legitimacy, are:

Arid Mesa (Zen) Verdant Catacombs (Zen) Scalding Tarn (Zen) Misty Rainforest (Zen) Marsh Flats (Zen) 4x Blood Moon Foil Zendikar Island, Plains, and Swamp 4x Tarmogoyf Modern Masters 4x FNM Promo Gitaxian Probe

Among other goodies.

The decks I am not willing to part out, so please do not ask. If you are interested you can DM me and I can give you the direct decklist WITH pictures.

If you are interested in what is in the binder, I can send a full list with pictures of everything in the binder. I am trying to keep this post short, however.

I was hoping to post on here first to get dedicated players, instead of going to get a large portion of the value cut out at a card shop, or going on offer up.

If anyone is interested please do not be a stranger. I am selling because I do not currently play, and probably will not for a very long time due to working two jobs and friends moving across the country.

I am also selling to attempt to fund a new car.

Thanks for understanding, and I hope to hear from some of you.

Jack-Frost on The Spawn

1 month ago

My recommendations:

New Commander: Ramos, Dragon Engine or Morophon, the Boundless

Either of these would fit the theme of your deck better and would assist you in casting and running the deck.

Cut:
Altar of the Brood - Doesn't fit what you're doing and doesn't assist in your goal
Ghostfire Blade - Not good enough. You're running Eldrazi. They're big enough and powerful enough to take care of themselves
Mycosynth Lattice - This doesn't help you. Most of your stuff is colorless so this only helps your opponents cast spells and places a glaring weakness that a card like Vandalblast can easily exploit.
Bonds of Mortality - You're running annihilator and massive creatures. You're rarely worried about the occasional hexproof creature, and you shouldn't have an issue with the occasional enchantment or artifact. Eldrazi overwhelm. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Prismatic Omen - This doesn't help you enough. Most of your stuff is colorless so this doesn't do a crazy amount for you. In addition, you're running Chromatic Lantern which will do this and also produces mana on top of it.
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - Why? This has nothing to do with your deck
Despark - There are better removal options, but as an eldrazi tribal deck you'd be better off playing cards that protect and accelerate you rather than this.
Wear / Tear - While decent, you don't usually need to hit both at once and it's multiple colors. I'd run Naturalize or Krosan Grip instead.
Fathom Feeder - ...No. Just no.
Mist Intruder - While this and Fathom Feeder are both eldrazi, just because you're running a tribal deck doesn't mean you have to run every tribal card, nor only tribal cards. Cut this and see my suggestions for cards to replace it with.
Khenra Charioteer - There are better alternatives
Vile Aggregate - You're running eldrazi. You're going tall rather than wide so you're unlikely to ever really have enough creatures out at once to really make this card worth running.
Bojuka Bog - Not worth it. It comes out tapped and unless someone is both running a graveyard deck and has enough good cards in it at the same time, you're not going to get enough value out of this, or if you want to save it for that, then you have a dead land in hand and there would be far better cards like Rest in Peace and such.
Gateway Plaza - Comes in tapped, costs an additional mana to play, and only gives one mana. Too slow and not good enough.
Ruins of Oran-Rief - You're running Eldrazi. You really don't need one more +1/+1. A colored mana would assist you more here as it would also help you pay for and colored spells you would like to cast.

Add:
Akroma's Memorial - This is a fantastic card that in your deck would be a win con. I would recommend running this over Eldrazi Monument as it does a lot more and doesn't force you to sacrifice your important eldrazi.
Privileged Position - An absolutely amazing card that I run in every deck that can run it. Full protection on ALL your permanents.
Sterling Grove - Protection for all your enchantments and allows you to fetch any that you need.
Krosan Grip - Guaranteed removal on artifacts or enchantments.
Ramos, Dragon Engine - You're running a five colored big boy deck. This enables it and since it's colorless it'll be relatively easy for you to cast.
Archetype of Endurance - Fantastic protection and a powerful creature to run. As a plus it fulfills some of the same roles as the cards you ran that removed hexproof.
Archetype of Aggression - Replaces your Khenra Charioteer as a much better, single color, alternative.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Great card draw, annihilator, reshuffles your graveyard which prevents mill and keeps your deck running even after a board wipe, and a giant eldrazi god, all built into one card.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion - Card draw, counter protection, and a menacing eldrazi god. Who could ask for more?
Emrakul, the Promised End - Reduced costs, protection, flying, trample, steals a turn, and an eldrazi god. Nuff said.
Temur Ascendancy - Replaces or in addition to Fervor . Haste plus card draw and your creatures are almost all going to trigger it.
Demonic Tutor - Fantastic fetch card.
Vampiric Tutor - Fantastic fetch card.
Harsh Mercy - Tribal board wipe
Explosive Vegetation - Land fetch
Skyshroud Claim - Land fetch that comes in untapped. If you upgrade your landbase to include cards like Breeding Pool (see recommendations lower), you can use this and cards like Nature's Lore to fetch them and bring them in untapped.
Patriarch's Bidding - Full board wipe recovery, and/or a kill card if you have a haste enabler on the board.
Heroic Intervention - Top Tier instant speed protection.
Teferi's Protection - Top Tier instant speed protection
Cyclonic Rift - One of the best board wipes in the game. Cannot be protected against, reset's their entire board, and leaves you in a fantastic position.
Enlightened Tutor - Artifact/Enchantment Fetch
Worldly Tutor - Creature Fetch
Mystical Tutor - Instant/Sorcery Fetch
Urza's Incubator - Eldrazi cost reduction
Descendants' Path - Free Eldrazi casts
Rhystic Study - Fantastic card draw
Bloom Tender - In a 5-color deck this card is amazing ramp.
Birds of Paradise - Any color ramp for 1
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - Does this require explanation in a colorless deck?
Beast Within - Destroys any permanent. This is a fantastic card to run as a mere 3/3 beast shouldn't bother you, and even if it would, it's likely far better than what they previously had.
Chaos Warp - Removes any permanent. Can be used on your own stuff to pull a new permanent out of your deck if needed. Bypasses indestructible.
See the Unwritten - Need I say more?
Tooth and Nail - Need I say more?
Exploration - Amazing ramp. Accelerates your turns
Burgeoning - See Exploration
Mana Reflection - The best mana doubler, bar none.
Zendikar Resurgent - Mana doubler plus card draw
Smothering Tithe - One of the best ramp cards
Oracle of Mul Daya - Fantastic acceleration. Combines with other accelerators such as Exploration and Burgeoning as they can now play lands off the top of your library as well.
Second Sunrise - Full boardwipe recovery
Defense of the Heart - Easy free creature drops
Mirari's Wake - Mana doubler plus anthem
Faith's Reward - Full, personal, boardwipe recovery
Seedborn Muse - One of the best cards you can run, bar none.
Commander's Sphere - 3 drop mana rock that can tap for all colors. Replaces your banners (ex. Vanquisher's Banner )
Darksteel Ingot - 3 drop indestructible mana rock that can tap for all colors. Replaces your banners (ex. Vanquisher's Banner )

Recommended Land Additions/Swaps:
Cavern of Souls
Reflecting Pool
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - Mana coverage, allows your fetch and colorless lands to tap for colored if they need
Cabal Coffers - Combines with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to generates metric butt tons of mana
Arid Mesa
Bloodstained Mire
Flooded Strand
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Blood Crypt
Breeding Pool
Hallowed Fountain
Overgrown Tomb
Polluted Delta
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Watery Grave

Fetch lands and shock lands are fantastic upgrades to your deck. Fetch lands let you pull the exact lands you need and let them come in untapped, and shock lands can both be fetched because they say the actual land type (ex. Breeding Pool is a Forest Island), and can come in untapped or tapped depending on what you need. Coming in untapped and generating multiple colors gives a distinct advantage over mono-colored lands and lands that must come in tapped.

Maybe Cut:
Eldrazi Monument - Hurts you too much and doesn't generate enough benefit. If you can't get a weak creature out in time, or don't have one available, you'll either have a dead card in hand that you don't want to cast, or one that hurts you badly. If you want indestructible, look at cards like Boros Charm or Heroic Intervention .
From Beyond - Too slow and doesn't do enough.

Why?:
Relic of Progenitus - Not worth it. Run Rest in Peace or other such cards instead.

A tribal deck isn't limited to only cards of its tribe, but rather is mostly one tribe and has several cards that accelerate and power up the tribe. Hence my recommendation is that you cut a few of the weaker cards that are unnecessary and instead run a few non-tribal cards that strengthen, accelerate, and assist your deck.

Dezan on Cubo do Dezan

2 months ago

17/05/2019

• -1 Windswept Heath +1 Selesnya Sanctuary

• -1 Bloodstained Mire +1 Rakdos Carnarium

• -1 Marsh Flats +1 Orzhov Basilica

• -1 Scalding Tarn +1 Izzet Boilerworks

• -1 Wooded Foothills +1 Gruul Turf

• -1 Verdant Catacombs +1 Golgari Rot Farm

• -1 Polluted Delta +1 Dimir Aqueduct

• -1 Arid Mesa +1 Boros Garrison

• -1 Flooded Strand +1 Azorius Chancery

• -1 Misty Rainforest +1 Simic Growth Chamber

• -1 Tropical Island +1 Evolving Wilds

• -1 Savannah +1 Terramorphic Expanse

• -1 Badlands +1 Golgari Signet

• -1 Scrubland +1 Mishra's Factory

• -1 Volcanic Island +1 Everflowing Chalice

• -1 Taiga +1 Needle Spires

• -1 Bayou +1 Lumbering Falls

• -1 Underground Sea +1 Shambling Vent

• -1 Plateau +1 Stirring Wildwood

• -1 Tundra +1 Lavaclaw Reaches

Drael on Nahiri Equipments Oath

2 months ago

• Lands:
• Arid Mesa
• Command Tower
• Command Beacon
• Reflecting Pool

generalrenard on

2 months ago

Yeah, backing up an heckproof's comment, you should include a playset of Arid Mesa and take out 4 Mountain s. You also could take out 3 additional Mountain s to finish a playset of Searing Blaze and add a Grim Lavamancer , but that's optional. 18 lands is generally the right amount for a burn deck, any more will decrease consistency.

LordBlackblade on Daddy Markov's Vampires

2 months ago

So as a disclaimer, I'll be using my experiences with my deck, March of the Dusk Legion, as a point of reference for my recommendations.

Mana-Base Tuning Show

My first tip is to boost your land count and further refine your mana base. Hot commander lands you could be running are things like:

• Luxury Suite - This card is so good if you're in a multiplayer environment, essentially a "free" dual in normal commander

• Any of the on-color fetches ( Arid Mesa , Bloodstained Mire , and Marsh Flats ) would do wonders for you, though I do understand budget is a concern

• The filter lands ( Fetid Heath . Graven Cairns , and Rugged Prairie ) have become incredibly affordable since their last reprint

• Foreboding Ruins - I personally like the reveal lands, as they give you an out to make them enter untapped, and revealing another land is a small price to pay.

• Smoldering Marsh - The battle lands can be quite efficient provided you run enough basics. In my deck around half my lands are basics and I rarely have trouble with it entering tapped

• Ancient Ziggurat - In any creature-heavy, multicolor deck, this card can do some real work

• Path of Ancestry - Free scry and mana fixing for Vampires seems really hot

As to what to cut:

• Anything that comes in tapped without an out will slow you down. This deck is all about pressure, and pressure requires speed. Honestly, I think you're better off with basics, it's no joke when people say they're the best cards in the game. I give Nomad Outpost a pass because it does fix all of our colors.

So one thing I noticed is that your list is a bit unfocused in terms of strategy. What do you want to accomplish with your deck? Is it a token deck? +1/+1 counters? Aristocrats? You have cards that support all of these strategies but not enough of any one to reach critical mass.

Start with the mana-base changes and decide what you want the deck to accomplish and we can go from there!

heckproof on

2 months ago

Idk if this list is budget, but if not, you’re gonna need waaaaay more fetches. I think standard amounts nowadays are 4 Arid Mesa and a split between Bloodstained Mire and Wooded Foothills